Staysail

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AndrewF

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The present boat is a 1922 cutter rigged Leigh Cockler. the staysail and jib sheets lead aft to the cockpit. as usual crew is wife and or younger daughter these can be a pain when tacking. Ideally would like to fit a horse on the foredeck, but have a hatch that gets in the way of that plan.
Present thoughts are either a length of wire rope shackled to eyebolts in the bulwarks instead of solid horse, or an eyebolt secured to deck that clew can be secured to and left to its own devices.
What are others thoughts on these ideas.
 
For what it's worth, I have a length of 6mm 7 x 19 stainless wire, slightly slack, between two eye bolts, across the foredeck, with a Wichard hook stropped into a single block running on it. There is a staysail boom and the sheet runs forward along the boom, round a turning block at the stem, and thence aft.

It's been there for almost a quarter of a century, and nobody has tripped over it yet, though no doubt someone will in the end.

If you can avoid having a staysail boom, avoid it! The thing takes over the foredeck!
 
"as usual crew is wife and or younger daughter these can be a pain when tacking. Ideally would like to fit a horse on the foredeck, but have a hatch that gets in the way of that plan"

ROFL :-)
 
This may sound like heresy, but I sketched out a scheme for an uncle in the states. His problem was using a wishbone (bit windsurferish) on his self tacking jib on his modern 27ft. On the Chesapeake there can be sudden squalls and he needed to be able to drop it quickly. The geometry meant one had to slacken the 'sheet' that tensioned the sail in the wishbone before it could be lowered, or it jammed after the first foot or so. My solution was to run a rope up the hanks on the forestay but also ran through a block on the fore end of the w/bone to keep it tensioned. As soon as one lets the halyard off, this pennant(?) slackens allowing the sail to drop. Works a treat, esp as being over 80 and s/h, jumping around the foredeck is not on. Point in this thread being that the boom can be sheeted anywhere by a single point. Missing the forehatch?
Andrew
 
When you're trying to sail as close to the wind as you can, [because the wind always comes from where you want to go] you need to be able to sheet the staysail in as close to the centreline as you can get it. With either a horse or a bridle you lose that ability. Firstly, to equalise the tension on both leech and foot, halve the angle at the clew and draw a light pencil line on the sail at that angle. Line the sheet up with that line and see where it ends up on deck. That's where an eyebolt for the sheet block needs to go. If that point is aft of the mast, it would be better to attach the eyebolt to a band around the mast and thus clamp the eyebolt to the mast. The sheet tail will still be able to come back to the cockpit, but you'll only have the jib to tack. KISS - keep it strong and simple.
Peter.
 
[ QUOTE ]
you need to be able to sheet the staysail in as close to the centreline as you can get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not sure that is always true - you need to be able to get the staysail to its fully sheeted-in position but that is not necessarily that close to the centre line. Does it not depend on the rest of the rig and the hull etc?
 
I've a similar dilemma. My staysl sheets out to the rail, and is a handful if you are tacking often, with a small crowded cockpit and too much string everywhere.

I've sailed with a fully boomed staysail on other boats and so here are the pros and cons as far as I see them:

Loose footed staysail: Better curved shape, less kit to clutter the deck but a real nuisance to tack. Slot between staysail and main dependant on where you put the fairleads. These can be fixed on deck or mounted on short tracks and movable. This does nothing for the tacking string problem.

Boomed staysail: sets flatter but stays flat when the sheets are eased so no good in light airs or off the wind. In very light airs, the boom will wang about and make loads of irritating noise. The boom can also clutter the deck.
But, the boom is also a useful mid-deck object for bracing against if you are on the foredeck in bouncy weather. In short handed boats, its almost "set and forget".

My preferred solution to this will be to make a short clubbed boom, to which the clew of the sail is attached but is otherwise loose footed. The boom only some 60% of the length of the foot of the sail, enough to go from the centreline to the rail and is attached to the deck via a gooseneck type fitting. When sheeted home, the sail is very flat and the slot between it and the main quite small, but if the sheet is eased, the sail is free to form a nice full chord and will self-tack. The boom and sail can then be lashed up out of the way. If the present staysail overlaps the main it will have to be cut down as a boomed staysail necessarily can't overlap the mast. However, if you like the back the staysail and heave to, this cannot be done from the cockpit with a boomed staysail. It has to be lashed down and then you tack, leaving the sail to stop the boat.

In general, I think this solution would work best, giving both lots of ease of use, sailing efficiency and stowage, but it really all depends on what sheeting arrangements can be made.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
you need to be able to sheet the staysail in as close to the centreline as you can get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not sure that is always true - you need to be able to get the staysail to its fully sheeted-in position but that is not necessarily that close to the centre line. Does it not depend on the rest of the rig and the hull etc?

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree with dur, for once (and unusually) PeterDuck's advice is far wide of the mark. A staysail needs to set so that a slot exists between it and the main, otherwise all it is doing is creating turbulent air which will do little to drive the boat.
 
My understanding is that all the foresails should have roughly equal curved apertures between each other and the main, ie a bit like the overlapping blades of a fan.
 
when i cruise my smack i rig a temporay rope horse for the stay sail. it works a treat, and can easily be removed when racing.
Nice and simple
 
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