roller furling question

haha nice!

Hard lessons learned the hard way. (banished from the bedroom to a hard couch)

I'm trying to get my wife interested in sailing. She went out on that friends hobie I was talking about one time while I watched our 10 month old from the beach.

It's a bit difficult to both get out on our boat with the little tyke. One of us is always relegated to babysitting duty.

Can't wait till he gets old enough to come out with us. What do you think the magic age would be? (in a nice safe 5-10 of course.)

And how do I adjust the trapeze such to get said 10 month old out on the wire?! On second thought...I'd rather not have to rename the boat

Divorce Finalized

yeah, don't do the track...just rig up a barber hauler at the outer end of the beams. Basically, run your jib sheets (each side) through a simple ring - plastic is fine. Tie a line to that ring and run it through a block at the end of the respective beam. Arrange a cleat for this barber-hauler line. When sailing upwind, the barber-hauler is loose and lets the jib sheet right to where the blocks are. When sailing off the wind, you cinch the barber-hauler line (takes a split second) and it pulls the sheets to the outer end of the beam and gives better shape to the jib for sailing deep. Most systems run the hauler line and cleat to the opposite side of the boat since that is typically where you will be when setting it.

That really depends on the kid. If the child is a good listener, and doesn’t have

ants in his pants

and can sit still... and YOU are proficient...

I sail with a buddy who's 3 year old is good crew. She loves it. He also has a front tramp and has alot of room where she can sit and not be in the way, nor in harms way (boom, sheets, etc)

I have also sailed with a girl who brought her bratty 13 year old. He refused to listen to what I said, wouldnt move when i needed him to, and was a liability. If the weather turned, it would have been dangerous for him.

I considered raising him up to the top of the mast, but couldn’t figure out how to rig a double halyard <img src=

alt=

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Jake, I think I understand the concept but I don't fully understand how to rig this barber hauler. You don't by any chance have a picture of a barber hauler rigged cat do you?

What is a block again? Is that a pulley that's anchored to the boat?

Andrew, sounds like the brat needed to be sent overboard and dragged behind the boat. I'm not looking forward to when my son thinks he knows more than me. I guess what comes around goes around <img src=

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Very simple.... rig as image shows

Pull on the white line to adjust as needed!

Hehe... just kidding....

I have my barber hauler rigged as the image shows… a floating peace on the jib sheets (circled in green) then the line (highlighted in yellow) runs through a very small block (at the far ends) and cleat on the beam.

There are many ways to rig this, and you could probably run through your front beam (and end caps) to avoid drilling and rivets in your beam....

Next time you sail, just ask other boaters if they have one and see how they run it.

If you use the search feature here.. there is alot of data.

Yup - it is also the pulley system that you sheet the mainsail in with, and the pulley you sheet the jib in with....etc

The blue line is pulled on and the jib sheets are moved outward. Uncleat and the jib is back to its normal position. As Jake and Andrew said there are several ways to do this. Here's the set-up on my 5.2

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh that makes perfect sense <img src=

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OK so any

pulley

is called a block?

Thanks for the pictures guys. Having them helps me a lot. I'm more of a visual learner.

I'm trying to think how I would do this without doing any drilling.

I suppose I could tie a line around the front beam between the hull and the tramp. There's just enough space to get a line through there. I could make a loop in the line and then tie it there, and then thread the barber hauler line through the loop and then to the jib sheet. but I'm not sure how I would cleat the hauler line...

Maybe attach another block at the point the jib's are attached?

Hey andrew, I like that netting you've got set up on your tramp btw.

I don't like transporting the Nacra with the rudders attached and when the kiddo is traveling with us I don't have enough room to put them in the Subaru. Maybe I could lay them on the tramp and secure them with some cargo netting....

So many ideas so little time

Hey Turbocat that's a nice dolphin striker rod you got there.

If it comes up missing it wasn't me <img src=

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You could run the line THROUGH the end caps (with some drilling to the caps)...but i think you will need to drill somewhere for cleats.

I dont know why you were told not to drill the beam.. as you can see.. we all have cleats and blocks and eyestraps on our beams...

Thanks,... the trunk of my car misses it... but it was in the way of my rudders and fit my cat so well!!!

Ohhhh.... secure them well if you try that.. ... you wont believe what rudders, castings, rudder arms, etc. cost to replace (not to mention the damage they would do to a car that hit them if they flew off your cat in transit).

friend of mine has an industrial strength sewing machine for doing car upholstery. I was thinking of making a really strong bag to put the rudders in that would zip up. The bag would attach to the trampoline. I think it would be pretty solid, and would keep the rudder attaching hardware from rubbing a hole in the tramp if they were just bungied down there.

No room in the trunk when the baby and all his

gear

come along for a trip.

Let me ask you this though... It seems to me, the untrained eye, that this barber-hauler setup does pretty much the same thing as putting the tracks up on the front cross beam. Is this not the case?

Your untrained eye is semi-correct ...
The tracks act as a travler to move your jib in and out on the beam... but this only is good if your boat and jib was designed for that.

the barberhauler is an outhaul that pulls your jib out towards the outer limits of the beam/hull. HOWEVER this is desirable (mostly) downwind when you want to make a FULL (round) sail shape on your jib. If you sail by your tell-tales (as you should IMHO) you will see downwind your jib needs to be full and upwind flat... (generally speaking)

If you outhaul (with a barber hauler) when going upwind you will have a miss shaped jib (as mentioned above you will be pulling from to much of the leach and not enough foot of the sail).

I think (IMHO) you should install the bungie (higher than the turnbuckles) for $2, tape up the turnbuckles with electical tape $.50 (or rigging tape) and learn how to work with the jib (i used to have to shake my Hobie16 jib every now and again while sailing).

If you feel like you want more items to adjust and want to tinker with jib shape, then install a barber hauler.

It is not a huge advantage in either handling your jib/hangup problems because it is mainly for downwind sailing... and creates a little more work (and deck clutter) to cleat and uncleat when you tack....

if you do put your rudders in a bag/on your tramp... you may want to wrap them up individually because when your trailer jumps over potholes and other bumps they will bang against eachother they can scrape, scratch, bend, ding and just break off each other. Deep scratches can cause water to get in the rudder, swell, and split the rudders. So just be sure to secure them, and protect them and you should be fine!

OR you could put your baby in the bag on the tramp.. that should give you room in your car for the rudders (kidding)

But most of all. just have fun!

a baby bag....

BRILLIANT!!!

your thoughts intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

LOL, i don't have a sailing newsletter (although i do publish 2 health ones for work) but i do have LOTS of sailing pics you can see at http://www.metalfree.com/a/CAT

fair enough sir, you drive a hard bargain. If in the future a boy scout rings the doorbell selling subscriptions I will laugh in his face, tell him to come back when he's selling subscriptions to the andrewscott newsletter (or cookies), and slam the door in his face, open the door, apologize for slamming the door in his face, quickly close the door before being beaten by his parents, and prepare the house for a night defense against an angry mob of scouts and their weapons of mass egging.

ummmmm.... try the decaf!

advice to add to your newsletter.

So to be honest I'm still not totally clear on the difference between the tracks and the barber hauler. They still seem to be doing the same thing just rigged differently.

I've got a background in aviation so the physics and aerodynamics/ hydrodynamics of it all wouldn't be too far over my head.

Can you guys recommend any books on the subject? Something that talks about the science behind the sails, maybe about this

pocket

a few have mentioned, the relationships between the jib and the main....that kind of stuff.

Rick White's

CAT RACING: FOR THE 90S

is for sale in the Store here (link above)

This book covers all these topics.

Price $29.95

(PS this is Rick's website) <img src=

alt=

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To summarize the difference for the barber hauler and the front beam travler (tracks):
The barber hauler is an OUThaul used for getting a rounder shape in your jib for down wind sailing. It does this by pulling the jib tack (where the sheets attach) out and forward to the beam.

The travler (track) that comes on a (very) few boats does not shape the sail (generally), it simply moves the jib in (closer to the mainsail) for upwind and out for downwind.

Hold your right hand fingers tips in place (with your other hand) and cup your hand and look at the shape.. it is rounder because the middle has moved out and the back of your hand (under your thumb) has moved in. Now keep your finger tips in place and simply slide the back of your hand to the right. It doesnt change the shape of your hand, just the angle.... this is the same as the travler on a beam... doesnt really change the shape, just the angle.

The fromt beam track is for boats with jibs designed (shorter foot) to be set (secured) at the beam... most cats have a jib cut that requires it to be further back on the boat to have the correct/desired shapes.

The Art and Science of Sails by Tom Whidden has more than you want to know.

This website has the basic trimming guide.

http://www.ukhalsey.com/LearningCenter/encyclopedia/encyclopedia5b.asp

Everybody has been telling you the right things, but in pieces.

Put two sets of telltales on your jib, one set high, one set low about 1/3 and 2/3s up. If your fore and aft position of the jib block is correct for upwind sailing, both sets of telltales will luff at the same time. Move the jib block forward a little and the sheet will pull more down than aft than before and tension the leech a little more than the foot. This will pull in the top of the sail more than the bottom and the top leeward telltale will show that the top of the sail is stalled (sheeted in too tight) relative to the bottom of the sail. On your boat moving the jib block all the way forward to the front crossbeam will be much worse. A boat with the jib block on the front crossbeam has a sail sized and cut such that the angle of the jib sheet is proper to that point. Yours is not.

Now turn a little downwind from the close hauled course we've been sailing and sheet out the jib a little. As soon as you sheet out a little, since there is more tension in the leech than the foot, the clew will rise and the top of the sail will be luffing relative to the bottom, so you will need to move the jib block forward if you want to keep perfect trim. As you sail a lower course the block will have to move forward and outboard to keep the entire sail from top to bottom trimmed correctly at the same time. For your best point of sail to go downwind, approximately a beam reach apparent wind, the sheet point is around the outer end of the crossbeam. So a barberhaul to effectively move your sheet point there is for sailing downwind.

John