Hooking the main halyard ring

Try tying the know the other direction. Left over right, or whatever is the opposite of the way its tied now. Plus you can tie it from the top of the ring or the middle. Mess with it until you find a combination that works.

Some main/mast combos are a mofo. The mast on my last boat, the only way I could get it to consistently hook and unhook was I made a tapered main halyard and luggage tag the ring onto the halyard. Seemed to work well enough.

Also, check to see if the bolt rope is actually striking the hook.

It's unhooks no problem. I'll try tying to the top of the ring and different direction

You may just be trading problems. Don't ask how I know...

Suggestion: Put the boat on the side and see what is happening when you try to hook the ring.

The grommet in the head might be placed a tiny bit too far aft for your setup.

I had similar issues several weeks ago. Eventually seemed to get it to hook, but not the right way, instead somehow twisting the halyard around the hook and the ring after hoisting the sail. Ended up having to take the mast down with the sail, and then cleverly bent the mast step when the mainsail decided it had more force than I did, and twisted the mast as it went horizontal.

Hey pbl there are a few of us on F16's that race in your area, you should come check us out sometime

Absolutely! Been out of the water for a few weeks, nursing a busted up foot from a couple of weeks ago. Still trying to figure out the boat, and we're looking for some feedback from other folks out on the water. No point in learning the hard way...

Another thing to do is switch what side the halyard is on the hook. Shouldn't really matter for getting it to lock, but will matter as to which way you rotate the mast when trying to get the ring off again.

Just a matter of messing with it until you get the right combination of things going. Work methodically in some form or another to save time when you're testing different ways.

Or you can do like me... Push up main... What a pain in the butt.

Most of the time, I end up having to put the boat on her side to hoist the main all the way up and hook it. I rarely have any problems unhooking though.

(I can push it up almost all the way. It's amazing how heavy that last foot or so is.)

You mention putting the boat on her side. Is this relatively easy to do? Are there any tips that can be shared for doing so? I thought about doing that to undo the ring when it was stuck, but had visions of doing something stupid to the mast as it came down on its side. I expect this is a two person job, or can one person actually do it?

One person can do it pretty easily, but its a little unnerving the first few times.

Use the trap line, do not pull on the shroud.

Just grab a trap line, walk away from the boat and pull down. As the boat come over grab onto the shroud, (the side force on the shroud isn't that great at this point as you'll be higher up, and the boat will be somewhat balanced at an angle), then you just grab the mast and walk towards the end until you can set it down.

Obviously check the ground for anything that will damage the hull.

Putting the boat on the side is best done on grass in my experience.
Pull on the trapeze as Karl says and catch the shroud. Then walk the mast down. Have a chair or table ready to put under the tip of the mast.
To right the boat again, reverse the process and make sure you use the trapeze to get good leverage as the topside hull is headed for the ground. Stay too close to the boat and you will not have enough leverage to stop the hull from crashing down.

The method Karl describes is how I do it. I use the forward trap line to get the job started and then catch the shroud as the boat is coming over. A couple of things to watch out for as you are hoisting the sail this way... Make sure your high side spin sheet doesn't get caught on a sail batten. It helps to have someone at the base of the mast to make sure the sail feeds into the slot smoothly. The only thing to watch out for when lowering the sail this way is to make sure the downhaul is off before you try to unhook, and make sure you lower the sail somewhat after unhooking so it doesn't re-hook as you are bring the boat back upright.

Hull crashing as the boat comes back upright doesn't seem to be much of an issue for me. As the boat is going up, I put one foot on the boat, with one hand on the shroud, and hang off the boat like an X; this way the boat eases back upright. I have a bigger problem with the boat spinning as it's going up and no longer heading into the wind. There is also the fact that it is embarrassing.

If you have someone to help you, put him/her on the other side of the boat to lift the hull (to put the boat on its side,) and catch the hull and lower it (to bring it back upright again.)

Also do something to keep the rudders centered. They'll dig in and bend **** up and that's no bueno.

I don't have the rudders on when I do it. Almost everything else is put away before I get around to dropping the mainsail. Including the boom.

daniel - have you tried pushing the last foot or so with your tiller extension? Place one end on the bottom of a batten pocket end cap on the luff as high as you can reach and push from there, then the sail shouldnt tend to crumple as much. Just dont push from a weird angle and break your extension.

Tried the knot on top of the ring wouldn't unhook, tried a cople different knots with no luck either. What a pain to put the boat on its side to hook. At least it unhooks easily...will try something else today.

Hi Mac, I always have to have the halyard run up the starboard side of the hook. It won't go on otherwise. They all seem different from what I've seen tho.

dr5e14w,

I saw a guy doing that with an A-Cat on a youtube video once, so I tried it. Maybe my batten pocket end caps are too small or something (they have very rounded edges,) but my extension doesn't want to stay in place when I try that.

I went out today and when I tipped my boat to raise my sail, the leach got wet. While I was sailing, the leach was drying and dropping bits of sand and shell on me. It was a great day though, 10 mph wind and flat seas. I got in some good spinnaker runs and was trapped out on when I was close hauled.

Dropping the main at the end of the day was textbook easy.

Well I got it to hook and unhook no problem today! Tied the smallest knot I could and had it on the sail side of the ring. I swear I had tried this before. Should be going back out tomorrow will see if it works again

If you are using a shackle/ring setup I found that the width of the shackle can make a hugh difference in getting the ring to hook and unhook. If the shackle is too narrow the ring cannot rotate properly. And sometimes a twist shackle can create problems getting the ring to come off the hook. One my most recent boat I had to try 4 different shackles before I found the one that would allow easy up and down.

@daniel

It takes a bit of practice but once you get used to it, it becomes easy. I sailed a 4.9 a few times and that was the only way to get the main to go up the last 3-4 inches. Give it another try.

Well I was able to get my main up this weekend and get the halyard ring hooked on without having to tip my boat. Thanks for the encouragement.

Daniel, when is the last time you cleaned out your mast track? If the mast had been sitting on a trailer for a while, it will be full of...stuff...that will add drag when you raise the main. Next time you have the mast down, take a high pressure nozzel on a garden hose and spray the track well, top to bottom, use soap and a brush if you have one, but get it as clean as possible.

When it's dry, spray the entire length of the inside of the track with silcone dry lube. Then go spray the luff rope on your main with the same stuff. That should help reduce any drag so your main should slide up easily.

Re. the ring hooking to the hook at the masthead, if you pull down on the main with one hand, while slowly releasing the halyrad tension, the ring will hook on easier. I find mine always needs a little down pull on the main to get the ring onto the hook.

To get it down, just raise the ring (pull the halyard tight, so the ring is up and off the hook) then rotate the mast 90 degrees to one side or the other, and then, after the mast is rotated, release the tension on the halyard and pull down on the sail, while holding the mast 90 degrees to one side or the other of center.

It's all a lot easier when the mast track is clean and lubed up, and the mainsail bolt rope is also lubed up, so the main slides up easily.