Leisure 17SL 406S Furling Gear

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atelford

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I have a Leisure 17SL and have bought Plastimo 406S Furling gear. When I had the mast up last weekend the halyward just wrapped round the forestay when furling. The halyward is running parallel to the forestay so I figure the angle is completely wrong. The manual says 20-25 degrees. I have bought a halyward divertor (not the useless wheel) which rivets on to the mast. Link below.

http://marinestore.co.uk/Merchant2/merch...-4--6-mtr-boats

Anyone any recomendations as to how far up or down the mast to put this. The plastimo manual shows it very close to the top... but I understand that too low down the mast will put a big angle and alot of strain on the forestay which could cause it to unravel. Am I answering my own question by thinking of getting a happy medium between the two.
 
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I have bought a halyward divertor (not the useless wheel) which rivets on to the mast.

[/ QUOTE ] Probably sensible if you have the mast down but many people do use the "useless wheel" which is the only option if not lowering the mast.
I assume that the diverter you have bought is the smaller of the two offered by Plastimo.

The instructions say that the maximum angle between forestay and halyard is 20-25° so something a bit less than 20° would be about right. It calls, I think, for a bit of drawing or some trigonometry if yours is not too rusty to determine a position where the halyard makes that sort of angle with the forestay. The actual answer depends on how far down the spar the swivel will be when the sail is hoisted.

However the angle is not the only factor. If the swivel is too low it can cause problems and Plastimo recommend a strop to attach the head of the sail if necessary.

The on line instructions are HERE but I expect they are the same as supplied with the gear.

BTW the bent shackle that attaches the halyard to the swivel is a vital part don't lose it and replace it with a straight one.
 
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Bent shackle ? It didnt come with a bent shackle ?!

[/ QUOTE ] Sorry you are quite right the 406 does not. The larger versions do and its vital on those.
 
I had the Useless Wheel and it worked fine on my set-up. Like Vic says about the divertor, with the wheel it does rely on having the bobbin at the top of the foil, so if your luff is a bit short a strop is needed.
The angle of incidence between your mast and forestay is going to be the deciding factor in where the diverter goes.
It will create more friction, but as you'll probably only hoist and lower once a season, that's no big deal.
 
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The angle of incidence between your mast and forestay is going to be the deciding factor in where the diverter goes.

[/ QUOTE ] It is a factor but the distance from the sheave down to the swivel on the spar is equally important!
 
Wrap ups are a common problem with headsail furling gears where the head of the sail is a distance from the top of the hoist. The cause is most often that there is too much halyard between the masthead and the swivel where the halyard attatches. With my No1 jib there is about 75cm between the head of the sail and the masthead. To avoid wrap-ups I use a wire strop between the head of the sail and the reefing gear swivel, taking the swivel closer to the masthead and leaving only a short length of halyard between the masthead and the swivel.
 
I have finished my (dinghy) painting for today so have taken another look at this.

Provided you know the distance down to the swivel and I and J measurements you can calculate this as below.

It's only schoolboy maths but it's a long time since I left school so perhaps someone could run through the maths for me.

Plastimofurler.jpg
 
Takes me back!
The problem is usually that the distance AC is very short. Using a strop (or more correctly named a pennant) as I describe above to shorten AB will do the trick.
/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
To find the length of pennant you need, undo the tack and hoist the sail until the lead angle is right. The measure the gap between the tack of the sail and the point it fixes to on the reefing gear which confusingly is also called the tack I think. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
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