In-mast furling mainsail: headboard or eyelet?

[Poignard]

Does an in-mast furling mainsail have an eye at its head or a special type of headboard?

 

[lw395]

I'd suggest asking the manufacturer of the system in question, or a bit of RTFM.
I've seen one such sail where the head had just a webbing loop.

 

[pvb]

Mine has a webbing loop.

 

[Laysula]

Mine also has a webbing loop. Selden furlin system

 

[wilkinsonsails]

Soft webbing loop rolls up tighter to the foil.Anything else can jam up

 

[NormanS]

Webbing loop on mine. Difficult to visualise how it could be anything else.

 

[Talulah]

The Selden manual for in mast furling shows a soft loop at the head. I'm not sure but I think ours may have an eye. Certainly a soft loop at the tack and a wheel at the clew.

 

[Mistroma]

Soft loop on mine as well. A headboard would simply jam in the spot and an eye would probably do the same unless it was tiny and last slot was huge.

I have only seen a soft loop used with in mast furling.

 

[Poignard]

OK thanks.

As a bit of an experiment, I am altering an old mainsail so that it will have no roach, no battens and no headboard (a "roachectomy"). Traditionally, such a sail would have had an large eyelet at its head but I'm thinking: if a webbing loop is adequate for a in-mast furling mainsail, is there any reason why a webbing loop wouldn't be adequate for my modified mainsail?

 

[NormanS]

Presumably you're altering the old mainsail so that it can be used "in-mast". If so a modest webbing loop will be fine. An in-mast sail doesn't have to be tensioned to the same extent as one with slides in a track, for instance.

 

[Poignard]

Presumably you're altering the old mainsail so that it can be used "in-mast". If so a modest webbing loop will be fine. An in-mast sail doesn't have to be tensioned to the same extent as one with slides in a track, for instance.

No. It isn't going to be used for in-mast furling. It will be a conventional mainsail but without roach, battens and headboard*.

* I am undecided about whether to keep the headboard or replace it with an eyelet (or a webbing loop).

 

[wilkinsonsails]

If it’s not going to be rolled , refitting the head board-may be simpler for you .
It will stop the head of the sail concertinering at the narrow tension point .

 

[Poignard]

If it’s not going to be rolled , refitting the head board-may be simpler for you .
It will stop the head of the sail concertinering at the narrow tension point .

That simplifies the job. Many thanks.