Mizzen furling

Started by Julian Swindell, 02 Sep 2013, 12:10

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Julian Swindell

For those of us with mizzens. I don't know if you saw Sam Levang's recent posts, one of which showed a furling drum built round the base of his mizzen mast. I was intrigued because dowsing the mizzen as I come into the marina has always been a bit of a bug bear with me. As a first go, I simply tied a bit of rope to the bottom lacing eye of the mizzen sail, wound it round the mast a few times, unshipped the heel of the boom, and gave the rope a yank to see what happened. 5 seconds later the sail was tightly furled around the mast. It is brilliant. A drum would make it even better, as it would keep the rope tidy, but it is so simple and so effective. I used it all last weekend, in some strong winds, and I can now roll up the mizzen as easily as the jib when adjusting sail balance for downwind sailing. Highly recommended. I shall try to build a drum and fit a cleat for the line over the winter.
Julian Swindell
BayCruiser 20 Daisy Grace
http://jegsboat.wordpress.com/
Guillemot building blog
https://jegsguillemot.wordpress.com/

Colin Lawson

I can also confirm that this is a great idea - I tried it today.  My mizzen mast (a £25 2nd hand replacement for the one I broke) has a non shiny surface and so did not turn easily to start with but with a layer of Vaseline where the mast enters the hole in the deck it worked surprisingly well.  I don't think  I will bother with a drum as it works so well and it is easy enough to tuck the rope into the lacing between sail and mast. The rope does not need to be very long - I have tied a handhold into the end.

Colin

Colin 
BR20 'Spray' based Mylor, Falmouth

Tony

Hi, Colin, Julian....

I've been using this (below) on and off for a couple of years now. (Diag. shows how fitted to CBL "Four Sisters")  Sent Matt drawings of it (I think) in 2011.
Dead simple, works a treat, costs next to nothing.

Why isn't it standard equipment? 
Tony:   CBL#1 "Four Sisters"
www.sailing-in-circles.blogspot.com
http://compare-a-sail.blogspot.com/