Princess rigging questions

[john_manchester]

Well it finally hit zero here last night. Too cold to let the chickens out, or the brass monkey for that matter, and definitely too cold to mix epoxy. Perfect virtual sailing weather. As I recline against the coaming and stare off at the horizon, contemplating the half dozen production boats I blew by this afternoon, a sudden gust threatens to spill my beverage. The cooler is, of course, well stocked. But why risk it? I lean forward to loose the halyard and pull on the first reefing line, and my hand passes right through because I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.

How on earth do you rig this sucker? The halyards and lines that tension the snotters seem pretty obvious, but what size line should I use? And how should I rig the main sheet to avoid having to pass it around the mizzen tabernacle every time I tack?

And what about reefing, in the most casual, laid-back, single-handed way possible? I guess you could use a double cheek block on the end of main sprit to handle lines to the first and second reef clews, which would run up to the mast, down to the deck somehow, then the aft again. But I don't see an easy way to cradle the reefed part of the sail. With a wishbone you could make a cradle underneath the sail (and run the first and second reef lines other either side of the wishbone). But you guys don't talk much about wishbones. Do you have a secret way of rigging lazy jacks with a sprit boom?

[wkisting]

Hi John,

I can't answer all your questions, but I can tell you that the mainsheet on the Princess is led aft to a block mounted on the fore side of the mizzen tabernacle. That's why the mainsheet doesn't need to be passed behind the mizzen when you tack.... because the block is in front of the mizzen, and all you need to do is take up the slack (or let out the mainsheet) from whichever side of the mizzen you happen to be sitting on. I suppose if you were to sit on the opposite side of the boat, you would need to pass the tail of the mainsheet around the mizzen (only when you are changing positions), but not every time the sail/sprit swings across.

I think you're right about needing a wishbone boom (instead of a single sprit) in order to create a cradle to gather the sail as it drops. I don't think this is possible with a single sprit because the sprit is only on one side of each sail, so I'm not sure how lazy jacks could be fitted in that case. IIRC, Graham has mentioned that a wishbone rig might give a SLIGHT performance advantage, but that the crease of the sail against the sprit is not really that detrimental, and so he still recommends the sprits over a wishbone rig for ease-of-setup, lighter weight, etc. The only compelling reason to switch to a wishbone setup would be to gather the sail in lazy jacks as you mentioned.

Either way, I think reefing is still done at the sail, not remotely.... though I could be wrong. Before you reef, I think you can flatten the sails by tensioning the snotter, which should also (from what I've read) depower the sails a bit. But when it comes time to reef, I think the Princess would require you to go forward to tie up the slack anyway... if not, I'm also very interested to hear how it works.

[Travis Votaw]

John,

Here are a couple of pics that I had on hand that show the mainsheet rigging on and around the mizzen tabernacle. They are just chance shots, so could be better. These were taken on the maiden and second voyages, so the lines are a little sloppy, and some were only makeshift til I picked up some better line.

The one taken from the cockpit shows lines on the tabernacle - to starboard is the mizzen halyard cleat. To port at the same height is the snotter cleat.

The mizzen downhaul is a piece of junk line that I have since replaced. If you look carefully, you can see the mainsheet that leads down from the double block (on the forward side of the miz tabernacle), through a deck-mounted bullet block and into the cam cleat. The sheet is easily reached from any place you sit in the cockpit. If the sailing gets hairy, wind hard and gusty, you can hold the mainsheet in your hand and easily pop the cam cleat to let out the sheet. It was blowing pretty hard on this first trip, and I had a crew of grandkids (that's Kimi, one of my granddaughters, in the pic), so I felt compelled to release the sheet a couple of times on that trip

The other pic shows the forward side of the mizzen with the mainsheet led through a double block. (That is my wife's sister and niece at the helm.)

The mainsheet dead-ends on a becket block mounted at the end of the main sprit, reeves through the double block, back through the becket block, back down through the double and on down through the turning block on the deck and through the camcleat :shock: .

To reef the mizzen, I would slacken the snotter tackle enough to remove the end of the mizzen sprit from the loop in the clew of the sail and reset it into the loop on the reef cringle (new clew). I would then loosen the mizzen halyard enough to pull the sail down to reef the tack cringle, tie it off, and rehoist the mizzen, or better said, just take up the slack. I would also reset the snotter tackle, as it would be loose.

The mainsail would be reefed pretty much the same way.

I have only reefed the sails a few times, so I'm sure I will refine this process some as I gain more experience.

The Princess will heave to by slacking the mainsheet and tightening up the mizzen to as tight as you can conveniently get it. Let the way come off her until she starts to back down, push the tiller to leeward and she will drift downwind as she lies-to pointed into the wind. I do this when singlehanding if I need to go forward to lower sail, fiddle with the anchor, etc. If I'm by myself and anchoring, I usually measure off enough line for the depth of water I'm anchoring in, bring the slack and anchor back into the cockpit, and drop it from there when ready.

Uhhh, what was the question, again? Sorry if I got a little longwinded.

[john_manchester]

Thanks Travis, that's really helpful. In my little boat I have to jump back and forth when I tack, and I guess studying all those action photos of Joe at work on his boat got it into my head that I'm be doing the same thing on the Princess.

Your granddaugher looks like she's having a blast. I have 3 little kids, but among us we've probably got a total of less than 24 hours on the water, so I have plenty to worry about as it is. I really like the idea of being able to get those sails down and under control without leaving the cockpit. Doesn't seem like there'd a lot of complexity or expense involved, just a matter of figuring out what needs to be run where.

[Howard]

Travis:

When you reef, what becomes of the "reefed" part of the sail? Do you roll it up with reef nettles along the bottom, or does it "accordian" up on it's own under the sail? Seems like it would work like a reefing jib, where the fall is rolled up along the bottom.

I'm used to a sloop with a boom where you flake it on top of the boom and tie it down.

I've talked to Graham about building wishbones. He was concerned about what to do with them when you want to drop the masts. That you would have to take them apart. If wider than the tablernacles, it seems like you could drop them on the deck and pivot the mast over them, then maybe raise them back up and lash them and the sail to the underside of the mast.

And then there is the option of usng a boom, but then you have a whole new set of problems with vangs, etc. and higher sheet loads.

Nice that you are helping solve a lot of these issues and questions. Pilgram was a good name for her.

[Gordy Hill]

I have made it to Orlando on my way to the Everglades challenge and I am answering this from Gordy's computer.

The problem with adding extra stuff to save you from going forward to tie up the skirt of the sail when reefing is that it takes you that much more time to rig the boat each time that you go sailing.

The fun part of building your own boat is that you can rig it the way that you want. I would rig it as Travis has rigged his until you know the boat. As Travis has found, the boat heaves-to very well and is very stable, so for me it is not worth the clutter and extra rigging time to be able to totally reef from the cockpit. If you decide after a while that you would like reef from the cockpit, then you will have a better understanding of what is needed.

Graham

[Travis Votaw]

Howard,

I do roll the bottom panel of the sail when reefing and tie it up with the nettles. I take the clew that is loose and fold it over itself up against the row of reef nettles before rolling the sail - it makes for a "clean" end and looks good that way.

I've thought about wishbones, too, and believe they would be very handy in a situation where you left the boat rigged in the water or rigged on the trailer without having to lower the masts.I think you make a good point about dropping the wishbone over the tabernacle, lowering the mast, and lashing the 'bones under the mast for trailering.

For the last several times I've pulled the boat for trailering, I've left all the rigging reeved through sprits, sheets blocks, etc and only taken the sails off. I slack all the lines, lower the masts, place padding where necessary, and lash the sprits to the masts. Having snotters and sheets already reeved saves a fair amount of time when setting up. Kinda a hurrah's nest at first, but you get used to it.

The only lines for controlling the mainsail that are lead back to the cockpit right now are limited to the snotter line. The reason I did this is so that for reefing the main, I can slacken the snotter enough to reset the sprit into the "new" clew (reefed position) before going forward to lower the sail enough to take in the reef at the tack. After I get that tied in, I tension the halyard, go back and tighten the snotter as needed, then I can roll the bottom of the sail at my liesure. Also when going to windward, the snotter is pretty tight, but must be loosened some for sailing off the wind. Having it led back to the cockpit is really handy at this point.

[Charlie Jones]

This is not a Princess- it's our CLC Sharpie, but the rig is the same- in the pic you can see the reefed sails, rollled up and tied through the nettles.

[john_manchester]

Hi Graham, thanks for the breath of sanity. I've been a little more spastic than usual since you spooked me out of my low-tech mindset (I'm building my real Dacron sails now from a Sailrite kit, a lot easier than I thought it'd be--if I can keep the cats off them while trying to sew). Just worried about making dumb mistakes since I'm all itchy to get out there. And that huge grin on Travis' face while at the tiller isn't helping!

Hey Travis, thanks again for your detailed replies (Pilgrim really is an appropriate name!). How do you set the reef cringles on the sprit--I mean, what's the "loop"? I've got brass rings sewn into the reef tacks and clews on my sails, assumed that those would normally slide over hooks on the (sprit) boom.

Anybody have any recommendations on what size line to use for the halyards, sheets and snotter? Is 5/16" too light?

[Travis Votaw]

John,

The "loops" I mentioned are loops of woven tape that are pushed through the clew and reef grommets and sewn onto the sail on the opposite side from the loop. These sails come made this way from the sailmaker that Graham uses. The sprit has a piece of hardwood dowel let into the end of it that projects out about two inches, making a kind of tenon which slips into the loop. This arrangement holds the clew of the sail very well when the snotter is tight, and allows the clew to slip off easily when the tackle is loosened.

I think I'm using 5/16th line for halyards and snotter lines. The sheets may be 3/8ths.

I tried to load a picture of the clew but for some reason couldn't get it to take .