A beautiful tucked away spot in one of Annapolis’ many hiding waterfront spots.
Any guesses where this might be? (click the image for a larger view)
We conducted a rigging survey on a Catalina 36.
Look there is my puppy dog Sidney, wondering what in ‘god’s green earth’ am I doing up there.
……and hey there’s Sean, Hi Sean ;-0)
~thanks for visiting The Rigging Company Online! Feel free to take a look around.
Here are some general guidelines for tuning your mast’s standing rigging. Please see our blog on how to properly adjust a turnbuckle before you begin. As always we recommend seeking the advice of a professional rigger for more specific tips and tricks regarding tuning your boats rigging.
Your boat must be in the water. Begin by just slacking off all of the side shrouds evenly, so that all stays can be adjusted by hand. Loosen all halyards or anything that may pull the mast to port or starboard.
1. Check by sighting up the backside of the mast to see how straight your spar is side to side. You can take a masthead halyard from side to side to ensure that the masthead is on center. Do this by placing a wrap of tape 3′ up from the upper chainplate pin hole on each upper shroud. Cleat the halyard and pull it to the tape mark on one side, mark the halyard where it intersects the tape on the shroud. Now do this to the other side and the mark on the halyard should also intersect the tape similarly. Please note: when the mast is equipped with port and starboard sheaves, instead of just one center-line sheave, it will appear slightly off to one side. Just keep this in mind……
2. Using the shrouds as controls, straighten the mast as much as possible (some masts are just crooked) using hand tension. Keep in mind as you tension one shroud by adjusting the turnbuckle, to loosen the opposing shroud the same amount.
3. Tune the mast from the top shroud on-down, making sure the mast is in column.
4. Once the mast is fairly straight from side to side, tighten the shrouds all evenly using tools for tensioning. Typically, for proper tension, the shrouds should be tightened using these guidelines; uppers are the tightest, and then fwd. lowers, then the aft lowers and intermediates should be hand tight plus just a turn or two. ~With an in-mast furler it is recommended to tension the aft lower a bit more to promote a straighter spar for better furling.
5. Now you can tension the backstay. If the backstay has an adjuster it should be set at a base setting (500 lbs). If the backstay simply has a turnbuckle then it should be tightened well. After this has been done, in either situation (adjustable or static backstay), one should site up the mast from a-beam and notice that the masthead has a slight aft bias. If there is no aft bias or too much, than the headstay will most likely need to be adjusted to correct this. If a furler is present then seek the council of a professional rigger or refer to your furler’s manual for instructions on how to access the turnbuckle if there is one present.
6. Finally, sight up the mast one last time and make any necessary adjustments.
7. MAKE SURE ALL TURNBUCKLES AND PINS HAVE COTTER PINS AND ARE TAPED NEATLY TO PREVENT CHAFE!
Here is a little vid from our friend Scott at Selden Masts (click the link then hints and advice for more info) on rig tune…..
This is the epitome of sailing………Enjoy!
Let’s take a look at some of the big names in the boom furler industry; Leisure Furl by Forespar, Pro Furl In-Boom Furlers, Schaefer’s Beta Boom Furler, and Furlboom. Having had experience with all of these units at one point or another, allow us to give you our thoughts on these seemingly similar, but yet ‘O-so’ different boom furlers.
Pro Furl In-Boom
Coming in at 4th place is the Pro Furl In-boom Furler. Pro Furl boom furlers are lighter then the rest, but that usually means more plastic parts and pieces which just can’t last as long as anodized aluminum and stainless steel. If you look at Pro Furls behind the mast track, it seems a bit rickety, dainty, and wobbly. I will say however, that their actual spar design is quite sleek and attractive. Other than maybe a very small day sailor where weight is an issue, I wouldn’t recommend this unit.
Schaefer Boom Furler
Schaefer makes the podium at third place, living up to their reputation for being robust and high quality. This furler is a more solid, high quality, product than a lot of the other options out there. The Schaefer system lacks in three departments in our book, looks (no taper and just plain big), again a loosely mounted main sail track, and lastly, Schaefer utilizes a furling drum that is mounted at the very outboard end of the boom. This can make gybing an already heavy boom even more interesting, especially if it is accidental. Boom brakes recommended…..
Furlboom
Anytime I see a behind the mast track I would prefer it to be solidly mounted, as the mainsail track is a highly used and pretty important portion of the mainsail system. In second place (a close 1st), we have the Furlboom system. Here we have a very similarly sleek and tapered design to that of the Leisure Furl (it’s almost like they stole their design). Furlboom boasts there is no hole to drill through the mast for the drum install (unlike Leisure Furl), they also claim that they offer a lighter spar than the competition. The Furlboom system is sleek, well designed and not much unlike the Leisure Furl. I would recommend this furler for the coastal/ in-land cruiser, boat sizes 25′-38′.
Leisure Furl
And the winner is………the Leisure Furl System. This system has been around a long time. Which equals many years of R & D (which usually means they have worked out the kinks). Leisure Furl has always had a solidly mounted, behind the mast track, which we like. Over the years Forespar has only simplified, instead of adding to, or over-complicating their original design. We like that too! They have also eliminated most of the plastic pieces except for the bottom feeder track, they call this the ‘Flexy Feeder’. This piece is crucial for better off the wind furling and hoisting. Another great feature in this design is that it keeps a majority of the weight inboard (much like the Furlboom) by mounting the furling drum on the face of the mast. Initially, I was a bit skeptical of the 1″+ hole that needs to be drilled at the gooseneck for the furling mandrel. However, by putting a solid stainless steel rod through it, along with the massive gooseneck bracket that accompanies it, this typically weak and highly loaded area of the mast, is actually strengthened. There is nothing cheap about the Leisure Furl system. Overall, I would recommend the Leisure Furl boom furler for the serious blue water cruiser, 35′ and over.
Although there are differences, these booms are all priced very closely. I recommend checking each one out in detail for yourself by clicking on the images or the hyperlinks to link to the manufacturers website and find out for yourself. Keep in mind, these manufacturers will also require replacing the mainsail, a possible vang replacement and you will most likely need an electric winch (with a properly mounted foot switch) and something to ‘snub’ with (i.e. snubber winch or polished stainless cleat), for furling and hoisting. A boom brake or preventer is also recommend for these systems, especially the heavy ones.
Have question or comment, leave us a not in the comment section. We will reply! Thanks for the read, see you on the water.
~T.R.C.
Since I have been slacking a little this week (it has been really busy around here), here is a little entertainment that I found on good old YouTube. Take a few minutes and enjoy these sailboat bloopers.
It will surely brighten your Saturday.
……make sure you are always safe out there.
~T.R.C.
Let us take a quick look at some of the popular winch manufacturers. The three big players are Harken, Lewmar, and Andersen. Holmatro is also making a splash in the production boat market.
When it comes to remaining relatively unchanged and dependable, I have to say Lewmar and Andersen ST winches take the cake! No problems here; extra long service life, extra dependable, easy to service and readily available parts. They only thing I can say is that Andersen makes for a little bit of a bumpy ride when having to use this winch to get aloft.
Harken, however, has recently revolutionized the electric winch market , not just with their new powered bi-directional units (Lewmar and Selden have them too) but also by minimizing the intrusiveness of the motor down below. What Harken has managed to do here is put a portion of the motor above deck and into the drum with their Uni-power winches. I think this is an especially neat feature being that the motor sticks into the cabin by almost half as much as other electric motors. New Harken winches also come with composite needle bearings made of Delrin and require no grease like its stainless steel predecessors. Also take notice of the angled flutes on the drum. This angle causes the rope to ride down towards the base of the winch, minimizing overrides. Harken is definitely in the running for an award in innovation.
Holmatro, fairly new to the commercial sailboat market (but has long time experience with the custom mega-yacht market), has removed the need for grease along the ‘mandrel’ or ‘spine’ of the winch as well. However, they did this by replacing the highly loaded ‘needle ‘ bearings with a solid Oilite type bushing which carries lubrication in the material, pretty neat! I actually have to say that I like this low maintenance approach over Harken’s Delrin needle bearings. I also like the the rope grabbing flutes that are tapered to promote the rope riding down, thus reducing overrides. Although the flutes sharper edges may rope quicker. Having had personal experience with these winches, I can say that Holmatro winches are quality!
Overall, I think its safe to say that if you want to go with what works go with Lewmar or Andersen. Although Lewmar is always a good choice if you are looking for electric winches, I would choose Harken, especially if you need headroom. And lastly if you are looking for the best of, innovation and technology, I would look to Holmatro. Have question leave us a comment or give us a call.
For information regarding servicing winches, read here.
Using a whisker pole that is properly sized and configured can make sailing by the lee stable and comfortable. Most of us feel that flying a spinnaker is too much work and that a lot can go wrong quickly. So what can we do when we have to do the inevitable, and turn the bow down wind?
Usually downwind sailing, specifically in light air, can feel a bit sluggish and sloppy. One option is to try and fly the head sail wing-on-wing with mainsail. This can be a bit tricky without a very important tool, a properly rigged whisker pole. Bracing the fore sail out to weather and the boom out to leeward via a preventer, can allow for hours of adjustment free downwind sailing, even in moderately heavy conditions. Taking the time to ensure that the system is strong enough to manage various wind conditions, is rigged properly for ease of use, and is easily stowed while not in use, can be well worth the extra effort. There are a good bit of details to ensure that the system is set up in a dependable and functional manner. Make sure you seek the assistance of a professional rigger for this.
Execution is also a BIG portion of keeping this effortless. Above is a video I found online so that you can get the gist of how the system is intended to be used……. Very Helpful.
See what we have to say about even more downwind sail options for cruisers, here.
