Staysail furling

[Julian Porter]

I’ve got a Barton furler in the box of bits that came with the boat. The staysail has hanks and clips on at the moment. If I want to use the furler I would have to get the sail modified to have a fixed wire luff. Has anyone else had the sail modified like this?

[erbster]

Hi Julian,

I went in the opposite direction to you! No mod needed for sail- just take off the hanks. You might want to use a short wire from the hounds to move the halyard block down about 6 inches or so; this will stop the sail fouling the forestay when furling. You will also note that the boat does not point as well as before


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[Julian Porter]

I went in the opposite direction to you!

Do you mean you started with a furling staysail and then put hanks on it?

[erbster]

I went in the opposite direction to you!

Do you mean you started with a furling staysail and then put hanks on it?

Yep.


Cape Cutter #86 Aurora
travellingaurora.wordpress.com

[Malcolm Sadler]

Charles. Can I pick up on your suggestion of a short wire from the hounds to solve the problem of the Staysail fouling the forestay when furling (and unfurling)?

I have exactly that problem. I try to alleviate it by changing the relative tensions of forestay and luff of the sail - but both create their own problems of course.

Have you any pics of the mod you did when you had a furler, please? Sitting at home (ie without being able to look at the boat which is 20 miles away), I would have thought that a wire from the original block mounting of the staysail halyard would only sit parallel to the forestay and be as close to it as the staysail luff wire. Do you in fact lower the top block and create a lower mounting on the mast? I can see that would move the luff away from the forestay at the top.

Second and related point. You say they boat won’t point so well. Do you mean with a furler as opposed to hanks, or do you mean the wire mod referred to above affects the pointing in comparison to an un-modified furler?

Thanks for any guidance you can give me. We might as well use these enforced land times to plan how to improve our boats

All the best

Malcolm

[erbster]

Hi Malcolm,

Glad you’re keeping well. We’ve all had the virus with mild symptoms only, for which we are obviously grateful.

Regarding your questions- yes the strop lowers the staysail halyard block, so that it is no longer parallel or so close to the forestay. I got one made up at a local place that make such cables for industry rather than boats).

The boat points better with a hanked on staysail because it is impossible to keep the luff straight(ish) with the furler. The furler is very convenient because the sails are fully handled from the cockpit, but I put up with the staysail flapping on the foredeck and/or getting in the way of deploying the anchor because the difference in upwind performance is significant.


Cape Cutter #86 Aurora
travellingaurora.wordpress.com

[Julian Porter]

@erbster even without modifying the sail it would be possible to put a wire through the luff to keep it straight. Do you see any problems with this?


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[erbster]

I took my sail to a sailmaker and he was not keen to modify it. IMO the main issue is that I did not feel confident winching the halyard any tighter; I was concerned I would pull the turning block off the deck.


Cape Cutter #86 Aurora
travellingaurora.wordpress.com