[Rhodes22-list] Secure furled jib?

Mary Lou Troy mltroy at verizon.net
Mon Feb 28 17:37:41 EST 2005


Hi Bob,
Congrats to you and Sandy on your new boat.

I'm assuming you have the older GBI furler that does not allow you to 
remove the genoa. I'd seriously consider a mast hoist as part of your 
insurance package. The mast hoist system really does work well. In the face 
of hurricane force winds, the sleeve idea that someone mentioned might be 
an improvement over a line tied around the lower half of the sail but the 
only way to truly secure the sail is to lower the mast. That solves your 
problem with the main as well. It seems to me that the GBI furler & genoa 
package presents a larger roll of sail to the wind and thus more windage 
than do sails on other furling systems.

We live two hours from where we keep the boat. It may be overkill but, when 
we leave the boat, we routinely put a line through the clew of the genoa 
and wrap it around the sail. We also have a smaller diameter line that we 
put through the little hole in the furler spool and tie to a leg of the bow 
pulpit (or more recently to a padeye we placed on the bow for our UPS sail) 
to keep the unit from turning if the furling line were to chafe through. We 
also put a line through the clew of the main and tie it around the mast to 
provide a backup to the furling line for the main. Our idea behind all of 
this is that it will protect the sails during the high winds (50 or 60 
knots) that sometimes accompany summer thunderstorms on the Chesapeake. I'm 
not sure it would protect the sails in sustained hurricane force winds. 
When Isabel threatened a few years ago we pulled the boat as we couldn't 
figure out how to tie her in the slip in case of a storm surge accompanied 
by winds - and we lowered the mast and secured the sails with line. As it 
turned out, Isabel brought us a big storm surge which made us glad we had 
pulled the boat but almost no winds.

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


At 04:30 PM 2/28/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello guys, I last posted a few months back.
>Elton delivered a nicely reconditioned '86 to me here in Cortez, Fl. over 
>the weekend.  It was a pleasure to spend some time with him and get his 
>thorough introduction to some of the boat's features.  Time & weather 
>prohibited a shake-down cruise however, which will be monitored  this week 
>by Sam Gibbons, a local Rhodes owner. I don't think he posts on the list.
>First of many questions, I'm sure:When this area got nicked by hurricane 
>force winds last summer, most of the boats in the marina did fine.  A few, 
>however, had their jibs unfurl and shred.  I had watched those owners wrap 
>a good bit of line around them before hand.  Short of lowering the mast 
>(don't have a hoist), I wonder if people have any tips for securing 
>furling jibs in extremely high winds?  Elton had mentioned duct tape and I 
>had thought about using some very large (48") cable ties.  Also fret about 
>that tiny triangle that protrudes after the IMF is furled.
>Bob F.
>__________________________________________________
>Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list




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