"Benefits" of spreaders on a dinghy?

[lw395]

I guess there are now a lot of old mainsails around that will be cut for a spreader rig, which will have some prebend in the mast.
They might be very full, set on a straight(er), no-spreader rig, but at least the fullness will be at the front I suppose.
Let's just say I wouldn't scrap the other mast just yet.

 

[spokie]

I bought an old GP14 a few years ago and sail it very often. Though, the mast doesn’t have spreaders, it’s not the original mast, as the original mast got stolen. I’m not sure from where to put spreaders on this mast, height on the mast itself. Can someone please help with dimensions?

 

[William_H]

Spreaders on the mast of a typical dinghy will be half way from bottom to forestay attach point. They will be angled to meet the shrouds at the tip. They may have an angle adjustment so you can force shroud back but may also just be loose in angle aft. Best find another GP14 and copy that. All that if you think you need spreaders. ol'will

 

[MADRIGAL]

Why you don't reef a dinghy main?

An interesting question. I don't know of any dinghy class which reefs the main. The 18ft Skiff class do have available 3 different rigs for various wind strengths. It seems to me a matter of what peer pressure allows.
I was involved way back with a junior sailing school using a small 10ft dinghy peculiar to our club. The mainsails were fitted with eyelets for reefing. hough had never been used reef. I found that being able to reef the main just extended the wind range where the sailing could be enjoyed. It is actually easier to sail ina strong steady wind with a reef than in light winds.
We have a class of 27ft keel boat at our club and for their own reasons (peer pressure I think) they never reef. Again I think this is madness. Especially so if you are not racing.
So I would strongly suggest to Searush that he get reefing eyelets put in the mainsail. You don't need fancy lines to the cockpit. Just use lanyards to pull tack forward around mast and down around boom and for the clew lanyard around the boo and another out tot he end of the boom. Make sure you have a decent slug at the top of the main not just bolt rope as their can be a fair but of force pulling the sal out of the track when not up to the top of the mast.
I think I would go for mast with spreaders.
good luck olewill

It is certainly routine to reef the main on a Wayfarer cruising at sea once other high-wind techniques (flattening the sail with mast bend, outhaul and Cunningham tension, dropping the traveller to leeward) are no longer able to prevent excessive healing and weather helm. As Olewill says, reefing extends the range of wind in which sailing can be enjoyed. I would think you would have to reef in lighter winds if you didn't have spreaders to help with sail flattening through mast bend. It would depend on what sort of wind strength you wanted to sail in.

 

[Greenheart]

Well said. Dinghies designed mainly for competitive use tend not to prioritise avoiding the necessity to swim, above attaining peak performance. So the option to reduce sail area isn't commonly seen (or retrofitted) on classes mostly raced on short inshore courses with safety-boat cover.

To be fair, I've been amazed how much my Osprey still heels, upwind under a halved mainsail in a stiff breeze, especially as other racing classes with unreefed sails were mostly resisting capsize. So with perfectly tensioned sail controls, a very alert, mobile crew can keep it all upright relying on a flat sail and mast bend, etc, whereas I don't think I had enough weight on the gunwale to initiate mast-bend without the boat being knocked flat.

The name GP14 is of course from "general purpose", so not intended only or even mainly for racing. I'd regard a substantial slab reef in the mainsail as a basic essential for that class's versatility.

 

[The Q]

I've built a one off mini keelboat that is sailed like an international 2.4mR..
It uses and old kestrel Mast, but now a Wayfarer boom and sail.
I've deliberately chosen a wayfarer sail with reefing, my boat is narrow I can't sit out, so heels a lot, reducing the amount of sail up high should reduce the amount of heel in stronger winds.

 

[MADRIGAL]

I don't think I had enough weight on the gunwale to initiate mast-bend without the boat being knocked flat.

Even though I personally contribute plenty of moveable ballast, I still need to reef when single-handed in winds above 15 knots, at least if I am to keep making comfortable progress on a beat in any kind of a seaway. A Wayfarer/CL-16 can be almost on her beam ends and not capsize, but most of the progress will be sideways. By the way, the Dinghy Cruising Association's safety recommendations call for 1 stone of crew weight for every foot of waterline length. I can provide that plus a bit of a margin.

 

[Ardenfour]

On my GP14 the spreaders don't bend the shrouds at all, ie the shrouds would be the same length if the spreaders were removed. I can see how they would provide additional bracing of the mast. An alloy GP mast is quite a floppy thing when off the boat.

 

[TSB240]

Well said. Dinghies designed mainly for competitive use tend not to prioritise avoiding the necessity to swim, above attaining peak performance. So the option to reduce sail area isn't commonly seen (or retrofitted) on classes mostly raced on short inshore courses with safety-boat cover.

To be fair, I've been amazed how much my Osprey still heels, upwind under a halved mainsail in a stiff breeze, especially as other racing classes with unreefed sails were mostly resisting capsize. So with perfectly tensioned sail controls, a very alert, mobile crew can keep it all upright relying on a flat sail and mast bend, etc, whereas I don't think I had enough weight on the gunwale to initiate mast-bend without the boat being knocked flat.

The name GP14 is of course from "general purpose", so not intended only or even mainly for racing. I'd regard a substantial slab reef in the mainsail as a basic essential for that class's versatility.

Our family was an early adopter of the GP14.
We puchased No 15 in the early 50s.
She came with a wooden mast by " Collar" a spreaderless design. The rig was simple with a small jib and no deck sweeping genoa and a minute Spinnaker.
Sails were various dyed cotton colours.
Metal masts, Genoas and terylene sails were a later development.

Reefing was common by easily rolling the main around the boom with a sail bag inserted to take the kicker. A squared off gooseneck fitting and a brass swivel plate on the boom end ensuredvthe boom drooped down to the deck.

Very rarely needed but used effectively by my father to race at Newquay regattas His entry in the keelboat fleet from Abersoch to Aberdaron and back during a very windy Abersoch keelboat week was not appreciated.
This lead to an interview with the full committee of the SCYC knobheads who immediately black balled him for the audacity of sailing a boat without a keel.
Not that they were embarrassed by a 14 foot dinghy leading the fleet both ways on a perfect two sail reach !

Our's didn't even have the bell insignia!
The boat was supplied by the bell woodworking company of Leicester.
My father was a great friend of the original class national champion .

Howard Davies championed the growth of the class from running the outward bound centre at Aberdovey. Apparently the bells can still be heard ringing in the flooded village of the same name dyring a storm.

I can remember tuning and training for the 24 hour Southport race in one of the older boats left to due at SSC.
We campaigned it as juniors at local clubs with a fancy new rig and sails donated by a forward looking committee.

We won the fastest first lap but couldn't finish the race as the rig tension forced the mast base through the hog bottom! Nothing left to do but drown our sorrows in the bar and cremate the hull on November 5th.

Great days!

Dont tell me they were never designed for racing.! Yes we went out mackrel fishing, dolphin an sea turtle watching using a removable stern hatch and avoiding the seagul whip lash.
Incidentally I remember well them easily being pulled up the sandy beaches of Cardigan Bay using ex war department mini caterpillar tracks purloined from searchlight carriages.

 

[westernman]

Dont tell me they were never designed for racing.!

You can race in anything - including egg cartons for the optimistic.

 

[Greenheart]

That was my point. I don't really rate race-bred boats if they're good for little else. Anything can be raced and the GP may be raced with burning enthusiasm...racing may be a notable part of the class's appeal, but the design suits a broad range of other purposes equally well. To my mind, that makes it a better boat.