Furling square-head sails?

[Jdege]

I recently bought a sailboat that had been something of a project boat for the prior owner.

He had had a new mizzen and main made, but from what I can tell he'd never bent them on. The masts had 20-year-old Tides tracks that had warped sufficiently that the slides wouldn't pass.

I've replaced the tracks, and bent the sails, but I'm a loss as to how to furl them. They're square topped, with full battens, and a top batten at a 45° angle. If I bend the sail in the obvious way, with the headboard's slides in the track, it's impossible to furl the sail without removing the top batten.

Which is, of course, a major headache.

I've seen sails that had various ways of rigging the headboard so as to allow it to separate from the mast when the sail is lowered, allowing the top batten to lie flat. But if there is a way of rigging mine in a similar manner, it isn't obvious.

How can I rig the headboards so as to allow me to furl the sails?

[clockwork orange]

You need a decoupler, try Colligo. Myson has one from them on his 42 ft cat with squaretop and Tides track.

[Tin Tin]

Disconnect head from batten car use a dyneema strop that passes from top car through sail head eye down to around second batten so that when luff is tight the strop will draw the head into the mast. Here is set up from a Lagoon

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by clockwork orange

You need a decoupler, try Colligo. Myson has one from them on his 42 ft cat with squaretop and Tides track.

At $439/each, they're a bit more pricey than I'd like.

And on my boat, manually disconnecting the top car isn't a problem. Except the current slides are fixed, and can't be disconnected.

[clockwork orange]

I didn't say it would be cheap but it's the right solution. So you have a Meadowlark eh. Where do you sail that? Cool boats.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by clockwork orange

I didn't say it would be cheap but it's the right solution. So you have a Meadowlark eh. Where do you sail that? Cool boats.

Tides has a few headboard cars that may serve. They're not all that much cheaper.

I'm sailing on Lake Pepin, 60 miles downriver from Minneapolis/St. Paul.

[CarlF]

I’d have the sail recut with an “elliptical” head that doesn’t require the 45 degree batten.

Square top sails only make sense with racing laminate sails - which this doesn’t look to be. Woven cloths stretch too much so the square top falls off to leeward opening the leach and depowering the sail. When you try to tighten the main sheet to pull the battens parallel to the boom the top part of the leach stays open.

With a woven cloth cruising sail, an elliptical top gets you most of the area and chord of a square top without the trim or furling problems.

[Tin Tin]

The dyneema strop should work. Cut off the top two webbing strops and replace with shackles, do not shackle to the top 2 cars. Tie the dyneema (say 5mm) to the top slot in the headboard, then through the top car, then through top shackle back to second car, back to second shackle and tie off down at next batten or luff eye. Set the dyneema length so that when luff is tight between top and second batten the dyneema will tighten up the head to the mast. You could insert a jam cleat for adjustment. When you drop the sail the dyneema will go slack and the head of the sail can be pulled down the last couple of feet with a boat hook if the dyneema has too much friction on it (Use McLube). You can experiment without cutting the webbing but it will likely have too much friction vs shackle or friction ring. Cost is the dyneema and one or two shackles.