| Adding a Bowsprit #79912 07/11/06 03:06 PM 07/11/06 03:06 PM |
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 35 Lake Norman. NC Matt_Z OP
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Posts: 35 Lake Norman. NC | The Reynolds 21 restoration project rolls on. I'm thinking I need to add a bow sprit to my boat. I've searched and read all the posts I could find here on the subject. Most of the discussion centers on the effects various modifications would have on light, fast beach cats. But I'm dealing with a 900 pound boat, so perhaps the aspiring (and maybe actual for all I know) designers among you could give me your thoughts on these questions. I'm on a lake where there aren't many cats. I see a few around but never noticed one with a sprit, so I don't have anything to swipe ideas from.
1) The boat has 3 cross beams. I plant to mount the sprit from the front beam, pass under the forestay bridle and out into the beyond. The front beam is 69" in front of the mast. The bridle is 93" in front of the mast, about a foot back from the front of the hull. How long should the sprit be? My guess would be 6', leaving about 4 feet to gybe inside the forestay. Does this length sound right?
2) Should I invest the effort to make the sprit articulate left to right? I've read this doesn't benefit the light speed demons, but that's not what I have. There is currently a reacher that attaches to a line bridle 6" in front of the forestay bridle. This can be moved left to right, but the 6" doesn't allow flying the reacher and jib at the same time. I'd like to fly both since we mostly have light winds here.
3) Am I correct in assuming that as long as the ascending angle of the sprit doesn't look hideously wrong it will work OK, or is there some critical science behind this?
4) Where on the sprit should I attach the lower front bridle wires, behind, at, or in front of the tack?
5) I plan to use aluminum tubing for the sprit, since weight isn't much of a consideration (Boat 900 lbs, crew pushing 400, sprit could probably be cast iron at this point). I'm planning on using 2" diameter tubing with a 1/4" wall thickness. Could I use a thinner wall?
6) Last one - Am I going to tear my mast off, and do you want to see the pictures afterwards?
Thanks in advance for time spent in reading and possibly answering these questions.
Matt | | | Re: Adding a Bowsprit
[Re: Matt_Z]
#79916 07/12/06 12:33 PM 07/12/06 12:33 PM |
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 121 Hollister CA, Plano TX avalondarlyn
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Posts: 121 Hollister CA, Plano TX | 1. on lenth i would make it long to start. the lenth will be determined by the sail cut. and the the attacment point on the mast "head". overlaps and such. 2. my opinion is no "keep it simple" 3. i would use a compresion post from the pole to the apex of the bridle wires. you will be able to adjust the angle of the pole by shorting the lenth of the post. 4. if you use a stiff enough pole and a compression post. you use two simple guide line to keep the pole centered undet the post. i attached these to the bridle wire tangs. 5. I used a 3in 1/4 wall square tube. this is open for argument. at 17 ft long with the comprsion post post approx 50% of the distance. i run it un stayed. to the end.. if you use stays you definetly can use a thiner wall. i run my reacher approx 3ft in front of the comperssion post and the spin anther 3-4 ft out. take a look at these pictures via link. i have made several changes since these photos mainly shorting the compression post to raise the foot. http://www.thebeachcats.com/modules.php?...=view_album.phpthere maybe better ways than this but this cheap light and easyly adjusted. in my opinion. good luck | | | Re: Adding a Bowsprit
[Re: avalondarlyn]
#79917 07/12/06 02:33 PM 07/12/06 02:33 PM |
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 35 Lake Norman. NC Matt_Z OP
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Posts: 35 Lake Norman. NC | Thanks folks for all the advice, I really appreciate it. To answer the questions that were raised -
Clayton - Yes, I have a mast head halyard for the spin / reacher. No running backstays though. But that's how the boat was built. I'll take my chances without them initially since I have an extra mast. I do have a similar cable running across in front of the bridle for attaching a reacher, but it's only 6" in front of the bridle.
Carlbohannon - Since I'm planning on attaching the sprit to a separate crossbeam that sits in front of the beam that the mast sits on, a 6' sprit would put the end of the sprit 11' 8" in front of the mast. I can go up to 7' though, and down to A 3/16" wall, it can always be made shorter. 7' is the limit for UPS I think, there is no tubing source nearby. I was planning on mounting the tube to the beam with a bracket, a cable straight down from the bridle 69" out, and a cable up from the end of each hull running to the end of the sprit, or near the end. The tube breaking before the mast does is reassuring.
MauganH17 - Thanks but I'm trying to do this on the cheap. I bought 2 boats and hauled one to the dump so I have plenty of shrouds, blocks, turnbuckles, pad eyes, etc. Everything except a pole ($50 at onlinemetals.com) and a Harken 3049 furler which I can't find cheap anywhere. They're too new I guess.
Avalondarlyn - Wow, nice ride... Really nice. Your suggestions make sense but the compression post has me baffled. Is that the white rod running up to the bridle? If so, I was planning on using a cable there to hold the sprit up, and a bridle to the end of each hull to hold it down. Is a post necessary to lighten the load on the bridle at the end of sprit?
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I couldn't do this without you folks.
Matt | | | Re: Adding a Bowsprit
[Re: Matt_Z]
#79919 07/14/06 09:44 AM 07/14/06 09:44 AM |
Joined: Jun 2001 Posts: 778 Houston carlbohannon
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Posts: 778 Houston | A 7 ft limit does not sound right for UPS. I have had 10 ft lenghts delievered to my house. I think by online metals but try Metals Depot. The shipping calculator says I can have a 10ft pole delivered to my zip code for $16 The reason for the lenght is sail overlap. If you are going to fly a jib and a reacher, you must seperate them. I experimented with a Wave using a jib and 2 larger reachers. I found that to make a jib and a reacher work I needed minimal overlap (one sail way out in front) or ~4 ft side-to-side. The fastest rig was a tiny jib, on the end of a 10 ft pole, completly in front of a furling reacher. With the jib completly overlaped by the reacher the performance was mostly worse than with just the reacher. Personally I would not plan on flying a jib and a reacher. Flying the jib in front of the reacher was scary on a Wave. Seperate subject, a compression tube. Instead of having wires coming up to hold your pole, you have a tube going down from your existing bridle. If you put a ring on the bottom of the tube just big enough for the pole to slide into, it really simplifies the rigging the boat. The new rig Tornado uses a compression tube. http://www.tornado.org/html/new_rig_photos.asp | | | Re: Adding a Bowsprit
[Re: carlbohannon]
#79920 07/14/06 11:42 AM 07/14/06 11:42 AM |
Joined: Feb 2005 Posts: 1,382 Essex, UK Jalani
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Posts: 1,382 Essex, UK | All the Stealth F16s use a compression tube as standard. I tried sailing without mine and couldn't get the jib to set properly. I'd definitely recommend using one.
John Alani ___________ Stealth F16s GBR527 and GBR538 | | | Re: Adding a Bowsprit
[Re: Matt_Z]
#79922 07/17/06 11:19 AM 07/17/06 11:19 AM |
Joined: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,187 38.912, -95.37 _flatlander_
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Posts: 1,187 38.912, -95.37 | FYI, UPS and USPS have a limit of approximately 175 inches total of length plus widthx2 and depthx2. 10 foot in a 6x6 inch box should be shippable.
John H16, H14
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