[quote=benedict]You guessed it: while lowering the sail. As you said, I think what happens is the halyard loses tension and the free loops of halyard go every which way. One loop jammed up in the ratchet mechanism so bad it cut strands in the halyard. In the end I had to cut the halyard with a Leatherman and drop the sail that way.
Even including the day when I was teaching a friend how to back a boat, and he ran our Prindle up on rocks at about 15 knots, AND the day when my dogbone separated while I was out on a wire trying to outrun a storm, AND the day when... yeah... the P-Cat Halyard Jam Day ranked up there with the worst. I was right there with you on just setting fire to the thing and swimming ashore. I swear my family thought I was Captain Bligh. Damn near got shoved out in the longboat for that one.
The winch jam was what prompted removing the winch from the mast. The halyard was in there so hard, there was no way I was getting it out without pulling the whole thing. I did finally get the old one out, though. Yesterday I put everything back together and installed a new main halyard. So far so good.
I think the reason this happens is that there is nothing on the P-Cat winch that actually constrains the halyard to stay on the winch drum. Adding a roller or just a rub plate to the bottom of the winch that spans the entire width of the winch drum would probably do the trick. It's easy enough to remove the rivets that hold the winch in the mast, so I might go back and do this at some point. There's plenty of meat on the winch frame to bolt something on that would do the job.
A better approach, and the one I started to draw on the new winch I plan to make, is to make the side plate on the ratchet side fatter, and to recess the ratchet into the side plate. That way the halyard just can't get in there to foul things up. But that's a project for another day. Meanwhile I've got my boat back and I plan to sail it. But I'm going to be a LOT more careful when lowering the main.
And no worries on taking time to post your pictures of 291. Some things take precedence over digging through dusty boxes. Sailing ranks pretty high in that list of things that take precedence! So does eating, sleeping, and spending time with family.
Cheers,
Tom[/quote]
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