Rope Horse vs Sail Track for Self Tacking Jib

[misterg]

It would cost me about £350 to fit a self tacking jib track, or I can make up some brackets for a rope horse for a few quid.

What are the advantages of a track, and is it worth the extra?

I already have the sail, and would intend to retain the normal sheets for use off the wind. (The sheet for the self tacking track option would go up to a sheave about half way up the mast.)

Andy

 

[William_H]

A self tacking jib is very much like a mainsail. If it has a boom you have a much better chance of controlling the jib just like with a maonsail.
Now assuming you don't have a boom for the jib the horse or track has to far enough aft to get correct pull direction. ie...

The jib needs to be both pulled along the foot (aft) and down along the leach. It needs to be pulled from a point outboard of centre line to give a suitable sheeting angle. here you can hope the jib will pull itself outboard to the limit of the horse to get ccorrect angle.

So a rope horse might work but the vertical pull on the horse will tend to make it want to run from centre line because the rope horse will arch upwards. So I think you will need a tackle to pull the pulley that rides on the horse out to the end of the horse. If it stays near the middle it wi9ll tend to choke the jib main slot.

So all in all I think you will have great difficulty getting the jib to work well so suggest you might consider a boom with a vang if you can fit it in. Or a track. olewill

 

[misterg]

Thanks Will - Food for thought.

Andy

 

[philmarks]

IMHO a boom is the best answer - without it it will be difficult to get the right balance between sheeting angle and no twist in the leech, as the jib would be tensioned to the end of the boom and the horse/sheet would control angle. It doesn't have to be complicated - go to a good bookseller and take a look at Brion Toss's The Rigging Handbook for some ideas. I hae a rope horse and a boom for my staysail. It took a bit of time to get the rope horse dimensions right (but you could always make it easily adjustable anyway).