SPRIT BOOM DETAIL...

[Rob Blackburn]

In a recent subject Graham kindly sent me a photo of the webbing loops at the out haul end of the sails.

Could someone send me some close ups of how they have done their sprit boom ends.

We could not figure the loop thing at the time and in a hurry just drilled a hole.

So I am planning to make two new booms and get my sails changed.

I thought I would continue with the clove hitch around the mast and what I am thinking about doing is buying a couple of sister clips. Leave one on the bit tied to the mast and have the other on the outhaul rope. In other words cut the current outhaul about 2-3 foot back from the mast and then use the forked boom end design.

So to go sailing.

1.Unroll the sail/mast and connect the sister clips together. Removes need for stuffing around on the deck in the wind tieing knots.

1.( Put outhaul over forked stick style luff end of the sprit boom.

2. Loop leach end in webbing loop.

3. pull tight my 2:1 laser style outhaul

4. Voila.

Pick holes in this please.

At present I have a pulley block bolted to the luff end.

So. Could someone put up some details of what they have at each end for me please????

Just back from a weeks holidays with the family in Tasmania. It was like National Lampoons "American Vacation" as I took the wife the kids and the mother in law in a People mover for the week. No sailing all week.

Cheers

Rob

[Gordy Hill]

Rob,

A clove hitch on the snotter can come undone and the quick release of tension will shoot your sprit well out into the water.

I lashed a D ring to the mast and clipped the snotter to it. It folds up when the sail is wrapped around the mast. The snotter went from the snap, around a small cheek block at the forward end of the sprit, back through a block at the clip and down to a cleat on the mast.

I had a knot in the snotter below the last block so the thing wouldn't unravel. When rigging, just put the pointy end of the sprit in the clew and snap the snotter rig to the D ring.

From this point you can let go of everything and it will stay put until you're ready to take a turn around the cleat on the mast and take up on what now is your outhaul.

The snotter could be led around a block at the base of the mast and led aft. Both the outhaul and downhaul could be accessed from the cockpit.

Gordy

[Brent]

Rob,

Instead of the fork design for the sprit end I drilled a hole in the sprit and attached a bullet with some cordage, in effect doing something very similar to what Gordy describes. A cheek block would be better here, but I had a bullet. The bitter end of the snotter and another bullet block (a bullet with a becket would be better) are attached to a shackle which attaches to an eye on the mast.

This rig prevents shooting the sprit across the water when the snotter is slacked and gives a two to one purchase on the snotter. The purchase on the snotter is needed to trim the snotter under loaded conditions. Both snotter run back to the helm station on my boat, and get tweaked regulary. I little snotter adjustment make a large difference in sail trim.

I like Gordy's D ring lashed to the mast for a rig that rolls the sail around the mast.

---B

[Rob Blackburn]

Oh boy, I just seem a bit thick on this one. Could you put some digital shots up of both these answers?

I think I see what Gordy is saying but Brent has me foxed. I also must admit to not knowing what the terms mean in Brents post. ie what is a bullet?

If the sprit shooting across the water is an issue, and wouldn't that only be if the outhaul is slack and everything is flogging?

Could you not put a loop around the end of the fork or a clip or something to keep it where it should be?

I think I will need a picture. Maybe we should start a web page of this sort of detail for new builders? ie pictures of curly bits in the boats or maybe Graham should look at this?

I could put in on my Apple page easily.

Rob

[Scott Dufour]

I love the idea of making a page for new builders about how to rig this beast. I've studied the plans, but since I too am short on vocab, and even shorter on experience, I haven't a clew about how this all should work.

[Brent]

Rob,

Sorry for the buffudeling words. Maybe this is turnabout for "stuff all fuel" :wink: . I will try to explain.

I think of a bullet as a standard sail boat block pulley; one end has the rolling sheave, and in the case of the smaller blocks the other end is a metal bail to which a rope or shackle can be attached. There are many of these on most sail boats.

The cheek block is a standard block pulley with a special side plate allowing the block to be bolted or screwed to a flat surface.

The bullet with a becket is a standard pulley similiar to the bullet block with the addition of a bar to which a rope can be tied. The bullet with a becket makes a nice installation where the snotter is attached to the mast. The snotter rope is tied to the becket, runs down to the block on the sprit, then back up to the around the shieve part of the bullet with a becket and then down the mast to the tie off point, or where ever else you might want it to go.

I think the West Marine web site has pictures of each of these but they are not individually labeled.

In the attached picture I used two bullet blocks. One is tied to the sprit (the tie cord runs through a hole in the sprit as well as around the sprit). The other end has a shackle running through the bail on the bullet. The snotter rope end is tied to the shackle. The shackle gets connected to the attachment point on the mast.

[attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

[Kudzu]

I think I will need a picture. Maybe we should start a web page of this sort of detail for new builders? ie pictures of curly bits in the boats or maybe Graham should look at this?

WONDERFUL idea! I am contemplating and about decided on a CS-20 and I think that this is a wonderful idea. As the old saying goes. A picture is worth a thousand words!

[Gordy Hill]

Here's a link to some pictures of my snotter rig.

http://groups.msn.com/smallboats/gordyscoresound17.msnw?Page=1

Just in case you haven't seen them before.

Gordy

"One good turn usually gets most of the blankets."

[Tim]

It looks like Gordy's set-up is so good that Graham has adopted it as the standard set-up. It's included in the hardware I just received.

I had been assuming that the snotter rig set-up is the same for both sails. But after I recieved hardware for just one sail I'm not sure. Is this set-up just for the main? Is the sail shape as important on the mizzen?

[Designer]

Tim,

Gordy's system for the mainsail has two virtues. It is quick to rig and it brings the snotter back to the helmsman, but at the cost of more hardware. The mizzen snotter is already back near the helmsman and therefore you can use the simpler rig with a fork at the forward end of the sprit which the snotter runs through and back along the sprit to a CL211 Clamcleat. There is the extra friction where the snotter runs over the fork but the mizzen is smaller than the main and is not a problem.

The only difference between Brents and Gordy's system is the snap shackle and a cheek block mounted on the sprit instead of a standard block tied to the sprit.

[Rob Blackburn]

My sails are at the sailmaker and I have some seriously technical new and expensive stainless steel bits and bobs in the shed....

More news next week when we unveil the new updated boom system....

[Rob Blackburn]

Had the phone interview with the sailmaker and he is not convinced by the whole sprit boom thing...

In the end I had to tell him I wanted to go to hell in my own way and to humour me.. I heard a groan.

Have settled for doing it with a webbing loop on the outhaul end of the sails but have added a dead eye/ cringle/ eye thingo to the webbing loop.

The reason is that we have very slim booms at the outboard end and when I do as suggested and drill longitudinaly into it and insert a hardwood dowel, it would be too thin for the webbing loop to stay at the aft end. So shall turn a bit of hardwood with a slight chamfer to fit the 12-14mm dead eye when it arrives back this week.

Otherwise no sailing to report.

(If you guys have any sort of access to black magic could you help out my mate Eric (the boat builder) whose ex wife is giving him merry hell at present...)

Rob

[Rob Blackburn]

Had the phone interview with the sailmaker and he is not convinced by the whole sprit boom thing...

In the end I had to tell him I wanted to go to hell in my own way and to humour me.. I heard a groan.

Have settled for doing it with a webbing loop on the outhaul end of the sails but have added a dead eye/ cringle/ eye thingo to the webbing loop.

The reason is that we have very slim booms at the outboard end and when I do as suggested and drill longitudinaly into it and insert a hardwood dowel, it would be too thin for the webbing loop to stay at the aft end. So shall turn a bit of hardwood with a slight chamfer to fit the 12-14mm dead eye when it arrives back this week.

Otherwise no sailing to report.

(If you guys have any sort of access to black magic could you help out my mate Eric (the boat builder) whose ex wife is giving him merry hell at present...)

Rob

[Rob Blackburn]

Had the phone interview with the sailmaker and he is not convinced by the whole sprit boom thing...

In the end I had to tell him I wanted to go to hell in my own way and to humour me.. I heard a groan.

Have settled for doing it with a webbing loop on the outhaul end of the sails but have added a dead eye/ cringle/ eye thingo to the webbing loop.

The reason is that we have very slim booms at the outboard end and when I do as suggested and drill longitudinaly into it and insert a hardwood dowel, it would be too thin for the webbing loop to stay at the aft end. So shall turn a bit of hardwood with a slight chamfer to fit the 12-14mm dead eye when it arrives back this week.

Otherwise no sailing to report.

(If you guys have any sort of access to black magic could you help out my mate Eric (the boat builder) whose ex wife is giving him merry hell at present...)

Rob