Fore hatch spinnaker bag
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What are you guys using for a spinnaker launch bag from fore hatch?
Depth?
Materials?
Attachment?Thanks!
No bag. We just douse into the Vee berth and use a bit of velcro on the hatch combing to retain the head of the sail handy for re-attaching the halyard. We’ve cleaned off all the meat hooks, bolts & such, so there isn’t anything to snag on.
Al Holt #114 “Kestrel”Ditto…down the hatch..and don’t detach the halyard or sheets( use an APS velcro for the guy/sheets pre launch). Halyard behind the spreaders upwind. Covered all the hatch bolts with 1/2 of hot water pipe foam insulation..gorilla glued on and covered with a layer of clear spinnaker repair tape for endurance and slippery.
NO BAGS???? You guys are crazy. Your forepeak must be a total mess during upwind work, and chaotic if a spin change has to occur. I would be very concerned about a loose piece of gear getting caught in the spin while it was below deck and subsequently jettisoned, or having the chute catch on something below and tear. I store my motor immediately in front of the mast, so it would be in perfect position to catch the chute
I have two different bags that we use. The one that works best is square mouthed, sunbrella sides and mesh bottom. Plastic clips are attached at the corners to a 3/16 line that is threaded into sleeves at the top of the bag. It is deep enough that it just touches the vbirth.
The second bag is rectangular. It is actually meant for use on the rail, but does fit in the hatch as well. It is not quite deep enough to be as effective as the other one. If we are doing a peel, this one goes on the rail then the old chute is stuffed into the good bag, and the rectangular bag then serves as a hatch bag.
We always leave sheets attached, but detach halyard. Bag keeps head at top, so no worries about losing it.
never had an issue. Spin change..bring up to deck the new spin in a launch bag; detach old and attach new..no problem. Old chute below…repack in launch bag. Everything up front is gone except spare spins..I carry 4.
by the way..i turned my hatch to open forward. With sheets attached, you don’t want a wave over the bow being caught by a slightly open hatch.
We turned the hatch around on Kestrel, too. Chaotic? Never been a problem. We don’t store anything forward of the mast. The vee berth platform makes a happy home for the kite. I have a theory that the cloth is slightly damaged every time you “stuff” the kite into a bag. Maybe I’m wrong. My kites do, yet, seem pretty crispy.
Al
KestrelThanks gang,
I’ve canceled the bag order.We don’t use a bag either. Just douse through the fore hatch into the birth. Never had a problem. My hatch has been turned and it is quite clean so nothing to snag on. Sheets stay attached. Depending on who is running my foredeck one guy takes the halyard off the other runs it out of the way. Goes back up clean every time.
My 2 cents. I use an over sized light weight nylon bag (Home made), with fore and aft 4 ft battens to retain shape. It is attached with 4 piston hanks to plastic wire leads mounted to the four corners of hatch. Won’t crunch chute as Al said, won’t hook on motor as old school mentioned. The hanks make easy removal if LD racing and need to stuff sails in or out of front hatch.
A great idea for WL racing, from Jack-a Roe, is the “OOOO Shit line”. We have a shackle mounted approx five feet from the bow on the port toe rail. A line runs from the trigger diagonally to the starboard toe rail just aft of the front hatch. The spin halyard goes into the schackle(under and outside the jib on starboard tack), and stays attached to the chute. Everyone stays on the rail until we round the windward mark, then we call for “OOOO Shit”. The bowman trips (ooo Shit line) the halyard schackle, from windward rail and the hoist begins also from the rail(ratchet block on deck at mast base for spin halyard, halyard pulls thru mast mounted cleat). By the time we hit offset we have a full chute, jib down and no one has left the rail to free halyard from behind spreaders.
No, it doesn’t interfere with the jib, yes it is windage.I too use a homemade bag that was once a kite and has a bungee around the opening. The bungee wraps around the frame of the bomar hatch. This provides a smooth surface for the kite to go in and out of the hatch. I also use a couple pieces of velcro to hold the bag to the hatch frame to make sure on launches that the bag doesn’t go out with the kite.
I like using a bag to contain everything and also any water that enters is directed down rather then anywhere it wants to go. I haven’t turned my hatch around because I found I need to make a spacer to raise it so the hatch can lie flat when opened. So far not much water has gotten into the boat.
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