As it is a pain in the a## to change the halyard tension on my roller furling jib, I am wondering if there is a catch all position for setting the tension. I cannot easily bend my mast so that idea is out. How much tension do my fellow sailors use when you bend the jib on the first time of the season, and do you ever change the setting or just deal with the consequences? Also how far off the deck do you keep the foot of your jib????? Fair Winds, Bill
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Halyard Tension
Bill: I'm not sure what kind of halyard system you have so it's hard to say why it would hard to tension or not. On my Furlex, it's a simple matter of hauling the sail up using a pre-feeder and a cabin top winch. I make it as "taught" as I can get it without applying too much pressure. I realize that is subjective. If you have a furler with an internal halyard, perhaps like CDI, I don't know how you gain leverage with it. What also may be difficult,again depending on your rig, is getting the right tension on the forestay. My system has a simple "rigging screw" just below the drum which is used to increase or decrease forestay tension. And since I'm not a formal racer any longer, I intentionally rig the foot of my genoa with a short pennant so that it just clears the top of the pulpit and lifelines. Probably not as efficient that way as a deck sweeper, but since I single hand a lot, I like having the visibility under the foot and I also avoid chafe and dirt at the bottom of the sail. Hope this helps.
Bill: I'm not sure what kind of halyard system you have so it's hard to say why it would hard to tension or not. On my Furlex, it's a simple matter of hauling the sail up using a pre-feeder and a cabin top winch. I make it as "taught" as I can get it without applying too much pressure. I realize that is subjective. If you have a furler with an internal halyard, perhaps like CDI, I don't know how you gain leverage with it. What also may be difficult,again depending on your rig, is getting the right tension on the forestay. My system has a simple "rigging screw" just below the drum which is used to increase or decrease forestay tension. And since I'm not a formal racer any longer, I intentionally rig the foot of my genoa with a short pennant so that it just clears the top of the pulpit and lifelines. Probably not as efficient that way as a deck sweeper, but since I single hand a lot, I like having the visibility under the foot and I also avoid chafe and dirt at the bottom of the sail. Hope this helps.
The phenomenon of 'Creep' .....
Take ANY polymer and leave it loaded over a long time .... and the fibers/structure will deform to get smaller and longer and the sail will adversly change dimensions. The phenomen is called 'creep' when a polymer is left loaded and consequentially changes shape/dimensions. When not sailing you 'should' release tension ... on all halyards, outhauls, etc.; otherwise, all you're doing in leaving a halyard-loaded sail on a furler is *prematurely destroying* the sail. If you want maximum performance, the tack should be set *to the deck* to keep the open area between the foot of the sail and the deck at a minimum, so the negative pressure on the leeward side doesnt 'leak' to the windward side - ie.: a 'deck sweeper'. Some of the newer design boats with roller furling have the furler mounted in a well 'below the deck level' so that the 'space' between the genoa and the deck is a MINIMUM. If you have difficulty in 'seeing' on the other side of the sail, consider to have a clear vinyl 'window' added by a sailmaker.
Take ANY polymer and leave it loaded over a long time .... and the fibers/structure will deform to get smaller and longer and the sail will adversly change dimensions. The phenomen is called 'creep' when a polymer is left loaded and consequentially changes shape/dimensions. When not sailing you 'should' release tension ... on all halyards, outhauls, etc.; otherwise, all you're doing in leaving a halyard-loaded sail on a furler is *prematurely destroying* the sail. If you want maximum performance, the tack should be set *to the deck* to keep the open area between the foot of the sail and the deck at a minimum, so the negative pressure on the leeward side doesnt 'leak' to the windward side - ie.: a 'deck sweeper'. Some of the newer design boats with roller furling have the furler mounted in a well 'below the deck level' so that the 'space' between the genoa and the deck is a MINIMUM. If you have difficulty in 'seeing' on the other side of the sail, consider to have a clear vinyl 'window' added by a sailmaker.
CDI manual
If you are using a CDI, the halyard is internal on the flexible foil. I', attached an online manual for the FF2, which has tensioning the luff on pages 11 & 12. They say it only has to be enough to take out the wrinkles, maybe 50 lbs. of pull on the tensioning line.
If you are using a CDI, the halyard is internal on the flexible foil. I', attached an online manual for the FF2, which has tensioning the luff on pages 11 & 12. They say it only has to be enough to take out the wrinkles, maybe 50 lbs. of pull on the tensioning line.
Adjusting the tension
Mark, I have a internal halyard, as soon as the halyard is uncleated, the jib starts to fall, no way to run to a winch, just pulling down on halard to tension then cleat off. After all that, the excess halyard must be wrapped around the drum. All this is pretty tough on the foredeck alone. Bill
Mark, I have a internal halyard, as soon as the halyard is uncleated, the jib starts to fall, no way to run to a winch, just pulling down on halard to tension then cleat off. After all that, the excess halyard must be wrapped around the drum. All this is pretty tough on the foredeck alone. Bill
Bill: I agree with you that it is a pain to adjust the jib halyard tension but there is an easy way around the problem. What I did was rig a small Garhauer soft boom vang, which in effect becomes a jib Cunningham. Some of the more expensive roller furlers have a built in Cunningham (mine did not) but the built in ones are also a pain to deal with.
Jib and halyard
We have something like Don's setup, with no blocks. We have the foot of the jib up off the deck above the pulpit, too. The head of the sail is pulled up to the top and we installed a length of low stretch line between the D shackle on the top of the furling drum and the foot of the jib. It runs through both a few times. When we unfurl the sail, I go forward and yank down on the line and tie it off. Before we furl the sail I just loosen the line. Every once in a while I unfurl the sail at the dock when there's no wind and tighten up on the halyard. Stu
We have something like Don's setup, with no blocks. We have the foot of the jib up off the deck above the pulpit, too. The head of the sail is pulled up to the top and we installed a length of low stretch line between the D shackle on the top of the furling drum and the foot of the jib. It runs through both a few times. When we unfurl the sail, I go forward and yank down on the line and tie it off. Before we furl the sail I just loosen the line. Every once in a while I unfurl the sail at the dock when there's no wind and tighten up on the halyard. Stu
Bill: Send me your email address at Yankee3223@juno.com and I'll get you a picture of the setup.
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