Sails and Rigging

[Joe]

A couple of questions about the rigging and sails:

1. Our main sail seems to have a bit of sag in it, and there seems to be an extra grommet near the base of the sail (two reef grommets along the mast, and two near the bottom of the sail) that could hook onto the reefing hooks at the base of the boom.  Do others have this, and is the lower grommet supposed to be on the hooks when flying the main to straighten it out?  If so, why is there the extra bit of sail below the grommet and why are there two grommets at the bottom?

2. We have a Gennaker for our Kelt, but the mounting and halyard points seem messed up, so I was wondering if anyone else flies a Gennaker, and if so, how they rig the lines/where they attach the sail?  Our halyard comes out on the side of the mast, but there's no cleat that it can be attached to, and no pulley that can be used to run it to a more convenient location.  Any info on using the Gennaker would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

[Sean]

Have you ever resolved your enquiries? I'm where you have been. We are looking to fly a Gennaker on our Kelt 7.60 and are trying to decide what will work best. Attaching a Bale or crane to the mast top with a pully or offset to maintain distance from the foresail appears to be the answer. Run the sheet in the mast or outside?
Our mainsail must be stretched as it seems to sag causing the boom to hang lower than the picture perfect 90 degrees or is this the norm??? We recently found some stitching has started to separate at the clew and on horizontal lines through the sail. Getting some repairs done now.
Do you have any feedback.
Sean    

[Ben Hagar- s/v Cadeau]

It may be for rigging a cunningham, which is used to flatten the mainsail by putting more tension on it.

I have also read where some sails are set up to have that cringle hooked on the reefing hok when sailing hard upwind, giving you a flatter sail (rather than with the foot in the main that you get normally.  So, you would hook that point when hoisting the halyard for upwind, but relax the halyard, un hook it, and haul the sail all the way up for sailing a reach or downwind.

The very bottom of the sail is supposed to form an unstressed shelf of sail material, not to be taut all the way down to the boom.

Don't know about a Genaker, but we use a spinnaker (in a sock) hauled up using one of the halyards that comes out forward at the top of the mast.  Have recently bought an ATN Tacker to try instead of the exciting pole dance routine.

I don't have a deck organizer on the side where that halyard comes out, so I use another block shackled to the toe-rail to turn the halyard back toward the cockpit, and use the cleat on the genoa track to secure it.

Ben

[Sean]

Thanks very much for your feedback. I’m not sure where the time goes but hopefully we’ll make some progress and offer a little more to the blog later in the summer.

 

Sean    

 

From: Ben Hagar [via Kelt Sailboat Forum] [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: July-14-13 12:57 PM
To: Sean
Subject: Re: Sails and Rigging

 

It may be for rigging a cunningham, which is used to flatten the mainsail by putting more tension on it.

I have also read where some sails are set up to have that cringle hooked on the reefing hok when sailing hard upwind, giving you a flatter sail (rather than with the foot in the main that you get normally.  So, you would hook that point when hoisting the halyard for upwind, but relax the halyard, un hook it, and haul the sail all the way up for sailing a reach or downwind.

The very bottom of the sail is supposed to form an unstressed shelf of sail material, not to be taut all the way down to the boom.

Don't know about a Genaker, but we use a spinnaker (in a sock) hauled up using one of the halyards that comes out forward at the top of the mast.  Have recently bought an ATN Tacker to try instead of the exciting pole dance routine.

I don't have a deck organizer on the side where that halyard comes out, so I use another block shackled to the toe-rail to turn the halyard back toward the cockpit, and use the cleat on the genoa track to secure it.

Ben

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[Edward Tait]

Those hooks are for reefing the main. You lower the sail enough to slip the Cunningham grommet over the hook. The leach is pulled down using the halyard the runs through the beam from the aft end of the boom to the cleats with the hanging levers at the mast end. I drilled a hole through the mast gooseneck fitting which is substantial block  of aluminum and I shackle the tack grommet to it. It certainly is not apparent what the manufacturer had in mind.