chafe with110% jib

[JBA]

Thanks to all for your input. Anyone else have any observations?
JBA

[Dick Villamil]

Good question! I have been using my roller furling jib led to the blocks on the rail - perhaps if I just roll it in to a 100% I also could avoid chafe. Maybe you need to position a turning block on the rail at the appropriate place for the jib. I find however that you lose a lot of pointing ability in the Typhoon the minute you get the lead off the cabin top (and the Ty cannot afford to lose much pointing ability!).

[Sea Hunt]

I bought four (4) small diameter 4' white and thin PVC (?) tubes (from WM) that had a slit from top to bottom and installed them on the four shrouds. Because they were slit top to bottom I did not have to unbuckle the turnbuckles to install them.

From my experience (I remain a "rookie"), with my 100% working jib (I know you said you were using a 110) the jib hardly ever touched the shrouds.

When I used a 130/140 Genoa on light air days, the white plastic tubes seemed to help a lot in reducing chafe.

I wish everyone a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving

[Jeff D]

I have a Daysailer, so take that into consideration.

I purchased a new 110% jib two years ago replacing the original working jib (measured by me to be 75%). The sheets are led outside the shrouds to the genoa tracks. The clew rests ~10" behind the shrouds.

Off the wind the sail was a big improvement, but it is impossible to sail at anything more than a close reach. I think that 110% is a bastard size - at less the 100% I could use the cabin top bullseyes with no problem - with a 130% or greater the arc of the sail would allow me to sheet further in without hitting the shrouds. I will be ordering a new 90% jib after the holidays, which is plenty of sail for my conditions.

P.S. In fitting the 110% I also had to install longer genoa tracks to get the sail to trim properly.

[M. R. Bober]

FWIW: When I had TIA MARI (1979 CD27') we ran the jib/genoa sheets directly to the blocks on the tracks of the toe rail (near the winches) when running or broad reaching. When close reaching or beating, we used the coach roof blocks. It worked, but I am embarrassed to tell you how long it took me to figure it out.

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Lancaster (a wonderful place to wait for spring,) VA

[The Patriot]

... a 110% jib on ... Typhoon ... they sheet to the inboard track on the cabin top. Does anyone have observations as to how to avoid or limit chafe? ...

By definition any jib larger than "J" (or 100% luff perpendicular) overlaps the mast and unless you have an unstayed rig, the jib will necessarily overlap parts of the standing rig. This may not be the case with certain "swept back" rigs where the cap shroud chainplate is abaft the mast, but we are limiting this discussion to Cape Dory boats (with single or double lowers). Cape Dory addressed this problem by sheeting sails larger than 100% J to the rail outboard of all rigging. Other designs address it by moving the chainplates inboard and fitting a track to the deck inboard of the rail. The CD setup is simple and usually less prone to leakage, but may mean sacrificing a few degrees going to weather.

Some "go fast" enthusiasts use special gear like "barber haulers" to adjust the sheeting angle, but this kind of thing is a bit out of place on a cruising sailboat like the Cape Dory. In all cases larger than 100% J, the jib itself sheets outside the rigging. There is no practical method for sheeting a sail larger than 100% J inside the standing rigging, and at the same time preventing chafe and hangups with the sheets. I can say this with certainty after sailing for some time with an inventory that includes #1 (150%), #2 (130%), #3 (110%), #4 (90% club), #5 (70% spitfire), storm jib, conventional tri-radial spinnaker, etc. All you will end up doing is backwinding the mainsail and carrying a large "bubble" in the forward part of the main. This is definitely not fast (although in certain conditions with large overlapping jibs it is fast to carry a slight bubble rather than oversheeting the main and suffering weather helm, rudder "braking," etc.).

BTW don't spend a lot of time trying for those last few degrees of pointing ability. This was never designed into these boats and trying to get there is at best silly. The old timers used to say: "Ya gotta choose, point or foot." We have surprised many boats over the years by making the right choice. The consequences of choices like this are particularly clear with boats that employ some sort of roller furling on the genoa, and then roll up the sail a bit and try to point. Even with the great improvements we've seen in this gear, rigs like this will never point as well as purpose-built sails designed and fitted for the wind range in question. To carry the analysis ever farther, our boats will never point with boats designed for this purpose so we have to rely on other methods. In my own case, I can usually find a reason to "hang out" another day or so until I get the weather I want.

If you want to know what your boat is really doing uphill, use some sort of computerized tracking system and look at the resulting track after a stretch to weather. You will find that when leeway, wave action, steering error, and many other real life considerations are taken into account, you are nowhere near 90 degrees between tacks, even though it may appear so based simply on the compass readings. If tacking actually through 85 degrees is really important to you, get a J boat.