Dinghy roller-genoa...how cheaply/simply could this be arranged, using DIY?

Quite. I said "if you must" in my reply, but as logic seems to be escaping Dan's grasp, and this cheap dinghy is turning into a world-girdler, I have given my observations.
 
Thanks for all contributions.

I'm still working on several essential basic repairs - essential in my view anyway, Lakey, as I dislike structures which were meant to be stiff, yet bend alarmingly - but as soon as I can responsibly get the boat in the water, I will! :)

I'm familiar with dinghies heeling horrendously, and while I hope the Osprey can be tuned to spill a fair bit of wind, the truth is that I mayn't be able to rely on ample crew-weight and assistance whenever I'd prefer it...so, looking at options for easy sail-reduction and furling, strikes me as important forethought, not a loony lack of logic.
 
If it's just a question of dropping the headsail in a hurry why not rig a downhaul to the halyard and run it back to the cockpit through a bullseye fairlead or small sprung block on the foredeck? Then you can drop the sail in a moment, without the cost and faff of the furler.
 
The jib on an Osprey is a tiny amount of the sail area; dropping or furling it would just lose manouvering ability and slot effect.

Better to spill from the main, or if necessary reef it.
 
Anyone who thinks, why a furler, real men don't need them? Have you dropped a loose luff head sail in 20 knots true? I promise, hanks are easy by comparison. On an Osprey, as with most high performance dinghies, the loose luffed headsail is an integral part of the rig 'system'.
Changing the rig to have a fixed forestay and jib hanks would be a much bigger compromise to performance of this rig, than simply fitting a furler.
 
Quote, Lakesailor: If it's just a question of dropping the headsail in a hurry why not rig a downhaul to the halyard and run it back to the cockpit through a bullseye fairlead or small sprung block on the foredeck? Then you can drop the sail in a moment, without the cost and faff of the furler.

Thanks Lakey, that's a good thought, although the last dinghy I had use of, didn't have a bolt-rope in the jib - it was hanked and very easily quietened when down. The Osprey's 4 square meters (not very tiny is it, Andy?) will just flop around in the water till it's recovered.

That doesn't matter, I know...I just thought a roller would be a neat, instant fix, and a boon for shorthanding.

But I understand basic CE/CLR...I know the main is the driver and will need reducing more than the jib, as well as making weather helm if used on its own.
 
ProMariner said:
...hanks are easy by comparison. On an Osprey, as with most high performance dinghies, the loose luffed headsail is an integral part of the rig 'system'.
Changing the rig to have a fixed forestay and jib hanks would be a much bigger compromise to performance of this rig, than simply fitting a furler.
Click to expand...

Thanks PM, that's what I was thinking!
 
dancrane said:
Thanks PM, that's what I was thinking!
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Dan,

yes the Osprey jib IS tiny when considering the whole rig, and as I said is important for manouvering and slot.

I've just re-read ' Very Willing Griffin ' - the book of David Blagden taking his Hunter 19 across the Atlantic in the 1972 OSTAR; he had a permanent forestay + twin stays for the foresails, releasable on highfield levers so he could change sails in the comparative safety of the cockpit.

Maybe worth a thought re storm jibs or scooper genoas for either extreme of the wind spectrum, but I think a decent way to reef your main - probably including ball bearing blocks - should be Plan A, clamcleats will be your friend here.
 
Seajet said:
...a decent way to reef your main - probably including ball bearing blocks - should be Plan A...
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Umm...plan A...remind me, was that a slab-reef, with new eyelets in the luff & leech a couple of feet above the standard ones? How will ball-bearing blocks assist?

I've got two mainsails. Both very old; oddly, the older seems to be better...but I doubt I'll do much money-burning harm by a little cutting and stitching to one of them.

Perhaps I ought to read the Wayfarer sail-modification pages. Quite a lot on there about reefing.

It's blowing more than half a gale here today, so I'm not embarrassed to be thinking ahead in this way!
 
Dan,

ball bearing blocks help v the No. 1 enemy, friction !

They make the difference - even on an Osprey main - of being able to haul a reef in easily with one hand, or having to use a possibly sail tearing winch.

Same goes for the clew outhaul.

Andy
 
if you fit a hook to the Cunningham you could unhook it from the lower eye and rehook it to the upper to pull down a reef. hook on the outhaul replaced to the new eye can do that end. you'll need a strap from eye round the mast to hold the luff up to the mast and you have mainsail reefing.

my osprey had a roller furler as described below and it worked well for getting rid of the sail. It had a continuous loop round the furler and a block at the mast and could be furled from there.

Agree with comments below that main should be reefed first. You can get eye kits on ebay. Try it on your poorer sail and if it works do it properly.

ref the cunnigham. You can really flatten the sail and depower it without reefing if this, your outhaul and your kicker work well.
 
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Thanks Euan. My cunningham, outhaul and tack-attachment all need attention, but I see that it needn't be very complicated, to take 20 square feet off the main's area.

The question regarding the roller genoa was mainly based on my whimsical liking for fuss-free starts & ends to each day's sail. I've only had the sails up in the dinghy park on calm days...but I can imagine the fun in store, landing or embarking through breaking waves, during a fresh onshore breeze...

...and just as forty-footers can dispense rapidly with a vast wayward headsail using a roller, I'm tempted to enjoy the same convenience.
 
One thing I learned the hard way in our wayfarer. If you're approaching something hard and the final leg is to windward roll up the headsail, but if the final leg is downwind put the boat directly upwind of where you want to be then take the main off and go in on headsail alone.
 
It'd be nice to have a way of rapidly hauling down the main, such that it flakes neatly onto the boom, which itself wouldn't drop like a sawn branch.

I know my ideas are weirdly out of step with normal dinghy-thinking, where one is supposed to accept moments of drenching chaos as the payment for pace and simplicity.

P'raps I can market lazy-jacks for dinghies? Dinghy-Jacks? :rolleyes:
 
dancrane said:
It'd be nice to have a way of rapidly hauling down the main, such that it flakes neatly onto the boom, which itself wouldn't drop like a sawn branch.

I know my ideas are weirdly out of step with normal dinghy-thinking, where one is supposed to accept moments of drenching chaos as the payment for pace and simplicity.

P'raps I can market lazy-jacks for dinghies? Dinghy-Jacks? :rolleyes:
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You're getting all complicated again!

We used to do it like this:- Slacken kicker, halyard free to run. Head to wind. Pull boom off gooseneck, release halyard, drop boom in bottom of cockpit, kick to one corner so as not to foul tiller, drop main into cockpit, stuff main under boom, sail in on jib. Easy.
 
Completely wrong, Lakey. It'd be an expensive wind-up, to buy a boat for such a purpose, wouldn't it?

DJE said:
Slacken kicker, halyard free to run. Head to wind. Pull boom off gooseneck, release halyard, drop boom in bottom of cockpit, kick to one corner so as not to foul tiller, drop main into cockpit, stuff main under boom, sail in on jib. Easy.
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That sounds good, if the boat has space for it. Big as my Mk2 Osprey is, I'm surprised by how small the cockpit seems when the mainsail is unfurled and not yet hoisted.

View attachment 31613

The unhooked boom lies on top of the rear deck, blocking the tiller. Probably it can be posted under the rear deck, still straddling the traveller and thwart with the big sail defying control.

All this I accept is inevitable, in a biggish racing design whose competitive crews weren't expected to fuss about tidiness or convenience during launching & landing...

...but thinking of the boat as the class association describes her - "like a Bentley Continental", I'm attracted to any on-board system that reduces bother...like an autobox.

It doesn't matter, though. ;)
 
DJE is right- just drop the boom into the boat. The end of it can stick out over the side if you need clearance for the tiller. You can probably shove it forward and under the foredeck to some extent as well.

Re the furler, I have considered fitting one for convenience but never got round to it. Went sailing instead...
 
EuanMcKenzie said:
...good enough to go in the water I think...
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Nobody expects perfection, buying a big old dinghy with a few hundred pounds. She certainly will be a nice boat, thanks for noticing, Euan... :D

...but she's not quite fit for my purpose, till I've fixed the decks so they don't sag/split/draw blood from crew seated on them, or until the buoyancy chambers don't leak.

I wasn't fussed about the reefing, only curious. But I'll want to relax, not just thrash around close to the launch-site, then return saturated to make repairs with duct tape.

So she's not ready yet.

Fortunately, neither is the summer. :rolleyes:
 
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