Technical assistance requested

The original main that came with my Boyer A cat has a ring attached to the head of the mainsail which engages a hook at the masthead. The small black foam block provides enough forward tension to allow the ring to move aft slightly as it hits the hook, and spring forward as it tops the hook, to engage. Works well. The sail is then forced up the luff groove(no hlyd), and the mast is rotated 90 degrees, and the sail pulled down to disengage from the hook. Pretty similar to many beachcats.
The newly acquired(used) sail has nothing to provide that slight forward tension. The ring hits the hook on the way up, is pushed aft, and stays there, not engaging the hook. I need a way to provide that small amount of forward pressure for the system to work properly. Ideas?

Dave

Use a slide in the track that is attached to the bottom of the ring with some shock cord. Tension to suit.

Probably wouldn't cost much to get an eyelet put in the same as the old sail.

If you don't have a halyard, how do you "force the sail up"? Isotopes have the same ring-and-hook design (which we call the "Howard Hook") and we tie the halyard on the ring at the clevis (where the black spacer block is on the first picture). That way, the pull on the halyard keeps the ring forward against the luff track.

Regards,
Eric

we've got a few guys that have the same setup and same problem. I wonder if you could sew in some webbing like this to help?

most A Cats do not have halyards, and almost all have problems with the hooks. Somebody needs to find a solution, and possibly make a buck!

nah...you have to "beeeeee the ring". nananananananan....


mine works just fine.

Think of the steps to lower the sail, push up, rotate away from the ring, pull down. Now do the same to hook the sail, rotate away from the hook, push up the final couple of inches, and rotate the hook into the ring, pull down onto the ring...

i was shocked when i first saw this myself... you simply feed the sail into the track.. and slide the sail up with your hands (pushing both sides of the sail). There is enough stiffness in the boltrope/sail to work...

Kind of like Jake was saying but use a little wood block. Put the block between the ring and the sail material. Tape it in place for starters.

Good luck,

Is the ring magnetizable? If it is a small magnet taped to the hook should do the trick... 316 is not magnetic, but who knows, if the sail maker cut some corners and sew in some 304, it may be.

And you can always superglue another magnet to the ring itself.

Easy-Hooking: Here is the real deal. Forget the sponge and wood bits.
I have been very happy with Goop on my ring's shackle: it is polyurethane glue with solvent, like ShoeGoo but much softer.
The trick is to put Goop in place on the shackle so that it cannot fall over sideways, and the ring is held in the correct position to hook properly.
THUS: Put some on and let it get a bit stiff (10 minutes), keeping it in place with a little masking tape. Then put the sail up, tipping the A-cat over if necessary to hook it, and go sailing. When you come back in- the sail is MAGICALLY in the correct position for unhooking and rehooking for some months.
Goop shrinks a little, so put a bit more on to restore Easy-Hooking. Goop does not really need to be permanently stuck to the sail's grommet

I do not believe that a magnet will stick to either aluminum or stainless stell

It will definitely not stick to aluminum, but it *may* stick to the lower grades of stainless steel (303 and 304) depending on how the ring was made.

304 is not magnetic either...most hardware is 316. Stainless starts to get magnetic when you get into the full hard variety around 17-4PH.

The prescribed method is for halyard-less main (ie push-ups)?