Drifter for CP19XL

[Salty19]

Well, i done did it...ordered up a nylon 1.5oz 170% free-flying drifter for Island Time from Dirk at National Sail.  Should be here in a week or so.
The luff will be a pre-stretched rope that will emulate a forestay.  With a free flying luff, we will not have to remove the 110 or 140 from the roller furled on days with very light air. 
The head will be attached on a third halyard run through a block off a bail near the top of the mast. The existing spinnaker hoop would not work, it's too far forward.  The tack will attach via a snap snackle to an eye run through the bowsprit, backed up by a chainplate bolted to the steel horizontal portion of the underside of the bowsprit.  The sail will be AFT of the furled headsail about 8" for easy talking-thus why the spinnaker loop location will not work.

The cut of the sail will be similar to a genoa, not like a spinnaker for better pointing upwind and easier handling.  I went ahead and bought a second set of blocks that will set roughly near the aft edge of the existing genoa tracks. No de-rigging of the furled headsail required (just loosen the sheets so they will lay on the deck for easy tacking).  Hope they work OK.

Should be great for light air and the frequent tacking I'm forced to do on a small lake!   Pictures to come but we'll have to wait 'till May to try it out. Yes, they will be colorful and should allow for more enjoyable night sailing due to frequent still air after dark, as well as those dog days with no wind.

For sailing single handed in a small lake, this seems a bit easier to deal with than a full on spinnaker.  Time will tell!

Does anyone else fly a drifter?  Shawn, you use one on your 23...do you like it??

[Billy]

I find my 150 gets caught up on the mast sometimes while tacking.

Always good to have a crew forward to walk the genny around the mast for a smooth tack!

[Shawn]

Salty,

Good luck with the drifter. Mine took so long to be delivered I ended up never having the right conditions to fly it yet. I have no doubt it would make a big difference on light wind days.

Shawn

[Salty19]

Billy--Yep, the sheets on my 140 sometimes get caught too.  Mostly on a cheek block I put on there for a single line jiffy reefing system.I found it was too hard to use, so I use the traditional jiffy reefing now.  So I'll remove the blocks. I never had to walk around the sheet or sail though.  I'm hopeful that the nylon sail will be a less effort to tack..thin material and not stiff.

Shawn-I recall reading your Kelly Hanson fiasco. Sorry to hear that!  I have confidence that National will pull through for me.  I don't really need it until May but wanted to get it taken care of early. 

[Tim Gardner]

Salty,

Did you get your drifter yet?

If you look at my avatar, you'll see my asym being used as a drifter.  It's a 3/4 oz asym from a Catalina 22.  I have flown it once wing on wing with my 150 Hank on Genny on a four-mile run.  Too much trouble for everyday, but I sure scared the scuppers off the Racers out there on the lake with all that canvas up.  I guess they never saw a full out racing Com-Pac before.  Was making hull speed way in only 8 knot winds.

Anyway, I attach temporary blocks to my aft cleats for the sheets, but the sail is so big for my boat I should probably rig stern sprits to control the sheet angle.   Hmmmm, winter project?

TG

[Salty19]

Sure did.  Looks like it should--but will have to wait a few months to try it out.

Hope that the drifter will be fairly easy to handle and tack compared to a spinnaker (the lake is fairly narrow).  We shall see.

What are you using for spin sheets?

[Billy]

Funny you mention a spinnaker Tim, i've been wanting a spin for a while now and low and behold.....yesterday a friend gave me a symmetrical from his old 18 footer. I have a feeling it might be too small but we'll just have to wait and see. I have a wisker pole I think I can convert into a spin pole and I am going to try and use the jib cars in the aft position for the sheets and forward for the guys. I'm not gonna go get all new lines for a guy and a sheet so I will try and use the lazy sheet as the working guy. I may get some blocks to attach to the aft cleats if I need to, and snatch blocks for the guy.

That is unless anyone has a better idea. Why couldn't he have givin me a Asym?

[Salty19]

 Hey, a free spinnaker is a free spinnaker!  I bet you can make it work. If not, maybe a local loft can cheaply recut/enlargen it into an asym or reacher ? 

[Tim Gardner]

Hey Salty!

The sail came with 3/8" sheets but they were too heavy for the lake I sail on. the wind isn't the same here as Tampa Bay, where the cat 22 was sailed - I went to 5/16 dia. sheets that don't dip too low drag the sail to the water when the wind falls off.

I do have to walk the sail through a tack sailing on the wind - tricky when single handing, and a pleasure when my Grandson is at the tiller.  He thinks "Cappy" floats across the water.

TG

[brackish]

Funny you mention a spinnaker Tim, i've been wanting a spin for a while now and low and behold.....yesterday a friend gave me a symmetrical from his old 18 footer. I have a feeling it might be too small but we'll just have to wait and see. I have a wisker pole I think I can convert into a spin pole and I am going to try and use the jib cars in the aft position for the sheets and forward for the guys. I'm not gonna go get all new lines for a guy and a sheet so I will try and use the lazy sheet as the working guy. I may get some blocks to attach to the aft cleats if I need to, and snatch blocks for the guy.

That is unless anyone has a better idea. Why couldn't he have givin me a Asym?

Go to your REI store (or online) and get a pair of Bluewater Titan Spectra climbing runners, 6" size, about $3.50 each.  Attach your blocks to the runners, push the runners through the eye on your cleat, then around each horn (assuming you have cleats with a center eye).  It is a great, quick way to attach a block to the cleat.  They are very light and strong and you can still use your cleat for other things if need be without taking the block off.

[Salty19]

Brackish--that's an excellent idea.  Thanks for sharing.

If my genny leads don't work, that's the way I'll go as well (and sell the second set of genny leads).

[capt_nemo]

Salty,

My Sun Cat performed poorly in light air due primarily to an intentionally underpowered Mainsail by design. Made a small Drifter from JoAnn Fabrics Rip Stop Orange Nylon which I also set "flying" in the tiny foretriangle of my Sun Cat.. The difference in performance that 38 sq ft of Nylon made in light to moderate air was dramatic to say the least. Went so far as to design and fabricate a Nylon Light air Mainsail, also set "flying" above the stowed Main on the boom, to further enhance light air performance. It was a challenge considering that it was a four sided gaff headed mainsail!  Again, dramatic difference, especially in very light air.

Have recently designed, fabricated, and installed a Bowsprit which extends 4 ft beyond the stem along with Bobstay, Whisker stays, additional shrouds port and starboard and a second quick release forestay which goes all the way to the Masthead. Now I have a platform on which to experiment and play with various headsails and an even larger Drifter.

Would like to direct your attention to an article in Issue 70, Jan-Feb 2010 of "Good Old Boat" Magazine entitled "The Case for the light air mainsail" by Ed Zacko.
I echo Ed's experience that "In light air, Nylon is King"!

A few photos follow to illustrate my messing about in boats.

capt_nemo

[Salty19]

Thanks, Captn...I've admired your boat for awhile now...very nicely done indeed!

[Salty19]

Tried out the drifter this season, twice.    The 170% size is huge but does keep the boat moving in light conditions. The wind even picked up to 8 or 9 and she just drove ahead with as much, or less heal then the 140%.  I'm impressed!!!  The drifter doesn't point quite as high, but did notice when we adjusted the luff that influenced pointing. So next time I'll play with it using a GPS.

I ended up installing a mast hound from Boatworks near the top of the mast, but low enough for furler swivel clearance, for the halyard. The jib halyard stays atop the furled headsail while the drifter has a flying luff, so only connected at the corners.  The halyard goes through a mast cheek block, mounted about boom height, then cleated off just below on the mast. So I pull and cleat off the halyard while standing in the companion way.

The tack is connected to a snap shackle pinned to chainplates which are bolted on either side of the bowsprit. Seems strong, I gave the sail a workout and no bending at all. This gives the right offset from the furler/headsail for better airflow.

Sheets go back to rear genoa tracks, but I need to put blocks off the aft cleats for better sheeting angle.  
Over all it's not too difficult to get setup..we're glad we now can still move and maintain control in light winds, and are glad it didn't get hairy at all when winds picked up!

Can hardly see snap shackle above anchor from the side.  Speaking of which, I changed from coated to uncoated chain (18 ft). Cleans up the deck a bit and stows cleanly.




I'll trim the mounting bolts for the chainplates at some point. This setup seems pretty strong, time will tell if things bend. The red line is for the luff feeder for the furler.



It sets OK but needs the foot should be tighter. Aft blocks should help.  It is a deck sweeper for sure. To the left you can see the furled up genoa.

[capt_nemo]

Salty19,

Way to go! Glad to see that you are enjoying your new Drifter. Isn't it nice to move reasonably well in light air when other sailors are under "bare poles" with iron genny in gear. Unless your cloth is quite light, there should be no damage to the sail up to around 10 Knots of air or so.

In light air, Nylon is King!

capt_nemo