Spinnaker Snuffer , or not ... ?

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aevans692

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Hi all ..

We have been using the spinnaker a lot more when we go out , ours came with a snuffer , now I see the benefits of this , but I have found that sometime it manages to get twisted inside the sock , and sometimes the snuffer doesn't raise all the way to the top, leaving the sail still inside, about a meter or so from the top no matter what I do the snuffer just doesn't have enough room to go all the way up , because of the gather from the snuffer ..?

Is this normal with using a snuffer , because atm I'm in two minds and Im thinking about taking it off ..

Im guessing if I take it off I will obviously have a full sail out rather than a shorter sail caused be the constraints of the snuffer .. But i can pull the sail down quick should I need to ??

What are all your thoughts .. Cheers Andy .
 
aevans692 said:
Hi all ..

We have been using the spinnaker a lot more when we go out , ours came with a snuffer , now I see the benefits of this , but I have found that sometime it manages to get twisted inside the sock , and sometimes the snuffer doesn't raise all the way to the top, leaving the sail still inside, about a meter or so from the top no matter what I do the snuffer just doesn't have enough room to go all the way up , because of the gather from the snuffer ..?

Is this normal with using a snuffer , because atm I'm in two minds and Im thinking about taking it off ..

Im guessing if I take it off I will obviously have a full sail out rather than a shorter sail caused be the constraints of the snuffer .. But i can pull the sail down quick should I need to ??

What are all your thoughts .. Cheers Andy .
Click to expand...

Our sail comes all the way out shown here -

Kmyspii.png


i guess its having room for the snuffer to "ruffle" up, unless the sock is too big?

as for easier with snuffer or without, i would say shorthanded the snuffer is very easy, however a spinnaker is easy to set if your confident so its all down to you.

a snuffer makes it nice and easy and effectively packs itself away providing you hold onto the lines with a little tension so it dont get tangled, without a sock its a case of balling it up on deck or shoving it straight down a hatch to sort out later... i prefer the sock to keep everything tidy, i cruise not race so the extra bit of speed is unimportant.

my 2 cents anyway.
 
I'm a great fan of my snuffer but the sailmaker advised me to raise and lower it a dozen times from the bag to get completely used to the way ropes have to go and the signs of any twisting, or it would be like 90% of his downwind cruising sail and left in a bag for years.

This was excellent advice and as well as simplifying the sheets to one gybe side only I also found out that a tight luff is key to hoisting, with quick adjustment once the sail is out. I would not ever use a snuffer for racing, especially fully crewed.
 
IMHO They can be a bit fickle but when they are set up correctly they are fantastic. For a single handler a godsend.
 
For those that have them is the opening round and held open by a rigid ring? Mine has rigid bars but it doesn't form a circle so I wonder if once it was a ring and snapped. It does work but would pulled down better if the opening was held open more?
 
northcave said:
For those that have them is the opening round and held open by a rigid ring? Mine has rigid bars but it doesn't form a circle so I wonder if once it was a ring and snapped. It does work but would pulled down better if the opening was held open more?
Click to expand...

Mine is a hoop
 
hi guys ..

yeah mine looks a bit like that in the photo up top , I think I would have liked the sail to open out higher up the mast ..

I think I will give it a few more goes before I make up my mind ..
 
You have not mentioned what boat you are sailing. A snuffer for a small sail is a waste of time. I sail a Westerly Fulmar singlehanded and never use a snuffer with my spinnaker (36' luff with 21ft foot).

If you want to try it without a snuffer then my advice is easy to follow. With white sails set, set the pole at the right height with the guy and clew almost on the forestay. Raise the spinnaker quickly and lock the halyard. Sheet in and square the pole to the wind. Roll the genoa away. To drop you will need a snatch block on the sheet attached on the rail at the forward end of the cockpit. This will hold the leech tight behind the mainsail and stop it blowing away. Trip the guy. Control the drop speed (for me I find one turn of the halyard around the winch is perfect) gathering the sail and dropping in the cockpit or down the hatch. I have never got my spinnaker wet yet!
 
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Hi . .

Im not 100% on the spinnaker size , but our boat is a sadler 25 , so not huge , I cant see it being too much of a problem to use without the snuffer , I will try it both ways and see which I like best ..
 
If the sock won’t pucker up above the head of the sail so that the hoop doesn’t distort the head, I wonder if it’s lacking a spacer rod inside the snuffer.

Get a ~1ft metal rod with an eye on each end. The head of the sail attaches to the lower eye. The turning block of the infinite-loop line that hauls the snuffer up and down attaches to the upper eye, as does the halyard. Then the sock will pucker up over the length of the rod, and not constrain the shape of the sail.
 
I don't use a snuffer but do a lot of spin flying especially when shy. It does seem that if the spin is not pulled right to the top it can get a swing about the spin and will not set very well. Looking a the photo and with the general idea of snuffers it seems to me that with the spin shoulders not right at the halyard exit ie positively located at the mast then in a snuffer one would get the same effect as a spin not pulled right up. In other words I think a spin would set a lot better especially when shy without a snuffer. olewill
 
There isn't a rod your right ..

at the top of the spinnaker snuffer there is some wire which is connected to both the spinnaker and the top of the snuffer , it didn't look load bearing so I connected the halyard to both the head of the spinnaker and to the attachment point on the snuffer ..

what you said makes sense maybe I have been rigging this up wrong . ..
 
That’ll explain the snuffer occluding the top part of the sail then. Sounds like the wire might have been a version of the device I mentioned, especially if it had a loop in each end.
 
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