Genoa Sheets - how long?

12 and 14mm is too thick in my opinion. It's comfortable but some of your deck hardware might not take it. 10mm is about right, again in my opinion or even 8.
 
Have a look at Harken's excellent calculator [http://harken.com/calculators/GenoaLoading.aspx] for the sheetloads you're likely to experience. Then go to your local yacht-swindlery and get some Genny sheets about the same as the calculated spec. Your sheets should obviously be long enough to fit the winch with the sail hard home on the opposite side- any longer and you'll have a snakenest from hell in the cockpit.
The MOST inportant thing though is the size of your self-tailers if you have them: too thick a sheet and you'll b#gger the tailer up, and too thin and it won't grip!
 
Karouise said:
how long should each sheet be?
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Peter

I have replaced Sirenia's genoa sheets this year.
Sirenia is 25'9" 3/4 fractional rig with roller reefing
I used some light weight 10mm rope from Barry Edwards @ 75p/m plus postage.
I have one 20m length that is both sheets.
That is more than long enough.
There is always at least couple of meters of each sheet hanging around the cockpit.
 
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12 mm is nice weight to handle on a boat that size but make sure the fairleads will accommodate that size. I think mine, on a smaller boat, are 10mm I dont think I would like them as small as 8mm on a boat that size

The question about length was asked a few weeks ago. A search might find the previous question but in any case IIRC there is a guide to lengths and diameters on Jimmy Greene's website. Remember though that a sheet that is too short cannot be lengthened but one that's abit too long can be shortened.

(for single handed sailing I like the genoa sheets a little on the long side because I tie the ends together across the cockpit ... never loose an end overboard then!)
 
Genoa sheets

Further to VicS idea of tieing the sheet ends together. I have sailed a fair bit with just one long sheet with ends ties at the jib clew. This means you can use a lot shorter sheet, You just need the length of the circuit cokpit around the cabin and inner forestay plus a few metres. In fact you might find a similar rope in the boat.
However I advocate getting longer rope so later you can swap it around so centre attaches to the clew so that wear can be spread around.

Good luck with the hanked on jibs. I like the arrangement and they certainly sail better on the wind than a single furling jib. Don't be in such a rush to go for furler. Or if you do get one with twin tracks so you can change jibs rather than use the furler as reefing. Twin tracks and twin halyards for changing down or up on the fly. olewill
 
Shurely it needs to be the length of the Genoa's foot plus the distance from the forestay to the winch plus a bit. The bit is whatever you need to be able to handle the sheet to bring the sail in when when you're runnning downwind and the sail is flying free?

G
 
sailorman said:
boat length should do
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In my opinion, boat length for genoa sheets may not enough.

The reason for that is, while that is fine for the sheet in use the length may be too short for the other sheet when on a run. or if there is a big genoa which is well sheeted in and there is a babystay.

In the first case, the genoa may be fully out almost at right angles to the hull at the bow. The sheet not in use has to come from the clew of the genoa, round the mast, through the fairlead, perhaps through a turning block, to the winch then there has to be perhaps a couple of metres for the self tailer or for a cleat.

When close hauled the unused sheet has to run forewardfrom the clew, round the mast/babystay and back to the fairlead on the other side to the winch and the other bits.

I did a delivery one time where the genoa sheets were too short and we had to undoo the stopper knot at the end of the unused sheet to allow us to sheet the sail in fully and then has to rethread it every time we tacked.

To answer the original posters quertion on sheet diameter.
I use a 14mm genoa sheet on my 33ft yacht, more for the comfort of my hands than for any other reason (it is for 450 square feet sail).

You could use an 8mm rope but unless you were racing and weight was critical a 10 or 12mm would be kinder to your hands. That is of course if if the fairlead and and any other fittings restrict the maximum rope size usable.

Iain
 
also

After trying different sheets over time, we now always look for the "grip"-type rather than the standard smooth type that one uses for halyards etc.

It makes a huge difference, both for your hands as well as for th efriction on the selftailing winch (especially if you happen to have Andersen winches).

Incidentally, we use 10mm, 1.5 boat lengths on our 31 footer. If it wasn't the rougher surface of the grip-sheet, I would go for 12mm, but our selftailers do not work that well then (fairleads, genoa cars etc. would do)
 
"Rope is thicker but string is quicker..." Spike Milligan

CliveG said:
Peter

I have replaced Sirenia's genoa sheets this year.
Sirenia is 25'9" 3/4 fractional rig with roller reefing
I used some light weight 10mm rope from Barry Edwards @ 75p/m plus postage.
I have one 20m length that is both sheets.
That is more than long enough.
There is always at least couple of meters of each sheet hanging around the cockpit.
Click to expand...

A bit late coming in on this one. Barry Edwards here, the seller mentioned above. Length - many opinions between 1x boat length and 1.5x. My recommendation is boat length plus the foot of YOUR genoa. The logic is easily understood if you imagine yourself in a blow, heading towards an ugly looking shore, and suddenly want to spill all wind....
Diameter gets a good airing here, 10mm-12mm often mentioned, but in my US sizes range there's an 11mm (US 7/16") as well. Excellent handling but very economical (£1.10/metre). Nicely fits most winch self-tailers.
 
Marlow

My Cutlass has very old 3-strand and i'm getting Marlow doublebraid and going down a size 12mm to 10mm. that's 2.5kN av. breaking strain . The Halyards can be 8mm if doublebraid.
As you can guess from my address I bring it from the UK, the Chandlers here are expensive and have little choice.
 
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