Hello
I have replaced the mast on my 26X. The original one failed due to metal fatigue which is, I believe was a design fault, due to the use of steel bolts through the mast. I have successfully re-rigged with a second hand Hoby Cat 28' mast, however I can't remember how the ropes pass through the boom for reefing. The manual is vague about this. Can anyone let me know please?
Hi Bill , it is not standard for Macgregor boats to have lines fed through the boom or mast , normally just externally as an optional mod. You have the standard option of using the hook at the forward end of the boom to grab to cringle and then tie down the clew but for single line reefing you will need to..........
fix a line at the boom at a suitable place to outhaul the sail , then up and through reef clew cringle , down to pulley on opposite side level with outhaul point , forward to a pulley shackled to tack ring , up to pulley attached to forward reefing point on sail and down to pulley shacked near base of mast same side . After that back to cockpit either through cheek block and deck clutch or use a pulley with cleat incorporated . Some people just put forward line through the cringle and down on the other side but I found that crushes the sail rather than allows it to flake. I used a short length of line knotted at one end to allow fixing of my pulley ( or steel thimble ) . You might need to rivet extra D loop to boom to attach best outhaul point which can double as starting point , taken under boom , and also shackle point for pulley.
Hope that all makes sense . Roly
Thank you Roly.
That looks like a possible solution. However I am somewhat perplexed by the current setup in my boom. I attach a picture of one of 3 slots in the boom, two forward and one aft. The aft end (pictured) has a rope fixed somewhere inside the aft end of the boom (not immediately visible) and attached to a double block, which you can see. This double block can't come out of the slots. It looks like I may be able to feed a rope around the second part of this block and back to the forward section of the boom where there are two, slightly staggered slots. Please ignore the green garden string which could facilitate feeding the rope. All this looks like it has been standard on the boat since it was built in 1999 so I would imagine there may be other Macs with this arrangement. It was 3 years ago when the mast broke and I cannot be clear how it was all set up! I am guessing a second rope goes round the block with green string and then forward inside the boom to each forward slot. Any further comments? Thanks.
IMG_1974
Hi Bill , it may be that prior x owners can comment better but the position of pulley pictured would probably be good for the second reef clew line which might the to the D then go up and through the cringle, down through pulley and then forward to emerge around a pulley at foremost part of boom ,thence to thread as I said before around pulley along life of the sail. The first reef would likely go around a pulley that is in a slot at the very aft point boom and thread in a similar way. I think the pulley you show is only double so that it stops the line from popping out and jamming.
All a tidy system if it runs well. You might find there is an addition pulley at the clew of the sail for outhaul adjustment rope.
Roly
Hi Bill
The standard X did not have any in-mast or in-boom rigging, so what you have is a mod by a previous owner. I did something similar on my X to create an adjustable outhaul fed back to the cockpit. There's obviously many ways to configure such a custom arrangement, so it's impossible to say exactly how it's threaded. You'd probably have to take the boom off and remove the end caps to work out exactly how it's put together.
Rick Jones (Treasurer), former 26X & 19 owner, Isle of Wight
Many thanks for your comment Roly. That's interesting. The system you described looks more reliable so I think I will just use that. I did wonder why the blocks didn't come out.
By the way the second hand ex Hoby Cat 28' mast seems to work a treat with some modifications, although I haven't tested it yet. It cost me £300 instead of thousands for a new mast. Possibly the reason the original mast broke may be because I used the boat in the traditional way using a mooring rather than as a trailer sailor. More salt water corrosion and reaction with the steel bolts. The new setup has no bolts through the mast, only rivets and I have been able to re-use some of the Hoby Cat fittings. I have also used bottle screws on the shrouds as I was unhappy with the tension. When I have fully tested the rig I will post more information, as this mast failure may possibly happen to more owners as the boats get older.