Tried my gun mount spinnaker for the first time went great ,as easy as everyone says but not easy pulling it back into the chute
Does anyone have a solid neck similar to say the mirror dinghy chute or a way to make it easier to get the sail into the chure
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Happy to hear your spinnakering went well! I like the idea of a funnel into the bag, I similarly struggle, in part I think because of the angle of the retriever line. I wonder if such a thing could be DIY’ed. I’ll start thinking of ways to do it now that you’ve prompted the solution.
I have two spinnaker socks. One of them has a bunch of grommets that you secure to the gun mount square opening with a line. The other one has a fiberglass funnel-like opening. I haven’t tried either one, although I plan to try the first this week.
A guy called Wilfred Bishop posted an article on fabricating a hard chute for the spinnaker sock for an F21. If you search his name you may find it if it made the jump in servers. If not I should have a copy somewhere. Let me know if there is interest and I will find it.
On dousing the spinnaker, I just have a sock tied to the pulpit and I have no trouble as long as I make sure of the following.
- Make sure the bottom of the sock opening is secured to the base of the pulpit.
- If possible douse dead downwind
- Maintain tension on the halliard as you pull on the retrieval line.
I have no problems doing it this way but if you allow the spinnaker to billow out when dousing you will have difficulties
I am making one out of fibreglass looking at a deep washing bowl as my mold tunnel with a shaped top that fits over the pulpit to make it simpler to attach . The bag will be clamped to this chute with a jubilee clip Look at the mirror chute
Dry run both and see which folds the chute back in easiest
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Could you send me a photo of the fibreglass one please
I have also found that running the retrieval line inside vs outside the chute makes a difference. If the line runs in front of the chute (outside) this better for sail shape in light winds. If it runs behind the chute (inside) this is easier for retrieval.
Yes, you have to let in all three halyards to keep control as you pull on the retrieval line. Makes “single handed” sound like a joke. 
When I next get to the boat.
I was thinking of putting a piece of 2 inch diameter PVC pipe on the aft part of the pulpit opening so the retriever line and spinnaker would glide against it. If you look at the hard scoops its is pretty much the only part of them that touches line and sail under tention
Russ, you only need worry about the halliard and retrieval line, once retrieval is stopped by the tacks/clews you can let go of the retrieval line, unclear the tack/clew lines and then pull in the rest of the spinnaker, it is quite stable like this even in a blow.
Mitbok, I think you mean the fore part of the sock opening or the bar in the middle of the pulpit. But yes that is a great idea, the only time I have any trouble is getting the retrieval patch and attachment over that bar.
Here is the Shute made by Wilf Bishop, I found it not here but on the wayback backup of another site
wayback archive of modifications
Here it is:
spinnaker chute mouth.pdf (235.3 KB)
The bar in the middle of the pulpit. Was thinking of making a longitudinal cut in the pvc pipe and just sliding it over the bar. The chute is nice but way too much work. By the way what boats are we talking about here? I have the F 21
Yes you are right, I looked at it years ago and decided it was way OTT. As his wife said, plenty of other jobs to do around the house! I also have an F21, if you are interested I have posted videos of sailing in various locations here @Freedom_sailing. Russ has the bigger F25.
It’s not just about retrieval ,it’s also about the ease of fitting the chute
I intend to replace all the laces with a lip under the front bar and 4 toggle clips which simply clip over the pulpit sides
Yes, I have fixed length ties on each corner and bottom of the chute. These have small carabiners on their ends. So I first hook the bottom of the chute to the base of the pulpit, then the two front ties go over the rail and attach to the reinforcement strut on the corner (a small stainless rod cross brace) finally the rear ties go over bar around and clip back onto the ties. This holds all four corners tight and can be done in a few minutes. I also have a final carabiner on the end of the chute, which clips to the base of the stantion. It took some effort to get the tie lengths right but well worth it. I fixed it this year and it makes setting up the Shute much easier.
Hmmm… that sounds correct. I loosed the halyard and clew lines at the same time. Ended up with the clews in the water dragged under the boat. Next time I’ll keep them tight and just haul in the retrieval while loosing the halyard.
Dangit, I forgot. Next next time I’m on the boat.
