Traveller for staysail - how to rig ?

[ribbony]

On the deck in front of the mast we have a track for the staysail to self tack. It did not have anything on it apart from a car when we bought the boat. What should we put on it (rope/rigging) to use the staysail & stormsail effectively ?

photo attached

[starfish62]

You can get some ideas from Harken here:

Harken Self-tacking Jibs & Staysails

[ribbony]

Thanks for the Harken link.

All of the control lines run back on the Harken diagrams, is that necessary or can a block with cam be set and forget ?

[Pblais]

We have the track car led to a stand up block aft of the mid point so you get one traveler line and one sheet line to control the staysail plus the furling line. The traveler has a purchase to make it easy to control by hand though it can be used on the winch since it has a clutch. You set the distance from the center point using this line. The main sheet uses a cabin top winch and a clutch as well. The jib is on a roller furler and I like the setup just fine. Even in gale force winds you can work it. In a gale a reefed staysail is the ticket with a double reefed main. If you had to tack it is all self tacking. When the wind gets going you really don't want to deal with all the issues if there is only the two of you. With a full crew you can do a lot more. Above 35 knots it's just a bit dangerous to be fooling around with ropes. We won't even mention going forward.

[starfish62]

What Paul said: You need to be able to douse the sail without going forward, hence all of the lines are led aft. You can run another car on an outside track, if you have one. If not, you can do a multiple line clutch and serve the furling line and sheet from one winch.

[roger.waite]

Originally Posted by starfish62

What Paul said: You need to be able to douse the sail without going forward, hence all of the lines are led aft.

That is similar to my setup, except I have a double ended sheet running through a 6:1 pulley system. No need for winches, but it does stop sunbathing on the foredeck during gales.

One question for Paul & Starfish: How do you set up for heaving to without going forwards? (Or do you not heave to?)

[starfish62]

I've never heaved to. One would have to be able to sheet the stay to windward to do it, though, so that is a consideration. Blocks on the cars on the traveler?

[roger.waite]

Originally Posted by starfish62

I've never heaved to. One would have to be able to sheet the stay to windward to [heave to], though, so that is a consideration. Blocks on the cars on the traveler?

That's about where I got, but I am not at at all sure that my short fin keel will heave to well. So I was going to 'jury rig' lines around stanchions to the car to check out how the boat behaves when caught in stays.

Another "Round Tuit" ...