Ayla with new sails

[Gerhard M]

Here are a few pictures of my vessel Ayla. Any comments are welcome

[Orion]

Hi Gerhard

I love the sails..love that full batten main. I notice that you have reef points and jiffy reefing. Did you ever roll the boom? This is an open question to the group..Does anyone use the rolling boom, still?

michael
Orion

[Gerhard M]

Hello Michael
the reefing point are not used since the foot of the main is not more attached to the boom. I have never used the rolling mechanism of the boom also not with the old sails.
The problem with the full batten are the mast sliders and since the batten are wide the require a special mastsliders which are hard to move up and down. I am trying to get sliders from Nautilus Sweden which do have bearings and wheels which should slide outside of the mast groove.
This year I had to modify the cover which I use to slide in the mainsliders as the ones for the battens are bigger. I had to cut open the opening and have had problems to have a new cover made which fitted good and did not stop the sailsliders ( sorry do not know what is the english word for it ) from going up or down.
Gerhard
Ayla

[Van]

Hi Gerhard,

Our sails were made by North Sails, and the battens use a slider which is indeed too large for the gate above the goose neck. So, to install/remove them, I have to drop the boom down until it reaches the large gap in the track near the deck. It’s a hassle, but only twice a year.

Having said that, I am not too happy with the sliders because they require the mast track to be clean and lubricated (MacLube or silicone spray for instance). Otherwise, they can bind when raising/lowering the mainsail. An option with bearings or wheels would be nice. Another option is the STRONG sail track system. A local sail maker (Port Townsend Sails, who we hired to upgrade the North Sails we got to make them “cruise worthy”) recommended this though we chose not to get it (in hindsight, I wish we had).

I also wish we had gotten full length battens – two of the four we got are only partial. Live and learn!

Regarding anyone using the roller boom, I asked many sail makers about that, and they were unanimous in saying it was a bad idea. Something about having to have the topping lift hold the angle of the boom exactly right or the sail would not wind properly. And of course now the trend is for mains to be loose footed. Perhaps in another 40 years, roller booms will be back in fashion…..

Van

[Author]

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