Mahe 36: Rig and Sails

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Hi all,
I am considering a code 0 or screacher. I am hoping to get better performance in long trips in TWA of 60-110 degrees in lighter winds. Plus I would like to use it in winds of 110 - 180 including goosewing, when I don't want to use the spi; e.g stronger or very variable wind.

Anybody who has experiences with this, preferably on the Mahe and comparable cats?
Some questions:
a. Use it on the bowsprit, or swap it with the jib on the standard furler?
b. dacron, nylon or Hydranet?
c. Sheets inside or outside the side stays?
d. Mount an extra traveller or use the spi blocks at the rear?
e. Continuous or one-line furler?
f. What increase in performance to expect? Is it worth the trouble and money?

Looking forward to hear from you,
Jef

[Eric66]

Hi Jef (post #148)

nice improvement! I'll put that on my "to do" list.

But a real additional benefit is that the sheet stays on the protection rail.
See on the picture how my rail is worn out to the rear.
This happens when you are "winching" with the sheet not in the designed position.
The rail is at least 10CM too short.

All the best,

Eric.

[MKB53]

Hi Eric

On my Mahe the rail got flipped off when a sheet snagged the edge like you show. I replaced the rail with a home made nylon block that is chamfered at both ends to allow the sheet to slide up easily if it goes off the rail.
You could chamfer the original block but I made mine a little longer.

Cheers
Martin

[MKB53]

Hi Jeff

Terminology for these sails is sometimes confusing so my understanding is:
Code 0 : Large essentially flat cut sail for upwind work in light winds
Schreecher : can be either a Code 0 or Gennaker depending on which country you are in.

The Code 0 apparently has very high loads so you would want to validate whether the bow sprit will take the load. I think the rig itself is pretty strong.

My Gennaker is not a Code 0, it is more fully cut than that. It works very well with apparent wind ~50deg through to about 130deg but is not very good at deep angles. Not sure what TWA that would be. The lighter the wind the higher you can sail. In a nice beam reach or closer it is great sailing.

Some questions:
a. Use it on the bowsprit, or swap it with the jib on the standard furler?
-- I would use it on the bowsprit to give you the extra size. You should be able to use the SPI furler, The new Facnor ones have a quick release as far as I know. I am getting a Selden which does have a quick release pin.
b. dacron, nylon or Hydranet?
-- Typically these are nylon but I don't have experience of the others.
c. Sheets inside or outside the side stays?
-- Outside, rig the same as the spinnaker. I take the sheets between the forestay and gennaker which makes tacking a little harder but it eliminates the possibility of dropping the sheet under the bow. As we only have the one winch (port aft) your control of the lazy sheet is not great when gybing. Worse case you furl and unfurl on the other tack.
d. Mount an extra traveller or use the spi blocks at the rear?
- Rig as for the spinnaker using the standard turning blocks.
e. Continuous or one-line furler?
-- Continuous. I am just replacing my drum furler as it is near useless. It needs too much line for the drum (unless you fit a big unit) and continually jams both furling and unfurling. With the right technique you can minimise this but it always jams at inconvenient times. You either run out of turns when furling in strong wind or you put more turns on and then it jams.

f. What increase in performance to expect? Is it worth the trouble and money?
I have not really measured this objectively but you certainly feel the difference in the power. As you have the assymetric to cover all the off wind angles you may not get as much benefit. That said I am about to get an assymetric to complement my Gennaker.

Cheers
Martin

[MKB53]

Just to clarify, my comments are for a gennaker and a true code zero may be different in some respects such as sheeting points.

[MKB53]

Guys

I have just found excessive wear in the pivot hole on one side of the gooseneck on the boom.

It seems that this has been caused by the fact that the threaded portion of the bolt was too long and was grinding away at the bearing surface of the joint.

This may have been fitted by the local riggers but it would pay to check that the smooth portion of the bolt shaft is long enough to go all of the way through!

Cheers
Martin

[lstyles]

I need to replace my halyard. Does anyone know long it is?
thanks,
Lori

[MKB53]

Hi Lori

The lengths of all halyards and sheets are in the documentation supplied by FP with the boat. The operating manual.
If you can't find it let me know and I will dig it out.

Cheers
Martin

[lstyles]

I need to replace my halyard. I went from double purchase to single purchase years ago and now want to switch back. As I remember the original configuration the end of the halyard was tied off at top of mast and then ran to a block attached to the top of the mainsail and then went back up to top of mast to sheave and then back down mast to blocks and ultimately the winch. If I am correct that would mean that at a minimum it would travel three times the height of the mast (above goosneck) and then across the cabin top? I looked in my users manual and it says the main halyard is 35 meters. That seems too short because the same manual says that the distance from gooseneck to top of mast ("P") is 13.46 meters. If I triple the 13.46 meters I am already at 40+ meters and haven't added in the part to go across the cabin top. What am I doing wrong here with my measurements? Or is the 35 meters they list incorrect? I clearly don't want to buy a halyard and find out its too small!
thanks,
Lori

[Cotemar]

Lori,

You are correct that the original 2-1 halyard configuration was tied off at top of mast and then ran to a Lewmar block attached to the top of the mainsail and then went back up to top of mast to a sheave and then back down the mast to a block at the gooseneck and then to the winch.
Yes, it would have to travel three times the height of the mast (above gooseneck) and then 10 feet across the cabin top.

Here is what I calculate:
The ("P") value is 13.460 mm X 3 = 40,380 mm
Add 3480 mm to cross the deck
Total is 43,860 mm or 143.89 feet

Mark

[lstyles]

Is anyone else concerned that the owner's manual is so far off? I would really be upset if I had ordered 35 meters and it was too short. These halyards aren't exactly cheap! I will order 150 ft to be safe.
Lori

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Lori,
Maybe they mixed up the length of the halyard with the length of the sheet? The mainsail sheet is actually 35 meters.

I would suggest that you consider the stretch of he mainsail halyard. The original red halyard is quite a standard type of polyester, strong enough but not low-stretch. Dyneema would of course be better but expensive. Maybe you can find some low-stretch polyester?

Anyhow, I would not take red; having sheet and halyard in the same color is really impractical. Next year I will swap the red mainsail sheet with one of the light-green spifurl sheets, which have nearly the same length. Plus it is nice to have red and green for the two spi sheets....

[lstyles]

HI,
Thats what I was thinking about the halyard color. The fact that the main and halyard were the same color has always annoyed me!
Lori

[jean1146]

I agree with you guys,it can be confusing having the same color.Not time yet to replace them.
JC.

[MKB53]

Hi Guys

I would appreciate some of your experience on using continuous line furlers.

I have just fitted one to replace the drum furler on my Gennaker.
My plan is to run the furling line back down the port deck via a guide where the current furling line turning block is. (Port just aft from the forebeam).

The sailmaker said that you can just tie it off at the cleat when it is furled. Another skipper told me to keep some tension on the line via a snatchblock aft.

Tension the line easily using a snatch block is easy enough.

What do you use to lead the line to the port bow before running aft?

As it is a continuous loop you can't run it through blocks unless you use 2 snatchblocks there as well. I am thinking that it could go through a s/steel ring/guide as there won't be much load on it.

I am interested in what you guys have done and how FP rig the standard Spi-furl.

Regards
Martin