Arnie Eaton Posted August 22, 2004 Posted August 22, 2004 I have been thinking of a topsail for my Vac. I have it pretty well thought out except for the interferance of the gaff control lines. I really think they won't interfer very much but there could be chafing as the TS lays against them. Of course this would only happen on one tack. I have veiwed many photos of TS and you can see the lines behind the sail. One of the problems would be in reefing the TS by releasing the halyard so it would lay behind the main. You could only do this on one tack as the gaff lines would be in the way on the other. Any thoughts on this from all you experts out there? Quote
John B Posted August 23, 2004 Posted August 23, 2004 Nice of you to make those comments Tim. She's a nice old girl we bought about 20 years ago and have been playing around and cruising on ever since. Yes she was marconi/ bermudan but under rigged when we got her and as you guys well know, leaving something alone is not an option so I changed the rig back to one evocative of her original rig. Performance was pretty radically enhanced by changing but that might have something to do with about 40 % more sail area. Back to the topsail. See the point is, its a light weather sail which you don Quote
Tim Diebert Posted August 23, 2004 Author Posted August 23, 2004 Thanks for that John. That clears some things up for me for sure. I get what you are saying in needing to keep the luff tight and controled. From my drawing ...it would not be as rigid as it should be. I would still like to get this thing to work with just one line...maybe two. On this small boat I have used up pretty well all the available room at the base of the mast for three exsisting halyards gear, cleats, loose line and the reefing gear. I don't want to run any more lines to the cockpit as, again, there are three sheets in there now...but I am thinking this might be a good location for the topsl sheet....as it looks to me like the halyard would be hardened up and left alone. I have noticed that Imagestation won't allow for access to images originating from thier site. So I have modified your sketch and posted it here. Quote
Johannah Posted August 23, 2004 Posted August 23, 2004 Yo, Frank, I think this thread is turning into a keeper. Discussion of topsails has come up a number of times, but this one has practical sketches and explanation that make it a candidate for permanent resource, perhaps with a bit of editing. What do you think? Quote
John B Posted August 23, 2004 Posted August 23, 2004 Gidday Jo. I don't know what goes on with imagestation. I can post images on the WB forum ok. :roll: Thanks for hosting the pic Tim. You can tell my scanner is on the blink eh. draw it, photo it , post it. Quote
Tim Diebert Posted August 23, 2004 Author Posted August 23, 2004 Hey Jo. John...I kind of figured that sketch was shot not scanned. I Photoshopped it a bit. As for the imagestation thing....I have noticed this program Frank uses does not allow some images to show...funny thing is...sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. I am not sure it is Imagestation or the Messin site.....maybe Frank knows. At this point in the discussion, my thoughts turn to how I will extent the existing mast. Craigs structure looks like it should do the trick...but my mast head stuff is different than most other Weekenders. Here is a picture of it. I was just looking at it and wonder what you folks think of maybe welding another aluminum tab not on the center line, but off to stbd a bit (I am listening John B.) and just between the peak and throad pulleys for the topsail halyard pulley. Hmmmm.....I think I might have to step the mast, hoist the main and take a picture from the roof of my shop to get a better perspective of this whole dealie...see the gaff where it sits etc..... Quote
RussMartin Posted August 24, 2004 Posted August 24, 2004 Anybody have an idea how this topsail was done? http://www.fss.org/cover1993.jpg I've looked closely. I don't see any additional yards. Taller mast/mast extension, yes; but . . . In fact, I see a lot of interesting ideas on these covers: http://www.fss.org/yearbooks.htm Does anyone else have comment? Quote
John B Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 When a topsail is set without yard or jackyard it's usually called a fisherman topsail. And that fits with the heritage of a working boat like the friendship sloops.Just a sail set on a halyard, probably hanked or clipped on a jackline running up beside the mast. sheeted to the end of the gaff and with a tack line/ downhaul as with a jackyard topsail. Some of the later racing gaff boats set yardless jackyarders on tall marconi masts . And some racing boats would carry a set of topsails. A couple of different size Jackyard topsails for the light and a fisherman for the moderate Quote
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