Quote:
Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass
The more I look at it the more it appeals . It would just need another clutch. We are not racing so adjustments don't have to be made simultaneously and a clutch would suffice.
SWL
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Did you give up the idea you were working on earlier, based on the setup I ended up with for sheet leads for my blade jib?
There were a couple of threads about it:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ar-146801.html
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...or-161287.html
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ib-143976.html
It sounds like you are now thinking about an old fashioned manual track after all, just with a strop and ring instead of a normal block? Or did I read you wrong there?
If so, don't do it! The ability to regulate sheeting angle from the
cockpit is essential to decent sail trim. Having to luff up and crawl out to the side decks every time you want to adjust sheeting angle -- like on my previous boat -- is something you will never go back to, if you've ever tried
remote control jib cars or any other system which allows you to do it from the
cockpit.
My system is similar to the Pogo system Evans mentioned, but for a big boat it gives triple
purchase. With the low friction eyes this gives incredibly smooth and easy regulation of the huge loads involved -- it's a revelation. The only downside is that this degree of
purchase requires very long control lines, but they are only 10mm so it's not in practice really a problem.
I have a large low friction eye spliced to the end of the control line, through which the sheet goes. The control line is looped through one of the strop-eyes, then back through the large eye at the end, then down through the second strop-eye, and from there through stanchion blocks to a turning block at the quarter, and back to the cockpit.
I'm using a clutch on the rail, and this is the key flaw in my system -- a
winch is occupied with this line unless I'm willing to crawl out to the rail to open and close the clutch. You should have a clutch within easy reach.
The purchase is so powerful that you don't even need to slack the sheet to adjust it, like you do with a regular towable car.
And the range of adjustment is huge -- more than any normal car and track. So the one setup, with one set of padeyes, would
work for headsails of different sizes.
Fine adjustment of sheeting angle is really extraordinarily useful for good sail trim. It's a primary control.
You don't want the strops to be too short or you won't be able to
work the third dimension -- hauling inboard and outboard, which is also extraordinarily useful. I believe in Antipodea, the racers call these "inf**kers" and "outf**kers". For the "in-whatever", I use my staysail sheet with a low friction eye soft shackled (using one of your generation 1 soft shackles -- thanks again for that) on. So using the staysail sheet I can pull the jib sheet lead inboard. The longish strops for the main part of the sheet lead then tilt inboard.
It is truly brilliant in operation, a great leap forward in sail control. I'd like to rip out my tracks and set up a similar system for my overlapping yankee.
Note that using the inhauler there will be a fair good bit of angle on the strops of the main lead, which magnifies the load on the system -- so you have to be sure that the whole system is strong enough. For you with welded on padeyes that won't be a problem, but I spent a lot of
money this year upgrading my padeyes after ripping out a few sets of them last year.
The strops themselves carry less load due to the purchase involved.
The low friction eyes have less friction than regular blocks, and they have far less "stiction" -- I don't know how to describe it -- resistance to getting moving in the first place. So a multiple purchase tackle is far smoother than one made with regular blocks. It is really a revelation.
Inboard-outboard control of the sheet lead also has a huge effect on sail trim. Regulating the size of the slot upwind has a big effect on air circulation and interaction between jib and main. Also the effect is similar to using the traveler on the main -- fine adjustment of angle of attack of the jib. Going back to the regular car system for my yankee (Lewmar Size 3 towable cars) feels like losing my traveler, or something.