Posted by crwindy@…> (crwindy@…>)
Does anyone know which “whale” manual bilge pump was supplied as standard on
the Freedom 36 (1987). Mine says 'Whale" and made in the UK, but doesn’t state
the name. This is, of course the manual bilge pump.
I wrote a very long-winded tome on basic gun mount spinnakers a few
years ago. A girlfriend at the time was interested in step-by-step
instructions on it. The girl is long gone but the blather I wrote
about gun mount spinnakers got reposted at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freedomyachts2003/message/454
Are you asking if the pole can be carried off center in the gun
mount? Yes it can, within reason. Does it get you anything? Yes, a
little, sometimes. Should you do it? Probably not, you are taking a
simple, balanced easy spinnaker and making it into a wrestling
match. I also eyeballed and played with the numbers of how much more
bending force there is in the pole by carrying it off center. I
suspect that the pole could simply fold up if you aren`t careful.
I got some positives carrying the pole off center in 2 circumstances:
running and pointing as high as possible. Reaching with the pole off
center got me nothing that I could see.
Running I can extend the pole to windward about 3-4’ and get near
perfect balance on the helm (I`m on a Hoyt 32, BTW.) My theory is it
either puts more sail to windward to balance the big mainsail to
leeward or it changes the shape of the sail and puts the maximum
camber more to windward. Either would put the drive of the chute more
to windward. Whatever the reason, the boat often can be made to
balance perfectly. That sounds great but really the balance with the
pole on-center isn’t bad to begin with. I have a wind vane, though,
and it does steer better with careful balance. Running you can set
the windward rein up hard and get some of the bending force off the
pole (maybe, I think.) Still, you’ve got to be careful with this.
Don’t expect a long, unsupported pole to carry a great deal of force
and, believe me, the spinnaker is very capable of supplying it in
great abundance.
Pointing, you can extend the pole ahead of the boat and get a
straighter luff on the chute. That will let you point a bit higher
with the chute up. There’s 2 troubles with this, though; you must re-
lead the reins to somehow hold the pole out like that and, second,
you cannot brace the extra pole sticking out the front of the boat in
any way from the side-to-side force. Woo-WEE, do you have to be
conservative here. The entire load of the windward clew is carried by
the long unsupported pole sticking out to front. In any wind over,
say, 5 knots or so the force really starts to build quickly. I had
visions of the pole simply folding at the gun mount sleeve. I’d avoid
this one in anything but near calm winds.
Having said all the above, it was great fun experimenting but now
just leave the pole centered all the time and enjoy a low stress
life. Gun mount spinnakers work great just the way they are.
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