DaySailer.org Forum

I took my boat out a couple weekends ago, and had some trouble with hoisting the mainsail.

It would go to within a couple feet of the top, then seemed like it was binding. I ended up dropping the mast and checking the bolt rope in the slot, and everything worked fine while laying down, even using the halyard.
I restepped the mast, and tried again, it still took several tries to get the sail to a workable level. With my gooseneck slot, I can run the boom a little lower than normal. It sailed fine the rest of the trip, and everything unbent properly at the end of the weekend.
I think the problem is the wooden sheaves on the mast-head and mast-base. Has anyone replaced these on an older Proctor tapered mast, and where could I find replacements? The lower block is held in place with screws, but the mast-head block has some kind of rivets, I believe going through the whole assembly.
I took some pictures, but still need to upload them. Any help is always appreciated.

Here's the masthead:


I'm thinking I need to cut the rivets, then just replace them with SS bolts.



Mastbase:


It's already held in by screws. Once I get the sheaves removed and measured, who should I call about replacements?

someplace on this site someone mentioned you could get sheaves at home depot or lowes ( not sure which one they said)
You may want to look into it.

with your boat in the water, if you have problems, just put the boat on the beach and tip the boat by pulling on the line, the boat should come right over and you can check things out.
( saw that someplace on this site too) More info here that you can shake a stick at!

I replaced the Sheaves in the heelplug of my old Proctor tapered mast a year ago (I have a 3 Sheave Heel plug). Measured and bought the new sheaves from Rig-Rite, great price and fast service: http://www.rigrite.com/

Also spoke to someone at Proctor USA. He was also very nice, although the price was a little higher. Proctor USA: http://www.proctormasts.com/

The hardest part of the replacement was removing the pin on which the sheaves ride, without damaging the heel plug. I ended up having a friend at his auto garage drive it out with a very large nail-set type of thing. Everything works great now.

Chris

Also, the pictures of your mast sections (top & bottom) do not look like my mast, different heel plug and mast head. My boat is a 1968 # 3157 and the tapered mast is not gold, although the boom is.

Pictures of the Proctor parts can be found at the LDC Racing Sailboat site: http://shop.ldcracingsailboats.co.uk/index.asp

From the pictures you may be able to identify the replacement parts that fit your mast.

I got the heel plug (even though it's not plugging the heel) and the masthead removed. Actually, the heel plug is still hanging from the halyard, someone used an overhand (hitch on a bight?) knot which I only have partially untied.

The sheave axle fell right out of the masthead when I got it removed from the mast. It looks like Rig-Rite may have the right sheaves, but I'll need to figure something out for the axle also.

I'll get more pictures up later of the removed components.