Hank on vs. furler for Solent stay

[rgleason]

PS I guess I am going to have to get used to re-leading the sheets when we head down with the jib at either RF or solent locations.

[Boston Blackie]

So our new inner forestay is about to be built to accept our original headsail Harken Mark 1.5 furler. I need a toggle to join the 5/8" clevis yoke of the Harken furler to the 1/2" clevis chain plate for the inner forestay. Does anyone know of a commercial 1/2" x 5/8" toggle to save the pain of machining one out of 316 SS?

[Boston Blackie]

Correction Mark II Unit 1.5 furler.

[Jim Cate]

One could use a shackle with a 1/2 inch pin through the chain plate and attach the 5/8 inch toggle to it.

Jim

[waterman46]

The chain plate may be wide enough to allow you to drill out to 5/8. They usually are way over built. Compare width of chainplate to width of 5/8 jaw on furler.

[barnakiel]

The accepted method is to use a sleeve on the smaller pin and use the bigger toggle.

If it works for you will depend on if the bigger toggle can be matched with the Harken unit.

Mind that machined toggles of Stalok style (machined from a rod) can be further modified by a competent machinist. One starts then with the toggle to match the bigger pin, sleeves the smaller pin and machines down the outer perimeter of the sleeved end.

Cheers,
b.

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by jls095

Thanks to everyone for the insight! I do worry about the extra windage of two furlers as well as weight aloft. That said, the ease of use and avoiding having the solent jib in a bag on the deck is appealing. I'm not too worried about tacking the genoa as I'd use the smaller jib upwind unless the wind was really light. Some friends with a Tartan 4000 (a twin furler Solent rig) found that the larger genoa provided no performance boost in light air upwind over the inner jib.



What isn't appealing is the price. A furler would likely cost $3000 by itself. Plus, I would be able to then use my hank on storm jib.



Is the bag on the deck and running up to douse the sail going to drive me nuts?

EBay may be your friend here. I managed to find a complete second-hand set of foils and Profurl furler etc on eBay for an inner-forestay for just over $600. The unit was the primary forestay furler for a 39ft'er, but fit perfectly as an inner forestay furler on my 47ft'er. It cost around a other $500 for the mast fittings, rigging and deck fitting (which T's down through the deck and bolts into the forward bulkhead). Even though second hand, it only took few hours to strip down an recondition the furling unit and top-unit etc.

[Alberg30Shill]

My Alberg 30 has shorter inner tracks and has never been a problem when going forward. I guess it would depend on how wide your gunnels are.

[Markhunter1097]

You can do both, have a Solent stay with a continuous line furler, hank your jib on, furl when not in use, or remove the lot. The sail will fuel fine around the hanks, soft would probably be better though. Works for me

[Toaster]

We use a Solent with hank on sails. We like it very much. We set this up based on advice from Carol Hasse in Port Townsend. We asked about sail plans for offshore for a short handed crew (wife and me) - she suggested putting a working jib (not a genoa, though we do have one) on the roller furler on the forestay, and using a Solent stay with a hank on drifter for light airs. That way, you are only on deck in better conditions.

So, in winds up to 10 - 12 knots, we sail under drifter. As winds increase, I go forward and drop the drifter and bag it. Then, I move the Solent stay to a chainplate - easily done in these conditions, especially since it is Dux so nice and light. In higher winds, all sailing is done by the working jib.

We also have a storm sail that hanks on to the Solent stay. Yes, I will not enjoy bending that on in bad conditions, but plan to have it all set up on deck before it is needed. I think it would be easier than changing the working jib to a storm sail in those conditions.

The Solent is tensioned using a standard turnbuckle, that I turn by hand. It's easy to get enough tension for a drifter.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by Toaster

So, in winds up to 10 - 12 knots, we sail under drifter. As winds increase, I go forward and drop the drifter and bag it. Then, I move the Solent stay to a chainplate - easily done in these conditions, especially since it is Dux so nice and light. In higher winds, all sailing is done by the working jib.

You are right, no furler is desired for a detachable Solent stay. But I will always have a roller furler with open drum on my forestay for a large sturdy headsail.

With having to drop and bag your drifter as wind increases over 12 knots, I guess you would be doing a lot of foredeck work, since on a normal nice day the winds will go from 7 knots to 17 knots as an ideal comfortable range. And you will have that big drifter to store below decks much of the time.

A better solution for us was to keep the big genny on the roller furler, which can be partially reefed by rolling.for winds between 5 and 25 knots unless closehauled at higher end of that range. . We use the solent stay, normally stored with lower end, working jib in bag and lever type tensioner at the rail next to the shrouds, to set a working jib or storm jib on hanks. It is almost never used unless the wind is over 25 knots or over 17 knots and closehauled.

FWIW We dont fly a drifter, since our boat is heavy and needs more wind to start moving. And I dont want another sail to store. But our really large heavy genny on furler can do fine in 5 knots or so.