Where does Jib and furler go during travel

[alsantini]

Hello everyone.  Name is Al and I will be picking up an Eclipse this coming Monday.  I will have a 500 mile journey to get back home and have a question.  I know the owner currently has the jib onboard and furled.  I guess this works for short trips but I do not think it will be good for the sail for 500 miles?  How do you all travel with the Eclipse.  I figured that I would pull the sail off the furler but cannot figure where the furler goes during travel.  Does it just get bungeed to the mast?  What am I missing here.  Thanks

[Vectordirector]

Hi Al.  Bryan in Illinois here.  Congrats on your new boat.  Did you buy the one in Punta Gorda?  When I picked up my boat in Mundelien, the jib with furler attached was in the cabin, with the furler on one side by the companionway and the sail just laid along the outer part of the inside a big U around the bow back to the other side of the companionway.  Seemed to work fine although I wouldn't leave it there forever.  it had a bit of a kink on the luff when I took it out but is straightened out after I raised the jib and it got some sun.  I used the same storage system when I took the boat up to Lake Geneva.  Works great.  Careful getting it in and out of the cabin as the furler can drag on the deck and cushions and scratch or tear them.  CDI on their web site owners manual for the furler cautions that it needs to be supported somehow if you have it lashed to the mast.  Good luck and keep us up to date on your journey. 

[skip1930]

Al ... Wait !
I'm confused. A 500 mile journey.  By road not water, right?

1~So your going to tow the boat down the road for 500 miles, right?

2~Every single 'thing' that can flap in the breeze comes off of the out side of the boat for the trip, right?

3~The head sail comes out of the furler *. That head sail unclips at the top-O-furler and at the tack [bottom] of the furler and the sail is pulled out of the furler's track, right?

4~The sheet stays with the sail and gets coiled up with the head sail, right?

4~This loose head sail is either rolled up or folded up and put into a sail bag along with the sheet for the trip, right?.

5~I keep the sails down below in the cabin during transporting, right?

Holy cow ... say it ain't so ... the mast came down and made ready for 500 mile transport WITHOUT taking the head sail off ? Didn't think that was possible.

OH wait. I checked. It's an Eclipse ... with one of those magic folding masts, right?

or

Let me assume that the mast is still up with the sail on the furler. Far easier to remove the head sail in this configuration.  No big deal ... undo the halyard and pull the head sail out of the furler's sail slot. Fold up the mast and make it ready to travel.

Here is a little ditty about making it ready for road travel. Any shrouds, furler/head stay, and back stays can be snuggled up against the mast and every couple of foot along the mast can be secured with QUALITY 3-M PVC black electric tape.

The tape sticks to itself, so go around the mast and wires a few times. Use good quality tape otherwise cheap PVC electric tape will leave black sticky glue on the aluminum mast/boom/gaff and on what ever is taped down.

Good Luck. skip.

* a furler is just two bearings with a sail between them. The top bearing is pulled up the mast with a halyard while the bottom bearing is secured on deck and spun around to roll up the sail on a furler or wire [aka head stay]

[Eagleye]

Hi Al,
Welcome and congrats on your Eclipse purchases.  We are eager to hear the details and see some pics when you get the chance.  Will you be taking her back to the Chicago area?
Anyway... much of the allure of the Eclipse is the ease of rigging.  I am a trailer sailor so that is important to me.    With that being said, I also always keep the roller furler/headsail attached to the mast when traveling.  This pic illustrates my trailering setup (minus the cat). 




I made a gutter type of extension out of 4" pvc drain pipe that attaches to the bow pulpit and the mast stub.  This allows for the entire length of the furler extrusion to be supported in a straight position.





When we purchased our Eclipse the PO had left the furler attached to the top of the mast but the rest drooped into the cockpit and along the cabin.  I don't know how long it was left that way but it left a kink in the extrusion that would not relax.  I had to eventually replace it.

When I detach the CDI roller from the bow I slip it into a nylon drawstring bag along with the furler line and the ends of the jib sheets as they wrap around the sail. Everything gets tucked into the gutter and strapped to the mast and gutter with nylon velcro straps.  That keeps everything snug and secure from flapping in the wind. 

I can understand the desire to stow the sail and furler in the cabin but it is a chore to detach and handle with 2 people and extremely difficult by yourself.  The pvc luff extrusion will handle large curves for a short periods but an accidental drop or kink could damage it.   

For the ride home, stowing it in the cabin does seem to be the easiest choice though, but I would remove it and lay it out straight when you reach your destination.

Best of Luck to You,
-Allen

[Bob23]

Allen:
  Does your feline rigging assistant stay on that board while trailering or does she go in the cabin? And here all along we thought you rigged the boat yourself.
   Gotta love the simplicity of the mastender rig.
Bob23

[EclipseGuy]

Hi Al,

When I traveled over the roads I left the jib sail installed on the furler and laid it on the very narrow weather deck area along the side of the coach roof.

The weather deck is narrow, so the sail on the furler fit quite nicely. It tucks down between the bow rail and the coach roof. I then bungeed one end of the sail/furler to the forward bow rail support, and the other end to the rear arch.

The sail on the furler didn't flap or have any issues while towing. The only thing to be aware of is that it will get dirty over time due to road spray, so it may have to be cleaned annually if you tow a lot.

Some people prefer to tie the furler and sail to the mast while towing, and that works too. For me it was most simple and secure just to lay it on the weather deck though.

I wouldn't recommend removing the sail from the furler each time since that is a lot of extra work that is not necessary. If you are worried about potential flapping of the sail while going down the road just carry a few extra awning bungees with you and put a few extra ones on the sail. I never had a problem though.

Sometimes we over analyze the perfect way to do things, when the simple way works just fine.

- John

[alsantini]

Thanks for all the help.  The Eclipse is now in the boat storage yard in Davis Illinois at Lake Summerset.  I plan on splashing her into Pistakee lake (a lake in the Chain of Lakes - Illinois), and bringing her to BayView Marina for the summer next week.  I know that I will have questions.... thanks in advance