David Cawston
Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 08:22 pm:
Here is a picture of how I lace the mainsail to the mast. As you can see the lacing is not wound around the mast but when it has gone through one eyelet it goes back around the same side of the mast to the next eyelet. This I believe is the correct way to lace a gaff as it becomes very slack when lowering the sail. Also the lacing, which is made up of 3 separate lengths tied on the mainsail at the top and the two reefing cringles, is tied off at each reefing cringle and attached to my parrel bead mast hoops (the beads come from an old wooden bead seat cover, I have many spare if anyone likes the idea) which means when you put a reef in you do not have to re-tension the lacing. The lower hoop is not at a reefing point but when detached from the sail it means the boom can be pulled well clear of the mast for lowering and raising the mast.
Martin Cartwright
Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 - 04:06 pm:
Hi Dave. I really like the idea of this. Could you send me some beads? Will send address and sae if you could send me yours by e-mail.
Jeff Wattley
Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 07:02 pm:
Thank you David: This was really helpful and I've now got my mainsail sliding up and down the mast better than before. I would be very interested in getting hold of some car seat parrel beads if you still have some to spare.
Many thanks
Jeff Wattley
Julian Swindell
Username: Julian_swindell
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007 - 02:07 pm:
David, a couple of quick queries. How are your parrel hoops made up? Are they just a length of line or an actual hoop? You also mention pulling the boom away from the mast when lowering it. Do you pull the gaff away as well, or can that cope with remaining attached? I have found the hassle of getting the gaff, boom and sail off the mast before lowering means that I rarely bother to do it.
David Cawston
Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007 - 10:39 pm:
The hoops are formed by threading the beads on to some line with loops tied at either end with the eyes just large enough to allow a quick release D shackle to pass through the loops. The D shackle also attaches the hoops to the sail and also attach the bottom of each section of mast lacing to the sail. I find that once the gaff and boom are lowered they can be pulled free from the mast after undoing the lines 'closing' the jaws, the lacing is slack enough for the gaff but for the boom I disconnect the lowest mast hoop from the sail which is easy with the quick release D shackle. When I get back on board Markie I will photo the hoops in detail and post them here. In the meantime if anyone wants some beads just email me your address and I will put some in the post FOC (as long as I have some beads left to supply). Andy and Martin please be patient, I will send you some and Jeff I will keep some for you. The only drawback I experience is sometimes when raising the mast the lacing gets trapped over the beads but this is easily released.
David Cawston
Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 10:06 pm:
Here are some pictures showing my mast hoops.
Owen Hines
Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - 09:33 pm:
David: Like the idea of the roller beads very much. Had a bit of a struggle raising the mainsail with my lacing which may be a little on the tight side. Early days as yet as this was my first sail and ther was a bit of a blow at the time but if you have any spare beads I would love to adapt my rigging. I will be doing almost all my sailing solo so any help I can get will be most welcome. Best wishes. Owen Hines
Rodney Clark
Posted on Monday, July 23, 2007 - 09:43 am:
David. Thanks very much for your pictures of parrel beads. A clever solution. But may I ask a naive question? Would it be possible/advisable just to have parrel beads on every cringle and do away with the lacing entirely? Best wishes
David Cawston
Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 09:24 pm:
Hi Rodney, Yes it would be possible to use parrel beads at each cringle creating in effect a mast hoop at each cringle (unless you make your own hoops, proper ash mast hoops are very very expensive) but in my opinion, lacing looks better and more importantly, if you have too many parrel bead hoops, they tend to 'hang up' on the mast ie they make it more difficult to raise and lower the sail. With the system I use, the lacing becomes very slack when lowering the mainsail and it virtually eliminates the chance of the gaff jaws wedging the beads on to the mast.