Golant Gaffer sails

[helmuth]

Dear members,

during the last days I've been looking for a supplier of the sails for my Golant Gaffer. I've got a very interesting quote from a sailmaker from Thailand, but I'm not shure whether I'm able to answer one of his questions, concerning the luff of the foresails. He wrote as follows:

"if the furling unit doesn't have a foil and both headsails are free
flying from the unit we believe the makers of the unit will recommend
an anti torque rope cable in both cases, for use in the luffs. We
haven't quoted for these, but they will be much more than the sail
costs if that's the case?"

Jib and staysail of the GG are free flying, but do they need something more than a normal wire, like a thin shroud, sewn in the luff edge, to be hoisted and furled sufficiently, when using a Wykham Martin furling gear?

Is it realistic, that such a wire is as expensive as the whole sail?? Or what does he mean with an "anti torque rope cable"?

I would be very pleased, if anybody could help me!
Best regards
Helmuth

[Todd Bradshaw]

No wonder I've always had trouble with drum/swivel furlers....I never had an anti-torque rope cable....... :confused:

Seriously, I don't have a clue what he's talking about and as far as I know it isn't something common to this type of sail. Things that are common are sturdy wires in the sail's luffs. They need to be strong enough to act as the working headstay and in use and they should be doing so. The regular stay (if there even is one) becomes back-up and something to hold the mast up when the sail is removed. You want to be sure that the act of furling the sail tightens the lay of the luff wire, rather than un-winds it and it's not unusual to have a bit of a stubborn curl along the luff that's hard to get rid of in really light air. It's usually more of a cosmetic annoyance than a serious problem. Such a sail with a wire in the luff shouldn't cost any more than any other sail as it's not any more difficult or expensive to build.

I'd write back for clarification on the issue, because he seems to be talking about something different from what we're thinking about.

[ 03-12-2006, 06:49 PM: Message edited by: Todd Bradshaw ]

[John B]

Bamar has a gennaker furling system which is based around a 'rope' which doesn't twist. Perhaps its that sort of product.
I know that of the components for the system this rope is nearly the most expensive part.

[paladin]

if the sailmaker in Thailand is Rolly Tasker's loft all Mike will need is the make and model of your furling gear and the luff dimensions...

[Todd Bradshaw]

Assuming that we're talking about this boat -
http://www.classicmarine.co.uk/boatlists/images/golant.jpg

...there is no way that those headsails need anything more than a regular chunk of wire in their luffs. Probably 1/8", maybe as big as 5/32", but there is no reason on earth to stick a hunk of anything expensive or exotic in there. Guestimating off the hull length in the photo, I'd say you have somewhere around 54 sq. ft. of staysail area and about 50-51 sq. ft. of jib flying off the bowsprit. There are plenty of boats out there with standard wire jib luffs connected to drum & swivel furlers that are under much higher stress than these sails ever will be (the Melges 24, for example).

If they have access to a roll swager, there are even some nifty wire-end fittings made for such an occasion. The luff wire lives inside a luff sleeve on the sail and the wire-end fitting has an outer hole for the furler's attachment pin and an inner hole through which you can run a shackle, seizing or lashing which connects the fitting to a grommet or ring in the sail's tack or head patches. This allows you to have some adjustment in cloth tension along the luff by adjusting the lashing.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid202/p6358124be675f19a3ab77355735aff9b/efdb5c38.jpg

[Rapelapente]

I have a Wykham Martin furling gear (size4) for my 35 m²( about 350 feet²) heavy genoa, wihch is equiped with a luff wire. It works perfectly, even if I ve been told by a sail maker that I should change the wire for a synthetic rope...

[Mark Corke]

Helmuth

I know that I sent private reply to you but the only other thing that i could think that the sailm aker in Thailand is thinking of is a rope with a spectra core. That should work and would save a little weight but the 5/16th ss wire is fine on my Golant gaffer and every other GG that I have seen and been on has the same. A thinble should be spliced into each end to attach the Wykeham martin gear to but thats basically it.

[helmuth]

Thanks for all your replies! One GG-owner e-mailed, that he no longer uses a furling gear for the jib; it's attached to the forestay now, and as he wrote it's standing much better now. Perhaps I will do it like this.
All the best
Helmuth