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Bought a used drifter sail

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redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/10/2008 : 13:01:37

Whoo Hoo.. bought a new sail and I love it. Atlantic Sail Traders out of Sarahs soda. Could not resist, although sad, cause you think it came up becuase of Ovan, Ivan, Opel, Sal, marty or whatever storm just hit the gulf coast recently.

But anywhoo...

Luff - 29' 10"
Leech - 28' 5"
foot - 17' 5"
Manufact - LAM
cloth weight .85 oz
hank on

$225

I'm happy. I had a orig 1984 150 OEM genoa that was bagged out and you could not keep wind in it on a downhill run, so the light wind was perfect for this new drifter. I was told this was like a 150ish in size and it works pretty good, not to big.

Ray in Atlanta, Ga.
"Lee Key" '84 Catalina 25
Standard Rig / Fin Keel

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
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Response Posted - 11/10/2008 : 20:46:10

Nice find, Ray. Sail looks good. Dimensions are slightly larger than a SR 150. sp you may well have a 170. Only way to find out is to measure the LP. A 150's LP is 15.8.

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redeye
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Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 09:12:17

Cool... a search brought up a previous post and the rolly tasker webpage explaining the sail measurements. I brought the old 150 home to take some measurements with it. I'll have to take the time to review the LP.

This type of sail is new to me, we had roller furling on the cat 30 and I've never owned a spanker. It is a learning process but I can tell you that it is great to have thin material that stays filled with light air.

Lake sailing with 20 feet low we jibe a lot.

I'm guessing I'd best run the sheets aft of the winches.

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dmpilc
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Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 13:13:54

I wouldn't fly it in anything over 5 kts. until you are sure just what the safe wind range is.

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redeye
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Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 13:37:12

I'll bet I could get that sail wrapped up in the forestay in a heartbeat. We had it out in 5-10 with gusts up to 15 and I could tell it would be easy to get wrapped up if you were not careful, and I'm not gonna be surprised if I rip it up on the stays one day. Trying to keep the sheets in when I jibe. Thanks for the heads up on flying it in anything but light wind. I'd like to get a pole and start learning a bit of the rigging of it.

regards.ray

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 07:39:40

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by redeye
 I'll bet I could get that sail wrapped up in the forestay in a heartbeat. We had it out in 5-10 with gusts up to 15 and I could tell it would be easy to get wrapped up if you were not careful, and I'm not gonna be surprised if I rip it up on the stays one day. Trying to keep the sheets in when I jibe. Thanks for the heads up on flying it in anything but light wind. I'd like to get a pole and start learning a bit of the rigging of it.

regards.ray<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
You can rig that sail two ways. You can either tack it or gybe it inside the foretriangle, like a genoa, or you can tack it or gybe it forward of the headstay, by running extra-long sheets around the headstay before attaching them to the clew. (You might need to rig a different halliard to fly it forward of the headstay.)

That sail, with .85 oz. cloth, should be good for up to about 10-12 kts of wind, depending on the direction you're sailing. The more downwind your course, the less it loads up. The closer you reach with it, the higher the loads. Because it generates higher loads when reaching, it is also somewhat more difficult to control in gusts when reaching. That's another good reason to use it in lighter air until you become accustomed to it.

I sailed for years without a light air sail, like a drifter or cruising chute, because I didn't appreciate how often they're useful, not so much for racing as for cruising. There's a lot of light air during a typical sailing season, and a light air sail can help keep the boat moving enough to make sailing pleasant. Last year I got a cruising chute, and loved it. Like you, the first time I flew it, the words, "Whoo Hoo" came to mind!

There was an excellent article in an issue of Cruising World magazine last year on how to rig and fly the sail. I don't recall which issue, and I left my copy on my boat, which is on the hard for the winter, but someone else might remember it and send a photocopy of it to you.

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redeye
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Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 10:06:13

Very cool.. I ordered new extra long sheets with it although I doubt they are that long. I'll see if they will reach around the forestay. That would be sweet.

I normally like big fuzzy line for my sheets to make it easy on the hands, but this sail would not like the weight and I'm just now thinking that you only fly it in light wind, so 1/4 inch sheets should be fine.

The rope halyard I'm using is inside the forstay so I'm letting the rope run in front, so I'm sure I'll have to watch the chafing and cut the end ever so often.

Round the forstay would make jibing so much easier.

Lets see.. 25 foot boat + 15 X 2 = 80 feet of soft 1/4 line.

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Peregrine
Admiral

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Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 10:22:14

There was a brand new, never used, drifter on my boat when I bought it.
I have delighted in ghosting past the big boys when they are dead in the water. It makes the doldrums of July and August much more fun.
I tack it like a jib.
I bought cars for the rail and put small blocks on them so the sheets are run way aft of the winches.
Since I single hand and I tend to be taking it down as the wind picks up I tied a long line on the tack and run it through a block on the bow and all the way back to the cockpit. That way I can float it down and stuff it in the cabin and keep going under the genoa.

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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5902 Posts

Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 10:55:44

As I recall, some of the newer C25s have a genoa track that goes from stem to stern, but, on the older C25s, they end somewhere near the winches. On a cruising chute, the sheet leads should be farther aft than that.

The genoa tracks on my present boat, a C&C 35, are shorter, like the older C25s. I run my sheets all the way back to the aft cleats, instead of to the genoa cars. Form two small loops out of two 18" pieces of 1/4" line. (I use 3/8" line for my present boat.) Then attach one loop to each of the aft cleats. Then attach a snatch block to each of the loops. Then run your spin sheets through each block.

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aeckhart
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Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 12:38:32

OK, here's what I did. Rather than add a pair of spinnaker winches on my C25 I installed two 3"(?) angled cheek blocks where the winches would normally mount. My primaries than double for my 135 genny. I also use the cheek blocks to lead my cruising shute sheets back to the primary winches. This system has worked well for eleven years had has the added advantage of lower cost than winches ......or snatch blocks for that matter.

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redeye
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Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 13:22:21

I've got track all the way back, so the sheets feed OK to the winches.

Might try the cheek blocks, when I get a chance to look at it.

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dmpilc
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Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 13:31:21

If you try to gybe the sail in front of the forestay, be careful that the sheets do not get tangled up under the boat (keel) and gybe it back to the original side before taking it down. I've seen them end up wrapped around the forestay at the bottom. I have a fairly light weight headsail, the colorful one in the signature pic, probably a 150, and it tacks and gybes easily through the foretriangle. It's not a full hoist sail for my tall rig, but it does come back to blocks close to the winches like a true 150 I also have.

Edited by - dmpilc on 11/12/2008 13:38:09

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 14:33:55

Like Al, I also don't have special winches for the spinnaker or for the cruising chute. After the sheets pass through the snatch block on the aft cleat, I lead them forward and use the primary winches to hold and trim them. All the racers I've sailed with rig theirs the same way. Dedicated spinnaker winches might be useful for world class racers, but most sailors who have to pay for that stuff out of their own pockets don't use them.

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