Amount of strain on stanchion fairleads

[Bad Obsession]

I was wondering how much strain/pressure is on fairleads and the terminal cleat. If you route your furling gear down them how much strain is placed on them?

I am thinking of routing the line from the tack of my asymmetrical spinnaker back to the cockpit through stanchion fairleads and terminating at a jam or cam cleat.

I am running a 1/4 low stretch line for the tack line. My boat is a Compac 23.

 

[Meriachee]

There could be a whole of strain on the tack line. That's different from the furling line. As long as you don't have any serious angles, and keep the block(s) as close to the deck as possible, you might be ok. Suggesting that it'll be fine, and then having the blocks at the top of the stanchion and sailing in Force 4 might be problematic.

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

I would agree. You aren't even supposed to put your furling line on a winch because you might damage the system.

I don't know what the bow arrangement of the Compac 23 is like but what about a snatch block on the bow cleat run aft to the jib winch?

 

[Bad Obsession]

Hrm....Why are you guys talking about winches. I doubt that I would ever use a winch to pull down the tack. Since I single hand a lot I would rarely fly the asymmetrical in anything over 12 knots. I am not racing, just cruising.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Here is a shot of the bow. I have a block attached to the anchor roller system for the tackline.

The idea was to run the tackline from the block on the anchor roller to the cockpit through stanchion fairleads.

 

[Meriachee]

As they say, "just checkin". It's not just about loads, it's about how those loads are applied to the hardware. If you had a block at the deck, but a 40 degree deviation in the line, there's a lot more load at the block than a deviation of 5%. Conversely, the same 5% deviation at the top of the stanchion would be a lot more subject to the overall forces on the line. A 40% deviation at the top of the stanchion would have the pipe coming to sit with you pretty quick.
A 5% deviation would hardly reflect a 100 lb pull on the line, but a 40% deviation would.

 

[Stu Jackson]

BO, keep the line low to the deck nearest the base of the stanchions and use Johnson bullet fairleads (or even other makes of furling line gear that have sheaves - but you're on a budget, right?), you should be just fine.

 

[Brian S]

My tack line has a stanchion base mounted block, and a Harken bullet block sized block at the stemhead fitting. There's a cam cleat on the side of the house near the cockpit. I run the line up to a bullseye mounted horizontally on the bow pulpit, in an attempt to get the tack as far forward of the forestay as possible. There's just a minor deflection in the line as it comes aft due to the widening of the boat. Seems to do fine, and in light winds below 10 knots or so, I think it's ok load-wise. With proper crew timing, I gybe outside; not enough room to gybe between the tack and the forestay. Most of the time, that crew is me. I love it when I can fly that puppy most of the way around!

 

[Bad Obsession]

Definitely on the budget. I may look at everything when the mast is up and I am in the water. Originally I was going to route the tack line from the block to the cleat on the foredeck. Problem is that I can't access it to douse the spinnaker.

I then considered running it directly from the block to the cabin roof. That would allow for a few friction points and it would be in the way of things.

The last idea is to run this down the block through some stanchion fairleads to a cleat/jam cleat/cam cleat at the edge of the cockpit.

The Compac 23 is well built. I feel that the components are adequately backed as well and they seem to be beefy.

I did get an excellent deal on some fairleads. They aren't blocks though.

I don't see flying an asymmetrical spinnaker in heavy air. I am single handed and it would be more than a handful. I have a lot of experience flying a symmetrical spinnaker (use to be a spinnaker trimmer in my racing days).

My goal is to be able to release the tack line and the halyard and haul it into the cockpit by the sheets while using the sails to blanket the spinnaker.

Other interesting thing, my furler is run off of Johnson bullet fairleads. I was surprise to see that the line is extremely small. I bought a new slightly larger line for the furler that should work fine.

One thing that I do love about my downsize is that the cost of stuff is much better! The bad thing is when you are doing projects and you get distracted.

 

[Stu Jackson]

1. I then considered running it directly from the block to the cabin roof. That would allow for a few friction points and it would be in the way of things.

2. The last idea is to run this down the block through some stanchion fairleads to a cleat/jam cleat/cam cleat at the edge of the cockpit.

3. I did get an excellent deal on some fairleads. They aren't blocks though.

4. Other interesting thing, my furler is run off of Johnson bullet fairleads. I was surprise to see that the line is extremely small. I bought a new slightly larger line for the furler that should work fine.

1. Be glad you didn't. Lines running up the foredeck tend to get stepped on, and round lines roll underfoot, and then, guess what!?!

2. Goodest idea. You may need a block at the first stanchion, though, check out how fair the lead is.

3. See #4

4. Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

Good luck, should be fun.

 

[Joe]

My 5/16" tack line runs down to a small block snap shackled to the stemhead, then back to the cockpit through a series of small bullet blocks shackled to the stanchion bases.... there is absolutely no pressure on the stanchions them selves. The same tack line can be used as a fore guy for my spinnaker pole by moving the stemhead block to a padeye on the foredeck... the rest of the line uses the same stanchion based blocks to get the line back to the cockpit area.

The tack line can often require some winch power.... so I would never consider running the tack line through stanchion mounted fairleads.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

BO;

Follow the advice of Stu and Joe. You are correct about your boat and the loads when only using the boat in light airs at Colonial Beach. I use to sell them and to the best of my recollection, that is how I ran them when at Smith Mountain Lake many years ago. Good Luck on the install. Fair weather and happy sailing.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Thanks for the info. I plan on running them just above the base of the stanchion.

Seriously, I couldn't imagine carrying an asymmetrical spinnaker in 20 knots of wind single handed. That would be a death wish and issues waiting to happen.

Frankly, I hate putting extra strain on my rig. What is the point? .5 knots of boat speed are nice in light winds, but when you are at hull speed with just the main or the main and a piece of the jib it doesn't matter if you put up more sail, it won't make you go faster.