Fitting new halyards - but what's this?

Daydream believer said:
Leaving a sail under tension when not in use is one of the fastest ways to ruin a sail. I ease tension after every sail. I often play with tension on both main & jib when sailing.
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You may think that, perhaps because you are obsessive about sails. It may harm your super dooper sails (although I doubt it) but just about everybody else seems not to do it and are happy with the life of their sails.
 
ash2020 said:
That's fine, I get the whole angle thing, but my point is: In that picture, you have a block, which adds little friction to the system. I have a fairlead. Have you tried to pull a rope through a tiny fairlead, under load, at a 60° angle?
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Yes.. as per the others I have the same on mine.. but you only have to pull it through once (at the start of the season) and if you leave the bottom of the foresail unattached there is little load.. once it's up tension the foresail from the foot.. but it won't need much as the foil supports the luff..
 
When I had hank on sails it was very important to adjust luff tension as the lightweight No 1 genoa sail had more stretch and needed the correct tension to get a good shape. The load keeping the luff from sagging was shared between the forestay and the luff tension.
My current furling genoa must weigh about 3 times as much with heavier cloth and reinforcing and luff tension has much less effect. Most of the shape comes from a tight forestay and if the luff tension is high it becomes difficult to furl. I do let off some tension when moored up but very rarely adjust tension when sailing.
 
Tranona said:
You may think that, perhaps because you are obsessive about sails. It may harm your super dooper sails (although I doubt it) but just about everybody else seems not to do it and are happy with the life of their sails.
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Reading the MyHanse forum, nearly all members have to ease tension on the halyard to furl the jib,. This is to ease the load on the rollers. So in spite of assertions above I would suggest that many owners DO slacken the halyard when leaving the sail after sailing
 
Daydream believer said:
Reading the MyHanse forum, nearly all members have to ease tension on the halyard to furl the jib,. This is to ease the load on the rollers. So in spite of assertions above I would suggest that many owners DO slacken the halyard when leaving the sail after sailing
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Must be a Hanse thing then -- another good reason why I chose a Bavaria rather than the Hanse that was on the short list. Never had any difficulty furling the headsail without touching the halyard - maybe it is something to do with the self tacking jib that is fitted to many Hanses.
 
Daydream believer said:
Leaving a sail under tension when not in use is one of the fastest ways to ruin a sail. I ease tension after every sail. I often play with tension on both main & jib when sailing.
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We will agree to disagree .... the sail will suffer significantly little as a result of still tensioned when furled ... compared to beating a passage ...

I also suggest that majority of people do not vary luff tension on furling gennys as often as those who stay with hanked on .....
 
Tranona said:
Must be a Hanse thing then -- another good reason why I chose a Bavaria rather than the Hanse that was on the short list. Never had any difficulty furling the headsail without touching the halyard - maybe it is something to do with the self tacking jib that is fitted to many Hanses.
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I have friends with Hanse ... they certainly do not ease halyards when furling ! One is actually owner of a respected Boat Yard over here ... who service / repair all manner of boats.

Next time I see him - I'll ask him about it ...
 
Refueler said:
I have friends with Hanse ... they certainly do not ease halyards when furling ! One is actually owner of a respected Boat Yard over here ... who service / repair all manner of boats.

Next time I see him - I'll ask him about it ...
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I agree - I think it is perhaps one of those myths carried over from the old hanked on sail days when sails were far less stable and both performance and life was affected by luff tension. indeed most sails were carefully packed away when not use. Rather different now with stable long lasting fabrics.

Suspect the Hanse bit is related to self tacking headsails where there is a lot of friction in the sail control systems including the furler and relieving the tension on the halyard may well help overcome this.
 
Tranona said:
I agree - I think it is perhaps one of those myths carried over from the old hanked on sail days when sails were far less stable and both performance and life was affected by luff tension. indeed most sails were carefully packed away when not use. Rather different now with stable long lasting fabrics.

Suspect the Hanse bit is related to self tacking headsails where there is a lot of friction in the sail control systems including the furler and relieving the tension on the halyard may well help overcome this.
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Just checked the Furlex manual for my 38 and the Plastimo for my 25 .... neither make any mention whatsoever about easing halyard to furl ...

I can say hand on heart as well that the Profurl I had years ago in UK - that had absolutely no mention of halyard easing .. well it would nat anyway as the original mast based halyard was not used ... the furling line provided the 'halyard hoist function' ...
 
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