- Rigging upgrades
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I launched my Pocketship last fall in a pretty stock state in order to get some sailing in. Over the winter I made several upgrades; mostly to the rigging. I thought I’d go through them. Most of these were done to make it easier to solo sail and perhaps help out this sailor with little experience. If you don’t solo they may not be needed.
1. Lazy jacks- I found the gaff would always end up in the water when lowering the sails with the sails all over the cockpit. Putting in lazy jacks is a good help, and they are not really in the way. They also help control the jiffy reefing lines along the boom.
2. Jiffy reef- I got caught out with a rapidly rising wind last year with full sails and sailing solo, with no
Tiller clutch. It was really hard keeping the boat headed up long enough to gather in a reef. I think this is a really good thing to have if you solo. I did my first sail of the year today and the 7-8 knot winds ended up being 14. I started out with a reef and had a really pleasant outing.
3. Tiller clutch- I actually put this in last year. Really handy when you need to handle sails. It is not an auto pilot - you need to tend it, but it keeps things from going wild.
4. Main jam cleat. No, you should not have one in a boat this size. But I do. I keep a hand on the main sheet and can pop it out quickly if needed (like today). I also have some arthritis and it’s hard to hold the sheet continuously.
5. Track extension - I added a removable short piece of track on the mast , which allows me to lower the sail without dropping cars off the track. It can be taken off when lowering the mast or removing the sail. The upper screw stays in place. The lower thumbscrew can be removed and the track slide down and off the screw.
6. Jib sheet jam cleats- I guess real sailors learn how to flick the jib sheets out of the jam cleats, and I got ok at it. But I’d rather have something quick and easy. So I removed the jam cleats off the stock fairlead/cleat setup and moved the them back next to the other ones at the cabin bulkhead. I still use the fairlead in its original location. Seemed to work well today.
Here’s a picture showing some of the upgrades:
The small red lines are the lazy jacks. The curled hooks on the boom with nothing in them are used to stow the lazy jacks when I lower the mast or just don’t want them up. The first reef is in. You can see my track slide extension. Oh and the masthead cable I was trying to figure out a month or so ago.