How to make (or buy) a preventer

[Steve A.]

Last fall I sailed my H28 from Boothbay, ME to Isle of Shoals in one overnight leg. The wind was blowing about 25 knots from behind with a confused sea. I accidently jibes a couple of times which broke 4 of the slugs on the main sail. I would like to rig a preventer so when I am sailing down wind I don't have to worry quite as much about jibing. Any suggestions on the best setup? Thanks.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Several options

Find a spot forward of the mast (toe tail is great) on each side and a spot near the end of the boom to attach a line. Make up two lines that attaches to the forward attachment point and run back to the mast attachment point. The forward points can be tied off and left while the boom attachment point should be something you can put on and take off quickly.orMake up two tackles (just like your main sheet and attach them to the toe rail about where the traveler runs. Run both up to where the sheet attached to the boom. Throw away your sheet tackle and use the new set of sheet tackles to positively control the boom at all times. By manipulating both sheets you can make a controlled jibe in ANY condition as the boom is never free to swing. You have basically taken one sheet acting upward and replaced it with 2 sheets acting sideways. You can apply downward "sheet tension" on the boom to shape the sail much more precisely too. The big drawback is the amount of deck space that gets fuzzed up with the two tackle. Really great for single handing in rough conditions though.Lest you think I'm smart, I saw this in a book on blue water cruising. The author said he ooved it and will not go back to a single sheet arrangement.

 

[Steve O.]

another option

You can use your boom vang if you have one, just make sure that you attach it to a structurally secure point, like the toerail.

 

[Warren Milberg]

I like simplicity

...on my H28.5. I rigged up a preventer as follows: Using a piece of 3-strand nylon, I eye-spliced one end to a swivel snap shackle. I then looped the other end through another swivel snap shackle and tied it to the standing part of the line with a rolling hitch. I connect one shackle to the boom bail and the other end to the toe rail. Bingo, instant and adjustable preventer (and one that has prevented a number of jibes when I didn't want one). Another use for this tackle is to secure the boom when the sail is furled and while motoring to keep the boom steadier than does the mainsheet tackle.

 

[Terry Cox]

Hi Steve, I rigged a preventer for our boat ...

almost the exact same way as Warren did and am very happy with its performance. The only difference was I had some left over double braid. I stow the preventer on the underside of our boom where it is ready for use.Terry