I’ve been having a problem that I hope someone can help me with. When I prepare the boat I open the stack pack and connect the halyard while still at the dock. The halyard is then somewhat loose as I motor out of the marina. When I go to raise the sail the halyard is often snagged on one of the two points marked in the photo with green and red arrows. (Yes, I realize that I should have put green to starboard and red to port, but I wasn’t thinking about that when I drew them.) I then have to steer the boat back and forth like I am drunk, trying to get it loose. Or I can go forward, which I prefer not to do while someone else is driving because most of the people I go sailing with are complete and utter non-sailors. Last Friday this happened when I was already out of the bay and going forward was off the table, and it snagged on the block (red arrow) which is much more difficult to dislodge it from. I did finally get it loose, but I would really prefer to fix this so it doesn’t happen again.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Brian: I always tension my halyard a bit after attaching it. Otherwise if I go downwind, It will snag on something.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
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[/details]Thanks. I tried that, but the sail just rises a bit and releases the tension. How do you get it to hold the tension?
Mine snagged a few times, wrapped around a radar reflector on the front of the mast twice, now I tighten up the halyard after attachment as suggested by others. Even pull the sail up a couple feet, no problem with the wind. Roger 30U '87 Top Cat
Hmm. So maybe it’s a matter of putting up enough sail to weigh down the halyard.
My halyard often gets wrapped around my radar reflector if I’m motoring downwind if I don’t keep tension on it. I don’t use a stackpack, so I just keep the first two sail ties on and the halyard taut until I am ready to raise it. Maybe not ideal for you, but adding just one sail tie would help keep the tension on the halyard and quick to undo the sail tie.
Bob Gehrman
NS30U #396 “Quickbeam”
Baltimore, Maryland
The dreaded hangup.
I attach the halyard and put a bit of tension on it. I have the halyard around the winch and in the self tailing jaws with the tail lead back to the the helm. As soon as I am comfortably out of the slip way I hoist the sail until the head is at about the level of the choker turning block. No more hangups. My top two pattens are full length so I don’t get flogging. When I had the radar dome at about mast joint height and the halyard snagged on it, I had real problem freeing the halyard. Going into waves the mast would go forward lifting the sail and then as the mast came back the slack in the halyard would go forward around the radar dome. I would try to flick it forward around the dome but it would hit the front of the boom before it cleared the dome. I would have to pull some slack in the halyard and tie a line to it with a rolling hitch. The line would be outside of the boom and I could then walk forward and pull the halyard around the front of the dome. That was not the most enjoyable aspect of sailing so for a time as a preventive measure I would lead a light line from the cockpit forward through the head of the sail and back to the cockpit. This would keep enough tension on the halyard to keep it from wrapping. Just before the hoist I would pull the light line free. No one had to go forward. I have moved the radar dome so it is no longer an issue. Hoisting the sail part way as described works for me now.
Mark Powers
As Joe et al say, tighten that halyard up a good few feet as soon as you’re out of your slip. Worked great for me.
Ernie A. in Toronto
Thanks everyone. I’ll try raising the sail a few feet to get some tension on the halyard and see how that goes. Maybe tomorrow if it turns out that some friends are able to come.
Brian Godfrey
Hi Brian,
The suggestions from others sound good.
If you find it does not work for you, maybe try something that some shorthanded racers use on smaller boats to allow them to have a spinnaker ready to deploy but not deploy prematurely.
They use Velcro arranged so that it holds whatever needs holding ( in your case the main halyard ) till enough force is applied ( when you hoist ). This is kinda abusive on the velcro, so you might need to replace it every season, but with a little finesse works pretty well for spinnakers.
Rob Cohen
s/v SOAVE
NS33 #009
Westport, CT
Great idea, Rob!!
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
Yes, it is a great idea. I’ll ask around here and see how the racers use it.
And I love Velcro. In my systems engineering days I once bet my boss that I could even design it into a computer system. He winced at the idea, so of course I had to do it.
Brian Godfrey
Hi Brian,
Being a Velcro specialist, I’ll bet you’ve already got it rigged… for anyone scratching their head… ( HERE ) is an example.
Rob Cohen
s/v SOAVE
NS33 #009
Westport, CT
I sail single handed and had the halyard foul the navigation lights too often. I solved the problem on my standing gaff rigged 26C by rigging a bungee cord or two tied to my lazy jacks and passed around the front of the mast near the navigation light fittings. You might get similar results by connecting a bungee cord to the first set of cradle lines at the wishbone then passing it around the mast and tying it off to the first set on the opposite side. You need a little tension on the cord to be effective. It may dampen the wishbone in light airs and a swell.
John Newell
Mascouche 26C 1
Toronto
Brian,
If you’re in heavy air or motoring in lumpy conditions, you may need to do more than tighten the halyard enough for the weight of the sail to do the job. However, in typical Southern California conditions you and I encounter, that’s usually all it takes. At least, it’s been enough for me.
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch e26U #233
Marina del Rey, California
Not a specialist; more of an aficionado. 
And no, I didn’t rig anything up, yesterday. I set out to change the impeller in my engine. Besides being sheer misery to get to, one of the screws was broken off and the cover plate is shot. (I didn’t do it! This is my first go-around with the impeller.) I spent the rest of the day finding a new one and I’m probably going to have to drill out the broken one and re-thread it to the next size up. Now I can almost hear the smirks from the electric motor crowd.
Brian,
Ouch ! Sorry to hear about the broken screw on the impeller cover.
This is my first season with SOAVE and I’ve been trying to do lots of preventative maintenance (now that she is closer to home) as a way to get to know her. It’s been hard because I’d MUCH rather be sailing.
Impeller replacement is on my list. Perhaps I’ll allocate more time knowing the full range of possible outcomes even for a PM item.
Rob Cohen
s/v SOAVE
NS33 #009
Westport, CT
I’d be surprised if that broken screw doesn’t come out real easy, as it’s not torqued now that the head is broken off. Assuming you have a Westerbeke, you may find it easy to remove the pump to work on the impeller.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
I sure hope you are right.
I have a Volvo MD2040B, but the pump is a Jabsco which is apparently pretty common across many brands of small diesels. I was kind of tempted to try pulling the whole thing out. Maybe I will take a closer look at that.
Thanks,
So I got the impeller changed and somehow managed to avoid having a stroke in the process.
I didn’t remove the pump from the engine. I was going to, but when I got down there I realized that I would need a new gasket, which I didn’t have.
The broken screw had to be drilled out, but that went well and I cleaned the threads with a tap. This while laying on my side in the lazarette, working through two small doors at right angles to each other, and only able to use one hand.
What I didn’t mention before was that the pump’s cover plate was in terrible condition. Not only was it badly corroded around the broken screw, but the inner side of it was badly eroded from wear and salt water. This apparently allowed a lot of water to bypass the impeller because when I started the engine to test the new one a lot more water than usual came gushing out and it was pretty brown for a while. So the system was being flushed better than it had been in a long time.
The old impeller was as good as new, but whoever replaced it didn’t replace the plate at the same time. They should have; it wasn’t that expensive and the local boat repair store had one in stock.
I am now happy and planning on a hot soak when I get home to ease the pain!
Brian Godfrey
Vela, NS33 #77, San Diego