Sail Preparation
Sail Preparation
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Last update, January 5, 2002 Needs to be updated Preparing the Sails for Installation With a Jackline Without a Jackline
The attachment method of the mainsail to the mast featured here is a jackline through sail hanks in the mast track. There are other methods but this is all we have tried and used. What is liked about this method is that the luff of the main is supported evenly from tack to head and assisted by a headboard hinge of some type. This will require some effort and time to complete for the first time. If you are a "Hammer Man," this will be a test. It may be the worst phase of the entire project.
The primary mission is to prepare the luff for both sails as we move toward rigging. The luff of the main will be notched, reinforced and a jackline installed with hanks. The hanks slide easily in the mast track and allow the sail to pivot freely as needed. The jibstay will be installed on the jib.
At the end of the jackline procedure is another method that has be popular for some time.
Before the luff is notched for the sail hanks, a reinforcement is folded over the luff. These are made from Dacron tape the size of a nickel. You will need 15 of them. Draw, cut and fold them in half.
Lay the mainsail out on a table and begin marking from the head. Place a very small mark 2-1/2" down from the head and then every 4-1/2" till the last mark near the tack. That last mark will be around 2" from the bottom of the luff. Check that the spacing is correct before you proceed. Peel the backing off a reinforcement and place it over a mark folding it around the leading edge of the luff. You can pick at the reinforcement with the razor knife to peel it then use it to slide under the luff. This tape is extremely sticky and difficult to remove. You do not have to be perfect on the marks and eyeball centering is good enough.
Cut a notch out of the reinforcement to fit the sail hank. About 3/8" wide and 1/8" deep should fit. When you do a couple of these you can eyeball it.
Install the Mainsail Jackline There is an old saying in Alaska, "Sometime you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you." It may be that you are about to meet the bear. "CA a 7-1/2' line of Spiderwire or Spectra to a 10" piece of rigging wire." Easily said!
Both pieces are propped up so they will remain attached as the CA flows on. About a 1/4" overlap is fine. Let it sit for 15 minutes to make sure it is cured for handling.
The wire is going to be the thread device around the grommets and down the luff seam to each of the reinforced cutouts. It will drag the jackline string with it. Move the wire through the headboard into the seam of the luff to the first reinforced cutout. Pass out through the cutout and slip on a sail hank, then pass the wire back into the luff to the next cutout. Let the wire flip around as you are reducing the loop and the hank will snap into place. Continue this process till you are out the bottom at the tack. Leave about 6" of line out the top and bottom. Cut the line off the wire and tape the line to the sail at both ends. Done with that.
Note: If you have more than one sail to do during this time, don't cut the line just for one sail; run it off the spool. This way you can thread more than one sail and not have to glue the blasted wire thing together again. It will take some organizing but well worth it.
Tie a long line to the clew. This will be camber adjusting line. Tie another to the tack, which will be for the downhaul. Hang up the main till needed.
Jib and Jibstay Thread a piece of rigging wire through the luff of the jib sail. Some sailmakers have a tightly creased luff seam. If you have trouble pushing the wire at some point in the process begin twisting the wire in little steps and you will get through. Crimp a loop in the wire at the head of the sail. Cut off the excess wire at the tack with about 6" remaining. The loop will connect in the standoff connector on the mast and the excess at the tack will be hard mounted on the boom.
Install a long piece of line at the clew grommet that will reach well past across the foot of the sail. This will be the adjustment for the camber. Tie 10" lines to the tack and head grommets. One will hold the sail down near the boom and the one at the head will be the uphaul.
Tape the excess rigging wire to the sail and hang it back up till needed.
Note: Most of the knot tying, particularly through the grommets on sails, is the Bowline knot with a single over hand knot finish. Spectra line and Spiderwire braided line, which has Spectra in it, will come loose in time despite the Bowline. Hence, the over hand knot. You can also lock either knot with CA glue, if you like.
Preparing the Luff without a Jackline Sail hanks are attached to the outer edge of the luff of the mainsail rather than within. This method does not require a jackline as the hank and the luff become integral parts. This method is often seen on the East Coast.
You should be able to find a 1/8" hard plastic tube at a local hobby shop that will fit in the luff track of the Goldspar mast. These will be prepared as sail hanks. The head and the tack will be attached to the mast in the same manner featured on the Headboard Hinge page.
Starting 5" from the bottom of the luff, mark locations every 5" up the luff toward the head. You may have to make a slight adjustment as you arrive at the headboard to not interfere with the hinge. Cut the tubing in 1/2" lengths for each mark.
Ask your sailmaker to supply you with a little sail material that you can make into hinges around the tubes to match your sails. You can also use the same material used at the tack of the sail for that location as well to make it look the same. Ask also for the double stick tape they use putting the panels together. Otherwise you can use same tape trophy houses use to affix plates on plaques. A white Dacron repair tape, like that above, will also work.
Cut strips of material for the hinge and with one side of the tape applied. These are 1/2" wide and about 1-3/8" long. Fold one in half and peel off the other side of the tape. Place the tube in the center of the fold. With the sail on a table, roll the luff over ( to expose the underside) and apply the sticky side of the hinge over the luff. Start the tape at the seam edge of the sail luff. Allow about 3/32" between the leading edge of the luff and the inside back of the tube and fold the tape onto the other side of the luff to the seam edge. Press this all for a good bond.
It would be good to test this process so that, with the tube in the center of a fold, the tape will end on both sides of the luff at the seam edge with the 3/32" clearance. Cut the hinge so that it will repeat this positioning when applied each time when bonded to the seam edge of the luff. Obviously, the tube clearance is important so the sail lays in a consistent line along the mast track.
Play with it. You will get the idea of procedure. We are told that this process will move swiftly when you get use to it.
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