Converting roller furler (luff tape) jib to hank on

[nuku34]

Hi All,
I’m adding a Solent stay to my Cavalier 32 sloop. My #3 short luff jib will fit on the Solent stay perfectly, but its got luff tape to fit my Furlex furler.
Question 1) I’m planning to use bronze piston sew-on hanks (if I can source them). I’m planning to leave the existing luff tape on the sail and just sew the hanks on with the thread going through the tape. I see no need to remove the luff tape or to put in grommets if I’m using sew-on hanks. Anybody have a comment on this?
Question 2) Does anyone know of a source (preferably in New Zealand) for sew-on type brass piston hanks? Yes, I know all about the bang-on type and also the very expensive Wischard ones, and am not interested in either. And of course NOT plastic hanks!!!

Lots of sloops I know around here are adding Solent stays for the ease and safety of having a heavy weather jib ready to go up without having to do a jib change on a furler. Been there, done that a lot on both cruising and racing boats; not fun in high wind and big seas.
Yes, i know all about so-called roller reefing jibs, but I’m talking about beating to weather in 30+ knots with a sail that has a shape, not a bag.

[OZwingle]

Interesting idea. I have all hank-on head sails with sewn-on bronze piston hanks. I sailed across the Pacific from Oregon with these and cruised in SW Pacific. I have replaced quite a few. These are getting very hard to source. I bought, what ostensibly was, the last batch of #2 bronze piston hanks in NZ. If you can get them, sewn-on piston hanks are not really sewn-on, but rather laced using hand sewing twine through a grommet. A grommet for each is required.

You might also look into soft hanks made of dyneema. These could be sewn directly onto your #3 jib. Basically this is a loop and toggle or loop and button arrangement. Might be an elegant solution. It would be a good DIY project at much less expense. The only caveat is to never use soft hanks on a stay that has seen metal hanks. But if your new solent stay is truly new wire, that should be no problem.

[Benz]

You can find used ones occasionally, if you have secondhand marine shops near you. Also, local sailmakers may have some in the bottom of a dusty drawer, or you may be able to cut some off a junked sail, also often found in marine consignment/salvage places. It'll just take legwork and luck.

[psk125]

The difficulty of finding piston hanks, plus the need for grommets to lace them through as noted above (they're lashed to the sail, rather than actually sewn on) makes me wonder about using webbing with a positive closure of some sort, instead of a piston hank. The jibs on our Soling had webbing with a snap button. That would not seem secure enough for your needs, but there must be a buckle of some sort that would work. It would be quick to fasten or unfasten, light, quite secure, and fairly easy to attach to the sail.

[Jim Cate]

Seems like soft shackles fed through a grommet in the luff tape would work well. Easy to make, easy to install and easy to use...

Jim

[Benz]

Originally Posted by psk125

The difficulty of finding piston hanks, plus the need for grommets to lace them through as noted above (they're lashed to the sail, rather than actually sewn on) makes me wonder about using webbing with a positive closure of some sort, instead of a piston hank. The jibs on our Soling had webbing with a snap button. That would not seem secure enough for your needs, but there must be a buckle of some sort that would work. It would be quick to fasten or unfasten, light, quite secure, and fairly easy to attach to the sail.

You need rigging toggles, known by some as "dogbones"
I use them instead of shackles all over my boat. You could make lightweight wooden ones for that use, spliced to the rope of your choice, or buy the commercially available ones from Tylaska. There are others making them, I just don't know them all, but chances are someone local has 'em

[nuku34]

I'm the OP. Thanks for all your suggestions.
1) Using the existing luff tape was not an option as the tape isn't strong enough to retain its proper length if only supported by attachments (about 800mm apart) to the wire Solent stay and is under a lot of tension to keep the luff from scalloping. Tape only works because its fully supported by the metal luff extrusion of a racing or furling foil.
2) I personally don't like fiddling with soft shackles; used them on kite sheets and guys on racing boats with mixed results.
3) I did manage to source new "bang-on" bronze piston hanks at a reasonable price (used ones don't like the closed tang re-bent open). Lash on hanks were not available in NZ and getting them from overseas was way too expensive.
4) I removed the cord part of the existing luff tape and had a Dacron sleeve sewed on the luff by a local sailmaker. This was done because I needed to put in strong grommets for the piston hanks, and luff tape itself was not wide enough to accommodate the grommets. Also I needed a sleeve to hold the new bolt rope. I didn't want to sew the bolt rope onto the luff in the traditional way.

5) Inside the sleeve is a very low stretch 8mm line. The line and the luff of the sail were then separately tensioned (between a tree and my ute), and the line seized to the sail at head and tack.

6) I've used the Solent jib several times beating into in winds from 22kts to 35kts; it drives the boat well with either 1 or 2 reefs. Above 35kts, I have a separate shorter removable stay with its own dedicated storm jib. This has been tested in winds to 50kts with a storm trysail.