Inboard sheeting for a c27

Jun 11, 2015
6
Catalina 27 Cedar island yacht club
Hey everybody
Its been a great first race season for the nuby crew and I here on Lake Erie. We are set for either a first or second place overall in the B fleet!

I rescued the boat from a boat yard two years ago. Theres is still a ton of things to do, but thats half the fun.

What I was hoping i could get from you guys is some info on inboard sheeting tracks (where they are positioned and how long they are) My boat only has out board rail tracks. Some pictures would be wonderful also.
Getting the headsail to fly properly on a close haul has been a real challenge. The nonsuch can point higher than us!
Thanks again guys

Midnight Oil
 

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
The inside track location will depend on your headsail. Hoist it to full desired height and bisect the clew's angle.
The line will point to the neutral point on deck.. or the middle point of the track. I'd make the track long enough for at least 2 notches on either side of neutral.
For my 135% genoa, I have mounted a short 3 hole track on the raised coaming that butts into the cabin bulkhead. However.... I rarely use it.... because I use the 110 more often when working upwind... in this case I find it much easier to rig a barber hauler to pull the clew inboard when needing a tighter sheeting angle, to avoid having to re run the sheet inside the shrouds....
I have seen inside tracks installed on the deck right up against the cabin.... which is less than a foot inside the genoa track. Not sure if that would be worth the expense and effort.
If you're looking for performance improvements......... my first, absolutely first, priority is to invest in a good racing head sail... and only use it when racing... don't leave it on the furler or in a deck bag... but remove it when not in use. Store it in a sausage *break away" bag.... that will minimalize the folds a creases. Practice with the old sail. Expect to spend $1700 and up for a quality sail.. a pentex laminate is more than adequate... don't get carried away with more exotic material at this level. The new sail will affect your handicap a bit but will radically improve performance.
Then you can experiment with the sheeting angle by the aforementioned barberhauler... you can also have the sailmaker design the new sail to optimize your boat's configuration.
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Joe's comments are great. And I agree about the new headsail.

But here's a slightly different twist.

Get a laminated sail for your roller, and use it all the time. The biggest enemy of laminated sails are folding/creasing and flogging. Keeping it on the roller avoid the first, and good sail management avoids the second. A decent laminated 110 to 135 should last you 6 years AT LEAST on the great lakes.

And you get to use it all the time. That makes spending the money on that fancy sail easier to take.

On our First 260 we cruise all the time with our racing sails which are left on the boom and roller. 3 year of very serious racing (and lots of cruising) and they still look great and have great shape.
 
Aug 2, 2010
502
J-Boat J/88 Cobourg
I have been thinking about the opposite problem and wondering about rigging a Barber Hauler for my situation. My boat has a great big roached main and a little jib on the furler. The track is well inboard and had been great when pointing and when I have lots of breeze. When on a beam to broad reach in fairly light airs and getting the luff telltales to fly right, the jib looks pretty hooked as it approaches the clew. I am wondering if anchoring a Barber Hauler outboard and more aft might allow me to flatten out this portion of the sail at wider angles by changing the angle of the sheet.
Sorry for the thread drift but I was wondering about this and it didn't seem to warrant its own thread.
Dan
 

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
You can rig a barber hauler to work either way... in haul or out haul... My Nacra's barber hauler pulls the clew out, to open the slot for reaching. My Cat 27 the barber hauler pulls the clew inboard...
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
I have been thinking about the opposite problem and wondering about rigging a Barber Hauler for my situation. My boat has a great big roached main and a little jib on the furler. The track is well inboard and had been great when pointing and when I have lots of breeze. When on a beam to broad reach in fairly light airs and getting the luff telltales to fly right, the jib looks pretty hooked as it approaches the clew. I am wondering if anchoring a Barber Hauler outboard and more aft might allow me to flatten out this portion of the sail at wider angles by changing the angle of the sheet.
Sorry for the thread drift but I was wondering about this and it didn't seem to warrant its own thread.
Dan
Yes, and indeed you should do something. Either outhaulers, or dedicated reaching sheets. They serve the same purpose. Widening the sheeting angle.

The rig of our First 260 is similar to your boat, and for practical reasons we use reaching sheets. It really opens the slot and keep the clew from hooking. You can see it in the shots below.

Setting it up, hooked and slow.


Reaching sheet on. Glory!


I documented all this here:
http://rarerarebird.blogspot.com/2014/10/260-mod-reaching-sheets.html
 
Aug 2, 2010
502
J-Boat J/88 Cobourg
Thanks Guys, this makes a lot of sense and I will try this next spring when I get her back in the water. We don't have the optional spinnaker winches so I have to get the sheet back up to the companionway winches but the solution will be evident I am sure.
Thanks again,

Dan
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Thanks Guys, this makes a lot of sense and I will try this next spring when I get her back in the water. We don't have the optional spinnaker winches so I have to get the sheet back up to the companionway winches but the solution will be evident I am sure.
If you can make outhaulers work, it is VERY easy to create a 2:1 or 3:1 purchase on the system, making them a hand-load that you can lock with a camcleat. Running a slippery dyneema line thru the same ring the sheet with go through will create a 2:1. It easy to figure out a way to get another turn.

 
Jan 1, 2006
7,040
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I can't really see the reaching sheet in that shot but the difference in the jib is obvious. We use what we call a short sheet - which is a clew hook with a line that runs through a block on a snap shackle attached to the rail and then run to a available winch. Is that much different than then your reaching sheets?
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
I can't really see the reaching sheet in that shot but the difference in the jib is obvious. We use what we call a short sheet - which is a clew hook with a line that runs through a block on a snap shackle attached to the rail and then run to a available winch. Is that much different than then your reaching sheets?
That's pretty much the deal!