MERLIN ROCKET FORUM

Topic : Spinnakers on oldies

All,

I am in the process of fitting out a Mk9b. Sometime in the past she has had a new deck and it seems the previous owner never bothered with the spinnaker. So, I have to fit sheet/guy leads, cleats, pole controls, etc, etc but I have no reference points or any idea on sheet/guy cleating or positions. I have a new rules pole and spinnaker (if that mades a difference). Can't see anything on the rigging guides but then I might have missed something. Any help or advice would be most welcome, Regards, Dave


Posted: 06/02/2009 16:04:25
By: DaveC
The spin sheets go through a flush mounted turning block on the side decks, normally at the widest point, just aft of the thwart. There was a trend to try them further back, but they just got in the way of the helm. If you want to be cheap you can use a large bullseye instead of a turning block.

The sheet is continuous and gets cleated on the thwart some where, see picture for an example. Different arrangement have been tried, but the cleat is best inside the boat.

A small reaching hook is placed somewhere a few inches forward of the shrouds.

Pole uphaul. It is common to have the pole uphaul come out of the side of the mast to a cleat actually on the mast, above deck level.

The downhaul (or hauls if twin poles) would go through bulls eyes in the deck, just in front of the mast, and normally would be led back through the boat to a position the helm can cleat. As the crew fixes the pole and shouts 'pole on' the helm would tighten the downhaul. A block with elastic under the deck is used to take slack up when the pole is off. The down haul is normally multi-purchase, 2 or 3 to 1.

Obviously, with Merlins there are no 'set' arrangements, so looking at other boats is a good idea (also browse the phots on this site)

http://www.merlinrocket.co.uk/gallery/view_photo.asp?folder=gallery/rigging_guide&file=spinnaker_cleat.jpg

Posted: 06/02/2009 18:25:03
By: alanf

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