Thanks to all. The mast is scheduled t come down in about a week. I'll let you know what I find. What I have not been able to find is a schematic drawing of the internals of the masthead so I can get an idea of what I should see...if anyone has that I'd appreciate it!

After doing some on-line research I found a website from Sparcraft/Charleston spars that suggested sending in the "mast identification & traceability number" with any inquiries.... who knew that even existed??? According to them, the number could be engraved near the gooseneck (not in my case) or it could be engraved near"the inboard end" quote - unquote>.

Assuming that last meant the bottom of the mast, I pulled off the cover from the mast in the main cabin and , lying on my side with a magnifying glass in one hand and a flashlight in the other, I found an engraved number"W/O 1967". The engraving is the type you might find on a piece of jewelry so it was very hard to see, not to mention it was more toward the front of the mast than on the side where it would be easier to see.

I've sent that in to Sparcraft in NC so we'll see if they can provide any guidance. I still have not been able to get a clear schematic/drawing  of what the masthead /sheaves  should look like. I'll let you know what I find out.

Paul... removing that plate does give access to the sheaves. However, in my case, the lines were not jammed at that point so I'm still poking around trying to see where the slide is jamed, or more correctly, why its jammed.

Paul...

It came down about 4' and then jammed. If it's what you suggest, I should be able to bring it back up but that's hard too.

The mast came down Sunday so now I have to sort out the lines and do a better, up-close check on what's happening

I'm having someone look at it but, as of today, I can see that the top of the furling device is not fastened to anything at the masthead. The top is hard to see but looking in the slot on the aft side of the mast it does look like the top has a shiny, "wear" ring around the top which extends about an inch down. 

This seems to indicate that it was inserted into some type of fixture that must have broken as I can't see how the whole furler would have dropped down about an inch. At the moment I'm assuming, always a danger, that not being attached at the top is causing the slide to which the main is attached to lean against the side of the mast, the weight of which is causing the jam.

Anyone else have a problem like this? My masthead has the plate on top that has two screws holding it in. We did get it opened a week ago but now I can't get it open to see if I can get a better look. I'll wait for the expert to take a look.

Looks like we found the problem. Had to bring in an experienced rigger   so when I say "we", I'm using that term very loosely... they worked & I watched, but I did learn something.

We had to take the head swivel off the mast. To do that, there are 4 screws, 2 on each side of the mast close to where the line furls into the mast. Surprisingly, after taking those out, the furling foil  around which the sail wraps, slides out fairly easily. However, here's the 1st thing I learned; after 22 years, those screws are very happy where they were and didn't want to move. It took some BPBlaster, heat and and some serious pounding with an impact driver to break them free. 

These screws are visible when the mast is up. The rigger suggested hitting them with the PBBlaster and trying to loosen them every so often even if you're not trying to take them out so it isn't an issue when you do have to take the mast apart..... up to you!

After we got the head swivel off , first, we found it does not look like the picture of the mast that came with the boat which is a copy another posted on this site. The inner ring of the swivel, which seems to be a hard plastic or something similar, has a ridge running from top to bottom. This ridge is what fits into the slot  on the furler foil.

Somehow, about half of this raised ridge tore  inside the swivel. It didn't break off, it just bent out of the slot and jammed into the side of the mast when the main sail was pulled down. So, now to get a replacement swivel and reassemble. 

While I flush the bearings in the furler whenever I can, the bearings seemed very stiff and, on the recommendation of the experts, I'm replacing those too since the mast is down. In retrospect, I realize that it was becoming more and more difficult to pull the main out using the out-haul line (I have been going up on the deck and manually hauling on the sail) so this should help.

Hope this helps others who may be experiencing the same issues!

Regards,
Chuck Parker
 

One last update on replacing the bearings. Seems they no longer replace just the bearings. Since the mast is down & the boat is a 2002, I figured may as well fix it the right way but I have to replace the whole unit of the furling section... $1,600 just for that part but not even two boat bucks so whose counting.

Re my main sail not coming down, attached is a picture of the slide with the inside "rail" ripped upward at about a 30 degree angle. This is what prevented the slide from coming down as it jammed into the side of the mast.

As previously mentioned, my rigger couldn't get the bearings replaced and I was running out of time to get the mast up (we hold "mast parties" at our marina and share the cost, about $200 a person. If I missed the party, it would have cost me about $2,000 to get the crane truck in on my own).

I replaced the whole furling unit at a cost of $1,600. However, if anyone has the ability/capacity to replace the bearings, or knows a company that can do it and needs the unit,  I'll sell the old unit for $195 plus shipping (it's pretty heavy). I don't know if it makes a difference but my mast is a 2002 tall rig.

Regards,
Chuck Parker

Well, thought the new furling gear would completely solve the problem but still issues. I can unfurl it but it takes a lot of winch grinding.

The latest issue is the boom car. In researching this I found that it is not an uncommon problem on furling mains, specifically that the car sticks instead of sliding out toward the aft end of the boom. I'm 98.3% sure the car has ball bearings but my rigger thinks there are what he called "rails" in the car that slide along the top of the boom.

the problem seems to be the car "sticks" in a spot then, as you can see in the picture, the out-haul pulls up, rather than out, on the car.(for some reason when I downloaded it the picture came out upside down but I think you will get the idea). So he suggested a jury rig so simple I have to wonder why I didn't think of it. We tied off the car at the aft end of the boom. (Another picture though not as easy to see).The length of the out-haul line gives a more moderate angle of pull that allows the main to come out. However, by tieing the car off the outhaul was too short so I had to get a new, longer line.... being 22 years old it was time anyway.

I'm using this while we check with Sparcraft re the car. Maybe a new car will work better.

Hope this helps others with the same problem.