Adding a drifter to the sail inventory with a furled headsail

[Josephcrawl]

I would like to sew up a drifter for our boat but we have a furler. It's a profurl so a complete ass pain to change sails on it.

The options as I see them are to add a solent stay or use those weird bead type Hank loops around the furled sail.

How well do those beads work?

Our last boat had Hank on and a drifter and we used the drifter more than we didn't. I guess we could go asymmetric but it was awfully nice to be able to point. What are the other options I'm not thinking of.

Thanks

[nuku34]

How about more detail on the type, size, use, cruising area, etc. of your boat? Your options are to some extent dependant on these variables.
If you want to point, then an asymmetric isn't an option. You might get to about 75 degrees with a flat cut asymmetric in light winds.
To me, those "bead" things look like a nightmare to get up and down over a furled headsail. Another "clever idea" that might work ok on a small (under 30ft) yacht in very mild weather.
You could make a drifter with a wire luff and set it flying free of a stay, but you will get a significant sag in the luff even with a very solid tack point on the deck and a powerful halyard system.
A removable Solent stay is probably your best option. I can't think of any other. The Solent stay can also be used for a "blade" jib in winds above the range of the furler headsail. This is my use of my solent stay. I have a 32ft sloop BTW.

[rgleason]

Sew an appropriate sized amsteel line into the drifter and mount it ahead of your furler if you can. The loads are all lighter.

[Josephcrawl]

Originally Posted by nuku34

How about more detail on the type, size, use, cruising area, etc. of your boat? Your options are to some extent dependant on these variables.
If you want to point, then an asymmetric isn't an option. You might get to about 75 degrees with a flat cut asymmetric in light winds.
To me, those "bead" things look like a nightmare to get up and down over a furled headsail. Another "clever idea" that might work ok on a small (under 30ft) yacht in very mild weather.
You could make a drifter with a wire luff and set it flying free of a stay, but you will get a significant sag in the luff even with a very solid tack point on the deck and a powerful halyard system.
A removable Solent stay is probably your best option. I can't think of any other. The Solent stay can also be used for a "blade" jib in winds above the range of the furler headsail. This is my use of my solent stay. I have a 32ft sloop BTW.

Apologies for a lack of details. The boat is a 35 foot cutter rig. Our current cruising is coastal with off shore aspirations.

Thanks

[cdcorl]

Check out the Code Zero option. We added one over a year ago and use it often while cruising the Caribbean

[Pete7]

Joseph, do you have an emergency forestay? How do you rig a storm jib?

Our emergency forestay doesn't get used for much and lives attached to the baby stay out of the way but could be used to support either a spare jib for twin head sails, a storm jib or a drifter.

Pete

[ScottMeilicke]

My first thought is a free flying code zero as well. But if you have a sail loft you trust, talk to them before you do anything.

[Josephcrawl]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Joseph, do you have an emergency forestay? How do you rig a storm jib?

Our emergency forestay doesn't get used for much and lives attached to the baby stay out of the way but could be used to support either a spare jib for twin head sails, a storm jib or a drifter.

Pete

Our staysail has a reef and it's what we would fly in a storm jib situation.

[Dreamcatcher34]

So are you in reality looking for a larger headsail on a furler eg by Selden to permanent sit in front of your existing headsail in summary to give greater close winded headsail area? We have double headsails permanent rigged on furlers. The inner one is a self tacker and tends to have most use as means one person can easily helm ,tack etc while the crew sleep,cook,sunbath etc. The outer headsail has to be furled in to tack as the gap between the stays is narrow so it’s not much use really tacking close winded or in busy waters etc but great for long cross channel runs or down wind in a blow without the main in use. We have been looking at investing in what might be termed a cruising sail for down wind to be attached on a demoutable Karver type furler but clearly not a cheap option once you price up the light wind sail and furler plus you might also need a small Bob stay depending on sail I guess.
I’m not really certain I know what you mean by a drifter sail though ? To my mind this implies downwind sailing but clearly you have in mind a close reaching sail?

[Marathon1150]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Sew an appropriate sized amsteel line into the drifter and mount it ahead of your furler if you can. The loads are all lighter.

Our drifter is configured this way after we added roller furling for the genoa. The sail loft suggested that we would likely use the drifter more often if we didn't have to take the genoa off the furler in order to use the drifter. So he took the hanks off the drifter and added a rope luff rope. I suspect that he was right.

Given that we only use the drifter in light winds, the load is light as noted in the quote from a previous post. We don't have a sock. Getting the drifter up is pretty easy but getting it down is more challenging but we almost always manage to keep it out of the water. The challenge is not enough to keep us from using the drifter.

We installed an inner forestay for a stay sail and the storm jib. This was a really expensive bad idea and I would never do it again knowing what I know now. I would definitely not install an inner forestay for a drifter.

[FabioC]

Add a cruising asymmetric or a Code 0 and fly it either from a block in front of the forestay, if you have room to install it, or using a contraption like the one that ATN sells to run an asymmetric from a brace around the furled jib.

[Josephcrawl]

Originally Posted by Dreamcatcher34

So are you in reality looking for a larger headsail on a furler eg by Selden to permanent sit in front of your existing headsail in summary to give greater close winded headsail area?

I’m not really certain I know what you mean by a drifter sail though ? To my mind this implies downwind sailing but clearly you have in mind a close reaching sail?

I mean drifter in the sense of a ripstop nylon headsail that in effect is a large Genoa that is light enough to fly well in light winds. The last one we had would point just about as well as a normal genoa. We would run it up to about 10 knots then swap it out. This was hanked on not furled.

I'm not the biggest furler fan and have no interest in adding a second one. Plus it is well beyond my budget.

[Josephcrawl]

Originally Posted by Marathon1150

Our drifter is configured this way after we added roller furling for the genoa. The sail loft suggested that we would likely use the drifter more often if we didn't have to take the genoa off the furler in order to use the drifter. So he took the hanks off the drifter and added a rope luff rope. I suspect that he was right.

Given that we only use the drifter in light winds, the load is light as noted in the quote from a previous post. We don't have a sock. Getting the drifter up is pretty easy but getting it down is more challenging but we almost always manage to keep it out of the water. The challenge is not enough to keep us from using the drifter.

How high can you point with this configuration?

Thanks

[Disailor]

Marathon 1150
"We installed an inner forestay for a stay sail and the storm jib. This was a really expensive bad idea and I would never do it again knowing what I know now. I would definitely not install an inner forestay for a drifter."

If you installed an inner forestay for a stay sail and the storm jib did it work for those sails? Was flying a drifter from that new stay the mistake?

I'm thinking about how to add an inner forestay for storm jib.

[wingssail]

The inner forestay presents a smaller fore triangle and a drifter should be bigger, not smaller.

Given that you are not into changing sails on your existing furler, put a wire or dyneema or some such line in the luff and free fly the sail. ahead of your furled genoa (call it a code zero).

It won't point like a sail attached to the head stay but it will help your performance in light air.

We did away with the idea of a furler and we simply raise and lower sails without one. Changing sails is still a pain but it's worth it to have the capability, (Sails: #1, #2, #3, #4, Storm jib, drifter, etc.)