-----Original Message-----
1. How is the halyard for the CDI roller furler supposed to be rigged?
It seems too short, unless you happen to be very tall, which I'm not.
We wound up temporarily tying a second line to the bitter end of the
halyard and then removing it after hoisting the lapper. One it was
hoisted we weren't sure how to secure the halyard. There is a D-ring
on the top of the furling drum, but there are two problems with this.
First, it looks like the metal edges of the ring would quickly cut
thru the halyard. Second, there doesn't appear to be a good way to
maintain tension on the halyard while securing it.
<<snipped>>
-- Stephen Undy P19 #1178 <unamed>Steve:
Here's a post on the CDI that I wrote for the Trailor Sailor Bulletin Board. It's at http://www.cruisecortez.com/webbbs/trailersailor/index.cgi?read=62043, if you want to look up the whole thread.
You should have received a manual with the CDI. You can find info at CDI's website http://www.sailcdi.com/. Ask IM to send it, or contact CDI. If you have any questions, call CDI; they're very helpful.
I've complained about the the difficulty of tensioning the halyard and keeping it snug in high winds. A jib halyard doesn't need to be anywhere near as tight as a main halyard, but it should be floppy loose. Mine gets kinda loose after a few hours in high winds. Right now I'm working with the owner of CDI on the slack halyard problem. According to him, it's not a problem for the thousands of small model CDI owners in low wind venues or owners of the larger models, but he's had a few complaints from owners of small CDI units, including several Potter owners.
We've come up with a couple of possible solutions, including windsurfing micro blocks at the tack, reducing the length of the de-cored halyard by putting in an eye and then attaching a length of low stretch line, or a high-tech, low stretch (read expensive) halyard. He's sending me some parts to test this week and I'll be trying them out over the next month. (unfortunately, some of his ideas mean I have to remove the CDI to install proto-type parts, which is a PITA.) If we come up with something that works better, I'll let everybody know.
Judy B 1985 WWP19 #266 Redwing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are a few tips that took my brick-brain six months to figure out:
1. after you take off the old sail, roll up the furling line almost completely on the drum before you hoist the new one. Leave just a foot or two slack. You'll always have the right amoung of fulring line for reefing and a few extra wraps around the sail that way.
1.5 At the beginning of the day, and at the end of the day, leave your sail rolled up with about 6 extra full turns around the sail. The sail has a way of occassionally rolling up more tightly than usual, and you might need the extra furling line to get it compeletely furled.
2. fit a pendant to the head of all your sails so that have the same effective hoist. Once you figure out how long the halyard has to be, cut off the extra -- it's a pain to have all that extra halyard flapping around and to tie a zillion half hitches just to tidy up the loose end.
2.5. Once you've got pendants, use a tiny snap shackle at the head of the sail and the bitter end of the halyard to make head sail changes easier. Take a look at Wichard #2470 -- it's the smallest I could find, only about 1-1/8" in height, and only about $12-14 each.
3. You probably already know this (it's in the owner's manual), but you need an auxiliary hoisting line. The halyard you installed on the CDI will be too short to reach the bitter end when you lower the previous sail. I have a spring loaded clip on the end of mine.
4. hoist the sail up and tie off the bitter end of the halyard. Then use a small piece of line on the tack of the sail, looped thru the shackle and tack a few times for purchase, to tension the luff. It's much easier than trying to fight the weight of the sail while you tie off the halyard (thanks to somebody on this board (Arlyn? I forget who).
5. Tie the end of the furling line to something, so you CAN"T LOOSE it. (Don't ask how I know....). Optionally, I also recommend a small cam cleat backed up by a horn cleat rather than a just horn cleat. It's sometimes hard to get the tiny furling line wrapped around the tiny horn cleat when you're trying to reef in really strong wind; the line slips. I recommend the camcleat for ease of use, and the horn cleat for security (or any other hardwarde that will give you ease of use and unfailing security) It really needs to be secure -- I'd hate to have somebody snag the line, pulling it out of the cam cleat, and have the sail go back to full size by accident when I was counting on it to stay reefed.
6. At the end of the day, if you leave your rigging up, put a couple of sail ties around the furled sail. If a storm comes up, the sail can get more tightly wound around the extrusion, leaving part of the sail flapping in the wind. Your sail will flog itself to shreds. Sailmakers make a fortune from owners' laziness about this.
6.5 If you leave the sail up, make sure you have a UV cover (edge sewn on or sock). Don't leave your sail exposed to UV. If you don't protect the edge from UV, you'll have a very unpleasant surprise some day in about two or three years when the clew, foot and leech shred while you're sailing in heavy air. I once bought a used storm sail that was UV damamged and that happened to me.
7. When hoisting or lowering the mast, attach the CDI (with sail) to the mast with a bungee sail tie a few feet up from the bottom of the mast. This keeps the CDI from going over the side and getting dented when it hits the asphalt.
8. Go to you local hardward store (not Home Depot) and buy a dozen or so Tarp ties. They're short loops of shock cord with one plastic ball, similar to sail ties. At about a buck each, they're half the price of sail ties, and perfect for lashing the CDI to the mast while trailering.
8.5 Alternatively, get some velcroe straps to lash the CDI to the mast. I haven't tried it, but others report they work well. Ther're available as garden hose ties from West Marine
9. Use a solid core quick pin (Avi pin) for attaching the forestay, not a hollow core one. (Solid pins have no thumb push) Attach the quick pin to the furling drum with a lanyard. Make absolutely sure you use the correct size quick pin,
10. After the mast is down and the CDI lashed to it, the bottom end of the CDI will protrude past the front of your boat several feet. You need to support it during trailering. I attach a bungee cord to it and hook the other end to the roof of my van for trailering. Some folks lash the whisker pole to the mast to provide support.
11. Make sure your sail isn't rubbing on anything or getting pinched between the bowpulpit and something else where it sticks out over the bow. It'll get your sail all dirty (and wear a hole in your UV covering.)
12. I think I'm going to lash/seize a sail pre-feeder to the bottom of the extrusion, to make sail changes easier. I haven't yet needed to change a headsail underway since reefing has always been adequate. But if I ever did find it necessary to change a headsail under difficult circumstances, I think pre-feeder would help a great deal. It's a challenging to hoist with one hand and pre-feed with the other hand the dock when it's windy, and it might be next to impossible on the water if you have to hold on to the boat with one hand.
That's all I can think of for now. Hope this helps. If you learn any good tricks for living happily with a CDI, be sure to share them with us.
Fair breezes, Judy B
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