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PostPosted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:20 pm 
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Location: Netherlands
As pointed out by others (stringy, kepnutz, Tracker and others) the tandem models could use some more sail (than the standard hobie sail) in less strong winds. Regular forum visitors probably know stringy's great twin sail solution, Trackers handsome jib, Kepnutz windpaddle idea etc. I have tried to address the same question as these inventive guys. Here I want to share my attempt to handle it.

Like tracker I stayed my mast and made a jib (last winter that was). I wanted the jib (relatively) big and furlable as I like to be able to sail in light winds and to reef it easily to prevent damage when wind is getting stronger (I do not totally trust the strength of the mast and the mast step; the clearly aren't designed for holding a jib...).

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After some experimenting this summer, I can say I am quite pleased with the results :) . The sailing performance definately improves quit a bit; my oasis really sails now without pedaling, even in less strong winds. Upwind performance continues to be an issue however. (Without a daggerboard, that isn't so surprising and it can be dealt with easilly by calmly pedaling the turbo's).

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Ofcourse there are also downsides. If you're afraid of lines and sheets in your cockpit, don't even think of adding a jib! Rigging times also increase; and it gets a bit complicated. I color coded sheets, and that helps an important little bit (no more trying to release the wrong sheet during a gust...)
With a jib, you have much more to do while sailing (which I like); in gusty winds, having only two hands is not quite enough (which adds to the excitement)...

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Although this jib almost doubles the sail area, it is only usable when the wind is below 20/25 km p/h. So it doesn't turn the oasis in a high performance sailboat. But in the conditions it likes, it easily sails at 8km p/h without any pedaling. It's great to leave the mirage drive for what it is, lie on the wheather side of the boat (to keep the side kicks out of the water and look at the trim of the sail) and enjoy! This is fun! I do love my little yacht, euh kayak!

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skua


Last edited by skua on Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:35 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:50 pm
Posts: 494
Location: sacramento california
Hey Scooby
Thats one very fine looking Jib and Rig you built there. 8)
I like the furling and stays as well and would love to see how you put that all together.
We could have used your jib here today as the wind was really a bit too light and spotty for my liking .

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The wind did pick up some along this stretch here when my Turbo fin mast set screw came loose forcing a quick pit stop. Once we got that fixed the wind did not pick back up until we were back to the launch zone and had the yak back up on the rack :x

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I noticed a few holes along the foot of your jib is that a reef point for stronger wind conditions ?

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Have fun out there :wink:
Kepnutz

PS.



Question: Do you know why you should never drink red wine with fish..?

Answer: Because the fish will just get rude and belligerent !


Last edited by kepnutz on Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:04 am 
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Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:25 pm
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Location: Central Coast NSW Australia
G'Day Skua,
Great work on that jib, supported by excellent pics! Thanks for posting. 8)
Your 'boom' looks interesting. Any details??
You have that Oasis sitting nicely in the water when solo. What are you using for ballast?


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:54 pm 
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Location: Netherlands
Hi Kepnutz and Stringy (and others),

Thanks for your kind replies. I always enjoyed reading the contributions of the both of you! To be honest: I'm not a skilled craftsman, so all my mods are low tech. The positive: most people will be able to make them!

Soyjer mentioned once on this forum he made a jib of shower curtain and ductape, so when I read that I thought: that I should be able to do as well. So Kepnutz: the holes in the foot of the jib are meant to hang the curtain!

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The fact that I wanted it to be a furling jib made the "jib job" a bit more complicated. But the solution I chose is low tech. I sticked/adhered the jib to a 5/8 inch pvc tube. Through the tube I run my forestay (this rolls very easy). The tube/jib combination simply leans on a few rings supported by a knot in the forestay.

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Since I normally have to raise and lower my sailing rig on the water (for I paddle/pedal to the lake where I sail under bridges etc.), a long relatively stiff pvc tube wouldn't be very practical. So I used a stiff tube for the lower two thirds, and a flexible for the upper third and ductaped it together. The flexible part enables me to easily connect the halyard to the top of the jib (forestay).

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I wanted the halyard to be a loop, to prevent having even more lines in my cockpit. To the loop I connected a short line with a bowline knot that fits on the cleat that holds the main sail down.

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Because the length of this "halyard system" is adjusted right, I've no loose lines from that.
Thightening the forestay is done by tightening both side stays. Therefore I use "thightening band" (don't now the english name, see the pic) on which I connect the stays with karabiners.

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About the reef "system" again: I made a small hole in the pvc tube to connect the reef line, which runs through a shackle (that is connected to the front cam bolt knob to adjust its height) and then runs trough a cleat. It works great: the jib can be reefed to any size very quickly. In fact, it works so smooth that I like to reef a little with each tack (less noisy and sheets don't get stuck).

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The shape of the jib is far from perfect though (it was hard to stick it straight to the bent flexible part of the tube). And it will not last forever (but it lives for 8 months already), for it is completely ductaped!

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Because the curtain material felt week, I thought that it would be smart to fold the curtain so that it is double, but that was a mistake. I tried to furl a balloon :oops:! I had to make an opening to be able to release the air caught within the jib! Luckily that helped, you hardly see it, so it no longer bothers me really.

Stingy, the boom is also pvc tube. A 3/4" with a 5/8" in it and a bamboo in the 5/8" tube to stiffen it a little(learned the bamboo trick on these forums!). It is very light, when it hits your head, you don't go overboard :). It really helps downwind performance, just like the boombattens. It is connected to the sail with a karabiner. I fold it right up along the mast if I want to furl the sail (so it is not a loose thing you can forget or lose). Probably a boombatten is even better for sailing performance, but it works so I guess I stick to it. (If I have the time I will make photo's and post it to the boombatten thread.)
About the weights to balance the oasis when soloing:

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I made 3 weights (each between 6,5 and 8 kg). It is mainly sand in two stronger trash bags, rolled in a carpet tile (I guess 30x30cm), strongly ductaped together. Makes for a heavy black cylinder of 30cm long, of which there fit three in the front hatch :) (If I have the time I will make photo's and post it to the oasis balance thread.) When there is chop/waves, I add a dry bag filled with water to minimize hull slap (after your idea!)

I hope the above helps to explain the rig a little.

I was able to go out today :D . Good conditions for my jib: mostly bft 2 to 3, not too gusty: so I could cleat my sails end experiment a little:

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I love this yakyacht!

Besides: I get that advertisement message below my photo's. What am I doing wrong?

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skua


Last edited by skua on Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:16 pm 
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Location: sacramento california
Hi Ya Scooby
A Very innovative jib design and quite clever thanks again for posting with such good photos too.
The forward ballast looks just perfect as well neither too much nor to little weight up front. Did you calculate a percentage of your body weight in ballast or did you just pack in as much as would fit in the forward hatch and hope for the best etc?
Have Fun
Kepnutz

My Yacht at the gas dock :lol:
Image


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:40 am 
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Thanks again, Kepnutz.

Inspired by the posts of Roadrunner and Stringy on soloing the oasis I did just pack in as much as would fit in the hatch and hoped for the best! That is exactly how it went.

Your pic clearly shows that your neat yacht is by far the most fun of everything lying there!

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:02 am 
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Location: Central Coast NSW Australia
G'Day Skua,
Low tech maybe (nothing wrong with that) but you are highly skilled in innovation and inventiveness! 8)
Looks like you're having just as much fun as I have had in my Oasis and that is great to see. :)
PS: Unticking the "include details" box should remove the adverts.


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:38 pm 
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Great to hear that from one of the biggest masters of innovation of these forums! As you most probably know, it is fun to try to find solutions for getting even more out of this versatile kayak.

About imageshack: unticking "include details" helps, so I could remove the messages. Thanks.

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 10:32 pm 
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skua,
Great work on your jib and rigging, along with excellent pictures and descriptions...thanks for sharing! Looks like I'll be doing some mods again next summer :) . I especially have to try sailing solo with the front mirage drives installed and locked in the downward position using a pin (as posted elsewhere), as that appears to improve the upwind sailing angle that annoyed me a little when using the jib. If that configuration is hard to steer, raising the back fins when necessary should do the trick.

-tracker


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 3:11 am 
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What Tracker said!!!! 8)
And the same goes for you Tracker!
It's great to see the innovations continuing. :)


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:07 am 
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A few more pix of my "jib-rigged" oasis in solo mode.

With jib furled:

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With jib partly furled:

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Jib fully unfurled:

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Image

Image

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PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:31 pm 
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Thanks for posting those great pics Skua! 8)


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:43 am 
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Skua,
I know you originally posted this thread over a year and a half ago, but if you're still out there I wanted to tell you that your rig is inspiring, nice work. I just got an i14T and am working on a furling jib now. I'm going to go with the shower curtain, duct tape, PVC option. Did you just run a length of duct tape along the leading edge of the jib to attach it to the PVC? How has that held up? Using the adjustable belt for the port and starboard stay tension was a great idea, I wouldn’t have thought of that. I’m also working on a dagger board to improve upwind performance. I’ve still got a few hurdles to overcome, but I think, thanks to you, that I’ll be well on my way shortly.
All the best,
69cpu


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PostPosted: Sat May 02, 2009 3:46 pm 
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Hi 69cpu,

Thanks for your positive comments. I made my jib almost a year and a half ago (posted it less then a year ago though), but everything still works fine. I probably have been lucky in my choice of the ductape. :)

When I made the jib, I thought it was a good idea to fold it to be double and stronger (the shower curtain material was quite weak). As mentioned earlier, this wasn't so smart, and I don't recommend to fold your jib. But since I did it this way, I needed something like double sided adhesive tape. I folded many small pieces of duc tape so that they were adhering both sides and placed them on the PVC pipe and folded the curtain around it. Low tech again, but it still holds well!
If I were you, I would run a length of duct tape along the leading edge of the jib to attach it, then roll the pipe one turn and tape that again. That should do.

If you have pics of your i14 with jib, I would love to see them. Good luck with the completion of your rig and keep us posted!

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PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 6:12 am 
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Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:50 pm
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Location: sacramento california
Hi Ya Scooby !! :wink:
Hope all is well on your side of the pond !
Have you been out on your oasis lately? Hows your jib still doing ?
Post up some some new photos of your yakyacht the next time you get a chance Id love to see some more it.
Thank You
Kepnutz

P.S. "thightening band" = tie down strap"


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