[Public-List] Roller Furling

[George Dinwiddie via Public-List]

I quickly learned not to tie the downhaul to the halyard or the head of 
the sail. Pulling down on the head of the sail twists the sail at the 
top hank, jamming it on the forestay. That's why I tie the downhaul to 
the top hank. A clove hitch around the body of the hank secured with a 
half hitch seems to work fine.

  - George

On 9/27/17 10:08 PM, Rod Symmes via Public-List wrote:
>   <<< Guess that I could install grommets along the
> luff, say three inches in from the luff tape and run a line from the top
> grommet to the foredeck, then use a downhaul just as George does.   Have
> not seen anyone do that.  Could be interesting.  Will have to ask around
> about it. >>>
> Jonathan -  I would advise against doing that.  I don't believe it will work well - and here is why.
> 
> On my previous boat I had hanked on foresails and a down-haul that worked beautifully until I too thought I could "improve" it.  My halliard had a snap for the head of the jib and the down haul was also tied to the snap, down to a block at the stem and back to the cockpit, as someone mentioned earlier.  Because that down haul was not restrained, if the wind was just right, it would whap whap whap at the back of the jib.  I thought I would fix that by clipping each ( ?? senior moment) on the luff of the jib over both the fore stay and the down haul as I installed it thus containing the down haul line.  My thinking was that should work - it will be coming down with the sail.
> 
> WRONG  !   By the time the jib was half way down, the ( senior moments ) were piling up at the foot of the stay and the down haul was having to slide through them all.  The friction became so great I could not get the jib all the way down.  Grommets would bind on the line even worse.  Also,  you would have to re-thread that line each time you change jibs.  Not convenient or quick.
> 
> With the down haul loose to fly from the head to the stem block, it was quick and easy and, while lowering sail, if pulled down snugly and cleated, even a big genoa would usually stay inside the lifelines until I could deal with it.
> 
> Bonus Feature:  the halliard can never get lost up the mast.
> 
> 
> Happy sailing.
> 
> 
> Cheers,     Rod            P.S.   Is that  (senior moment) called a barrel snap ?????   (-:
> 
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-- 
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   When I remember bygone days                         George Dinwiddie
   I think how evening follows morn;            gdinwiddie at alberg30.org
   So many I loved were not yet dead,           http://www.Alberg30.org
   So many I love were not yet born.                          also see:
                'The Middle' by Ogden Nash     http://idiacomputing.com
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