It's the simple things...

Joe11688 · Dec 29, 2010

The sail cover is a must. If I have to anchor for 20 minutes to take my dog to the shore in the kayak, I always put the sail cover on. Your mainsail will last a long time if you cover it when it's furled. I found a site that shows how to make sail ties out of 3/16" bungee cord, hog rings, and 1/4" Nylon shock cord clips. I have it rigged under my boom and it works like a charm.
http://www.cncphotoalbum.com/doityourself/sailties/sailties.htm
The clips can be bought at most marine stores and they are manufactured by "Sea-Dog" #652060-1 They fit 1/4" and have an eye diameter of 7/16". They have a small nylon keeper on the hook that can be cut off. The keeper isn't really isn't needed on these clips.

As far as the outboard goes, I have a 1999 Johnson 8 hp two stroke long shaft outboard with a charging system. It's a pull start and it's very reliable. I wouldn't trade that engine for any electric start. To me, a charging system is more important than anything else.
The next thing you may want to buy is either a roller furler or an autopilot. Get the autopilot first though.
Joe

Mich222 · Dec 29, 2010

Congrats on the new sailcovers. Excellent way to spend more time sailing. Question for you- What kind of jib do you have and Did you get a sailcover for your jib? I have a CDI furler for my 222 and don't have a sailcover for the jib. I would like to get one- just not sure where to start.

Joe11688 · Dec 30, 2010

Mitch,
What you need to do is to take your Jib to a sail maker and have him install a UV shield. This shield can either be made of Sumbrella or Dacron. It's your choice. A sail will only last about three seasons without a UV shield. Don't forget to tell him which way your Jib rolls up so that he will know which side of the sail to install the shield.
Joe

Sunbird22358 · Dec 31, 2010

Joe. I'll echo that advice about telling the sailmaker which way the sail rolls on the furler! We bought new sails for our CAL 21 in 1993 from Thurston Sails in Bristol, RI. My Mom and I finally convinced my dad to add a RF for the jib at that time, and so he bought a CDI furler from Thurston at the same time that he ordered the sails. When we rigged the furler and bent the sail on.......we suddenly realized that the suncover was on the wrong side of the sail! We always had to spool the line on the furler drum in the reverse direction from what the instructions said in order to compensate for that. A lot easier than having Thurston fix the sail! You would think that if you bought a furler and the sail from the same source that the cover would be on the correct side, but it wasn't. Thurston used to be one of the top sailmakers in New England (and beyond!), but during the 1990's their quality and customer service slipped.

Joe11688 · Dec 31, 2010

Sunbird22358 said:
Joe. I'll echo that advice about telling the sailmaker which way the sail rolls on the furler! We bought new sails for our CAL 21 in 1993 from Thurston Sails in Bristol, RI. My Mom and I finally convinced my dad to add a RF for the jib at that time, and so he bought a CDI furler from Thurston at the same time that he ordered the sails. When we rigged the furler and bent the sail on.......we suddenly realized that the suncover was on the wrong side of the sail! We always had to spool the line on the furler drum in the reverse direction from what the instructions said in order to compensate for that. A lot easier than having Thurston fix the sail! You would think that if you bought a furler and the sail from the same source that the cover would be on the correct side, but it wasn't. Thurston used to be one of the top sail makers in New England (and beyond!), but during the 1990's their quality and customer service slipped.

I have to admit that when I bought my furler off Rudy I knew absolutely nothing about them. Wayne had one on his Seaward 22 long before I got mine and he even helped me set mine up on my boat. I told him that I wanted to have the control line on the Starboard side of my boat and he was the one who straightened me out on which direction it needed to roll up so that I could tell the guy at Thurston Sails which side to install the UV shield when he converted my Gennie over. I had them make my sails back in the mid 1990s and they did a good job but I recently went back there to have them check out my torn Mainsail and they wanted to sell me a new sail at an inflated cost. I wound up taking the sail to North Sails in Melville Boat Basin RI and they fixed it for me. If I ever need a new sail I'll go to Sperry. Wayne had them make a mainsail for him last year and they did an excellent job at $800 as opposed to Thurston who wanted almost $1200.

Joe11688 · Jan 4, 2011

kpgraci said:
That is clever - I'm gonna do it.

Ken,
If you make one, you may want to rig both ends of the Bungee so that you can pull the slack out of it as it stretches. After a period of time, the Bungee cords would stretch a little and sag under the boom. So I would unhook one end and tie a figure eight knot in it close to the hook. Usually it was enough to shorten it and keep it from sagging. You don't want it too tight and you don't want it too loose.
Later on, I decided to eliminate the end hooks. I cut the bungee cord at both ends and just tie them to the two eye straps under the boom. This way, I can adjust them to the right tension anytime. You could also use the end hooks and tie the bungee cords to each hook instead of making it permanent with the hog rings.
I've been using this sail jock for a few years now and it's as good, if not better than the Davis sail jock I had. Davis no longer sells them.
Joe

Joe11688 · Jan 4, 2011

kpgraci said:
I have a hanked on 100% jib - I bought a jib bag for it and it works fine.

Before I got my CDI Roller Furler, I had one of those bags and it was OK but having to mess with my Gennie and that bag gets old after a while particularly if you anchor a lot in coves. The furler is so much faster and easier. The anchor roller and the roller furler were two of the best improvements that I ever made to my boat especially now that I've reached "Geezerdom."

The downside of the roller furler is that it makes mast raising/lowering a little more difficult to where you need a Gin Pole and (baby stays) temporary stays with pivot bridles. The set up time is a little longer.
So if you're young, stick with the Jib bag for now and buy an electronic autopilot instead.