Folding bolt-rope mainsail

[ridgy]

Just a quick one...

How does one single-handedly fold a bolt-rope mainsail i.e. not attached at the luff to the mast when lowered, as opposed to slides?

There must be a way.




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[mirabriani]

Depends, if any one around ask for help. If little wind flake over boom, takes longer alone, but can be done and use ties as you go. Or, if windy, hook on second reef at gooseneck and create a "bag" for the remainder to drop into. I like to tidy it as soon as possible though cos of creases. My neighbour (a very self sufficient lady) has fitted lazy jacks which enable her to drop the main single handed coming up the creek (I hate her)
Learning all ze time, Briani

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[William_H]

This is perhaps the most difficult job to do on my boat singlehanded. ( after sailing on to a mooring and picking it up single handed) You need 10 arms lots of ties (take up a stance about mid boom) and willingness to put up with a mess. Still a sail cover should cover it up quick before anyone sees it. I don't think it is bad for the sail to not be folded neatly. If you really must look at lazy jacks etc. regards will

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[Talbot]

Not really very helpful, but my in-mast mainsail has a bolt rope to attach it, and I have no real difficulty in stowing that! (sorry, but couldnt resist it)

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[Rick]

Couple of things come to mind.

First, I'd fasten a pice of doubled over shockcord under the boom, attached at 4 points (the ends, and 2 others splitting it into thirds). I each third, on one side have a plastic hook - now you don't need to have any ties to hand, as to tame/tie the sail, you reach around boom and grab the hook side in one hand, and the other side in the other, raise both up, and then clip hook on. The shockcord should be around 160% of the boom length, which ensures the hooks are out of harms way when the sail is hoisted.

Secondly, for single handing I'd either go the boom bag / lazy jacks route (I've done that on my last two boats) and/or add slugs to the bolt rope to both tame the sail (keeping it attached) and to allow a downhaul line to work. The slugs will result in loss of the sealed nature the bolt rope gives you, but I doubt you could measure it, but will make things much easier at minimal cost.


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[charles_reed]

I sail almost entirely single-handed, doing about 3500nM a year.
My boat, when I first had it had a bolt-rope feeding into the luff groove, together with lazyjacks.
This was adequate for dropping the main singlehanded in light airs but utterly useless if there was much of a breeze blowing.
Of some help was fitting a pair of shock-cords under the boom, with a series of dinghy foresail hooks along their length.
Since then I've fitted a loose-footed, fully battened main with a boom-bag, which is the real answer to mainsail handling single-handed.
Of course one could fit in-mast roller furling - providing you were prepared to accept the loss of performance due to the hollow leech, reduced area, and loss of shape control from mast bend.

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[snowleopard]

to amplify Rick's comment, attaching slides to the luff will enable it to work like a conventional sail and not flop about all over the place. you will also be able to hoist much more easily. the slides are a type designed to go into a bolt-rope groove and work fine. they are made of plastic and very cheap. you can do the job yourself with a diy eylet kit.

you will need to adjust the knock-back of the tack at the gooseneck. adding an extra shackle will do the job.

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[graham]

Slides will make sail handling easier but lose all the advantage of smooth airflow at the luff when sailing to windward.

On my Anderson 22 which I often sail singlehanded I pull in the second reef luff (or should it be tack?) pennant as the sail comes down.

This controls the bottom part of the sail and the narrower upper part then is not much of a problem.

I like the shock cord along the boom idea and may give that a try.

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[charles_reed]

slides vs boltrope

More a theoretical than practical loss with a headsail rig. It becomes more important with a unisail.

Far more significant, to replace the part battened with a fully battened sail, and/or to convert to a laminate sail.

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