Confused about the Jib Assembly

Hi folks, I'm hoping to finally raise the mast on my old girl for the first time this coming weekend and I have questions about the jib assembly. I saved the image below from page #23 of the H18 assembly manual and unless I'm reading it wrong, the diagram appears to be mislabled, correct? Whatever the case may be, am I correct in assuming the small block is used to raise the jib? I'm just not getting the relationship between the jib halyard, the luff tensioner and the small block, or how I go about raising the jib once the mast is up. It would appear the luff tensioner is tied off to the closed loop in the jib halyard which that would make it out of reach (along with the block) once the mast is raised. Thank you.



2-1 Jib Block Housing
2-2 Jib Halyard Wire
2-3 Luff Tensioner
2-4 Jib Halyard Line
2-5 Jib Block Sheave
2-7 Clevis Pin
2-8 A Cotter Pin
2-9 Swedge
2-10 Thimble
2-11 Block
2-12 Shackle

Yea, the operation of the jib halyard on the 18 can be a little confusing. Here is how I believe it was "intended" to be used. (Item numbers are referenced from the picture you provided).

Disconnect the pin from the shackle (2-10) and disconnect the loop in the jib halyard line (2-4) from the shackle, connect the shackle to the grommet at the head of the jib. Wrap the luff around the forestay and connect the zipper ensuring that the jib halyard line is routed inside the luff pocket (formed when the zipper is zipped). Begin hoisting the jib by pulling the halyard line and continue to close the zipper as you hoist. When the jib is approximately 1/2 the way up, the luff tensioner (2-3) will enter the top of the jib luff pocket followed by the jib halyard wire (2-2). Continue hoisting until the jib is nearly all the way up, leave the last 12" or so of zipper un-zipped. At this time, the luff tensioner line should be down within reach. Shackle the tack of the jib to the forestay adjuster. Then untie the jib halyard line from the luff tensioner line and route the luff tensioner line down through the tack shackle, up to the Block (2-9) and then back down to the cleat on the tack of the jib. t this point, the jib halyard line (2-4) is completly disconnected from the boat and the luff tensioner is routed so that you have a 3:1 purchase to tension the jib.

On my boat, I do virtually the same thing except that I leave the "Luff Tensioner" line tied to the tack shackle. This leaves me with only a 2:1 purchase, however there is less "stuff" to try to pull through the opening at the top of the jib luff pocket. You will find that trying to pull the block (2-9) through the luff pocket opening can be tough- new halyards do not have this block.

sm

Raise the mast with 2-4 and 2-10 connected. If you don't 2-10 may get pulled up out of reach.
When ready to raise jib sail then:
Disconnect 2-4 from 2-10.
Attach top of jib to 2-10.
Place 2-2 and 2-3 in zipper.
Pull on 2-4 to raise sail while zipping the zipper.
Attach bottom of jib to forestay.
Detach 2-3 from 2-4.
Feed 2-3 thru grommet on bottom of jib, up thru 2-9, and lock into cleat on jib.
Stuff remaining line in zipper.
Done.

I find it best to use sister clips between 2-3 and 2-4. It sure makes it easier.

Thanks guys, very much appreciated.

Thanks in large part to you guys my mast is now up but I do have a question about the furler line: How much of the line should I unreel prior to attaching/raising the jib? My line is standard length.

Rookie Story: I didn't find raising the mast all that difficult although it is certainly unwieldy and I was really worried keeping it straight so I wouldn’t snap off the hinge. I will certainly be using two men for this task in the future. Once I got the mast up and pinned to the upper chain plate hole in the forestay I decided the rig needed to be tighter. I unpinned the lower clevis pin from the furler chain plate (Note: the forestay was still attached to upper hole) and what do you know - the entire innards of my furler fell out onto the sand (Doh!!). There I am scrambling to re-assemble the furler, re-reel the line and re-hook to the chain plate with my lovely wife standing there on the tramp supporting the mast. I did also tie off the mast to my trailer but needless to say I was a bit worried until I got things sorted. Lesson learned!

Well, first off, the guts of your furler should not dump out when you pull either of the clevis pins. I've never taken a furler apart, but there is a large retaining clip on the top that I presume holds the whole assembly together- I'd take a look a the assembly manual and make sure everything's assembled properly. The lower clevis pin simply sets the position of the mast rake adjuster (flat strip of steel with about 10 holes punched in it), I've adjusted it many times and never had the furler come apart.

Regarding the fuler line, it doesn't matter how much you let out, you can adjust the system after the jib is raised. What you want to do is fully raise the jib but don't connect the jib blocks. Then have someone hold the clew of the jib while the other person pulls all the line out of the furler. The jib will roll up either all the way or partially. Cleat the furler line and then continue manually wrapping the jib around the forestay as necessary until it is completely furled. Uncleat the furler line, pull the jib all the way out, connect the jib blocks, and then furl it up- you're good to go.

Another thing you may not be aware of- you want to have a moderate amount of load on the forestay when setting the jib halyard tension. Otherwise, you can overtighten the jib halyard and it may break when you pull in the mainsheet later. To tension the forestay, either hoist the mainsail, connect the boom, and pull in the mainsheet, or hoist the boom up using the main halyard and then pull in the mainsheet.

sm

Hmm this is interesting. I am going to have to look at the assembly manual and confirm I have everything while I'm onsite. What happened was when I released the lower clevis pin from the mast rake adjuster, the internal spool fell to the ground. I remember re-inserting the top and bottom "nyliners" but do not recall seeing the retaining ring(!!). I need to take a look-see. Worst case, I do have an extra furler in my sailbox I can use. This is actually the one that was on the boat when I bought it (used the other one because it is newer looking and spins easier).

Thanks very much. I now fully understand the jib now as well as tensioning the forestay. I figured I could get enough tension by simply tightening the side shrouds but the mainsheet option makes a hell of lot more sense.

Enjoy the long weekend!!

You're getting there!

You need to do this ASAP!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhrzlrgVEBk[/youtube]

_________________
Sail Revolution
Join us on our new FB Page!

Regarding the furler line: once the mast is up and before you attach the jib, roll up all the line into the furler except the portion that is going up to the front crossbar. If you have too much of the line out of the furler, you will not be able to roll up the jib all the way.