i own a 2003 macgergor x , the boat came with doyle sails, a main, a working jib and a genoa.
i spent this summer getting used to the feel of my first sail boat in 20 plus years,
the question i have is the previous owner had the working jib installed on a cdi furrler, i want to install the genoa on the same cdi fuller, what are the chances the sail will fit the length of the cdi forestay without having to get the eyelet hole altered? will i have to purchase a new tape for the leading edge of the genoa or can i use the one on the working jib?
next what would you recomment i install on the trailing edge for uv protection.
p.s. all 3 sails came with the boat new the genoa has never been out of the sail bag.
Been pondering the same issue over the summer. I already had a furling jib, but I also wanted to try out a genoa and a spinnaker (which I had acquired courtesy of a fellow on this site--thank you again, Alex)I have installed an additional block on the top of the mast for a spinnaker and it worked pretty well, for the few times I used it. The question, as in your case, was what to do with the existent roller furler jib that is already in place?
Option 1. Replace the jib the genoa. Use the genoa as a furling genoa. I decided against it, since even if you furl a jenny to match the size of a jib, the performance drops. It did not seem to me that the optimal wind conditions that would make the use of a jenny much more advantageous than the use of a jib came my way all that often, so replacing the jib with a jenny would have given me an edge in, say, two times out of ten, but a clear disadvantage in 8 times out of ten.
Option 2: add a forestay behind to (or ahead of )the furler and hank the jenny on, when need be. That sounded like a good option, since the forestay would provide additional support to the mast. But then again, the foirestay with interfere with full deployment of the jib (or the jib will interfere with full deployment of the jenny) You could, of course, had the additional forestay attached to the mast when not in use, and use it only when needed, but that would interfere with my innate laziness
Option three: add the forestay side by side: make a T shaped adjuster, so that the jib would go to the right, and the jenny to the left. That sounded like a good idea, and I am still toying with it. The sails would be offset a little, but I don't expect any major problems because of that. In such a configuration, I could add a second furler for the jenny having the best of both worlds.
Option four. When deploying the jenny on my lawn, I realized itis a furling jenny. I would have had to punch holes in it and that didn't seem like such a good idea. So I simply attached it to the spinnaker halyard that was already in place and hoisted it without a forestay. I attached the bottom to the second hole of the "ear," , right behind the furling jib and it worked pretty well. It was still a hassle when changing direction, because the foot of the sail was too long and had to be manually taken on the opposite side lest it interfere with the spreaders, but I used the jenny only when the wind was relatively low, and constant.
I think I would keep this configuration (at least for the time being) but I am still curious how others have solved this little problem
as a real newbie novice that knows not a lot,i to have pondered this question
unfortunately i dontknow enough to formulate a decent responce to your question,but,can you explain to me the advanatges and disadvantages of the JIB/Genny question
i was thinking of putting the genny on the furler and adding a forstay perhaps using a bowsprit to place it further out from the genny and having a hank on jib/storm sail sett up
Again, I'm pretty much in the same boat myself. Here's what I gleaned from previous threads.
A genny is not that useful in high winds--you need to furl it or reef it anyways. A genny beats the jib when it comes up to moderate winds (again, that's pretty subjective, but my level of comfort would peg them to less than 12 kts.) If you go downwind, you will gain some speed (in my experience, up to a knot) because the surface of the sail is bigger--in which case, I figured the spinnaker would work even better--and it does (the tradeoff here, of course, would be control). If you go close hauled, the jenny will help you sail more into the wind by something like 5 degrees, and also gain you some speed (half a knot, I'd say?) So this is the only case when the genny truly gives you an edge--and the edge is pretty slim. You could furl a genny to the size of a jib, of course, but the foot of the furled sail would be somewhat higher than that of a fully deployed jib (or the top of the sail would go lower) which affects the performance. Besides, the fully deployed genoa goes well back of the spreaders and that is an inconvenience, too. So instead of a rolled genny, a fully deployed jib would work better.
So it's just a matter of balancing the plusses and the minuses (like everything else is) Some people are really comfortable with the genoa and use it as such, furling it when need be. I have come to know what my jib can do so well that I gladly ignore the gain in speed the genny will offer (which is not that large anyway) for the sake of comfort and convenience. Others are really familiar with the genoa and are certainly able to use it to its full advantage
If you go close hauled, the jenny will help you sail more into the wind by something like 5 degrees, and also gain you some speed (half a knot, I'd say?) So this is the only case when the genny truly gives you an edge--and the edge is pretty slim
I don't think that is what you meant.
The jib will point higher, create less heel, and therefore more speed on a beat.
See? That's exactly what I mean. I do not have much experience with the genoa and couldn't make a side by side comparison. It SEEMED to me that in slight winds I could point closer to the wind with the genny and gain some speed. It might be just an illusion.
If you want to point higher using your Genny, just run the sheets between the upper and lower shrouds on each side instead of outside them. If you look in your manual, it will tell you this also.
The choice of jib or genny kind of depends on the area in which you are sailing. Here in Puget Sound and the islands, most folks with 26X boats run exclusively with the genny due to predominantly light winds. On the other hand, if you are sailing on San Francisco Bay, the better choice might be the jib.
I would suggest putting the genny on your furler. Is your genny already set up for the furler? Take it out of the bag and check. Maybe all you need to do is swap sails and transfer the sheet lines over.
You are right to want to protect your sail from sun damage. I use a zippered sunbrella sleeve (from BWY) that I hoist over the furled genny using the jib halyard. The only problem I have with it, is that it tends to "sail" or "flap" when it's windy. I've defeated this flapping by taking wraps around the sleeve with the lazy end of the jib halyard and then cleating the halyard off at one of the bow cleats.
Good luck.
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Rich Plumb, "Plumb Crazy"
26X, Covington WA
