Mounting the Screacher

[drsm]

We've been having a lot of fun with the new boat, but have run into a lot of light air this summer. I have the screacher package, but hadn't mounted it yet, wanting to learn the basics with the main and genoa. Now, I want to add the screacher. I understand where to mount everything except there must be some sort of guide or padeye to lead the furling line into the furler on the bowsprit. There wasn't anything like that included in my package. What do people use, and how do they attach it?

Thanks,

Steve

[Ron]

Steve -

The large bail near the end of the bowsprit gets either the bottom of the drum or a shackle that ties the bottom of the drum to the bail. I prefer attaching the drum directly to the bail - it keeps the drum case from reverse rotating when you bring the sail in (Newtons 2nd law). There should be a small ring maybe a half-foot back where the furling line (around the drum) gets run through. I had two guide blocks attached to the starboard side aft stanchion of the bow pulpit, one for the genoa and the other for the screecher furling lines, but I moved the screecher line to the port side of the boat (still the last stanchion). I thought it was too busy there, and I wanted a place to tie up the furling line on the port side of the cockpit. Note that I added 4 cleats to the cockpit to take care of these lines (furlers and sheets) when they were not being used. I wound up with 3 cleats on each side (2 genoa sheets, 2 screecher sheets, 2 furling lines). The two un-loaded screecher sheets are attached to cleats that are bolted to the edge of the rear seats.

The two snatch blocks for the sheets go onto the aft u-bolts on the ama's where the lifelines are attached. Because I sometimes leave the screecher up for a week or more, I also needed something on the forward life line U-bolts to keep the screecher sheets out of the way of the working genoa sheets, so I attach spring lock caribiners there to route the sheets out of the way. I think I am eventually going to add maybe 4 feet of track on the top edge of the ama's coamings to mount the screecher snatch blocks or barber-haulers or cleats or ?? They would be adjustable then in terms of line of pull.

You have to pre-load the screecher's luff wire if you want the sail to roll up all of the way. By that I mean give the drum and swivel with the luff wire attached maybe 4 turns (in the direction that the drum will furl) before you attach the luff pendent to the swivel at the top of the drum. Otherwise the bottom of the sail will roll 4 times before the top even starts to move, and it will not roll up all of the way and also twist in the process. I think I gave the drum about 28 turns of line before the bottom shackle was attached to the swivel. Any furling sail with a luff wire will need this kind of treatment - screecher or furling spinnaker.

The attached photo may help. The short line hanging from the bottom of the sail is only the remainder of the pendent. Harder to see but still there is the furling line running almost parallel to the sprit. Note where the un-loaded sheets are going to - the caribiners and then to the snatch block. The line going down at about 45 degrees is headed towards the trailer strap U-bolt on the bow and is a bobstay, to support the front end of the sprit from pulling up. It is probably not needed, especially in anything under 15 knots of wind.

[drsm]

There should be a small ring maybe a half-foot back where the furling line (around the drum) gets run through.

Can you give me more details about this? Apparently I don't have anything mounted there. Is this a padeye attached to the sprit? If so, how is it attached and how do you keep it from interfering with full retraction of the sprit?

Thanks for the complete write-up,

Steve

[Ron]

Steve -

It's only about 6 inches from the bail mounted near the end. I don't think that the sprit can retract much further anyway - it pretty close to the bulkhead in the head. it's a padeye with a slightly curved base with the same radius as the sprit. It's only purpose is to keep the line pointed at a near 90 degree angle to the drum - to allow it to roll up reasonably flat. If you don't have it, give PCI a call. The drum will not roll up evenly with the line coming in at an angle.

I found a decent photo of it which I enlarged to show the area.

[drsm]

Thanks! PCI didn't include that in my kit. I'll contact Will.

[Ron]

It's not in the "kit" - it should be mounted on the bow sprit about 6 inches from the bail. Can't check it now, but I think it's riveted. This sounds too easy, but maybe take a look at the bottom of the pole? it could have rotated 180 degrees. I got a few extra parts with mine - the drum comes with some rail mounted blocks and some other things which PCI does not use.

[Mark G]

I did it a little different. I purchased the guide from the Furler manufacturer (the aluminum bracket with the black guide under the bottom of the drum) and then mounted a spring sheeve at the bottom of the bow pulpit port side. I haven't used the Screecher a lot, but I think Ron's suggestion about moving the screecher furler line to the port side has a lot of merit.

screecher.jpg (72.93 KiB) Viewed 140 times









Several of us have used the rail mounted blocks that come with the furler for a different purpose: a way to bring the amas in without going forward. I attached them to the hand rails on the cockpit and used them to lead a line forward to the front of the ama so the amas can be pulled inboard from the cockpit. Mine is not perfect - I haven't fiddled with my connection point on the ama at all - I simply used an existing bracket, but it gets close enough for me to tie the boat in the berth and I can finish bringing them in then.

[Ron]

Mark -

Moving the screecher furler line to the port side gets it totally away from the genoa drum. The brackets and guides you installed are not really needed then. But the MAIN advantage of moving it to the port side is that you can tie up the furler line if you mount additional cleats there. There's not much room left on starboard. If you leave the screecher rolled up for an extended time period, you really need 6 cleats in the cockpit to handle everything. I wound up with 3 on starboard and 3 on port - the last one of each is for the screecher sheets and are bolted to the raised transom seats in back. The genoa sheet cleats are in the middle, and the two furlers are in front of them. The working sheets are led to the winch and the un-used sail sheets are tied off, but I have to admit that I've used all of them - flying the genoa and screecher at the same time (during a race). Hell - If I had another halyard I would have raised the asymmetrical too.

[drsm]

I did it a little different. I purchased the guide from the Furler manufacturer (the aluminum bracket with the black guide under the bottom of the drum)

Mark, you don't happen to know the details of which item this was do you?

Steve

[Mark G]

I don't have the manual here, so I don't know the drum manufacturer. As I remember, it was easy to identify the guide from the web site or the manufacturers manual. I'll keep looking.