Two Fore Stays/Two Sails

[zc6840]

Hello All, Has anyone mounted two foresails each on a drum and swivel on a CP16 Mk1 equipped with a Hutchins bow sprit.? Iwould like the convenience of being able to choose between the factory jib and a155 Genoa without going through the hank on hank off exercise. Since each sail has a wire rope in the luff , I would in effect have two forestays. Anyone out there with advice, pictures of such an arrangement or experience of such a mod? Fair winds ,30 days till launch. RTH.

[Billy]

The most important part of the sail is the tack (at least for heading into the wind). It would seem that have a rolled up genny right next to the leading edge of you jib would greatly effect the performance. Has you seen this done on other boats?

[Les]

The little 16 foot Wayfarer uses a permanent forestay that only helps holds up the mast. The headsails use a separate attachment. It can be a hanked on sail but they also have wire luffed sails on furlers that can be easily switched out. It makes a lot of sense.   

[skip1930]

My friend has a soling stay on his CP-19 that normally clips to the base of the mast.
When the storm jib is needed the soling stay clips onto the 'OLD' tac  [still on the deck]  before I installed the factory bow sprit
on his boat. The soling tac is a standard lever-action-to-tighten affair. The sail is hanked on.

skip.

[NateD]

There was some discussion of this in the Mailport section of the latest (April 2011) edition of Practical Sailor. They note that the "double headstay" rig is becoming more popular on large boats (46'+), but there is some talk that there might not be enough spacing between sails on smaller boats. Someone wrote into say that based on his computational fluid dynamic analysis a 6-7 diameter furled headsail would create an unsteady air flow for 18-28 inches behind it. I doubt a furled headsail on a CP16 is anywhere near 6-7 inch diameter, but the point remains that there will be some disruption in airflow.

With the minimal amount of room between the two stays, even on larger boats, you'll have to furl and unfurl it every time you tack or gybe.

[skip1930]

When your under sail doesn't the back stay or side shrouds that land behind the mast take the load.
I mean with a spinnaker or 155% lapper the head stay goes loose.

skip.

[zc6840]

 Thank you to all who replied to my cry for help concerning two foresails on two separate luff wires. I had seen that arrangement on a much larger boat .The possibility of disturbed air flow and having to furl and unfurl with each tack for lack of space between the two luff wires prompted me to ask for advice. I think one foresail at a time will be best. Cheers RTH.

[curtisv]

I suggest that you just tack the sail through.  And if you need to change headsails, change them.  The sails on a CP16 are tiny.  The cost of two furlers is not tiny.

Curtis