Conversion to asymmetric spinnaker?

[Neil]

My little boat has a spinnaker and a spinnaker pole, though I'm not certain it has all the required bits of string. As I single hand most of the time, I've never used it.

However, I crew on a race boat which uses the standard set up and it really is a bit of a faff. I look at some other boats with asymmetrics that just seem to run out a bowsprit and haul the thing up. I've heard of bolting a couple of u-bolts to the deck to hold a pole/bowsprit. Is this a viable option? I could imagine using an asymmetric single handing; is this a practical possibility?

 

[William_H]

I have one friend who went to a lot of trouble to fit facility for asymetric spin on his 22ft quite fast racer. He found after a while that he still preferred the original spin on a pole. Basically his boat was not fast enough to justify tacking down wind so he tended to run square where a standard spin is best.
They are used on very fast keelboat or dinghy but not so useful on a displacement yacht. So roughly I would say don't consider it.
You will be aware of the gear required. Yes a bow sprit under U bolts should be OK its length of course dictating strength required. good luck olewill

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Most of the time I sail solo and, although my boat came with two spinnakers, I cannot see myself handling a spinnaker on my own; probably incompetence on my part... besides old age!
On the other hand I happily used an asymmetric regularly on my previous Centaur and I still do so on my present Centurion 32. In both cases my only 'assistance' consists of a snuffer and an autopilot. In my case I don't have any bowsprit and the tack line is free to move within the confines of the pulpit. Recently I copied the (over-priced) gadget known as "the Tacker" so that now the tack can slide up or down the furled genoa as necessary whenever I need to alter the fullness of the sail.
Neither boat can really be called "light displacement" but when the assy is drawing it is like turning on the turbo of an engine.

 

[lw395]

I have one friend who went to a lot of trouble to fit facility for asymetric spin on his 22ft quite fast racer. He found after a while that he still preferred the original spin on a pole. Basically his boat was not fast enough to justify tacking down wind so he tended to run square where a standard spin is best.
They are used on very fast keelboat or dinghy but not so useful on a displacement yacht. So roughly I would say don't consider it.
You will be aware of the gear required. Yes a bow sprit under U bolts should be OK its length of course dictating strength required. good luck olewill

Yes, that makes sense for racing. A standard kite is usually the quickest way to leeward unless the boat will put on a lot more speed with an asy.
But an asy can be much quicker than no kite.

When it comes to bowsprits, some sort of bow fitting to hold the pole down at the bow is only one small part of the problem. The bigger problem is that the inboard end of the pole is pushing down on the deck/whatever, multiplying the up-force of the kite by the leverage of the pole. On a pole of any length that is a very big down force on the deck if the pole has any length to it!
I would hazard a guess that boats like j-109s have some serious structure supporting the inboard end of the pole. It's not trivial on a 14ft dinghy.
A short sprit with a bobstay is obviously easier.

In lighter airs, it's less about sym vs asy and more about size IMHO!

 

[Neil]

Most of the time I sail solo and, although my boat came with two spinnakers, I cannot see myself handling a spinnaker on my own; probably incompetence on my part... besides old age!
On the other hand I happily used an asymmetric regularly on my previous Centaur and I still do so on my present Centurion 32. In both cases my only 'assistance' consists of a snuffer and an autopilot. In my case I don't have any bowsprit and the tack line is free to move within the confines of the pulpit. Recently I copied the (over-priced) gadget known as "the Tacker" so that now the tack can slide up or down the furled genoa as necessary whenever I need to alter the fullness of the sail.
Neither boat can really be called "light displacement" but when the assy is drawing it is like turning on the turbo of an engine.

This is sort of where I was coming from - I'll do some research on this 'Tacker'. What size asymmetric in the absence of a bowsprit?

 

[Tranona]

You don't necessarily need a bowsprit - just a means of getting the tack clear of the forestay. Suggest you speak to a sailmaker such as Kemps who sell both the hardware and sails. you have a choice of either using a snuffer, or spending a bit more and get a furling chute. Neither are essential, but do make life easier if you are on your own.

 

[Jabamusic]

. Recently I copied the (over-priced) gadget known as "the Tacker" s.

Sounds interesting, any further info?

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

This is sort of where I was coming from - I'll do some research on this 'Tacker'. What size asymmetric in the absence of a bowsprit?

I don't know the exact measurement but it would be around 70 square metres. You might get an idea from these photos that I took while experimenting with changing the clew for the tack to see what it would look like if running goose-winged. To have an idea about scale, the boat is 32 ft long.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Sounds interesting, any further info?

Strip cut off from an HDPE bucket. Top and bottom edges slightly turned over using my new Lidl heat gun for the first time. Length of 1" polyester webbing with two stainless triangles, one at each end. Webbing lashed with twine using pre-drilled holes, 4 for each end. Note that these is no 'sewing' in the middle part where the plastic rubs on the sail.

Tack line goes up through a round thimble that is fastened to the anchor roller cheeks but is held in place by the central part of the pulpit. At the end of the tack line I spliced a 90mm swivel snap-shackle (Chinese, via eBay). Below this and a tight-fit on the splice is a fixed snap-shackle which is clipped to the two triangles on the webbing. Easing the tack line allows the plastic collar to slide up the furled genoa.
That's it, basically. Cheap and easy


p.s. I might lash the fixed shackle in place if it shows signs of slipping down the tack line.

 

[Neil]

Strip cut off from an HDPE bucket. Top and bottom edges slightly turned over using my new Lidl heat gun for the first time. Length of 1" polyester webbing with two stainless triangles, one at each end. Webbing lashed with twine using pre-drilled holes, 4 for each end. Note that these is no 'sewing' in the middle part where the plastic rubs on the sail.

Tack line goes up through a round thimble that is fastened to the anchor roller cheeks but is held in place by the central part of the pulpit. At the end of the tack line I spliced a 90mm swivel snap-shackle (Chinese, via eBay). Below this and a tight-fit on the splice is a fixed snap-shackle which is clipped to the two triangles on the webbing. Easing the tack line allows the plastic collar to slide up the furled genoa.
That's it, basically. Cheap and easy


p.s. I might lash the fixed shackle in place if it shows signs of slipping down the tack line.

Excellent information, thanks!