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 Post subject: Re: Roller Furler Jib
PostPosted: Sat May 15, 2010 4:08 am 
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Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:16 pm
Posts: 114
Location: Netherlands
S.Yoars,

Sorry to hear of your accident. That must have been an awful experience! I also use a furling jib on my AI, and I can imagine that with all these lines, something can get stuck and you end up being out of control. And with the winds you were in, everything happens terribly quick. So I think you're right: jibs on this boat are only for light winds, also because of the complexity and what can go wrong with that in high winds. I (as a furling jib, complication tolerant AI-sailor) will surely listen to your advise!

On the other hand, although you probably care about other things yet, don't disregard your jib-design altogether. In light winds, a jib is great on the AI, and you have created the most advanced version I've seen yet. So take your time to repair/recover, and then enjoy sailing your great jib (in light winds) again!

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 Post subject: Re: Roller Furler Jib
PostPosted: Sat May 15, 2010 5:03 am 
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Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:16 pm
Posts: 114
Location: Netherlands
timo wrote:
I think we've got a handle on the problem of the rope climbing the forestay pvc pipe. It seems that if we put a fair lead on the hatch cover a few inches in front of the mast step for the furling rope that the furling rope travels less and stays off the sail.

Hi Timo,

Such a fair lead works, at least on my roller furling jib. I have pics of that jib-setup and the lead here: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=10791&start=0.
I use this jib now on my AI, with the lead under the front-most bungie of the front hatch. This is good enough for my situation, I think it might work in yours as well.

Hope this helps.

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 Post subject: Re: Roller Furler Jib
PostPosted: Sun May 16, 2010 7:38 am 
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Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 7:34 pm
Posts: 112
Wow, what a great job on the oasis furling jib! Very creative design. And the rig looks good too. We are studying your pictures to see what good ideas you've come up with that we can incorporate.

You transferred the jib to an AI? Do you have any pictures of it on the AI?

Thanks very much for the link to your pictures!

Timo


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 Post subject: Re: Roller Furler Jib
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2010 2:52 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:16 pm
Posts: 114
Location: Netherlands
Thanks Timo for the compliments. I did transfer the jib to learn, so I can finally make a better version that fits the AI right. I'm still in the learning phase, enjoying playing and better light wind performance at the same time.

My jib design obviously misses the great advantages of S. Yoars' design (of keeping the main furlable and not stressing AI hardware, mast and the like). But other than that, it works and it is already complicated enough for me to handle. I will post some pics or stills if I find the time.

Good luck with your jib-job!

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 Post subject: Re: Roller Furler Jib
PostPosted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 3:59 pm 
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Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:11 am
Posts: 33
Location: Keyport, WA, USA
Very, very cool, you have made yourself a Schooner!


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 Post subject: Re: Roller Furler Jib
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 5:38 am 
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Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:21 am
Posts: 100
Location: Victor Harbor, South Australia
No doubt many of you have either long since given up on setting up a jib on an AI, or coppied Sterling or Tom Rays incredibly innovative ideas. I have put one on my AI, and in winds up to 15mph it does assist performance, but trying to sail on just the jib alone is a no-goer, the centre of pressure is too far forward and consequently 'steers' the rudder, in other words it has a stronger effect on steering direcetion than the rudder can overcome...it has a mind of its own.
However as a gentle to moderate wind tool, it is quite useful.
I made a simple phone request for a jib for my Adventure Island to Danny Allen, Binks Marine’s sail-maker at Somerton in South Australia ([email protected]). After tossing around a few ideas mainly from Tom Ray in Florida USA, Danny made up a beautiful jib to compliment the red and white mains’l of my Hobie Adventure Island which gave a total sail area of 7.8²m, ½ metre less than the larger Tandem Island.
Out on the water I found that the system I had suggested was quite practical if you are still in relatively calm conditions for raising and setting or lowering and retrieving the jib. Unfortunately, a life on the ocean waves is subject to quite unexpected change, and due to the sudden wind gusts we can experience in Darwin the task became awkward and difficult to manage if the wind suddenly turned on the fresh side of brisk. Twice, being caught between caution and ‘ah…she’ll be right mate’, a sudden strong wind was upon me by which time I had difficulty ‘luffing up’ to lower and haul in the jib in an efficient, sailor-like manner… my antics being more reminiscent of a one-armed paper hanger caught out at the top of a ladder about to hang some freshly wet glued wall-paper when somebody enters a room letting in a gust of wind to make things interesting!
It was time for an alternative plan. I made (rather than bought – since this was an experiment) a jib furler. Basically, I found a Royobi whipper snipper head from the dump…sorry, the recycling centre! The non-rotating part I attached to the bow eye-pad, the rotating part attached to the tack of the jib, with a swivel at the head near the top of the mast. Not being an innovative sort of bloke I amazed myself - the unit worked, well it was able to rotate freely without binding up – but hang on, if you’re handy with tools, (which I’m not) don’t race out to the workshop just yet…
I used the unit several times, but got my feet all tangled up in several metres of line from the furler and halyard floating around in the cockpit (I know - poor seamanship). Additionally after raising the jib the unfurling action became a frustratingly delicate and awkward production. This was apparently caused by the light 2mm luff line sewn into the jib not being able to hold anywhere near the stiffness of a wire fore-stay, nor was it designed to in the original plan. Consequently a kink formed in the furled jib due to too much pulling pressure applied in one spot when hauling on the jib sheets to unfurl it.
I remedied this by converting my jib furler to a continuous line type. This was achieved by wrapping a large size #109 rubber band around the free turning part of the furling spool, the idea being to give the continuous loop of 3mm line something to grip on. I then took two turns of the 3mm line around the spool so it would not slip and fed both ends out through an enlarged hole in the fixed cup of the furler…this line then runs back to the cockpit. Now, in a two handed action, pulling on the continuous line and following with the jib sheet, the operation smoothed out. I reluctantly tried it under real ‘at sea’ conditions, deliberately going out on a windy day (20kts) with waves washing across the fore-deck. After luffing up, I tried both actions and was relieved to find the operation of furling and unfurling difficult but manageable.
My next problem presented itself when the upper part of the jib was still not quite completely unfurled making it an inefficient ‘aerofoil’. Not intending to race (I have the only AI - and there are no TI's - in the whole Northern Territory of Australia)this was not a performance consideration, but onlookers in another boat would see what looked like the efforts of a lazy and/or incompetent sailor who didn’t bother to check the sail trim. This was due to twisting of the luff line in the jib despite the free moving head swivel.
To over come this I installed a luff spar (same fibre-glass material as used in the A I mains’l battens but a little thicker, about as thick as a pencil). The fibre-glass spar stiffens the luff thus allowing the jib to furl and unfurl evenly between the head swivel and the furling drum. The luff spar is drilled to secure it to the sail using ties at the tack and head which are tied into metal eyelets at those jib points. To prevent the possibility of splitting the spar at the tack which takes most of the load I added a five centimeter long 12mm aluminium tight fitting sleeve over the tack end of the spar as it had to be drilled to accommodate the tack-end shackle. Undo the ties and the luff spar can be removed from the jib for storing it in its bag. The luff spar also overcame the kinking problem when unfurling the jib, so it worked even better… Job done!
However…I then pondered the convenience of being able to reef the jib as well as furl it…I quickly learned that my furling system even with a stiff luff spar in the jib will not do both jobs.
The furling set-up needed to be ‘locked’, and the answer was as simple as fitting a cam cleat just ahead of the ‘rudder raising toggle’ to lock the continuous line to the furler drum. The jib can now be reefed as required and the jib sheets able to be used in the normal manner without the jib unfurling. If the jib is no longer required I can neatly furl and stow it down the port side. It is a great improvement to be able to reef the jib to whatever degree of sail area is required if wind variations on tacking headings dictate reefing as a more efficient course of action than having to completely furl for one tacking leg if the wind is too strong for the heading steered. Of course if conditions turn bad enough to require reefing of the main, the jib still has to be lowered, unclipped from the halyard and stowed first. With the system I now have rigged, even under stressful gusting conditions, the jib can be furled, lowered and stowed then the main reefed to take the strain off the mast all in a few minutes – no doubt faster for a younger bloke (I'm 72) with practice.
The first time I tried the finished set-up in what had been gentle conditions, I got caught out (again) by a sudden rough and windy change a few kilometres off shore with a wind blowing at 30kph and gusts to 46kph (anemometer measured) but was able to luff-up, furl the jib, lower it conveniently wrapped around its luff spar and stow it down the port side taking up no room at all…without the need to be folded and stowed in gusting conditions with waves breaking across the fore-deck and into the cockpit and so avoiding a repeat of the one-armed paper-hanger episode.

[quote] If it ain't broke, try modifying it anyway! quote]

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 Post subject: Re: Roller Furler Jib
PostPosted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 12:35 am 
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Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 12:23 am
Posts: 1
Message to Sterling from Texas. G'day, my name is also Sterling but I am from Sydney Australia, I bought a Papaya Adventure Island in November 2012. Coincidence..... I wonder. Never sailed before but is more fun than I have had since discovering girls when I was about 15...... The "Sterling" is followed by a Scots family name and I run around in a kilt for ballroom dancing - when I am not sailing as is the case most days!!!


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