Attaching the tack of a storm sail?

[Phototropic]

I have a contessa 26 with a 150% furling genoa on the forestay and a detachable secondary forestay which can be rigged behind the forestay to hank on sails namely a nice 100% working jib that came with my boat. That jib has a length of wire permanently swaged onto the tack of the sail which can then be attached to the deck by rope/shackle to secure the tack of the sail when hanked onto the inner forestay.

...now i recently bought a storm jib as well and I am wondering what is the advantage of a length of wire like this rather than simply rope?
And is it easy/where would one get a similar length of wire swaged onto the tack of a storm sail? I guess it needs around 50-70cm to lift the tack clear of the deck incase of green water...?

 

[knuterikt]

I have a contessa 26 with a 150% furling genoa on the forestay and a detachable secondary forestay which can be rigged behind the forestay to hank on sails namely a nice 100% working jib that came with my boat. That jib has a length of wire permanently swaged onto the tack of the sail which can then be attached to the deck by rope/shackle to secure the tack of the sail when hanked onto the inner forestay.

...now i recently bought a storm jib as well and I am wondering what is the advantage of a length of wire like this rather than simply rope?
And is it easy/where would one get a similar length of wire swaged onto the tack of a storm sail? I guess it needs around 50-70cm to lift the tack clear of the deck incase of green water...?

Wire is probably used on your old sail because it's low stretch.
You could use piece of Dyneema rope for the same purpose, easy to splice.

 

[rob2]

I guess the previous owner used a wire strop as it tends to require less care for storage and because once swaged in place you won't lose it. Any rigger could make up a wire strop in 7x19 with talurit splices either end which you can then attach with shackles. The alternative would be to eye splice a rope direct to the sail, with another eye, preferably with a thimble for the shackle at the lower end. The other consideration is how stretchy the strop is when it comes to tensioneing the luff of the foresail (whichever) enough to take the load off the forestay, particularly with the storm jib which needs to be set as flat as possible.

Perhaps a little on a different tack, I've often wondered why the downhaul system used on the Bosun dinghy doesn't appear to have caught on on any other boat. The tack of the jib has a downhaul fitted which goes through a block on the stemhead. after cleating it off by the mast, the fall is pulled sideways (athwartships) across a rack and dropped into one of the grooves, effectively sweating it up.

Rob.

 

[jwilson]

I have a contessa 26 with a 150% furling genoa on the forestay and a detachable secondary forestay which can be rigged behind the forestay to hank on sails namely a nice 100% working jib that came with my boat. That jib has a length of wire permanently swaged onto the tack of the sail which can then be attached to the deck by rope/shackle to secure the tack of the sail when hanked onto the inner forestay.

...now i recently bought a storm jib as well and I am wondering what is the advantage of a length of wire like this rather than simply rope?
And is it easy/where would one get a similar length of wire swaged onto the tack of a storm sail? I guess it needs around 50-70cm to lift the tack clear of the deck incase of green water...?

Use a short length of fairy hefty (maybe 14-16mm polyester rope instead of the wire strop. Over say a 70cm length the stretch will be minimal under halliard tension, and it will pack away with the storm jib easily (a sail that you may not use for 5 years running). Again and again I see unmarked as-new storm jibs except for rust stains from the wire strop. My present boat storm jib is packed away with a rope strop and a pair of new sheets ready attached - it has only been set as test of the sheet leads.

As to the storm jib needing to being as flat as possible, I'm not convinced, and in the past I've used a storm jib for about 48 hours in extreme conditions. You are just not going to be pointing high in the sort of conditions you need a storm jib. What I don't trust is the idea of trying to hoist a storm jib without any form of inner forestay. You do need one even if it's only a dyneema rope one, to control the flogging as the jib goes up. Doesn't need to be bar taut, just enough to control the hoist.