Now I'm not so sure that my original explanation was incorrect. I thought
about Dennis' comments and his description didn't quite match my "visual
memory" of how my old sail was converted.
I was curious about Dennis' question, sooooooo, I climbed up into the garage
attic, and dug out the tattered old mainsail that came with Redwing, our P19.
It appears to have been originally a bolt rope mainsail, converted to slugs.
>From the looks of it, the job was done at a professional sail loft. Slugs
were added by putting grommets in the luff tape, then attaching slugs with
webbing directly forward of the bolt rope. The slug's aft edge is 1-1/8"
forward of the aft edge of the old bolt rope.
The tack grommet at the bottom of the sail was "moved" forward also.
(Actually, it was completely removed) The sailmaker used 1/2" webbing over a
new sailcoth and leather reinforcement to attach a ring which projects
forward in front of the edge of the bolt rope. The lowest part of the ring,
which would be fastened in the tack pin is in line with the middle of the
bolt rope. So the "tack offset" (I think that's the term the sailmakers use)
from the aft edge of the slugs is about 1"; this would correspond to a tack
pin 1" aft of the mast slot.
For this particular converted sail, the clew of the sail sits 1-1/8" further
aft on the boom after the conversion to slugs. The outhaul would have to
accomdate the longer foot, or else the draft at the foot would be approx 3"
deeper than before it was converted to slugs.
[If the ring or grommet for the tack isn't moved forward when slugs are
added, I'd guess there would be wrinkles in the sail and maybe ? eventually
some damage to the sail?]
So now we can have either apples or oranges or kumquats or whatevers. The
slugs can be installed with or with out the tack ring/grommet moved forward
to keep it in line. It depends on how you do the installation.
When the sail was converted to slugs from boltrope, was the tack moved
forward to line up with the new slugs (as it was on my old sail) or not? If
the tack was moved forward, the clew needs to be outhauled further aft to
avoid a baggy foot. If it wasn't moved forward, it shouldn't make any
difference in the out haul distance aft.
Best,
Judy
In a message dated 5/23/99 2:42:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us writes:
> Apples: The location of the clew grommet on the boom is determined *only* by
> the length of the foot rope (as stretched by any outhaul tackle). Reason:
> it is cut to a certain length and the forward end is held by the tack pin.
> This is regardless of whether there are slugs or not.
>
> Oranges: The fullness of the sail immediately above the foot and higher is
> affected by slugs, since they allow the boltrope to lie aft of the position
> for which it was originally cut.
>
> Kumquats: Putting these two together, it seems to me that no matter what
you
> do to your outhaul, you'll not be able to take this fullness out of your
> mainsail.
>
> [BTW: My visual memory tells me that the distance due to the slugs is
closer
> to 1/2" than to 1-1/2" (P-15). I don't have the opportunity to check it
> now. If someone can make that measurement, please let me know what it is
on
> their sail.]
>
> -- dwf
> "In a power boat, you get there in a hurry, in a sailboat, you are already
> there"
> V-17 #36; M-15 #189; P-15 #1086 "PELICAN" - Ridgecrest, CA
>