Flattening Main Sail

[Alan]

Sail Shape??

You've bumped into the same problem that many Hunter owners have found with a rig that is missing a few very needed sail controls. Aside from the fact that the OE sails are poor at best, there is very little ability to flatten the main. Paul has the right idea to deal with this situation. I would suggest that a new and properly made main is in your future.

 

[amir]

Folks,I have a H336. As most of you know the main sail is huge. I am not able to flatten the main sail much when the wind picks up. Typically I tighten the Main Halyard, tighten the outhaul, tighten boom vang / main sheet. I have also loosened the battens. Any other ideas?

 

[Russell10327]

Flatten Main Sail

I assume you have a Cunningham on your main sail luff? If not, you may want to have one installed over the winter. Easing the halyard and pulling the luff down using the the Cunningham is the easiest way I know to flatten the main, quickly and easily.

 

[Paul McGhee]

You've done about everything....

Many boats have outhauls that are led to a winch, and cunninghams. Some boats have running or adjustable backstays. The 336, as you know, has none of these.Instead of flattening the sail to deal with a freshening breeze, you've got to reef, then vang down hard if you have the model with the short traveler.On my 336, I have replaced the single-line reefing system with a double-line setup. That gives me a powerful, separately adjustable cunningham and outhaul, but only when I have a reef in.It's possible to install a cunningham, but getting it led back to a winch will be a pain, and it won't really give you that much benefit. The most effective way to flatten a full-cut mainsail is by bending the mast, and that ain't happening for this boat.Paulsv Escape Artisth336

 

[Tim]

Cunningham will work

I have a 40.5 with large main and I use a cuningham that I can adjust from the cockpit. I'll admit it is a pain to run the new lines back to the cockpit, but it has worked well for me...gives me an extra 4 to 5 knots of wind before I have to reef.

 

[mark]

How old is the sail?

If its too baggy it might not flatten. 2cents

 

[newly anonymous]

flattener

Ask your sailmaker about having a flattening reef installed. That is the lowest-cost solution to your trouble.

 

[amir]

Flatter Main Sail

Paul,What I noticed is that when I have the full sail up (which is not very often), shape of the sail is not too baggy and it can be flattened with boom vang etc. However, once I put in a reef (single-line reef), the baggyness of the sail increases. It is partly because the singe-reef line system is not efficient. With a single or double reef, the leech end of the sail does notcome down to the boom level once I tighten the reefing line. I typically need to put another line manually to pull the cringle on the leech as close to the boom as possible.It is a pain! Is it difficult to put in the 2 line reefing system? What is the cost?Thanks

 

[Paul McGhee]

double-line reefing info

There are two places you should go to learn about double-line reefing. The first is Beth Leonard's article on sailnet.com:http://www.sailnet.com/collections/articles/index.cfm?articleid=bthlnd035.. and then to the photo forum to look at how I did it: I admit that my photos aren't very good, but once you understand Beth's diagram you can probably understand what I did.http://www.sailboatowners.com/upload/display.tpl?folder=73187246026&fno=17I get a much, much better reefed shape with double-line reefing. This doesn't help with the full sail, however. The first reef point is too far up the luff to work as a cunningham.What is a "flattening reef?" Sounds interesting.Paulsv Escape Artisth336

 

[John Nantz]

Use a Cunningham to Flaten Sail

Several people have mentioned using a cunningham to flatten the sail and this is a very good suggestion. If you notice, when tightening the main halyard with the main under pressure the top part of the luff gets tightened but the lower part either doesn't or doesn't get tightened very much. The cunningham tightens the lower part of the luff.The link to this US Sailing web site which has a good description on how to trim the sail to take the draft out.http://www.sailingusa.info/sail_shape.htm