J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Roach vs mast

I am in the process of ordering a new main and am leaning towards optimising my Phrf....I really enjoyed the thread about code6 - extended roach
I am strongly considering to extend to the max (24 cm) and take the 9 second penalty but suddenly thought of potential mast failure
I do not have a spreader bar kit on my mast presently
Am I flirting with disaster going for a full roach main?

Taras

Taras - I think anyone who has not had the spreader bar fix is flirting with disaster after seeing the condition of the rivet holes in the mast for the spreaders prior to the fix.

Well, my mast is down for the winter,...I will have a close look at it
Remember Bill, I sail on interior waters,...waves may hit 18" - 24" chop when the winds are 25Kts+
I remember discussions that the fix was really necessary for off-shore racing

I have not done my preader fix yet. It is on my "to do" list.

it really depends on the past life of each individual boat, when I did the fix in 2008 after 28 years of use there was zero sign of wear and tear on the rivets, one word of caution, the old brackets are not necessarily installed at exactly the same height, if that is the case the thru bar installation will have unequal vertical angles which is difficult to notice until the mast is back up and can be viewed from a distance

I checked with my sail maker (UK-Hasley) and they said that the extended roach will not change the "righting moment" of the boat,...thus the mast should not have any (much) extra load

Comments?

I heard a different story from a guy at Hood sails during a forum at West Marine who described the same type "full roach" mod to make a square top sail on a rig that wasn't designed for it. He said it worked great in light air, but brought down the rig the first time the wind was up.

If you want a real knowledgeable opinion, shoot Rod Johnstone an email and ask what he thinks.

Maybe if three of us Taras, Natural High and me, Conundrum all order the spreader bars, Rig Rite will go into production for us.

Bill, I took your advise and shot Rod an email
I received an answer within an hour,....impressed I am

Here is what he said:
Dear Taras,

"I would stick with the Regular class main and class 163% LP genoa. If I were to juice up the sail plan for better light air speed I would go with a bigger spinnaker on a longer pole to go faster downwind. and reaching. Maybe up to 13.5' on the spin pole and 24.3' on the max spin girth. Because the max spin luff length is based on .95*(I^2+SPL^2)^0.5, the spin luffs can also be correspondingly longer. The girths are based on 1.8*Pole length.
How much would that cost on your rating in your PHRF fleet? It might be worth it if it costs you less than 6 sec/mile on your PHRF rating."


Rod

Though when asked if was a merit or detriment to boat performance to have the extended roach he replied:

"A few inches of extra roachin main would definitely be faster in light air upwind and all the time downwind."


So I decided to pair down my roach size and increase it only 5 -6 inches as oppose to 10-12 inches

Thanks for the suggestion

Taras

As a one design guy I rarely get involved in discussions about modifications. Unlike most PHRF specs that use multiple measurement points, J/30 Class rules only specify a half width (5.12.2.3, aka mid girth). Numerous attempts have been made to increase roach at 3/4-7/8. You could add runners, a backstay flicker, or drop the halyard before every tack, but if not, don't be surprised if you have trouble getting the mainsail past the backstay. It will drive you crazy downwind, especially in light air.