No Genoa Cars on 30’ yacht. Toe-rail snatch block or similar alternatives?

[Yeoman_24]

My Moody 30 doesn’t benefit from a lovely Genoa / jib track to allow for sail trim when roller reefing.

I have a single, suitably sized swivel block, shackled to the toe rail at the optimum full sail position.

So, I really don’t want to drill 3 dozen holes into my deck to fix the appropriate rails.

Haven’t seen this anywhere so happy to be educated, but how about a snatch shackle on the becket end of the swivel block? Strategically placed soft shackles on the toe rail to best support each furling Genoa reefing point and, move the swivel block forward when reefed and on the opposite side tack?

Thoughts and suggestions welcome please. Thanks.

 

[thinwater]

Start here:
http://l-36.com/inhauler.php

With low friction rings and a few pulleys, you should be able to put the clew anywhere you want it.

 

[TLouth7]

You won't want to move the main genoa block as this gives a good lead to the winch/turning block, also it will be under quite a lot of load (just ask someone without towable genoa cars).

I would suggest a snatch block on a 4 way purchase with a snap shackle on the bottom end. When you reef you can fit it over the sheet, clip to a suitable bit of toe-rail and tighten up (needs a suitable cleat e.g. on the aft edge of the coach roof). You may find that the toe-rail is a bit far outboard to get a good sheeting angle; in that case you want a barber-hauler as well. So you need two lines from your snatch block, one to the toe rail and one to the coachroof. Now you can adjust the sheet angle in two dimensions (or have one of the lines at fixed length).

 

[lw395]

There are many variations on 'barber haulers', basically deflecting the angle of the sheet using a block or ring running on the sheet.
If the sheet isn't pulled far out of line, the load on the barber is small, but it can get large for significant deflections.
You can 'Barber' the sheet in, out or down as needed, some dinghies have had two haulers per sheet!

There is another approach, and that's to clip a second temporary sheet to the clew. By sharing the sheet load between the two sheets, adjustment can be achieved.

 

[GHA]

Start here:
http://l-36.com/inhauler.php

With low friction rings and a few pulleys, you should be able to put the clew anywhere you want it.

:encouragement:

Low friction rings could be worth investigating, not rigged them yet but I'm ditching the tracks for rings with some dyneema spliced into the front end of the sheets

https://www.google.com/search?q=genoa+sheet+low+friction+rings

 

[dunedin]

Low friction rings and dyneema control lines would be the way to go these days, rather than snatch blocks etc.
Graham Snooks fitted these to his cruising boat (ironically replacing an existing track, but principle is the same without the track, where gives more benefit) - https://www.sailmagazine.com/diy/sail-trim-rigging-adjustable-sheet-leads

Quite a few more sporting boats use these low friction rings from new instead of a heavy weight track.

 

[thinwater]

Low friction rings and dyneema control lines would be the way to go these days, rather than snatch blocks etc.
Graham Snooks fitted these to his cruising boat (ironically replacing an existing track, but principle is the same without the track, where gives more benefit) - https://www.sailmagazine.com/diy/sail-trim-rigging-adjustable-sheet-leads

Quite a few more sporting boats use these low friction rings from new instead of a heavy weight track.

Been using LFRs for years. Other nice features, for the cruiser:
* They are light and don't bang around.
* Less trouble if you step on them.
* Nothing to break.

I don't think of them as racer gear.

Wire gate climbing carabiners are cheap and strong for testing the set up. They handle seawater quite well.

 

[GHA]

Low friction rings and dyneema control lines would be the way to go these days, rather than snatch blocks etc.
Graham Snooks fitted these to his cruising boat (ironically replacing an existing track, but principle is the same without the track, where gives more benefit) - https://www.sailmagazine.com/diy/sail-trim-rigging-adjustable-sheet-leads

Quite a few more sporting boats use these low friction rings from new instead of a heavy weight track.

Excellent link, very helpful. Thanks

Splicing in some dyneema at the front of the sheets has worked well for me so far as well still with normal tracks, very light , pretty much zero stretch.

 

[TLouth7]

The snatch block is useful if your clew gets quite close to the aft end of the track/existing block when close hauled under full sail. In this situation you would have to let out a lot of slack on your low friction ring barber hauler to allow the ring to move aft. Thus a de-riggable setup (carabiner would work as well) might be appropriate, especially if OP only reefs occasionally. For lots of money it is possible to buy low friction hooks that would allow this without the weight of a snatch block.

That said, it appears that the Moody 30 has a fairly high clew with plenty of length between there and the turning block so a permanent arrangement could work and might even be useful when not reefed.