Graham Cox wrote:You don't seem to have any HK parrels I can see or fixed luff parrels aka Paul Fay. So my first question is "How do your battens stack?" If you have positive batten stagger then I think my problems must have been caused by the short yard. I may put an extension on it one of these days and shift the halyard attachment point back to the usual position, though the Paul Fay luff parrels have solved my negative batten stagger problem at the price of a slight increase in friction.
Hi Graham,
Yes, no HK parrels and no Paul Fay parrels, they just simply are not needed. I thought long and hard about it but it seems to me that the standard Standing Luff Parrel (PJR fig 3.35) does exactly the same job as the Paul Fay parrel with the added virtue that it is slack until it is in position. I grant that the SLP will let the battens slide forward a little when lowering if your msst does not have much taper but mine are heavily tapered in the PJR fashion and so any slack is taken back by the taper as the sail comes down. While PJR does show SLP's rigged to each batten, I've only used them only from battens 3 to 4 and 5 to 6 on the foresail and battens 4 to 5 and 6 to 7 on the main.
I've one RLP/THP on the foresail running from the yard to batten 2 and then to 3. On the main I have a RLP/THP that runs from batten 1 to the yard and then to batten 2, a second RLP that runs from batten 2 to 3 and to 4.
The setup is not perfect yet but it's not far off. Negative batten stagger has not been a problem. Even without any control lines attached both sails have stacked neatly and without problems, although the foresail is in general better behaved than the main.
I suspect that your problems are related to your short yard, which by virtue of not being the correct length puts your sling point in the wrong position. I do know that halyard attachment point (aka sling point) is critically related to balance and yard angle. In general, the more balance the lower the yard angle and vice versa. I did as I have often told others to do, namely make stick and string models of the proposed sail to check things out while it is easy and cheap to do so. It seems to have paid off for me.
What I have not been able to do is to rig my sheetlets in full accord with PJR. I simply do not have the room and so they are somewhat shorter than what PJR prescribes. However so far I have not observed any deleterious effects. Not even the infamous scalloping of the lowest panel and I somewhat surprised by this.
If you go to my profile album, you'll find some photos that I took while bending on the sails (I should have taken more but got to involved with the work and forgot :-( ) you will also find two photos showing how the sail stacked with only the halyard, tack line and lifts in place (RLP was rigged but is of cause slack when the sail comes down ditto for the YHP).
To sum up, my current configuration is Foresail running lines are: Halyard, Yard Hauling Parrel (YHP), RHP and sheet. Standing lines are Batten Parells, two SLP's, Tack Parrel and a Tack Line. The Mainsail running lines are: Halyard, Yard Hauling Parrel (YHP), THP/RHP, RHP and sheet. Standing lines are Batten Parells, two SLP's, Tack Parrel and a Tack Line.
I'll keep on fiddling a bit more but things are not far from what they should be. As for HKP's there really does not (so far) seem to be any need for them.