Downhaul vs Cunningham

[talbot]

I've always adjusted the tension on the leading edge of my sail with the boom downhau. Do I really need to have a Cunningham through the luff as well? I've used Cunningham's on larger yachts with fixed booms, but the advantage isn't clear to me on a dinghy like the DS with a sliding gooseneck.

Speaking of sliding goosenecks and Cunninghams: When reefing or just anchoring for lunch, it's always a hassle to have the boom drop when I lower the sail. The aft end is supported by a topping lift, but the forward end is always in the way until the sail is raised or I drag the boom up with one of the halyards. The boom is held up a few inches by a metal dowel in the mast's bolt rope slot. Suppose I pushed it up farther with a longer dowel? I would lose the ability to fully tighten the luff with the downhaul, but then that's what Cunninghams are for. Anyone tried this?

[shawn]

They basically do the same thing but many classes have limits that the sail has to stay within so the cunningham allows you to flatten the sail without lowering the boom beyond the specified dimension.

Shawn

[Bob Hunkins]

My boom is fixed, so I have a cunningham, but I recall something called a track slide - used to keep sails with slugs from coming out of the track when the sail is down. Perhaps that would work to keep the boom up. You might also try using a length of small line tied around a spinnaker ring and running under the boom, to do the same thing until the sail is up. It's difficult to say without a picture of what you have. Hope you find a solution. Let us know what you do.

[talbot]

Great ideas. It occurs to me that if the line you mention were a stout bungee, I might be able to use the existing downhaul (with the addition of an extra block for advantage against the bungee), and still have the boom supported for reefing. We'll see.

[mtheut]

I was confused with the cunningham and downhaul setup when I first setup boat my boat as well. I was used to a hobie where the downhaul is the only way to tension the luff. I've recently converted to the cunningham method. I've placed a cheek block on the mast and run the cunningham forward to micro cam cleat on the cabin top. It takes little effort to tighten upwind and loosen downwind.

[talbot]

I already have my halyards running through cheek blocks on the mast. If you have the same arrangement, were you able to squeeze another block in so that the halyards and cunningham didn't get in one another's way? I was thinking of bringing the line (cunningham or downhaul) all the way down to a swivel block on the cabin top.

[mtheut]

My boat doesn't have a spin halyard. I have halyard on each side of the mast with an offset block for the cunningham. I like the swivel block idea. Just make sure that it is laid out in a way that it will not interfere with the vang when main is in dead down position.

[talbot]

Thanks. I've had problems with downhaul/vang entanglements in the past. It looks like I have just enough clearance to squeeze a 5 or 6mm line inside of the strap where the vang attaches to the boom. But I'll have to raise the mast and try it out before I start drilling more holes in my cabin top.