Main sheet help....

[newbflat]

Hello to all..... I have a 32 foot double ender (Rhodes Traveller 32) that im in the process of refitting and im contemplating moving the main sheet. As is, It was sheeted to each side of the boom crutch then runs forward along the boom, then to the deck and back to a winch on the cabin top...... The crutch is old and bit flimsy and for this application i don't trust it. At the moment i don't have the money for a nice bronze boom crutch / traveller arrangement from Port Townsend Foundry...... So..... i want to move it to the aft end of the boat on both side of the tiller on the boomkin (still on deck, not out on the boomkin). My question (yes i have one!) is in the main sheet arrangement. At the moment im thinking of an arrangement with a fiddle block with cam cleat on each side of the tiller and a triple on the boom giving me a 6 to1 purchase and is double ended (there are "real cleats" just forward of the fiddles to use when required). Seeing that i have never used a double ended main sheet ....... is this enough purchase? (15400 lbs and a 280 square foot main 580 over all sail plane).....am i going to get annoying twisting in the triple block?....... is this a good idea?....... what should i consider here??????.

Thanks to all...
Bill, .... In seattle

[Ian McColgin]

Ahoy Bill,

I'm thinking that what you've called the boom crutch is what I know as a boom gallows - a permanent installation with two legs some distance apart with a notched plank to recieve the boom. In our usage over here, a boom crutch is usually a one legged critter that's removed for sailing and really looks like a crutch. Sometimes the removable sissors type of bi-ped is also calles a crutch.

Anyway, sheeting to the gallows is not generally good, even if it's strong enough, as the sheeting angle is too high to give you any flattening power when on the wind. A vang works off the wind but on the wind depending on the vang to fully flatten the sail imposes qu ite a strain on the boom.

Getting the sheet to the deck can be a challenge with a gallows in the way. Usually bringing the sheet down aft of the gallows invites tangles. I'd incline to putting the blocks on deck a foot or so ahead of the gallows' base and of course having the blocks on the boom ahead of the gallows.

I'd personally tend towards a simpler rig of less mechanical advantage - one block each side of the deck and one in the middle, a double hanging on the boom with shivs normal to the boom. Run through one side block to boom, back to mid block, boom, and out other side block. I rigged a Rhodes sloop this way, 500 or so foot main, to the owner's complete satisfaction. Plenty of power. Even though the loads equalize, tweeking on the leeward end does bring the boom down more than in because of the block angles when close hauled.

On that Rhodes, there was a nice post at each aft corner of the cockpit so we did not bother with cam cleats.

If you are well crewed, you can speed trimming or easing, especially when gybing by having a person hauling each end.

I personally love double-ended sheeting but there is a bit of random walk in the sheet. Make two siezing from some thread of contrasting color at the mid point where you'll see it when the sheet is centered on either side of and above that mid-ships block. That helps you remember which side to trim first.

I am changing my catboat's sheet from single ended at 5:1 to double at 6:1. I don't really need the extra leverage but catboat sheets are long. When the boom is out on a run, the blocks are 35 feet from the deck blocks and traveler. When I go double-ended I'll trade one nearly 185 foot coil for two seperated 105 coils.

Oh, last point, all four of these blocks should be on swivels. The exact fairest lead changes as the boom goes in and out. Even if you put a spring or short bit of clear plastic hose or something between the block and base for the deck mounted blocks, it's also well to make a nice mat to protect your deck.

G'luck

Ian

[newbflat]

You are correct Ian... gallows it is. The problem with moving the blocks forward of the gallows in that they would be in the cockpit cluttering a nice open space There is a combing all the way around forming the cockpit and the gallows are mounted at the aft end of the combing..... adding blocks there would keep me from laying down/ sleeping there and attaching a "awning" from the dodger to the gallows. There is also the problem with mounting a center block on the deck, as the tiller gets in the way of mounting anything on the center line. Do you think that without the middle block missing in the system the sheeting angle is compromised?.....The blocks would be about 2 feet apart about a1.5 feet from the aft end of the boat. I single hand most of the time, or at least sail with a crew without a clue!... i can always use the windward winch if 4 to1 is not enough. If this helps at all here is a link to my boat in a previous sale http://tinyurl.com/l33db

Thanks......

Bill......

[Ian McColgin]

4:1 may well be enough so there's a plan.

The blocks really must be ahead of the gallows unless you're in love with hidious snarls.

You might try for the experiment just lashing them on the gallows' legs a nudge higher than the combing. If the block on the boom is a lttle farther forward than that, the sheet should clear the gallows most of the time. If you ever have a gybe where the sheet hits the water, however, it will be dragged back and then foul as the sail crosses over.

If the leads are ok then, try putting some little half pedestels outside the combing or even just inside the toerail to give the blocks enough height. With the tiller, you're likely to be sitting enough forward that the sheets laying across the back of the cockpit, even on a run, won't be too much of a bother.

On my old schooner Goblin I had two deck blocks and a mid block on a pipe traveler just a little ahead, really almost under, the gallows. The boom blocks were further forward. That gave no trouble.

On the Rhodes I rerigged, which had a tiller, I put the center block right on the rudder post - just drilled and tapped a pad eye right on it. That was just ahead of the gallows so it worked ok.

I made a dodger extension for one boat on the cheap that went back to a gallows. I had a slot with weather flap and zipper to get around the main sheet. That unit also had a PVC pole inside the back end which could be inserted only after the canopy had been pulled back behind the sheet. The PVC was very nice as it allowed the unit to be arched after the center line had been stretched against the gallows. Just a couple of lines at the corners pulling down. That's especially nice as with your double-ender the gallows probably does not have enough spread to make a really capacious cockpit cover. Nice when it's out far enough that you don't get drips on your back.

I'm a great fan of PVC and such hoops on this sort of extension. If you make your panels athwartships in the normal manner, make the center seam (or two if it's a really long cockpit) with enough overlap that you can get a really thin PVC pipe or even one of those flexible orange snow wands permanently sewen in. It really improves the shape of the extension and gives a nice thing, along with the pipe at the back end, to make a neat roll-up for stowage on the cabin top.

G'luck

Ian