Sheets snagging on standing rigging

[MASH]

Tips please on how to prevent genoa sheets (actually the bowlines) from snagging on the babystay and shrouds?

I have seen tubes of plastic acting like rollers on shrouds - does this work? If so how to set it up/suppliers?

 

[Bodach na mara]

Join the club! Babystays are an abomination and the plastic tubing does not work. It comes in two parts, split along the length, that snap together over the stay.

The problem is the loose end on the bowline knot. Secure this with tape to the standing part of the rope and a lot of the problems are solved.

 

[Guest]

As I have a boat that is reluctant to pass through the wind when going about .. I tend to back the genny to "force" the bow round through the wind ... this has 2 other advantages ... a) it speeds up the tacking such that if the crew are good at it ... it is faster than not backing ...
b) as the sail is basically back-filled - once old sheet is released - sail bangs straight over past the shrouds etc. and now working sheet is clear of shrouds / stays.

My race-boat had a combination of standard plastic pipe from DIY shop slit in a spiral and then taped at intervals .... wound onto the stays ... and the tacking as above to speed up the tack.

IF ever I get the sheet clew come up on the stay - its a quick slack of let sail fill and then winch in fast.

But yes - it's a pain when it happens ....

 

[oldsaltoz]

Standard electrical conduit is available from any electrical supplier, one thing that will help is adding a large washer at the bottom for the conduit to spin on, needless to say you don't want to cut your baby stay or shrouds to get this on.

But you can cut a slot in two washers and screw them together with the gaps offset, just make sure the hole in the washers is large enough to allow them to rest on the lower fitting rather than spin on the wire.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[Katouf]

1" white waste water pipe from B&Q or Wickes forced over the baby stay (sqeeze it into an oval while feeding it past the bottle screw attachment) has worked wonders on my Centaur. Stopped genoa wear at the clew and speeded up transfer from one tack to the other. The longest length available is 3m and is quite sufficient.
If it doesn't work for you, you've wasted about £3.
Alan

 

[Lakesailor]

I got some split tube from the swindlery which was a close fit over the shrouds. It was fairly cheap actually.
Having said that it wasn't so good at throwing the sheets off either.
I resorted to Nigel's method of backing the jib when going about. The trouble with that when single handed is you're having to handle the jib sheets twice and you've other stuff to do.

I've tried a single piece sheet with a whipped eye in the middle and seperate sheets with bowlines and also with carbine clips, but everything seems to foul the shrouds.

I reckon it's a fairly common problem on older small masthead boats as it seems to be the lower forward shroud that causes the problem.

Anyone got a solution, apart from a very small headsail?