Hi Kepnutz and Stringy (and others),
Thanks for your kind replies. I always enjoyed reading the contributions of the both of you! To be honest: I'm not a skilled craftsman, so all my mods are low tech. The positive: most people will be able to make them!
Soyjer mentioned once on this forum he made a jib of shower curtain and ductape, so when I read that I thought: that I should be able to do as well. So Kepnutz: the holes in the foot of the jib are meant to hang the curtain!
The fact that I wanted it to be a furling jib made the "jib job" a bit more complicated. But the solution I chose is low tech. I sticked/adhered the jib to a 5/8 inch pvc tube. Through the tube I run my forestay (this rolls very easy). The tube/jib combination simply leans on a few rings supported by a knot in the forestay.
Since I normally have to raise and lower my sailing rig on the water (for I paddle/pedal to the lake where I sail under bridges etc.), a long relatively stiff pvc tube wouldn't be very practical. So I used a stiff tube for the lower two thirds, and a flexible for the upper third and ductaped it together. The flexible part enables me to easily connect the halyard to the top of the jib (forestay).
I wanted the halyard to be a loop, to prevent having even more lines in my cockpit. To the loop I connected a short line with a bowline knot that fits on the cleat that holds the main sail down.
Because the length of this "halyard system" is adjusted right, I've no loose lines from that.
Thightening the forestay is done by tightening both side stays. Therefore I use "thightening band" (don't now the english name, see the pic) on which I connect the stays with karabiners.
About the reef "system" again: I made a small hole in the pvc tube to connect the reef line, which runs through a shackle (that is connected to the front cam bolt knob to adjust its height) and then runs trough a cleat. It works great: the jib can be reefed to any size very quickly. In fact, it works so smooth that I like to reef a little with each tack (less noisy and sheets don't get stuck).
The shape of the jib is far from perfect though (it was hard to stick it straight to the bent flexible part of the tube). And it will not last forever (but it lives for 8 months already), for it is completely ductaped!
Because the curtain material felt week, I thought that it would be smart to fold the curtain so that it is double, but that was a mistake. I tried to furl a balloon
! I had to make an opening to be able to release the air caught within the jib! Luckily that helped, you hardly see it, so it no longer bothers me really.
Stingy, the boom is also pvc tube. A 3/4" with a 5/8" in it and a bamboo in the 5/8" tube to stiffen it a little(learned the bamboo trick on these forums!). It is very light, when it hits your head, you don't go overboard
. It really helps downwind performance, just like the boombattens. It is connected to the sail with a karabiner. I fold it right up along the mast if I want to furl the sail (so it is not a loose thing you can forget or lose). Probably a boombatten is even better for sailing performance, but it works so I guess I stick to it. (If I have the time I will make photo's and post it to the boombatten thread.)
About the weights to balance the oasis when soloing:
I made 3 weights (each between 6,5 and 8 kg). It is mainly sand in two stronger trash bags, rolled in a carpet tile (I guess 30x30cm), strongly ductaped together. Makes for a heavy black cylinder of 30cm long, of which there fit three in the front hatch
(If I have the time I will make photo's and post it to the oasis balance thread.) When there is chop/waves, I add a dry bag filled with water to minimize hull slap (after your idea!)
I hope the above helps to explain the rig a little.
I was able to go out today
. Good conditions for my jib: mostly bft 2 to 3, not too gusty: so I could cleat my sails end experiment a little:
I love this yakyacht!
Besides: I get that advertisement message below my photo's. What am I doing wrong?