barber haulers? low-tech sheet lead adjustment...

[Murray Campbell]

Almost time to get off the dock for the season, and this year i Must find a more permanent solution for adjusting sheet leads. I don't want to drill a million holes in the deck and i really can't afford tracks and cars anyway. Right now i have blocks at eyebolts, and I have been getting away with passing the sheet through a caribiner on a spectra line to a chain plate which i can tie at different lenghts....fiddly

My understanding of barber haulers is that they are more for lead adjustment athwartships but i wonder if traditionally rigged boats used something similar for fore and aft adjustment??? What would it look like? I think John Leather mentions sheet fairleads being siezed to the shrouds in "gaff rig"...not sure what that would look like either but i'm imagining a wood "lizard" siezed to the shroud..

[Mike Field]

.
Aileen Louisa originally had lizards fitted to the rising for the staysail sheets. Lizards are essentially fixtures, even though they're relocatable -- although you can move them around the boat to find the best position you can't do so "on the fly." In my case, any movement in position was limited to the 6" between adjacent frames. On a shroud there'd be none at all. (They can of course be adjusted for length; but again, I think this is something you'd do once after experiementation, and then leave.)

Further, I found that their inherent flexibility meant that the lead changed with every puff, which in turn meant that the air was full of flying bullseyes. And finally, the additional friction contributed by the bullseyes added materially to the sheeting loads.

All in all, I couldn't see they were worth the hassle and eventually they went.
.

[Thad]

On SEA HARMONY I have cleats, deck blocks and pad eyes that are part of other systems but function well for the purpose if I think I need to adjust the sheet lead.

[Hwyl]

Murray, is the problem that your sheet blocks are in the wrong place? Or do you like to change the positions for different wind strengths? I thought while typing that it's probably a roller fuler related problem.

If it's problem #1, you could try changing the lead of the jib, by putting a lanyard between the tack and the stem fitting.

#2 or # 3 I'd go with tracks. Can you imagine explaining the black eye "I was hit by a flailing barber hauler"

[ 03-01-2005, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: Hwyl ]

[paul oman]

Jib track adjustment (fore and aft) is so that there is uniform tension along he leech of the jib. Test by letting sheet out - jib should begin to luff evenly all along the leech.

the baber haul moves the sheet in or out from the centerline of the boat. This opens or closes the gap between the trimmed jib and the trimmed main. If pulled in too tight swirling air from inside this 'slot' will get the main luffing. If baber haul is too loose (slot set too open) boat will be slower and not point as high

paul oman
progressive epoxy polymers

[Murray Campbell]

it's a cutter rig....i have a small high cut yankee jib for the working sails, and some larger jibs for lighter air...hopefully a drifter too someday soon

the eye bolts aren't quite in the right spot for any of the sails, and they all have different leads

plus the jibs are rarely hauled to exactly the same height as i heave them up and then tension them from below with a jigger (purchase at tack)
perhaps i'll keep improvising, as thad seems to be doing...i'd just hoped for something a bit more formal

ah yes, excessive friction and black eyes, the price we pay for avoiding those high paying jobs...there are already blocks on the stays'l sheet purchases to dodge, but they don't seem to bother me much if i stay respectfully to windward

(besides, black eyes look wonderfully piratical if you don't mention their many embarrassing causes ;)

ps thanks paul for the trim tips

[ 03-01-2005, 06:40 PM: Message edited by: Murray Campbell ]