Fit a fat head into a roller furling boom (square top)

[ryantrollip]

Anyone managed to squeeze a fat head (40-60% ) into a roller boom? Sailmaker is hesitant based on the diagonal gaff batten and amount of stiffness needed in the head. 70 Sqm sail.
Figured I can either remove the gaff batten when putting the sail away or maybe it will roll if I manually pull the sail down and out of the feeder before the gaff goes into the mandrel. For the stiffness maybe there is a way to stiffen in other ways? with the batten arrangement?
Setup:
Leisure furl 6m boom, 15m tri, unfortunately no outside track for batten cars, but a aluminum groove for a bolt rope sewed into the sail.
Would like to keep the roller if possible since I single hand often, and it’s quite handy for reefing when you figure out how not to jam it.

[psk125]

Getting a square top sail to set properly usually involves a gaff batten because that's the best (read: most effective, cheap, easily done, light, simple, and quick) way to do it. Other routes to achieve the required stiffness might work, but have other downsides. Stiffening the material in the head of the sail would add weight and might negatively impact the shape of the foil; both not good. This is a big sail for singlehanding, so the desire for r/f is understandable. We've had full-length battens run in our mast groove with no problems, so the sailmaker should be able to work out the loads for your setup to somehow keep it sliding smoothly. Removing the gaff batten when dropping the sail may be the best solution if you're willing/able to do that each time. It could be a hassle, however. How much improvement in performance are you expecting, compared to a heavily roached sail that wouldn't have this problem?

[ryantrollip]

I would expect only modest gains in light wind but I do like the gust response and trimming advantages of a fathead.
Since I'm to replace the main anyway figured I might as well put in the extra effort of figuring this out.

Looks like manual batten removal seems like the best option
Did find a sailmaker that has some experience with these and the furling booms/tracks. Seems the luff wear is quite high though as a result of the extra loads up there.

Originally Posted by psk125

Getting a square top sail to set properly usually involves a gaff batten because that's the best (read: most effective, cheap, easily done, light, simple, and quick) way to do it. Other routes to achieve the required stiffness might work, but have other downsides. Stiffening the material in the head of the sail would add weight and might negatively impact the shape of the foil; both not good. This is a big sail for singlehanding, so the desire for r/f is understandable. We've had full-length battens run in our mast groove with no problems, so the sailmaker should be able to work out the loads for your setup to somehow keep it sliding smoothly. Removing the gaff batten when dropping the sail may be the best solution if you're willing/able to do that each time. It could be a hassle, however. How much improvement in performance are you expecting, compared to a heavily roached sail that wouldn't have this problem?

[thinwater]

I would definitely lean to the lower end of the range (40% or less). In addition to stowage and structural problems, think about the shape of a deeply reefed 60% square top. It is a rectangle.


I've had both square top and high roach. Don't buy the sales BS. In fact, while writing an article on square tops, one sailmaker after another said that they were a fashion accessory for cruisers, not something useful. They all said they would NOT buy one for that purpose. Frankly, it will look like you made a weird choice.


The gust response is not, plainly speaking, better. In fact, in lighter winds, they require more active trimming than a high roach sail, because the leach will try to close up on you. The gust response is only better, in a material way, for twitchy boats that are pushing it.


I like them better on a light, planing or multihull race boat, and less on anything else. Or a performance cruising multihull, but not a Lagoon or similar, where it just looks stupid.


Just sayin'.

[ryantrollip]

this is for a 50 tri, not a racer but can hang in the teens

[Franziska]

Just a thought.

Why do you not roll it up until the batten and than fold it over to the outside?
We don't have a roller, but that's what I do to get the fathead under the sailcover.
Batten stays in.
The part of the batten is than hidden by the boom and rest of the sail, so winda is not an issue..