I got a set of new sails, but the bolt rope in the luff of the main is larger than on my old sail and the top tip of it gets hung up and won't slide up into the comp tip. I've been putting packing tape on each time I sail to squeeze the top of the luff and give it a smoother entry. Anybody got any long term suggestions? Thanks.
If they're from Hobie, there is no reason the bolt rope should be bigger. Sounds like your luff track might be damaged.
Nope, the luff track is fine. The old blown out sails run up just fine. The rope with its sheathing are slightly larger on the new sails. And when it gets stuck up there at the comptip, it gets smooshed, which makes it larger still and makes the problem that much worse.
The root of the problems seems to be that the top of the bolt rope is flat, it's a hard edge at the cut. Maybe something could be sewn on to give it a tapered edge so it slides into the comptip easier. Has anyone had a similar problem? And solved it? Thanks.
First thing I would try is to lube the boltrope with McLube Sailkote or something similar, and to round off the bottom edges of the comptip track, before modifying the sail.
Two things...
First, trim / flair the bottom end of the CompTip luff track to make the transition into the CompTip smooth. You must have a misalignment between the two. (If it is catching... remove what it is catching on.)
Second, Hot knife the top of the sail to smooth and narrow the luff rope at the head a bit.
Thanks Matt, great suggestions. I'll do both.