How to travel with Eclipse jib - question

[alsantini]

Hello everyone.  Name is Al and I will be picking up a 2007 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  I have also posted this same question on the Eclipse side of the board.

[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]

[brackish]

You can take it off or leave it on, I've done both on my 23.  If it is a CDI or similar the most important thing is that you protect the luff extrusion (that composite piece that the luff of the sail and internal halyard is in) either with the sail left on or taken off.  It must be securely strapped to the mast and the overhang that includes the drum must be supported so that it will not bounce.  That luff extrusion is fine under tension but will bend twist or kink if stressed when it is not tensioned.

Best practice is take the sail down and leave a messenger line on the halyard on so you won't forget to put it on when you raise your mast.  Then strap the furler all along the mast not with bungees that have bounce put something like heavy Velcro straps or cinch straps.  I have a extension made of wood that clamps to the bow pulpit and supports the bottom end of the furler and the drum.

I've done the same thing leaving the sail on, however a 500 mile trip will expose it to a lot of bugs and grit, so take fifteen minutes, take it off, fold it and bag it.

Eclipse may be different but you have still have to protect that luff extrusion, if it kinks you won't be able to raise your sail.

[Vectordirector]

What brackish said about strapping with support.  I just laid mine in the cabin in a big U shape around the hull.  it bent without problem I believe the cdi is plastic and bends back without kinks if you don't leave it that way for too long.  Mine did.  The CDI has an internal halyard so you just hook the top into the mast and the furler into the bowsprit base and away you go.  the spare halyard is used for the mast raising system and the spinnaker.  If you are bringing the boat up here, I'll be glad to show you how to set up the rig. 

Vectordirector 

[crazycarl]

i agree with both brackish and vector.

i believe the furler is a CDI.  that is what we have and i leave it secured to the mast with a wood extension to keep it supported.
(it extends past the mast when horizontal)

i've seen eclipses at dealers and they keep the cdi furler inside the boat.

a gentle bend won't hurt it.

cc

[alsantini]

Thanks everyone.  No big deal.  I removed the sail, gently bent the furler so it fit in the cabin, removed the shrouds and taped up anything that could move.  The drive home was a bit white knuckle though since all those tornado's you saw on the news for Sunday and Monday occurred when I was driving North in Missouri and Iowa and East across Iowa.   A long trip but one that was required.  I spent some time in truck stops waiting out storms.  Thanks for all your help.  I can hardly wait to get the Eclipse floating - next week.

[Craig]

An alternative to "sticky" electrical tape etc would be to use "saran" tape wrap like the factory uses for shipping. Can be secured by duct tape. Easy to use, cheap, disposable, available at your local Staples and will not gunk up your stuff.