[quote=aaronhall555][quote=aaronhall555]*Not sure if this is the same for the Trac 18*
I have a AMF Trac 16, and the downhaul line is tied to the mast via an eye strap and is used to tie the mast to the crossbeam to keep the mast on the ball while stepping the mast. Once the mast is stepped and secured by the stays(standing rigging) the downhaul is untied from keeping the mast on the ball, since the mast is now held on the ball by the stays, while the downhaul line is still tied to the mast via an eye strap and then looped through the tack of the sail and through another eye strap on the mast and up in to a jam cleat on the mast to apply the downhaul on the mainsail.
This process must be reversed in order to unstep the mast. Must retie the downhaul to the crossbeam before detaching the headstay.
NOTE! There is a specific way to tie the downhaul line for keeping the mast on the ball while stepping, if done incorrectly you can pull/rip the eye straps off the mast and/or crossbeam!
I'm still rather new to sailing as well, so once I take my Trac 16 out this weekend I'll take some picture of the process I attempted to explain above...[/quote]
This is how my downhaul line is secured when ready to transport on the trailer:
[img]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g307/imaaronhall/photo-76.jpg[/img]
This is how I position the mast before I secure it to the crossbeam to hold the mast on the ball:
[img]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g307/imaaronhall/photo-78.jpg[/img]
This is how I start to tie the mast to the crossbeam, the downhaul line is tied to one of the eye straps on the side of the base of the mast with a bowline knot, then fed through the forward side of the mast eye strap and down through an eye strap on the crossbeam:
[img]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g307/imaaronhall/photo-79.jpg[/img]
The downhaul line then goes back through the forward side of the mast eye strap and down through the other eye strap on the crossbeam:
[img]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g307/imaaronhall/photo-80.jpg[/img]
Then to finish tying it off I go back through the forward side of the mast eye strap again and do a clove hitch knot(or what should be a clove hitch knot) around the mast:
[img]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g307/imaaronhall/photo-81.jpg[/img]
Here is how it looks when the downhaul line is applying the downhaul on the mainsail. The downhaul line is tied to the eye strap on the side of the mast base without the jam cleat with a bowline knot and then fed through the tack of the mainsail and through the eye strap on side of the mast base with the jam cleat and fed in to the jam cleat to cleat it off:
[img]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g307/imaaronhall/photo-77.jpg[/img]<!-- editby --><em>Edited by aaronhall555 on Jun 19, 2011 - 08:29 PM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
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