Stopping the jib sheets getting snagged on the shrouds

Foresail sheets snagging on the shrouds during a tack is a problem I have experienced on Little Grace and other boats. Although Little Grace never missed stays she sometimes lost some way.  As we have to short tack into the inevitable sea breeze between two islands for the first 3 NM when heading seaward from her home birth it can be frustrating.

Various ways of reducing the likelihood of sheets snagging are talked about on the web. All of them serviceable but some seem better suited to a more permanent roller furling setup than hanked on sails, which I prefer.

I hope this idea, using a medium sized soft shackle, will reduce the snag potential without having to do any whipping or splicing. It can be removed quickly for sail changes or it may be possible to keep it in place, time will tell.


Update: it worked! I can report an 80-90% improvement, based on tacking to windward, first without and then with the soft shackle, over 30 minute period.

No Spaghetti

I have been working on the boat but I seem to spend more time thinking and planning than doing the work itself. Nonetheless, Little Grace is moving forward, albeit slowly; hopefully all the planning will save time in the end.  

Little Grace is a small boat and yet she has wires strung everywhere. Most of these were run individually along the same routes by previous owners and the result was an untidy mess, most of which was out of sight but not out of mind.

This wiring is on view over the V birth. Some of it runs to the cabin lights, some to the bow navigation lights and the rest to the masthead VHF aerial and all round white light. It had been previously covered in black rather than white plastic, which had been daubed in different coloured paints during various incarnations of the forepeak. It is amazing how long it took to recover.

Wires following the same route were easy to bundle.

In several places individual wires hung like washing lines between their entry and exit points of various parts of the boat. These are now routed out of the way and will no longer serve their previous purpose of major irritants and snares for the unwary. This one, carrying the power for the transom navigation light, is under the cockpit/above the port quarter birth.

Udderly ridiculous

I was working on the boat at the weekend and an expedition into the aft locker reminded me of a fitting I added over a year ago.

At some time in Little Grace’s history someone added a water tank under the cockpit sole. One of the first changes I made was to remove it. It had been out of use for so long that I would not trust how healthy it would be whatever cleaning/purifying chemicals were used. I was also advised by other Alacrity owners via the forum that it was in a bad place for weight distribution. Furthermore, I prefer to use portable containers so I can move the weight fore, aft, port or starboard of the cabin to optimise trim for the point of sail.  On top of this it is more likely that I will be able to fill up with water quickly and more often if I can take the containers to a convent tap rather than coming alongside where there is a hose.

The fillercap; the photo was taken in the winter of 2010/2011

Here it is 04/03/2012

I removed the hose that used to run to the water tank but kept the fitting itself. The cap is left on when Little Grace is not in use but when aboard I remove the cap and run the fuel pipe from the tank in the starboard cockpit locker, through the hole and then behind the mainsheet horse to the engine. The only problem with this convenient and tidy arraignment is that any direct rain drops or pooping wave could go through the fitting and into the bilge. I knew I could reduce this risk if I could find a gasket but I did not find the right size and my attempts to make one were less than successful. However, in a pile of throw outs in our barn I found the rubber part of a milking machine’s suction pump, one of four that goes on the cow’s udder.

Here it is fitted as a gasket/gland over the end and inside the plastic tube the hose used to be attached to. The rubber fits snugly and minimises the risk of water ingress.