A drifter (jib) for A suncat (and others boats) that launces from the cockpit

[FireDrill]

In a previous posting I highly recommended using a drifter, set flying ,  to enjoy light air sailing.  In this posting I provide details of the drifter modification including those which enables setting and dousing control from the cockpit.   In addition to posting in the SunCat sub-forum, this has also been posted here in Boat and Hardware Modifications because variations may  have wide application to other ComPacs (e.g. Horizon Cat, Picnic Cat etc.).
 
Capt_Nemo describes  a simple  38 square foot nylon drifter that makes sailing a SunCat in light air easy when the main sail alone results in very little speed. (see" SunCat w Jib" by Capt_Nemo and also search for Suncat Jib)   I followed most of Capt_Nemo's helpful dimensions (7' x 11'x 12.5'  foot-luff-leech),  suggestions and rigging details and it worked great! .  (see my post "A drifter for light air is highly recommended"  in SunCat  Sub-forum)     Sometimes during the hot summer days, the wind dies during the middle of the day so I wanted to be able to set and douse the drifter from the cockpit during a sail.  Below are some of the rigging details for those who may want to try making such a rig.   See pictures on page 2, 3 and 4:






       
The halyard is managed by a small Ronstan C-cleat screwed to a block on the port aft cabin top (see below), fed through the original fairlead to a bullet block on the port side of the mast stem and then up to the top .  The halyard's top cheek block is attached to the front of the mast,  a couple of inches below the forestay hound. Before launching,  I keep the halyard snap shackle attached to a short lanyard attached to the forward lazy jack eyestrap on the boom. (Note, a  cabin top mounting would prevent  tacking.)    This is switched at raising time to the head cringle.  The tack is managed by a downhaul through a block on the aft anchor roller bail. (see photo on p 4) This is secured after passing through the same fairlead to a 4 inch nylon cleat on the cabin top. The tack snap shackle is stored over the aft end of any of the cleats on the cabin top before  use.  I keep the sheets, rigged outside the shrouds, secured  through the midship cleat-mounted-cam-cleat arrangements (Nemo design) ,   but also attached by a snap-shackle at its center to an eye-strap on the forward end of the port cabin top slider rail. When raising the drifter,  I switch this snap shackle to the clew cringle.   I used the original fairlead for 3 lines which Capt_Nemo had suggested as possible. (It works well!)
   
I keep the sail stuffed into a small sail bag tied to the port handrail  so that the head, tack and clew  cringles are at the top,  To raise the sail I attach the three snap shackles to their respective cringles , raise the head fairly far up with the halyard, then set the downhaul, adjusting  the tension between them to set sail height.   Then I set the sheet to the appropriate side. Dousing it,  I release the halyard and grab the leach as it falls, stuffing it in the bag first.  Then the other lines are  released and the stuffing finished, finally releasing the shackles one by one .

The drifter itself  was made of  ¾ oz nylon from the top of a ripped spinnaker (which I already had)  cut down by Haarstick Sails  to Nemo's 38 sq ft drifter dimensions (foot=7',luff = 11',leech=12.5').  It cost me $180 for the sail-maker labor and about $150 for the hardware and new lines.  (I am guessing  there are available discarded spinnakers out there for very little $  and you only need about the top 1/3.   Or you can make one with rip stop nylon and a sewing machine or use the polytarp sail materials)

To avoid drilling holes in the fiberglass,  three new cleats are screwed to a teak block on the cabin top, See photos on p3.  I elected attaching the teak block using  long horizontal  wood screws (#14), one  through the downhaul cleat opening  and two others through the teak block into the cabin top wooden slide rails. All are angled slightly downward.   While not as strong as bolting through the cabin top directly with a backing plate ,  the loads on these cleats in light winds should be small, and largely horizontal,  so I believe this mounting is sufficiently strong.  As you can see, I was not able to do precise drilling with hand tools (using a 12 inch bit to get a good angle with the fat hand drill) ugh!   A rubber pad was cut and screwed to the base of the block to prevent scratching the cabin top , reject water pooling and provide some small compression against the screws. 

(It was suggested using the holes for the ComPac installed downhaul cleat to attach the block, adding the cleat to the top of the  block with longer bolts. However I could not see an easy, surefire and clean way to remove the existing bolts with my tools )

The various cleats are indicated by arrows on the page 3 photos. 

I used Ronstan Small C-cleats for the major lines (halyard and sheets)  and 4 inch nylon West Marine cleats for the other two on the teak block.   The halyard is led, from a small single swivel bullet  turning block (a Harken bullet block)  on the mast stub to a Ronstan series 29 cheek block below the forestay tang. The snap shackles are all small  Ronstan Keypin Locking Halyard Shackles.   The mainsail (boom) downhaul line is shifted from the original through-cabin-top cleat (now used for the anchor rode)  to the forward 4" cleat on the teak block. Since I usually sail with the boom above the long pin, this downhaul is not heavily used but can be switched back if needed.  I will Cetol the wood blocks; they are shown here unvarnished.

Thanks to Haarstick Sails – Rochester - for excellent workmanship in creating the actual sail from an old ripped spinnaker and to Capt_Nemo   for your design and all your help!!!