Flattener

Roach1948

Roach1948

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www.dallimoredesigns.nl
Quick niaive question - only used to Classic yachts, so really unsure of what a "Flattener" is and whether I need one or not?

PS Could be a type of batten on the mainsail or some sort of tension line. It's just a quote from a sailmaker came back and they have gone home now and I am trying to decide between quotes tonight on an excel sheet!
 
Flattener might mean one of two things (that I'm aware of). Both are sail shape controls for the main.

One is a cunningham in the mainsail luff which enables you to tighten the luff and move the draft of the mainsail forward (more close winded, less heel).

The other is a cringle in the mainsail leech, rather like a very short first reef cringle. A line through this to the end of the boom is hardened-in to pull the leech backwards and downwards, flattening out the 'shelf' in the foot of the mainsail and effectively reducing the size and draft of the main. It can also be used in conjunction with the cunningham to take some area and drive out of the main as the breeze strengthens, before a full reef is warranted.
 
Thanks Ken, It must be the latter as he has quoted for a Cunnigham which I don't really need as I have no tackle set up for it (although I suppose it could be made up). So the flattener must be that extra cringle - shall I go for both, one or the other, or niether. She never had them before......?
 
Well I think I will go for both as the expense is nominal - and it allows me to something to play with.

I've already started thinking on how to rig an outhaul tensioner on the flattener cringle so that it pulls down and out at the same time? At the moment I only have a brass track for the outhaul on a spruce boom. To tension the outhaul I just use a lashing at present.... Any thoughts on how to add/improve on this current system to take into account the flattener and not intrude on the exisiting cheek blocks for the slab reefing?
 
If you go for both then it should effect the design of the sail. The flatener is there to take out belly from the foot. You will use it when on the wind with a full main, crack off and out comes the flattener. Talk to the sailmaker about it and whether you really want it before you buy it just 'cos it's cheap.
 
I think I remember seeing some sails with a zip along the foot to take the slack out of the foot when the cunningham was in use. Check with the sailmaker first as this wont be an inexpensive option.
Stan
 
The flattener is a combination of cunningham + extra small clew cringle to give like a very small slab reef, the purpose of which is simply to flatten the lower part of the mainsail, as Doris has said, for upwind use and without reducing the sail area by very much at all. It isn't costly, the cunningham is easy to set up and easier to use to adjust mainsail luff tension than is the halyard. The extra clew cringle needs a control line a la slab reef. On our boat we fix the main's clew with a lashing at the light airs position (to the black band in our case) and the clew outhaul is then free to use for the flatener reef control and we still keep the 3 slab reefs proper, led through the boom and back to the cockpit. It is useful but by no means essential, I do use ours but I'm a bit of a tweaker!
 
Been intouch with the sailmaker and he recommends getting them as I can always retro-fit the required rigging arrangement whereas cutting more belly into the sale at a later stage wont be cheap - So I have decided to go for it.

Many thanks for all your help. Looks like I am ready to become a "tweaker" too.
 
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