[Rhodes22-list] trimming a furling mainsail

[Mary Lou Troy]

Jim, The R22 IMF main doesn't have any roach. I've never had a problem with 
the leech fluttering. Our main has an adjustable car on the boom. While we 
don't fiddle with it much, the fact that it is adjustable means you can put 
more or less of a belly in the sail if you want. Ours is a bit awkward to 
adjust so most of the time we just set it where we think we'll want it. We 
are thinking of adding a cam cleat to the boom to facilitate this. GBI and 
various owners have used lots of different set-ups on the boom. The 
position of the traveler on the backstay is also handy for fiddling with 
sail shape. The first two years we had the boat we didn't play with any of 
that stuff and we were happy. Now that we are sure of the basics, we've 
enjoyed playing with the various controls. The only time we really miss a 
vang is in light air and chop. There are other times when it would be nice 
but the convenience of the pop-top set-up and being able to immediately 
raise or lower the aspect of the main is more important to us than the vang.

When we bought Fretless recycled we were hesitant about the IMF. We were 
buying new sails so Stan told us if we didn't like the IMF, we could always 
exchange it for a conventional rig. We never considered it.

Mary Lou
1991 R22 Fretless
Swan Creek, MD / Ft. Washington, PA




At 07:16 AM 7/31/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>The following advice was recentlty promulgated on Sailnet.  The Rodes 22 is
>not (normally, at least) equipped with a vang.  I recall some talk of the
>backstay-mounted traveler compensating (partly?) for the lack of a vang.
>Based on the attached description of the problem they had on their Beneteau
>(I think) it doesn't seem to me that it would be a complete solution.
>
>1.  Does the R-22 have noticable leach flutter as described here?  If so,
>how is the leach flutter dealt with?
>
>2.  Do you spend a lot of time fiddling with outhaul tension?
>
>
>Jim Connolly
>wannabe
>
>
>
> > Mainsail Furling Issues
> > What can you tell me about trimming a furling mainsail without battens?
> >
> > Sue & Larry respond:
> > Our first cruising boat had an in-mast, roller-furling mainsail and we
> > found only a few differences in trimming that from a conventional
> > mainsail.
> > With no battens to support the leech of a traditional mainsail, it will
> > flutter away and be very inefficient. To help reduce this problem on
> > mainsails designed for roller-furling use, the sail has been modified by
> > cutting away some of the leech and leaving a much more concave looking
> > shape. This certainly helps with the fluttering leech problem,
> > but doesn't
> > entirely remove it.
> > The boomvang is your best help here. By tightening down on the boomvang,
> > the end of the boom is pulled down, resulting in the leech tightening and
> > allowing the sail to hold a good shape with no flutter. The snugging down
> > of the boomvang, in combination with some outhaul tension, always
> > gave us a
> > reasonable sail shape for sailing upwind. As we bore away from
> > the wind, we
> > would release some of the boomvang pressure and some of the outhaul
> > tension. You'll find that as you point further away from the wind, the
> > leech has less of a tendency to want to flap, and the leech tension is no
> > longer needed, nor desirable for good sail shape.
> > Just a tip we learned about using our in-mast roller furler: It's often
> > necessary to fully release the vang tension prior to furling in the sail.
> > This will help eliminate any snags as the sail is rolled into the
> > extrusion. Good luck.
>
>_______________________________________
>Subscribers, send mail to this address Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org
>To change your options or unsubscribe from the list click on this link
>http://www.rhodes22.org/mailman/listinfo/rhodes22-list Check out our
>FAQ pages at http://www.geocities.com/blew_skies/topics.html
>http://www.sailnet.com/ -Where Sailors Get It!  http://www.rhodes22.org