Sails - Help I don't understand

[Larry French]

I have a 1980 Catalina 30 which I purchased late last year. I recently took a close look at how the sail is attached to the mast and it just doesn't make sense. The top half of the sail is attached with shackles to the inserts (not sure what they are called) that go up the mast. On the bottom half most of the sail is attached to the mast with a rope that goes through the sail (the little holes) and then attached to the inserts. This just doesn't seem right. My theory is that the inserts on the mast have broken off (or the shackles have) and rather than buy a few more pieces of hardware the owner just used rope to attach the sail. I'm thinking that I need to buy more shackles and inserts. Is this correct? Another issue is that the top half of the sail I understand. The holes where the shackles are inserted are evenly spaced. On the bottom half, however it is a different story. In one location there are three closely spaced inserts. Do all three need a shackle? How do I pick the right one?Thanks,Larry

 

[Mike I.]

Sail stuff

You are correct about the way the sail slugs are attached to the sail. The slugs slided inside the mast track and are attached to to the sail grommets, usually with small shackles, and the foot of the sail uses a boltrope to attach the sail to the boom. On my C-30 all grommets, even the closely spaced ones which are around a batten slide, have slugs attached. If one of the sail "holes" is a little farther in from the luff, it may be a reefing grommet or a cunningham grommet. The grommets for the sail slided will be evenly spaced from the sail luff.

 

[MJ]

Take the sail to a sail loft and

see if they have any problems with the way it is presently constructed. It may be OK, it may not be. But before I made any interventions, I would consult a professional. Good Luck.

 

[Chris Hyland]

Single line reefing

Larry, Sounds like the sail is setup for jiffy reefing. You should have a line from the cockpit to the tackle at the bottom of the mast, then up to the sail and through. From there it goes back down and through the boom. It comes out of the boom back towards the cockpit, up to the reefing point, through the sail and back down to attach to the boom.Good luck...Chris

 

[Bob Stephens]

Sail Slides

It sounds like your mainsail is set up with a fairly commom method of attaching sail slides to the mainsail to allow for reefing. It allows the cringle of the reef point to be brought down to a reefing hook or pulled down by a line to the gooseneck without having to take the slides out of the track on the mast.Good Luck!

 

[Bob Camarena]

Jackline

Bob is right, the name for the "rope" is "jackline", not to be confused with "lazy jacks" which are a form of rope cradle to catch your mainsail when lowering it.The jackline will greatly simplify reefing.

 

[Larry French]

Still have a question...

I still have a question on why? I understand why you would want a jiffy reefing system. However, are there any reasons why you would not want to do this? If there a benefit not to having the rope and instead having the shackles and slides.Thanks,Larry

 

[cole]

do you keep your boat on kerr lake??

dou you keep the boat on kerr lake??