assymetric spi

[jean-michel]

Bonjour à tous,
I plan to fit an asymetric spinaker on my Tiki 28.
Talks with sailmakers and boat equipment specialists concurr to this
1- To be efficient, like on sports monohulls and cats, the alloy pole to which the spi front end is attached must be able to be angled. Otherwise as you get more and more downwind, the sail will deflate near the sheet attachment.
2- The problem is that you need an articulation on the front beam in which the pole will slide to be able to rotate AND you need something in the rear of the trampoline to move the other extremity so that it WILL rotate. Pfff!
3- A theroretically easy solution is to have a rail with a sliding slug pretty much like the main sail sheet rail on many cats.
BUT wait wait... If for instance you put a straight rail, any time you will slide your chariot in the rail, Yes your pole will angle upwindward, BUT the pole will be move back wards too and the spi with it.
4- NOW there might be a solution. You could perhaps have a curved rail with a fixed radius so that anytime you move the chariot sideways, it will not take back the pole.
5- AHAH (like Marvin Gardner would have said) but suddendly you realise that the vertical part of the cat that you had planned to use to fix the rail is straight and not curved.
6- One solution might be to use one of those HArken rail curving systems that they have on their catalogue, but it is mighty expensive.
If anyone of you have understood my grumbling jumbling of a post, AND have another solution, DO not hesitate to share it with me and others

[Budget Boater]

No, I did not understand it. It sounds like you are making a simple process too complicated.

1. It is a cruising boat, not a racing boat.
2. Asymetrical Spinnaker = Cruising Spinnaker
3. I attached a 10' long 1.5" diameter, schedule 40 aluminum pole at about a 6 degree angle to the forward face of my forward beam on my Tiki 30. It could not rotate, articulate, or change position in any way. It worked just fine with my cruising spinnaker.
4. I had snatch blocks located at fixed positions outboard and aft of each hull's cabin top for the sheets. Again, worked just fine.

I hope that solves your problem.

[boatsmith]

We don't use a pole at all.We tack the spinnaker to a loop on a line between the the stems and pull the tack of the spinnaker to the windward stem. The only complaint we have is the chute that we got from Jekyls is to small. We. will add several more feet to the bottom of this sail wen it returns from the Bahamas. Ive not sailed on a sportboat where the sprit did anything but extend and retract. Like Shane says, keep it simple. David www.boatsmithfl.com

[Ann and Neville Clement]

Hi,
Peace has a rope that runs from the forward cockpit just behind our windlass off to port bow through a block, then across to the end of the sprit where it has a knot to a shackle. It is a red line. Then another rope, a yellow one, joins at the same shackle and goes to a block on the starboard bow, and then back to the place behind the windlass. We have two jam cleats in that location. Pulll the red line to move the tack to port. Pull the yellow line to move the tack to staboard. Two jam cleats work great to keep it all under control.

When we want to use our assymetrical spinnaker, we just hank it on to the shackle and run the sheets outside everything back to the aft cockpit. Sometimes we have it with the tack in the middle, sometimes way over to port or way over to starboard. Anyplace that works is good! We can let it fly high or low depending on how tight the ropes are. WE can easily gybe it and move the tack to the other side. Often we use only that sail. Peace goes good that way. No pole. Very peaceful and day dreamy.

The blocks are simply on a strop that is twisted around the bows. Somebody may have a photo of this to show. It is cheap and it does not cause anybody to drill holes in the boat to install it.

Ann and Nev

[jean-michel]

Anne and Nev and Boatsmith, thanks for the contribution.
Would you have pictures of your systems to share?
I plan to go back to the boat mid august to take measurements to roder a spi. Yes Anne and Nev like you I have a Jeckell's chute and it is both small and very cumbersome to use. It has two sheets and two barber-haulers, so you need two mates on board just for taking care of the chute!
Jean-mIchel

Ann and Neville Clement said:

Hi,
Peace has a rope that runs from the forward cockpit just behind our windlass off to port bow through a block, then across to the end of the sprit where it has a knot to a shackle. It is a red line. Then another rope, a yellow one, joins at the same shackle and goes to a block on the starboard bow, and then back to the place behind the windlass. We have two jam cleats in that location. Pulll the red line to move the tack to port. Pull the yellow line to move the tack to staboard. Two jam cleats work great to keep it all under control.

When we want to use our assymetrical spinnaker, we just hank it on to the shackle and run the sheets outside everything back to the aft cockpit. Sometimes we have it with the tack in the middle, sometimes way over to port or way over to starboard. Anyplace that works is good! We can let it fly high or low depending on how tight the ropes are. WE can easily gybe it and move the tack to the other side. Often we use only that sail. Peace goes good that way. No pole. Very peaceful and day dreamy.

The blocks are simply on a strop that is twisted around the bows. Somebody may have a photo of this to show. It is cheap and it does not cause anybody to drill holes in the boat to install it.

Ann and Nev

[Ann and Neville Clement]

Hi,
The Jeckells assemetrical chute on Peace is huge, it has jib sheets but no barber haulers and none are needed. I can gybe it myself in the usual way of heading down wind and letting the sail come across forward of the boat's forestay and then hauling the sheet on the other side. If adjustment is then needed for where the tack of the sail is wanted, then we move that tack using the red and yellow lines we have tied the sail's tack to and these lines lead to the bows of the boat where there are blocks fastened with srops to the bows. From the blocks there at the bows, the red and yellow lines lead diagonally aft to the back of the forward mast case just behind our windlass where we have some jam cleats. I am an old lady and I can do it easily. While we did not like our main and foresails from Jeckells, we do adore our spinnaker. We have a sock on that sail so we just pull a line and the sock contains the sail looking like a great snake hanging upside down. It then goes into a sail bag for the next time. It is a light air sail.
Ann and Nev

[Cute Helles]

Dear Ann and Nev,

 

I am in the process of buying a Tiki 46, and since it currently has no light wind sail at all, I would like to order a gennacker or assymetrical spinacker (I believe this is the same) from Rolly Tasker. However, he has never done a gennacker for Tiki 46, and wants the dimensions from me for a quote. Can you or anybody else tell me, what size a genacker should have? I intent to run it from the bow sprit for about 60° to 120° apparent wind, and for more downwind run it from the windward bow.

 

Kind regards

 

Helles

Kind regards, Helles

[Ann and Neville Clement]

I have no idea of how big our assymetrical spinaker is. Maybe you can borrow one and see what size suits your sailing style best. We found Peace to be so very different from my old monohull, it took us a few years before we felt ready to use one, but now whenever we are downwinding we use it a lot. Downwinding in strong wind like a full gale, we just use that tiny jib and roller reef as needed. In moderate conditons we use the foresail, and when it gets light, we ue the spinnaker (geniker, drifter, whatever you call it). We don't have a camera but maybe somebody has pics of our spinnaker in use.
Send pics of the boat you are buying when you complete the purchase. Congratulations! Ann and Nev