Drogues, what do you think?

[zoidberg]

If one chooses a Jordan drogue type, besides chainplates, warp and splices some serious thoughts should be given to the cones resistance.
They were all commercially made JSD; using spinnaker cloth would seem too weak, though in the picture above they seem to be made in normal dacron sailcloth.

Yes. There are several similar pics here and there on the w'web.

It's clear from a range of reports by truly experienced types that several of the materials used by Don Jordan 40 years ago - when he set out to 'prove the concept' - have been proven to be weak. That's not surprising, as DJ used what was readily available to him at the time. He didn't have an R&D budget, nor an internet of users to feed back improvements.

We have far better ropes available now, and far stronger fabric from which to make cones. It is for commercial JSD makers to build a product 'which will not fail' and it is for users in forums like this ( and CruisersForum, Sailing Anarchy, MorgansCloud, etc ) to identify problems, debate answers, make ourselves well-informed, then tell commercial builders what we want.

Here is a pic of a cone made, I believe, by OceanBrake of Dorset.

Note the much tougher fabric, and the reinforcing hemming on the leading and trailing edges.

The polypropylene tape I have used for this, and the other securing tapes, has a Min Break Load of over 200lbs - I tested it.
Divide your Laden Displacement by the number of your cones to determine the max. likely loading on each cone. ( even allowing for several assumptions )

 

[Poey50]

Yes. There are several similar pics here and there on the w'web.

It's clear from a range of reports by truly experienced types that several of the materials used by Don Jordan 40 years ago - when he set out to 'prove the concept' - have been proven to be weak. That's not surprising, as DJ used what was readily available to him at the time. He didn't have an R&D budget, nor an internet of users to feed back improvements.

We have far better ropes available now, and far stronger fabric from which to make cones. It is for commercial JSD makers to build a product 'which will not fail' and it is for users in forums like this ( and CruisersForum, Sailing Anarchy, MorgansCloud, etc ) to identify problems, debate answers, make ourselves well-informed, then tell commercial builders what we want.

Here is a pic of a cone made, I believe, by OceanBrake of Dorset.

Note the much tougher fabric, and the reinforcing hemming on the leading and trailing edges.

The polypropylene tape I have used for this, and the other securing tapes, has a Min Break Load of over 200lbs - I tested it.
Divide your Laden Displacement by the number of your cones to determine the max. likely loading on each cone. ( even allowing for several assumptions )

Totally agree with this. I was going to make our cones until I got my hands on one from OceanBrake in the UK - strongly constructed from good materials. I read of someone who had bought cones fom them as well as from Ace Sailmakers - the big US maker. They found the OceanBrake ones to be better.