Hi all, bobbing around doing a blistering 3knots at 2 am and thinking of various boat improvements or mods.
Have many of you done away with the self tacking jib in favor of a larger headsail on a furler? If so, are you happy with the change? Or has anyone kept the camberspar and added a furler forward of it with a permanently mounted larger sail? Thoughts?
Cheers Dale
Freeform
End of next week, I will be installing my new headsail. We have ordered a somewhat flat cut tri-radial cruising spinnaker on a flexible (top down) furler. We designed it so the tack will be secured to the top of the bow pulpit, where the gun mount tube would normally be fastened. We have also designed a UV cover with zipper to go over the sail so we can leave it permanently installed. The cover will be pulled up by the Jib halyard. I’m planning to post pictures and give performance update once we’ve tried it out. Stay tuned.
Bob
Dale- I’m wonderimg if a bigger sail is going to be worth much. Giving up the self tacking gives me pause. I can see off the wind putting a spinnaker or reacher on the pulpit or on a removable bowsprit. I looked at a F36 that had been converted to a Hout jib boom with roller furling- looked good. I sailed a F36 ketch for over a decade and used a mizzen staysail I made from an old Ranger 33 jenny that I recut- downwind I could sail the main by the lee up to 30 degrees and use that stays’l and the mizzen to leeward, or r eachi g up all three sails in a row. I’m looking forward to closing on a F38 with an asymmetric and playing with thajt. Sailmon- I’m loki g forward to your reports as you begin sailing!
Thanks for the replies guys. I’ve mentioned previously that I’d purchased a jib top reacher. I’m really impressed. I don’t want to give up the blade jib as it’s advantages are obvious but the extra horsepower of the new sail up front really makes a difference, except I don’t want to go through the hassle of putting it up all the the time, want it there permanently. To me the jibtop is a light weight , rope luff genoa using code zero laminate, the problem is you can’t leave that stuff in the sun indefinitely. I’m interested in the cover you have designed , please keep us in the loop. I’m basically looking for away to have the advantages of the blade jib, lightweight jibtop and permanent roller furler.
I have a small asymmetrical, I’m not that impressed with it. I do like the idea of the hoyt boom. I’ve been at sea for the last week, as I get tired I hate getting on deck during the night, I want everything to be done from the cockpit. Roller furling is sounding more attractive.
Doing a refit when I reach Phuket in a couple of months so tossing around idea’s.
Cheers Dale.
Cheers and safe sailing, Dale! I have yet to see the asymmetric that goes with my potential,purchase as it was "lost"for a while. Hopefully it’s big enough to make a difference.
Well, the day finally came - installed our asymmetric on a Seldon GX 10 TD furler. Easy to roll out, easy to furl and adds some nice horse power. Same set up could be used with code 1 or code 0. I forgot to take picture of sunbrella pull-up cover.
Here are the pictures of the set up.
Nice! Thanks for posting the update and the pictures. Where did you mount the winches? What size? Any additional details on the set up would be great to hear. I’ve been thinking about doing this for years now…
I’ll be at the boat, end of this week and will take pictures of the cover and sheeting gear. General response to your questions, I snap shackled cheek blocks on toe rail just forward of stern pulpit. Starboard sheet is then led to the existing outboard winch under the dodger. I did same set up on port side and installed a small winch and cam cleat to left of companion way. Works well and (so far) does not interfere with people sitting in or moving about the cockpit.
Continuing to enjoy sail. Wishing it was a bit flatter. Can sail around 60 degrees apparent - would like to be able to point a little higher. Have attached pictures of furled sail (quite compact), furling gear, port winch, furler cam cleat, and swivel block at corner. We are having some difficulties with cover. Loft made cover relatively wide so it would easily slide up furled sail - pulled up by Jib halyard. Cover really whips in the wind - and becasue mast is unstayed, mast, lifelines, etc. shake pretty heavily. I wrapped the camberspar topping lift around the cover - which definitely tamed it… problem is the line chafed the cover making holes in several locations. Working on possible solutions.
Oops, missed one.
We are interested in converting/replacing our camber spar to something more manageable without going forward to raise or lower it. Has anyone looked into a lazy jack arrangement? Trying desparately to eliminate going forward especially in rough wind and sea conditions.
We are interested in converting/replacing our camber spar to something more manageable without going forward to raise or lower it. Has anyone looked into a lazy jack arrangement? Trying desparately to eliminate going forward especially in rough wind and sea conditions.
I’m thinking the flexible furler might be an option. We elected to put a flat cut asymmetrical on ours, but it could easily be used with code 0, code 1, screecher or genoa. Not sure about lazy jacks for jib. Our camber spar jib did not fall very easily and I typically ended up going to fore deck to pull it down. I tried a down haul - but with little success. One of our goals was to clear the foredeck for easier anchoring and docking. Furler on the foresail did the trick.
If you do a search you will find a post from Mark Edwards with a sketch of a couple of different jib containment systems he worked up. I haven’t tried them.
I am following the suggestion of Dwight Escalera, also found on this board. Disconnect the topping lift from the end of the camberspar. To douse jib bring the boat head to wind, sheet it in to the center line and let go of the halyard. The weight of the spar will bring 90 per cent or more of the jib right down on the deck. Wait until you reach calm waters to go forward to tidy it up. Then clip halyard to the aft end of the spar and adjust height to your preference. I like being able to haul it up high to put the cover on, and then lower it to where it would be fixed in position if the topping lift was in place. It works well for me.
You should also read the posts from those who have converted to roller furling. It is a bit pricey. I have personally talked (in real time) with one owner who wishes he hadn’t done it (he complained about the complexity and the jib being blanketed downwind just like a “normal” rig).
Hi Bob, when I leave my jibtop reacher up (in sock) when the wind picks up it also shakes the mast alot, I was wondering if your idea would be better.
Hey Dale,
Furler has been great success. We continue to refine the cover. When the loft first cut it, they made the diameter too wide (based on the diameter of the rolled sail in the loft) . In a breeze, it acted like a flag, whipping back and forth. Now that the sail is on the boat and furled with just a bit of resistance from the sheet, it rolls up to a much smaller diameter - small enough that they are actually able to cut the cover diameter in half. They are also installing cris-crossed lines through loops on the cover so we can (hopefully) cinch it tight once it is pulled up. I’m picking it up later this week and will send pictures as soon as I have it installed.
Bob
Neat! Thanks for the info!
Thanks Bob.
9 yrs ago I installed a Forespar LeisureFurl Offshore boom replacing my main…and a Harken rolling furler system for my jib…this was mainly done for safety and to simplify adjustments as I single hand my Pedrick 35. 3 yrs ago I added an asymmetrical spinnaker using a Karver KSF system attached to a fabricated sprit attached to the second anchor roller. All 3 systems function as expected and are worth all the money invested when the weather goes all to hell.