Winterizing a stepped furling mast:
When the sailboat is in the water with its mast up with no main sail furled, every time the boat rocks with the flow, the inside furler hits the internal side of the mast and make a very annoying noise. Soon as the main sail is hoisted and furled there is no more noise.
When the mast is left stepped and the sailboat is on the hard, the main sail is removed and stored for the winter. Then the inside main furler is left free and will hit the inside wall of the mast every time the wind cause vibration. To prevent this to happen some people will insert pieces of carpet inside the opening of the mast. My question is how to insert the carpet and how far up the mast. Then is the spring how is the carpet removed?
TIA