Floating jib lead

[ACOrton]

Hello,

In the middle of rebuilding the deck or a J/22.
It had positions for a jib car and track but after going through all the work and not wanting to drill a ton more holes I was curious if anyone has any experience on floating jib lead cars and particularly setups with multiple headsails, storm, jib, Genoa.

I'm open to any ideas just to broaden the horizons.
Currently thing a 4 way adjustable floating setup with padeyes.

[Sailmonkey]

Do You race this j-22? If yes, do class rules allow this sort of mod?

[ACOrton]

No it's not raced at all. More like a boat that's experimented on. I understand repeatability might be difficult with this setup but that's not a concern really. I'm experienced with barber haulers and twing just not a 3 or 4 way floating lead setup. I know race boats have pretty much gotten rid of tracks and use low friction ring for alot of their stuff.

[Breaking Waves]

The pogo's do this pretty well.





These do tend to be more difficult/skillful to trim. Using an athwart track and up down floating block is a bit easier to trim (because in/out and up-down adjustment are separated).

[ACOrton]

Breaking waves,

Thank you for that. Any idea of this setup could be designed and used on a three head sale plan?

[Dockhead]

I use this system for a blade jib on a cutter. Works great.


I use the normal Lewmar sliding leads for my 120% yankee. Staysail is self-tacking on a curved track.


My system is slightly simplified -- 3:1 purchase to large low friction eye, from the rail (through-bolted chain plates -- took some experimentation to have something strong enough). To get the three dimensional control I use the staysail sheet as a barber hauler. That means the staysail has to be furled once I'm close enough to the wind to need to tweak the clew inboard, but I would do that anyway so this is not a problem.


The Pogos have another control line to control inboard-outboard position of the sheet lead. This is great but means more spaghetti on deck.


One thing I'm not happy wiht about this is the high friction under load compared to blocks. I am considering changing the rings for blocks.

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by ACOrton

Breaking waves,

Thank you for that. Any idea of this setup could be designed and used on a three head sale plan?

There are fundamental limitations. The clew position of the shortest jib has to be the highest, and only the longest jib can be an absolute deck sweeper/deck sealed. But it can certainly work with the right 3 sail designs.

A 3rd, fore/aft tackle provides additional adjustment options but ofc with extra complication. I dont see this very often.

[ACOrton]

Thank you for your input!

Right now I'm thinking a 4 way system adjustment sort of like the corners of a box. I know it'll require individual lines for each corner but it's an experiment. Does anyone here currently use a floating jib lead system? What's your opinions of the system?