Homemade jib sock?

Aug 8, 2013
59
Catalina 22 Scituate
I am toying with the idea of building my own roller furling and am wondering if anyone has made their own jib cover for the furled jib? I understand the sail will last about 3 years uncovered. Any ideas on making one?
 
Aug 3, 2012
2,542
Performance Cruising Telstar 28 302 Watkins Glen
You could also send your sail to a loft and have a cover sewn to it. I hear it costs about $150.

Thanks,

Andrew
 
Aug 8, 2013
59
Catalina 22 Scituate
You could also send your sail to a loft and have a cover sewn to it. I hear it costs about $150. Thanks, Andrew
Thanks, I'll look into that. I also was reading how some people have used insignia cloth, I guess it's peel and stick and is offered with UV protection.
 
Aug 3, 2012
2,542
Performance Cruising Telstar 28 302 Watkins Glen
You can get UV - proof fabric at a fabric store. You could probably sew it on yourself.

Thanks,
Andrew
 
Feb 20, 2011
8,060
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
One of the problems I ran into when researching this, was finding nylon zippers long and tough enough.

I did happen to find one source, but it's lost in the fog of the past. A recent past!

Good luck!
 
Nov 18, 2012
183
Catalina 77 - 22 / 75 - 30 Lake Arthur, LA
Check out sailrite. Com.
They have how-to videos and all the supplies you need.
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,047
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
This subject reappears every once in a while. Roller furling is to make things EASIER. It boggles my mind why anyone would want roller furling and THEN make something separate that's a PITA to build, install, hoist, have to un-deploy when wanting to go sailing, and then do it all over and over whenever one wants to use the boat. Perhaps someone can explain how making things harder to do makes any sense. If i want to go sailing, I get out of the marina, unfurl my jib, sail, furl it and go anchor. No zippers required.:)
 
Feb 20, 2011
8,060
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
Welcome to the internet, where questions live many lives! ;)

And you're absolutely right, Stu.
 
Aug 3, 2012
2,542
Performance Cruising Telstar 28 302 Watkins Glen
Wait a minute. What is all this brouhaha? Why the hyperbole? How can we live with this overstatement!!!? We cannot stand for the reputation of innocent furlers besmirched and besmudged! I admit I don't trailer-sail, but my furler is NOT a PITA to stow or handle when trailering. I hold the mast up while my wife unpins the forestay shackle, and I walk the mast down while she walks the furler back. The furler doesn't get in the way. It isn't so heavy that it causes problems. When the mast is lowered, I strap the furler and luff to the mast with the shrouds, put tape on all the pins, support the mast in the center, and strap the mast to the bow pulpit and stern crutch. DONE. You could also simply strap the furler to the mast in one or two spots instead of walking it back. It will be about 1 ft longer than the mast, but you can just let that hang on deck at the base of the mast til you have the mast down.
I don't see the problem.

On the plus side, the furler keeps my somewhat trepidacious wife off the decks at crucial moments. I swear the wind picks up if she goes up on the bow. She loves the furler, and I love her! So furler it is! The C22 is just not that big a boat! Now I hope my new O'Day 272 will be a different story. We will sail that for a season before deciding whether to use a furler.

When I get it home, the whole boat and mast go under a tarp... With a special plexiglass, pressurized, temperature-controlled, laser motion detecting anti-theft alarm container for my furler, of course... ;)

Just sayin' guys and gals! Geez!


Thanks,

Andrew
 
Oct 17, 2011
2,809
Ericson 29 Southport..
Haaaha. You guys..

My roller furler works flawlessly, due to a lot of attention of setting it up. If the headsail doesn't roll up reletively easily on a broad reach, sumpins not right. Like ill cranking Harleys. They are EASY to crank, if the damn dumb rider knew how to fix his motorbike..

I step masts commonly on the yard that are 65 feet high, and requires a crane. Most if not all of them has roller furlers. And it is a easy walk in the park to do this. I couldn't imagine it being any more difficult on a 22.

And sun covers are easy as hell to put on. Without writing a book, because Don Casey already did on this, that is a home job. Bearing in mind that you are not 'building a sail', just stitching on canvass. If you send that sail off, (to a major sail loft I know in Annapolis that you know as well), it will cost you $11.00 a FOOT! On the leach, and on the foot. To hell with all that. I'm not broke, OR stingy but that'll never happen.

Long straight stitches, use good thread, it'll last a few years depending on how well you do it. Remember they call these "Sacrificial Covers". Do to it as the name implies..
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
This subject reappears every once in a while. Roller furling is to make things EASIER. It boggles my mind why anyone would want roller furling and THEN make something separate that's a PITA to build, install, hoist, have to un-deploy when wanting to go sailing, and then do it all over and over whenever one wants to use the boat. Perhaps someone can explain how making things harder to do makes any sense. If i want to go sailing, I get out of the marina, unfurl my jib, sail, furl it and go anchor. No zippers required.:)
We use a sock on our First 260. It's common on racier boats with roller furling headsails (j-105 etc). The weight of the two sunbrella strips would almost double the weight of the jibl, not to mention effect on the shape.

On wider, heavier cruising Dacron genoas, the difference is much less.

Plus, you DO take your mainsail cover off every time you go sailing, right?? :)
 
Feb 20, 2011
8,060
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
Love my furler, too. Works great, and I've easily dealt with the extra weight and time needed to step/unstep the mast.

But I don't think upslims should be discouraged from tinkering to his heart's content, even if that means reinventing the wheel, something I've done more than a few times.
It can be a most effective learning process.
 
Aug 8, 2013
59
Catalina 22 Scituate
Thanks for the input! I'm not concerned about whether or not to make a furler, I've started ready, so that's not the issue. We are going to be on a mooring this coming season and I am looking for ideas on a cheap way to UV protect the furled sail. Right now I am leaning toward using the uv sticky tape or sewing a sacrificial cloth into the leech. Protecting the sail was something that I hadn't considered with the furler. This sailing biz is new to me. Thanks
 
Aug 3, 2012
2,542
Performance Cruising Telstar 28 302 Watkins Glen
My reservation with that UV sticky tape is the possibility of adhesive getting on the sail. If it does, it will attract dirt and make your sail look like hell. I would stitch it on. That tape could come off too. If your headsail luffs violently, it will whip that tape around at high speed. I just don't know. But then I admit I have not seen the tape either. Would be cool if it came in reflective... Hmmm.

Thanks,

Andrew
 
Oct 2, 2008
3,811
Pearson/ 530 Strafford, NH
Just a thought about the sock, you would need a second halyard since one would be dedicated to holding the jib. The material would also have to be slick enough to slide over the furled sail. I've seen a few boats with this set-up.

All U Get
 

azguy

.
Aug 23, 2012
337
Catalina 22 Lake Pleasant
I plan on making one for my C22 since I have access to a seamstress from a previous business I owned. Out here in Arizona when the Sunbrella material is sewed onto the sail the sail will have to be dropped every few years to have to replaced and that isn't cheap and I'd rather not have them sewing on my sail and removing the old Sunbrella cover.

We already bought some Sunbrella material and plan on securing the ends as it's hoisted with twist fasteners like the headsail cover is secured. I'll it'll have an elastic top and bottom fixed with either a snap or Velcro and will be hosted up the rolled headsail via the Spinnaker halyard.

We may try and use super heavy duty Velcro before we install the twist fasteners for a cleaner installation look.

We are also going to make a cover that will go over the companionway slates to protect the wood and keep out rain and dirt.
 
Feb 20, 2011
8,060
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
My reservation with that UV sticky tape is the possibility of adhesive getting on the sail. If it does, it will attract dirt and make your sail look like hell. I would stitch it on. That tape could come off too. If your headsail luffs violently, it will whip that tape around at high speed. I just don't know. But then I admit I have not seen the tape either. Would be cool if it came in reflective... Hmmm.

Thanks,

Andrew
Even when sticky stuff isn't used. Of course, I live in a very dusty place. Filthy!
 

Attachments

Aug 31, 2011
243
Catalina C-22 9485 Lake Rathbun, IA
On a related topic... Has anyone made, or know where to buy, a spinnaker sock for a C-22. i'd like one that lifts to the masthead and drops down to dose the spinnaker, controlled from the cockpit. Also, one that will not compromise my furler. I think that WM sells them but quick pricey and not sure if they are ideally for a C-22. I have the spinnaker, never used as my 'scurvy crew' is not well accustomed to using it (the XO once tried to lose the kite on my E-Scow while racing and then proceed to use it as a sea drogue, not good, never again :cussing:).
 
Dec 23, 2008
771
Catalina 22 Central Penna.
Pros and cons

In your original blog you stated you wanted to build your own furler and that to protect the sail attached you would need a covering to protect the sail material from the sun when not in use.

I’ve sail my Catalina 22 for over 20 years and a I have an industrial size sewing machine with the power to stitch material to a brick if required and I have sewn UV material to a headsail on a 22 foot boat.

Lets start with the sail covering. As these fellows state, attaching the material to the sail is the way to go. Sumbrella is worth the extra money and effort because of it’s protection and very long lasting qualities, any other material may work in the short run but over time you will wish you did it right the first time. A light weight home sewing machine could possibly handle two layers of Sumbrella and one layer of sail material. I say two layers of Sumbrella because you need to fold over the edges of this material as you stitch it to keep the single edge from fraying in the wind. The sail edges are folded over one or two times to add strength and many additional layers are added to the sail attachment points. So, a light duty sewing machine may not work on the outside edges of the sail and definitely not on the corners, those areas would have to be stitched by hand. The cons on this configuration is that as someone else stated it makes the sail thick and when partly furled destroys the shape of the sail to a point where it will not work properly on certain points of sail. A Catalina 22 gets it’s power from the headsail so destroying it’s shape is not a good thing!

I was out sailing on the Chesapeake Bay this time last month in wind from 26 to 32 mph with gust to over 35 on a Hunter 34. We had the headsail furled up so much and misshaped that I think a pillow case would of worked better.

The sock construction could be stitched on maybe the standard home machine, sewing two layers of sumbrella and one layer of zipper which is very soft and porous. You’ll need a zipper that has a open starting end like on a jacket, as someone has said, Sailrite has extra long zippers of this configuration. They may not be long enough to do the whole length of the sock but you can use 2 or 3 in a row to complete the luff length of your sail. Using a halyard to slide the sock up the furled sail will be needed and an additional line attached to the halyard or top of the sock like a downhaul. Someone mention about using zip ties to keep the sock somewhat tight over the furled sail, so that it will not flog in the wind may not work, because the furled sail is at it’s largest diameter as high as you can reach and from that point higher it gets smaller where the ties would become loose. This is where the extra line, like a downhaul, would be used to wrap around the sock like the red strip on a candy cane to collapse it around the furled sail. The cons on this covering would be that the time to install and remove and the additional time of lashing everything down you could remove the headsail from the furler and reinstall it the next time sailing.


On a 22 foot boat hanked on sails only take up as much room as a bed pillow. I’ve used a jib as a blanket when spending the night in late fall without having to take along a heavy sleeping bag. I would recommend using the money saved on this idea and purchase a smaller hanked on headsail and concentrate on preparing the cabin for creature comfort until you learn to sail the boat with it’s present sail controls.