Assm spinnaker setup on M25

[BudGates]

WOW!! The "new" Spinnaker showed up yesterday. she's a beauty and in like new condition just as the seller described. nice to know there are still some honest sellers out there!!
They'll be able to spot us coming now

Beautiful! Make sure to share pictures with it flying.

 

[RussC]

I've continued to work on the bowsprit, but was forced to take a couple days off to go sailing we've been having an indian summer, in the 60s, for the past week or more, so we took advantage.
As with any project, there are compromises to be made. I ended up with a sprit that extends just 8" beyond the bow. this is a fixed sprit, so having it hang out any further just swung the hassle meter too far to the left for me. I'll have to wait until the spinnaker goes up for the first time to really know if my choice was a good ones or not. 8" forward doesn't give a straight shot past the bow pulpit (which is straight above the nose of the bow) to the new halyard block, but hopefully it's close enough to not cause any issues. I do have a backup plan for a removable bowsprit extension if I really find the current configuration unacceptable, but we'll see how this works out first. The reconfigured forestay anchor and the other hard stuff is done now, so future modifications should be much easier



There will be a swivel block attached via shackle in the sprit to run the tack line back to the cockpit. or at least back to the mast, BTW.

 

[Cowpokee]

Russ, your bowsprit material looks very familiar. In fact I had comtemplated using an old U2 crossbar for my Mac because of the light weight. I ended up using a scrap ss heavy wall pipe from work instead just because I wasn't sure if the lateral loads would be excexsive for the length I wanted.

 

[THECUSCUS]

That looks great Russ, it should def do the job!

 

[RussC]

Russ, your bowsprit material looks very familiar. In fact I had comtemplated using an old U2 crossbar for my Mac because of the light weight. I ended up using a scrap ss heavy wall pipe from work instead just because I wasn't sure if the lateral loads would be excexsive for the length I wanted.

Ha ha. good eye there Cowpokee. mine was a 155 XC leading edge that a forklift ran over the other end during delivery to me (I was a WW and Pac Air / Airwave dealer). I have a chunk of 6061 sleeve inside of the sprit, so it should be plenty strong.
Do you still fly?

 

[Cowpokee]

[QUOTE="RussC Do you still fly?[/QUOTE
Not as much as I used to. I started sailing again three years ago so my wife could share in my passion since hang gliding isn't much of a spectator sport.
Here is a little of my last flight which was during Christmas break a year ago.

 

[RussC]

Great video! sure stirs some great memories for me. I never made it to Wallaby Fla, but a couple of us went down to the bay area (The old Pacific Airwave facility) and took an aero-tow clinic from GW Meadows back in the early 90s. spent three days there towing, and got our ratings, but never towed again once we returned to Oregon (we have ample mountain launch sites). still a fun experience for us.
What time of day were you towing? looks like you had some mild thermal activity, but not enough to head out?
My back got so bad about 8 years ago that it hurt to load and unload from the truck. once in the air I was fine, but between my back, the local panty invasion, and fellow pilots moving on, caused me to fade away from flying after 18 years and 2000+ hr airtime. I sold my gear a couple years ago, so I guess I've quit.
Thanks for the memories! Stay high, go far

 

[RussC]

All we need now is some spring weather to try this thing out and see what needs changing or adjusting
Not sure about the sheet block anchors, but it'll do for now until I figure out a better way. maybe some stand up blocks directly on the deck near the cleat. I used nicopress sleeves, covered them with heat shrink to protect from burrs, so it should be strong enough, but maybe not the most aesthetically pleasing.

 

[THECUSCUS]

Russ, I tie my sheet blocks to a length of line, maybe 24", and just do a cleat hitch on the cleat. Makes it easy to "disassemble" when not using the spinnaker and you can make the line different lengths to put the blocks where you want them. Oh, and ratchet blocks work real nice.

spinnaker sheets, showing turning block attached to short line that is cleated to the stern cleats while flying the spinnaker

• THECUSCUS
• Feb 1, 2012

 

[GSmith116]

All we need now is some spring weather to try this thing out and see what needs changing or adjusting

Russ or anyone else with an opinion,
Have you tried out your spinnaker yet? Probably missed it in a different post. I bought a '82 MAC 25 a little less than a year ago and just bought a spinnaker and the BWY "add a halyard" kit. Was wondering what the luff measurement of your spinnaker is and how much higher the spinnaker halyard is mounted than the foresail halyard. BWY told me over the phone and on their web site to mount it 2' higher. Jackdaw says 4". I got a hand written note in the add a halyard kit that says to not mount the mast fitting any higher than 16 to 18" than the current headstay attachment. For me the luff of my 100% jib is about 23.5', my new spinnaker luff is 22.5' so if I put the new halyard 18" above then the spinnaker tack would be about 25" above the deck. I guess since it will fly in front of the pulpit then it would be a little higher. Does that sound like it is in the ballpark? Would like to drill as few holes through the mast as possible.

 

[THECUSCUS]

Try hoisting the spinnaker up your jib halyard to get an idea how high your tack is in relation to the pulpit. Then figure how much higher up the mast you need to go to get the tack where you want it. I wouldn't go any higher than 18" though.

 

[RussC]

I'll have to dig my notes out on the luff length, but mine is also from BWY (Doyle) and I placed my spin halyard block at ~18" above the jib block. I've only hoisted it on the water once so far, and that was in nil - 2kt wind, but I'm happy with all my "compromises" so far. I did change the sheet block placement (see pic) , but just to clean things up a bit. the cabled on block in the horn cleat was removed and the pulpit mounted one replaced it.

 

[GSmith116]

Thanks to the THECUSCUS and RussC for the responses and pictures. It looks from the picture that RussC posted the tack is pretty close to deck level. If you were to try to attach the tack to the forestay which is discussed in this thread then the tack would have to be high enough for the foot to clear the pulpit or at least the lifelines. I'm not sure that is what I want to do but it brings in question how high the tack "should" be. I guess as THECUSCUS suggested, using the foresail halyard as a test will tell me for sure where the tack will end up. I like the pulpit mount turning block.