J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Jib Furler

Will stop by to see them next week ... if my sales rep is not out racing somewhere.

Let me correct my use time estimate in the post up above 420 total sailing hours but say modified with 1/3 Spin ... so that makes the sail life to complete delamination with free flowing treads 280 hours

So ok ... this is an update to an 11-19-09 note in this thread:
I replaced my 155 3DL and its horrendus dacron UV cover with a 155 Kevlar medium weight with a sock. North does a trade in 25% off deal every once and a while and they got back the 2 year old shredded 3DL.

There was no way I was going to do a dacon UV cover on anything but a dacron sail as they stretch differently and destroy whatever shape the trailing edge of the sail has as well as the bottom 20 or so inches.

So they sent me a sock ... which I am happy with since it covers the sail but doesn't effect the sail. mastman pulls it up on the spin halyard while foredeck guy holds zipper and guides it around. There is a lacing to really tighten it in ... but probably not bother with that unless we have a storm coming. So OK I got the longest zipper in the marina.

Also after 27 years with a Harken roller which was originally on 327 then to 505 ... I am about to put on the Harken IV Series 1. and a new forestay built by Hall. I hope to get another 25 years out of it ... the Harken ...not the sock ... if that sock lasts a year I'll be surprised.

By the way Harken recommends a low Clew ... and I have to admit the sail looks pretty good at that height with a furler. I had always thought of a raised clew to be able to see around/under better ... but with a 155 I don't think anything is to be gained visually.

One tip on the sock we use with the melges with our race sails - we "loose roll" the sail - basically unfurl it a bit just to the point where the sock can barely fit on. Two benefits:

1) less tension on the material, reducing the tendency to develop a "hook" in the luff

2) at least on ours, when to sock is full of sail (no slack material), it wont flap in the breeze.

We also "reverse roll" the sail every other week, although not so easy on a big J #1.

-dan

this is a follow up on one of my comments above that i would never put a dacron UV cover on a high tech sail again. The two fabrics just don't do well together ...

So the alternative is a sock. After a couple of months screwing around with this option I think we have the basics down so it doesn't seem like a hassle anymore.

I subject you guys to one more of my training videos: Zipping the Genny Sock.

Harken MKIV Unit 1 vs. Unit 0: Harken MKIV Unit 1 is mention a couple of type in the forum. But did did anyone went into into fitting a Unit 0 - just for the sake of less windage?

Hi David,

Rereading your detailed answer from a few years back.
Did you (need to) add the harken halyard deflector to prevent twists upstairs?
And if you did, did you have to change your OD #1 luff to work around it?

Cheers,