Bay Wings 2014 Rigging Upgrades
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 7:20 pm
Besides my sail purchases documented in a separate topic, I also have been busy with my rigging. It all stared with Practical Sailor's article on the top-down spinnaker furlers. As I mentioned elsewhere, I race Bay Wings and use an asymmetrical spinnaker. I have never liked spinnaker socks, but my crew sometimes has trouble cleanly hoisting and dousing the spinnaker. If you have raced with a spinnaker, you know all the horror stories.
I decided to get one and asked my rigger, The Rigging Company in Annapolis, MD, who installed my jib furler and my masthead nav lights, what they recommended. They came back with the SELDEN GX TOP DOWN FURLER GX10 W/LEAD EYE. This was the top choice in Practical Sailor. Theoretically, you could configure and install this yourself. But I know my limits and appreciate the advice of a professional. I have not yet played with it, but once we use it a few times, I will add an evaluation. It will pay for itself if it prevents major damage from shrimping!
As mentioned elsewhere, I also have a new main. As you may have noticed, our mains tend to get hung up on the backstay in light-air tacking and jibing. The backstay is wire, which can scape against a main, causing wear. The rigger came up with a better design that uses a rope backstay (NE Ropes V100) and much better purchase on the tightening block. At the masthead, they installed a flexible batten to extend the backstay further back, lessening the likelihood of having the main hang up. I just have to remember to release the backstay when tacking or jibing. Now that is easier with how the line from the block is lead closer to the helm. Link to picture.
Just before the rigger came to my boat, I was out sailing in 15 knots with gusts to 22. A gust hit and the mainsail slug at the clew popped out of the boom slot making that method of attaching the mainsail not available. Also, there was a lot of bad wear on the pin holding the boom to the mast. The way that the outhaul and reefing lines are rigged is also very cheap and hard to use, especially when you really must make adjustments while racing. So, what the heck, throw in a new boom. I do not need the extra link as I very rarely lower the mast and I can always take the main off.
The new boom has side cleats for the reefing lines and outhaul and a 4-to-1 purchase, making the adjustment much easier. See the pictures.
I now have new jib and main halyards, using 8mm NE Ropes VPC line. They move much smoother and the shackles are replaced. See the pictures.
The spinnaker halyard is also new, but is still 3/8" NE Rope STA-SET. It has a ball at the top now. See the pictures.
The tack line is Endura 8mm.
I kept the same traveler car, but made it so that the there are lines and blocks that control it instead of the small stoppers. the stoppers are still on the track for limiting the throw when necessary. See pictures.
I had a cunningham system installed. See the pictures.
I am trying an experiment with the jib sheets. I have them led to a car with block at the back of the jib track, then to the winch. The sheet does rub slightly in the fiberglass, but i will mount a plate to keep that from wearing. The vertical post on which the turnaround block was mounted was bending and rusting. The rigger and I were concerned that it might fail under load. The secondary advantage of this arrangement is that you do not trip over the sheet as much.
BTW, I clean and grease my winches on the boat. I cut a hole out in the bottom of a paper bag and leave about 10 inches of the bag's sides. I put this over the winch and tape it to the boat. that way if something falls from the winch, it stays in the bag.
If you go to my rigger's website you will some pictures and descriptions. http://theriggingco.com/gallery/
Here are the Dropbox picture links. Just copy to any browser and you should be able to see them. You should not need Dropbox installed.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... tten_1.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... onnect.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... uthaul.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... adjust.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... down_1.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... _2.JPG.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... k_stbd.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... l_port.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... _lines.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... ard_on.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... aylard.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... alyard.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... k_back.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... _Front.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... hackle.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... d_Tack.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... ck_jib.JPG
If anyone wants more details, just send me your email address and I respond.
I decided to get one and asked my rigger, The Rigging Company in Annapolis, MD, who installed my jib furler and my masthead nav lights, what they recommended. They came back with the SELDEN GX TOP DOWN FURLER GX10 W/LEAD EYE. This was the top choice in Practical Sailor. Theoretically, you could configure and install this yourself. But I know my limits and appreciate the advice of a professional. I have not yet played with it, but once we use it a few times, I will add an evaluation. It will pay for itself if it prevents major damage from shrimping!
As mentioned elsewhere, I also have a new main. As you may have noticed, our mains tend to get hung up on the backstay in light-air tacking and jibing. The backstay is wire, which can scape against a main, causing wear. The rigger came up with a better design that uses a rope backstay (NE Ropes V100) and much better purchase on the tightening block. At the masthead, they installed a flexible batten to extend the backstay further back, lessening the likelihood of having the main hang up. I just have to remember to release the backstay when tacking or jibing. Now that is easier with how the line from the block is lead closer to the helm. Link to picture.
Just before the rigger came to my boat, I was out sailing in 15 knots with gusts to 22. A gust hit and the mainsail slug at the clew popped out of the boom slot making that method of attaching the mainsail not available. Also, there was a lot of bad wear on the pin holding the boom to the mast. The way that the outhaul and reefing lines are rigged is also very cheap and hard to use, especially when you really must make adjustments while racing. So, what the heck, throw in a new boom. I do not need the extra link as I very rarely lower the mast and I can always take the main off.
The new boom has side cleats for the reefing lines and outhaul and a 4-to-1 purchase, making the adjustment much easier. See the pictures.
I now have new jib and main halyards, using 8mm NE Ropes VPC line. They move much smoother and the shackles are replaced. See the pictures.
The spinnaker halyard is also new, but is still 3/8" NE Rope STA-SET. It has a ball at the top now. See the pictures.
The tack line is Endura 8mm.
I kept the same traveler car, but made it so that the there are lines and blocks that control it instead of the small stoppers. the stoppers are still on the track for limiting the throw when necessary. See pictures.
I had a cunningham system installed. See the pictures.
I am trying an experiment with the jib sheets. I have them led to a car with block at the back of the jib track, then to the winch. The sheet does rub slightly in the fiberglass, but i will mount a plate to keep that from wearing. The vertical post on which the turnaround block was mounted was bending and rusting. The rigger and I were concerned that it might fail under load. The secondary advantage of this arrangement is that you do not trip over the sheet as much.
BTW, I clean and grease my winches on the boat. I cut a hole out in the bottom of a paper bag and leave about 10 inches of the bag's sides. I put this over the winch and tape it to the boat. that way if something falls from the winch, it stays in the bag.
If you go to my rigger's website you will some pictures and descriptions. http://theriggingco.com/gallery/
Here are the Dropbox picture links. Just copy to any browser and you should be able to see them. You should not need Dropbox installed.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... tten_1.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... onnect.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... uthaul.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... adjust.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... down_1.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... _2.JPG.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... k_stbd.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... l_port.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... _lines.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... ard_on.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... aylard.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... alyard.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... k_back.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... _Front.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... hackle.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... d_Tack.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/573 ... ck_jib.JPG
If anyone wants more details, just send me your email address and I respond.