Converting roller furler (luff tape) jib to hank on

[nuku34]

Hi All,
I’m adding a Solent stay to my Cavalier 32 sloop. My #3 short luff jib will fit on the Solent stay perfectly, but its got luff tape to fit my Furlex furler.
Question 1) I’m planning to use bronze piston sew-on hanks (if I can source them). I’m planning to leave the existing luff tape on the sail and just sew the hanks on with the thread going through the tape. I see no need to remove the luff tape or to put in grommets if I’m using sew-on hanks. Anybody have a comment on this?
Question 2) Does anyone know of a source (preferably in New Zealand) for sew-on type brass piston hanks? Yes, I know all about the bang-on type and also the very expensive Wischard ones, and am not interested in either. And of course NOT plastic hanks!!!

Lots of sloops I know around here are adding Solent stays for the ease and safety of having a heavy weather jib ready to go up without having to do a jib change on a furler. Been there, done that a lot on both cruising and racing boats; not fun in high wind and big seas.
Yes, i know all about so-called roller reefing jibs, but I’m talking about beating to weather in 30+ knots with a sail that has a shape, not a bag.

[Rucksta]

Talk to a sailmaker about soft hanks.

About as much work as sewing brass piston hanks without the hardware cost.
Less weight aloft and reduced friction/ wear if you are using textile for the inner forestay.

Once you get the idea, buy the required supplies and you'll do it yourself in an afternoon with a sailmakers awl.

[nuku34]

Thanks for that idea, but I’m not worried about weight aloft and will using 1X19 wire for the stay. i don’t like soft shackles much though they are the “in” thing these days.

[fxykty]

You may need to beef up the luff tape to handle the higher point loads of hanks versus the spread out load of a luff groove. Or remove the luff tape and reinforce the sail at each sewn hank location.

We recently did exactly this with our roller furler jib as we replaced our luff foil with a bare forestay. Our jib had luff tape and foam strips. Both foam strips and luff tape were removed, and each hank got a strengthening patch.

As we have a fibre forestay we used soft hanks, but for your wire stay bronze hanks would be perfect.

[nuku34]

fxykty, thanks for the suggestion; looks like a nice cat you have there.
I will leave the luff tape in place and add local renforcement to the places where the bronze piston hanks will attach. Its looking like the sew-on type of hanks are very hard to source here in NZ, so I may have to go with the bang-on type and put gromments just behind the luff cord.

[nuku34]

For everyone’s general info:
A sailmaker from North sails recommended I unpick one side of the luff tape and insert a thicker/stronger 6mm cord (what’s in there is only 4mm) to act as a boltrope. Then resew that half of the luff tape back onto the sail. Also to add local reinforcements where the grommets will go. He suggests 900mm as appropriate spacing for the hanks. Th bang-on hanks are the only ones available here in NZ, ordering them from US or Europe would be a Covid nightmare. #2 brass piston hanks for 7mm wire are NZ$18 a pop, ouch!

[Jim Cate]

18 Kiwis each??? OUCH indeed!

But if ya wanna sail to Tassie I've got a jar full of such items (some even sew on) and hope to never use them, and you would be welcome to pick through the lot.

Jim

[nuku34]

Hello Jim and Ann,
Lovely offer and I would love to come to Tassy to visit you both and Dorothy Darden (and row/sail her new beautiful Huon Pine dinghy).
Alas that’s not possible now, BUT, any chance you could pick out some appropriate sized hanks and ship them to me, on my coin of course?
Cheers,
Sandy

[Josephcrawl]

In the US I've sourced sew on hanks twice from a used sail shop. They had some saved off an old sail that were in pretty good shape and the price was right.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by nuku34

Hello Jim and Ann,
Lovely offer and I would love to come to Tassy to visit you both and Dorothy Darden (and row/sail her new beautiful Huon Pine dinghy).
Alas that’s not possible now, BUT, any chance you could pick out some appropriate sized hanks and ship them to me, on my coin of course?
Cheers,
Sandy

SAndy, at this moment they are buried under a pile of varnishing stuff, but I'll dredge them out and do an inventory asap. What size and how many are you needing, and are you game to re-use bang on hanks? I've had reasonable luck in annealing them and re-bending the tangs, but sometimes they break (guess I'm not so good at heat treating!).

Hope we can help you out...

Jim