"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
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"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
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"CaveLamb" wrote in message
m...

snipped Bruce's speculation


That foot looking loose has me puzzled.
Because it does. But when I tensioned it it looked worse!

We had no tension on outhaul or vang in that run.
It looks like the foot of the sail is trying to slide aft a bit.
There is no slug at the clew, and the tack fitting doesn't pull it
forward in line with the rest of the luff. It's only an inch or so.
But it might need to be retained there better. Just add a slug at
the bottom?

And I'm going to have to come up with a gate setup at the slot where
the slugs go into the mast. There is a sail stop there now, but it
holds
the stack up about 5 inches. I don't know if there are more slugs on
this
sail or what, but it sure stacks a lot taller when furled!


Don't add a slug at the bottom of the luff unless you know for sure that
the tack hook is in line vertically with the mast track slugs. The tack
of the mainsail may be placed so it is NOT in a vertical line with the
mast slugs. This may be due to the fact that the tack hardware sits a few
inches aft on the boom. Mine is built that way so the sail was especially
cut and the tack cringle is four inches aft of the vertical line formed
by the mast slugs.

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But, there SHOULD be a sliding slug at or near the clew. It should slide
easily and it should be lubed with silicone spray so it keeps sliding
easily. The outhaul should be used to keep it from sliding forward and to
flatten the sail as required. The track in the boom also needs to be kept
slippery. If you have slugs or even if you have a bolt-rope in lieu of
boom slugs. My mainsail has one sliding slug at the clew and a boltrope
the from clew to tack. This is a true shelf-foot. When the sail is
bellied out all the way the shelf assumes the perfect shape with no
wrinkles. When the outhaul is pulled tight the shelf assumes several
folds that make it appear to be no shelf at all. All told there is about
six inches difference of foot length between flat sail and full sail.


Oh, one more thing. The bolt rope, if any, on the foot of the mainsail
MUST be nylon so it can stretch adequately. Dacron halyard line is not
suitable because it doesn't stretch enough.



And another thing yet. Before you put the sail cover on make sure you relax
the outhaul all the way so the sail foot doesn't become permanently
stretched.