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Roller furling and trailersailing #143
06/21/01 11:29 AM
06/21/01 11:29 AM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 85
Sailortect Offline OP
journeyman
Sailortect  Offline OP
journeyman

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 85
This idea may not seem to bright to those of you who're lucky enough to let your boat live pre-rigged on a beach, but there are a number of us that keep the boat on the trailer in the backyard, and need to do the setup/breakdown dance every time we go sailing. I'm constantly looking for new little tricks to save time during these evolutions so I can spend more time on the water, and most "tricks" primarily involve ways to trailer the boat as close to "fully-rigged" as possible. here's one I'm playing with at the moment:
<br>
<br>I'm considering the idea of leaving the jib furled around the headstay when trailering (snorkle-covered or whatever, of course). this saves the time of hoisting and lowering the jib, and dealing with pre-loading the furling drum every time. I figure that I'll leave the furler connected to the headstay and bridle, and breakdown the boat by disconnecting the bridle ends from the bows. I just need to rig a way for the EZstep to clamp onto the triangular bridle plate thingy.
<br>
<br>Has anyone out there had any experience with this? <br><br>

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Re: Roller furling and trailersailing [Re: Sailortect] #144
06/21/01 01:38 PM
06/21/01 01:38 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 283
hobie541 Offline
enthusiast
hobie541  Offline
enthusiast

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 283
Michael,
<br>
<br>You don't mention what kind of boat you sail, but I don't think I'd recommend storing your jib in the furled position.
<br>
<br>I'm lucky enough to keep my boat rigged, and while I do keep it furled, as soon as I get a new jib, I will halt this process. Previous to me owning the boat, I believe that the owner may have kept it furled. My jib now has a permanent crease in the luff. Granted, my jib is on its seventh season, and is a bit of a rag, but I think the sail fabric has a "memory" of being furled. Probably what I'll do with a new jib, is furl it between Saturday and Sunday, and then take it down for during the week. I sail a Hobie 20, where the furler is optional, and may even consider going back to the standard forestay. I just can't decide. If the wind is honking, it's great to be able to furl the jib.
<br>
<br>As for stepping the mast with the easy step, if you have a captive ball mast base, that has to be rotated 90 degrees to raise the mast, than using the easy stepper is pretty simple. Just flatten the bracket on side of the EZ step, use two of the trap wires to eliminate side to side sway, then use a third trap wire to do the actual hoisting. That way, your forestay is completely free, and you'll have no trouble either hooking the bridles to the bridle tangs, or the forestay to the adjuster. If you use the forestay as your hoisting wire, then you have the obvious problem of how to hook it all together and remove the EZ stepper.
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<br>Hope this is helpful.
<br>
<br>Fair winds,
<br>
<br>Tim Johnson
<br>Hobie 20 #541
<br>Bald Eagle Yacht Club, Fleet 52
<br>White Bear Lake, MN <br><br>

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Tim D. Johnson Hobie 20 #690 Bald Eagle Yacht Club, Fleet 52 www.beyc.org
Re: Roller furling and trailersailing [Re: hobie541] #145
06/21/01 03:49 PM
06/21/01 03:49 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 85
Sailortect Offline OP
journeyman
Sailortect  Offline OP
journeyman

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 85
Tim,
<br>
<br>Thanks for the feedback.
<br>
<br>Its a SuperCat 19, and I think the RF setup is a bit different from yours... if memory serves, the H20 RF system has a luff track that furls the jib like a "big-boat", causing your crease, right? the SC19 jib's luff zippers around the headstay, so as long as I don't try to tension the sheet while I'm furling, I get a reasonably-loose furl that's pretty easy on the sail. To put it another way.... I think I do more damage rolling it foot-to-head without a competent helper.
<br>
<br>The jist of my question as far as sail damage goes was "will the snorklecover adequately contain and protect the furled sail as I cruise on down the road at 70 MPH?" My plan is to use bungee or velcro sailties to strap the furled sail to the mast at 4' intervals, so this thing will be catching lots of wind being stuck way up in the air like that.
<br>
<br>SC mast rotates free (but captured) on the ball as it's stepped, so yeah, I like your concept of using a trapline as the "stepping heastay". I might not need to, though, since supercats have the super-easy extendable shroud system that lets the mast come WAY forward (I gotta say it still FREAKS ME OUT to see it), so the mast holds itself forward with its own weight, and making the bridle connection is a snap.
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<br>The inspiration for all of this stems from a shortcoming of the jib halyard system. the halyard comes back down inside the zippered luff, like a Prindle, but on the Prindle, it's a "dead" halyard that sister-clips in half because the jib is held up by the hook/ring system at the top of the headstay. on the supercat, the halyard is live and must be swapped out for a smaller line once the jib is hoisted, and then that smaller line cleats off as the tensioning member..... yeah, it kinda sucks. a lot of tying and untying involved. It's really my only complaint with the boat though, so I guess I should count my blessings.
<br>
<br>Again, thanks for the feedback.<br><br>

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Re: Roller furling and trailersailing [Re: Sailortect] #146
06/21/01 06:38 PM
06/21/01 06:38 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 283
hobie541 Offline
enthusiast
hobie541  Offline
enthusiast

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 283
I still think it's probably a good idea not to leave it furled. My sail hoists just the way you described on your Supercat.
<br>
<br>I would suggest using as many of the quick release gadgets as you can to save time on rigging. Just be sure to stay away from them when it comes to things like standing rigging.
<br>
<br>Fair winds,
<br>
<br>Tim J.
<br>Hobie 20 #541
<br>Bald Eagle Yacht Club, Fleet 52
<br>White Bear Lake, MN<br><br>


Tim D. Johnson Hobie 20 #690 Bald Eagle Yacht Club, Fleet 52 www.beyc.org

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