Wishbone Jib Boom Questions.

[Leigh]

Hey all,
Just researching the use of wishbone jib booms for self tacking headsails......I've found some diagrams but nothing shows how the wishbone is actually attached to the forestay....is it fixed at one height and only swivels? Or should it be adjustable for height at the stay?.....
Any thoughts and/or experience with self tacking head sails would be appreciated.
Thanks guys/girls....

[Ian McColgin]

I think the camber spar better. That's really a one piece rotating curved bit that lives in a sleave in the sail and pushes against the stay at one end and the clew at the other. But aside from being neater and, requiring a specially made jib more costly, it's about the same as a wishbone.

You can, by the way, make a perfectly good 1/2 wishbone. It will have a bit more flex than a double but will work fine. Don't worry about its tendency to flop down and lie against the sail as that does not hurt.

Laastly, you can make a straight spar sorta like a sprit. This creases the jib on one tack but so what?

You want the spar to come back and down normal to the stay-jib luff. Connections to ride on the stay are quite varied - almost any shackle will do.

Outhaul tension to the clew is handled by a simple bit of line. It needs to be loose enoubh to let the sail take a nice shape. Practice.

G'luck