Gennaker furlers and mastheads - advice appreciated.

[SpaceRnglr]

My 44' Dromor Athena came with a North Sail A2 asymmetrical gennaker that I have never used. We are always sailing shorthanded with kids so honestly if it's not on a furler, it will never be deployed. We are planning for cruising around SE Asia so light wind sails would be nice.

I want to install a furler on a yet to be installed bowsprit. The Sparcraft masthead and spinnaker bale leaves very little room in front of the furled genoa. It is made worse by the fact the 'horn' on the spinnaker bale is bent and I cannot remove it as the bolts are seized. It is hard to take pictures, but I have attached what I can. I have searched the web but it is hard to find pictures of mastheads... The best I found was this video with a very similar masthead setup (although it is not bent) and the genoa is not installed--see minute 7...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b_qcqPXRHU&t=275s

Any thoughts on if I have space with my current spinnaker attachment points? If I rig a temporary bowsprit and pull the spin halyard tight, how much space do I need between the spin halyard and the closest part of the genoa furler?

[slug]

Furlers don’t like masthead rigs

The top of the furler has no space

Even a spinnaker sock is troublesome

No easy answer

[SpaceRnglr]

Ah nuts. No other ideas / experience? Hard to see examples in the Marina too as no one keeps their furler up unless they are racing and not many of the race boats are masthead rig...

[stormsvale]

H'mm.. I have a mast head rig with a Trogear "boom" off the bow. I use a top down fuller on my Code zero. I have also used a sock on my North G2. I have not tried the furler on the G2 yet.. this spring!!I have port and starboard spinnaker halyards which go through blocks on the "horns" at the mast head. The Swivel is well clear of the mast. Anyway I have had no issues..

If you have a problem you could maybe slack the halyard 5 cm so the swivel at the masthead is well clear of the rig..
Just a thought.
Fair winds

Mike

S&S Swan 40

[stormsvale]

Regarding your bent bale (horns)... looks like you could take it off and either get it straightened or get a new heavy duty one made..

Mike

Stormsvale

[SpaceRnglr]

Mike - by chance do you have any pictures of the masthead with both sails up and furled? Perhaps a very difficult picture to get, which i think is part of my problem! This video shows a congested masthead at 30 seconds (and a very bendy mast!) and it seems to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlNIUqIjn-8

I agree I could play with the torsion line length to get the gennaker furler swivel either above or below the genoa swivel. Still not sure I will have enough space, I suppose I am going to have to rig it all up and climb the mast to satisfy myself...

As for the bale on top of my mast, I have tried to get it off before and the screws didn't budge. I will take some oil up with me next time and try again. Otherwise it is the angle grinder next time the mast comes down in a couple years...

[stormsvale]

Sorry no pictures! Odds of me getting them are slim as we sail short handed. The setup at 30 seconds looks just like mine. You have to hoist the sail using the leeward halyard. If I am going to jibe I drop and re-rehoist the sail to avoid chafe. When furling, this also allows you to blanket the G2 or code 0 by rolling out the Genoa making their furling easier!!!

As for your bale.. probably corroded SS and aluminium.. This is a job for when the mast is down... here in Denmark that is every fall (:-). Anyway PB Blaster and heat to start if that doesn't work grind off the bolt heads. If you are lucky or good you won't nick the bale. If not.. rather easy to have a machine shop cut you a new stronger version. Personally I would do that anyway as you will probably weaken the metal when you try to bend it back into shape...
FUN FUN!!
Ciao
Mike

[TheOffice]

If the G2 is on a sprit, a full hoist shoud be short of the top of the mast, so you should have room. The bale looks too thin for the boat. I use a piece of stainless U channel bolted to the top of the mast to move the block forward.

[SpaceRnglr]

Just to follow up I was at the top of the mast a few weeks ago. The bolts holding on the bale won’t budge so I can’t upgrade it until the mast comes down. When I do that I will install a much stronger bale that extends out 6 inches or so. That should make the bowsprit design much easier too... Until the mast comes down in 3-5 years clearance issues are too big a risk to spend the money on a furler... this project will have to wait a couple few years... anyway, thanks for the input!

[Jim Cate]

Might not work, but in your place I'd be up the mast with a big adjustable wrench (18 inch or bigger) and try to bend that bale back up. Doesn't look all that stiff to me (as I sit comfortably below decks).

I also agree that it looks too feeble for the job, so a better replacement in the future sounds good, but in the interim, why not give it a try?

Jim