Dart 15 Forums

Nigel wrote:

My mast stays on either side of the mast are very loose and they look as though they could do with tightening. Once the sail is hoisted they do tighten up a bit. Any suggestions / Advice?

A silly question seeing as a Dart is meant to go fast but.... Is there a way of reefing the mainsail? At the moment, with no wind the boat isnt getting wet but I am thinking about toward the end of this month when the wind comes back!!! Probably not eh?

Furling Jib. How does the jib furl? I cant see how the spindle (the bit like a cotton reel) can take on the rope.

Thanks

Nigel

Dartful Codger 3 replied:

Hi Nigel
Point 1 - The taughtness of the 'side stays' or SHROUDS is determined entirely by the tension on the forestay (front wire), and is adjusted by varying the length of the short rope joining the bottom of the forestay to the 2 BRIDLE WIRES at a point just above the jib furling drum (when fitted). You always check this before going sailing and sometimes adjust according to the strength of the wind, but should generally be fairly tight (i.e. not sloppy).
When sailing, you will notice that the leeward shroud is always slack, due to the mast bending sideways with the pressure of the wind on the sail. The mast should generally be set up so that it points almost vertically, or 90 degrees to the TOP of the hulls, with perhaps a slight leaning to the back of the boat. You can also make adjustments in this way by moving the shroud wire locating pins up or down 1 hole.
Point 2 - There is no way you can reef a Dart mainsail since it is fully battened and has no boom, but to de-power you simply let off the traveller as well as the mainsheet and then simply pull them both back in as much as you feel able to , depending on the point of sailing you are on - BEATING / REACHING / RUNNING . Yes, a Dart 15 is a fast boat, as are any Catamarans, but you don't always have to sail them to their limits, although it's much more fun !
Point 3 - Furling the jib. Without going into too much detail, you unfurl the jib by pulling on the jib-sheets to unroll it, and conversely you furl it by pulling on the furling rope which is led to the helmsman through the small cam-cleat fixed on the left hand side of the front beam . Therefore the un-furling action should automatically wind the furling rope back into the drum through the adjacent metal guide plate.
Hope this helps, but feel free to ask further questions .

Nigel replied:

Thanks for your replies. I kind of now know what/where to go with points 1 and 2.

I am still a little stuck with point 3.

To try and explain as best I can..............

There is no furling rope on the drum at the moment. So when I go to rig the Dart I put the jib on and then what do I need to do next to furl the jib?

Sorry to be a bit dim but I just cant see it!!

Thanks

Nigel

Anonymous replied:

There should be a length of line tied to the furler, and if it isnt already all wrapped up around the drum, you need to do this before putting the jib on so when you go to pull the line once the jib is on, it turns the jib and furls it, and vice versa when you pull the jib out it spins the furler too and takes the line back in. basically the line needs to be wrapped around the drum when the jib is out and when the jib is furled the line will be pulled out of the furler. hope that helps and i'm not pointing out the obvious.

Anonymous replied:

There should be a length of line tied to the furler, and if it isnt already all wrapped up around the drum, you need to do this before putting the jib on so when you go to pull the line once the jib is on, it turns the jib and furls it, and vice versa when you pull the jib out it spins the furler too and takes the line back in. basically the line needs to be wrapped around the drum when the jib is out and when the jib is furled the line will be pulled out of the furler. hope that helps and i'm not pointing out the obvious.

George Stephen replied:

Nigel,

I thought my reply to your same question of 14/8 was about as explicit as you could get. If there are terms in that response that you don't understand, then you only have to ask. But you might find it easier to go along to your nearest sailing club which is recognised as having a fleet of D15s, and see exactly how it should be done. If you ring before you go, you may even be able to arrange to meet with an experienced D15er who can help out.

Of course, I assumed earlier that you had attached the furling drum so that the fairlead points backward toward the mast (the fairlead is the hole in the metal bracket which fits over the "axle end" of the drum, and which you should have fitted to the bridle wire connector using the shackle pin through the hole in both the furling drum axle and the bracket carrying the fairlead for the furling line.

You should also have noticed a small hole in the top flange of the furling drum, which is where you pass through the furling line. The bit sticking up through the hole should be short and have a stopper knot tied so that the end can't slip through the hole.

Otherwise, nothing to add to my response "jibs" of 14/8.

George

Mark replied:

Dartful Codger 3, regarding your point 1.
You mention a short rope on the bottom of the forestay. Mine doesn't have one as it's all connected up to the furling gear with shackles. This seems to be in agreement with the sketches in the rigging manual for boats with the furling gear.
My rigging is also slack. Would you recommend replacing the shackles with a length of rope?

George Stephen replied:

The D15 Rigging Manual shows the forestay connected to the bridle wires (via the furling drum if a post-1200 Sprint boat, or a modified earlier boat) entirely by shackles. The manual also shows the shrouds being connected to the hull shroud adjusters on the top hole. This results in the mast being raked forward, with little or no possibility of varying the mast rake (angle relative to the hulls) or the rig tension. The forward mast rake is less than ideal in some conditions (particularly when very windy).

The Class Association allows you (I trust) to use a rope strop, generally between the top shackle of the furling drum (or the top of the bridle wire connector if sailing without the jib) and the end of the forestay, or a shackle attached to it. (I use about 40-50cm of 5mm cable rope, but others sometimes use plaited and thinner line, eg 4mm - I wouldn't want to go too thin for fear of insufficient strength. I splice an eye in one end, to fit over a shackle pin and leave just the one end to lace between the shackles around 4 times). This allows you to adjust both the rig tension and the mast rake, just as on a D18.

The rig has to be loose to allow the mast to rotate. I reckon that the mast should twist through a right angle easily, and then require a lot of push before it will rotate marginally further. I tend not to vary this - others work to different rig tension, sometimes slacker and varying with conditions.

I also reckon to have the mast as near right angles to the hulls as possible. This develops most power from the sail, so that when it blows a bit you have to depower by setting the traveller further out on the beat and reach (and when you tack you pull in the traveller as the boats luffs up to continue to drive the boat into the tack, obviously letting the traveller back out as the boat takes up the new beat).

With my 4 year old sail and new shrouds at the start of the season, my shrouds are connected on the 3rd hole down from the top. Older shrouds may have stretched, and require the middle hole.

If you reckon to rake the mast back a bit for stronger wind conditions, this opens out the leach of the sail and lets the wind spill out. I think this makes it difficult to tack.

I also reckon that older sails that have lost their strength open out at the leach in stronger wind conditions, losing boatspeed. (I tend to sail with my original 11+ year old mainsail in most club events, so it's something I think I know about!). In lighter conditions the sail can keep its design shape quite well. So raking the mast forward a bit further in a blow may help as mainsheet tension then might keep the sail in better shape (there's a little extra distance to mast top, and the possibility of getting the mainsheet "block to block" on that extra distance may tension the leach enough to keep the shape. But bear in mind that this will hasten the day when the mainsail will become very uncompetitive in all conditions, as well as generating more power in trickier conditions.

George S

Mark replied:

George,
Thanks for the advice.