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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Cunningham? Help, please

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mikesuej
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USA
119 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/06/2010 : 08:01:24

Hello. I used to sail a West Wight Potter P-19 (great little boat) with a loose footed sail on a sliding mast. It had a rudimentary 2:1 Cunningham that I could adjust at the mast. When we bought the Catalina 250WK it had a fixed boom, so I didn't think it would require a cunningham (we're kind of new to sailing). But in reading around it seems it should have a cunningham. On the other hand, I do have a single-line reefing to the first reef point that is run to the cock put with blocks and rope clutch. So here is my question:
1.) Does anyone have a picture of their cunningham rigging, and
2.) Could not the reefing line "double" as both the reefing line and cunningham when I am not reefed?

Thanks for any tips or advice! Great forum and better people!

MJ

Michael T. Janocik
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Edited by - on

JimB517
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3285 Posts

Response Posted - 07/06/2010 : 09:55:42

I have a cunningham cringle 6 inches up the sail and a 1st reef about 2 feet up. I have a line tied to what is known as a cunningham hook. On a normal day the hook is in the cunningham cringle. This line is led back throug a clutch to a winch. To use the cunningham, I just winch the line a little or a lot.

To use the first or second reef I just move the hook up to the next cringle.

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PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

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1225 Posts

Response Posted - 07/06/2010 : 10:24:40

Hard to find pics of the Cunningham but you can see it in this pic with the red lines. As you can see it's hooked to the first Cunningham cringle. Mine has a couple blocks in it that tighten when you pull the line. This acts to tighten/flatten the sail and is useful in stronger winds where you might be a bit overpowered.

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mikesuej
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119 Posts

Response Posted - 07/06/2010 : 10:34:31

I think I see. But with cabin top winches and a rope clutch, would I need additional purchase or a 4:1 block system, or could I just rivet a strap eye on the port side of the boom, tie the bitter end off to that eye, go through the cunningham cringle, down to a mast base block and through the rope clutch to the winch?

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PCP777
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Response Posted - 07/06/2010 : 11:57:53

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by mikesuej
 I think I see. But with cabin top winches and a rope clutch, would I need additional purchase or a 4:1 block system, or could I just rivet a strap eye on the port side of the boom, tie the bitter end off to that eye, go through the cunningham cringle, down to a mast base block and through the rope clutch to the winch?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I don't use the winches with my set up, I just pull it by hand into a jam cleat.

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dmpilc
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Response Posted - 07/06/2010 : 11:59:14

The cunningham does not attach to the boom. The basic cunningham setup would be to attach the line to an eye strap on one side of the mast a couple of inches below the boom, run it up through the cunningham cringle and down to a cleat on the other side of the boom, like a reefing line. More elaborate and useful: use the hook method JimB described - the line stays on one side of the sail. If you want more purchase, attach a block to the hook and a block with becket to the base of the mast, start the line at the becket, run it up through the block attached to the hook, and down to the block with becket at the base of the mast and back to a sheet stopper at the cockpit, or use a block with jam cleat at the base of the mast as the cleating point.

Edited by - dmpilc on 07/06/2010 12:05:11

mikesuej
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Response Posted - 07/06/2010 : 12:16:24

dmpilc - thanks - makes better sense. However, if I have a block at the mast base unused, and a rope clutch and cabin-top winch, would I need the purchase you describe, or would the winch suffice? Thanks,

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dmpilc
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4593 Posts

Response Posted - 07/06/2010 : 15:48:52

With the cabin-top winch, you would not need the extra purchase. Remember, all you are doing is stretching sailcloth and rope.

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Arlyn Stewart
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Response Posted - 07/07/2010 : 15:33:33

I rigged a cunningham and used it once and though it made a slight improvement it was never used again.

Consider two issues. 1. A loose footed main with increased outhaul purchase does far more than a cunningham will do for better sail shape in increasing wind. The one time I used the cunningham was prior to loose footing and increasing outhaul purchase. 2. The 250 is reefed so early, that a cunningham just doesn't see/get much of a use window. If it is wanted again, the 1st reef line will reroute very easily to employ as was done in the short video clip below. In that condition the main was slightly overpowered but didn't warrant a reef and the cunningham reduced the mains power and tightened it up slightly to increase speed.

[url="http://pages.suddenlink.net/arlyn/sailing/c250_3.wmv"]video of sailing with cunningham[/url]

Sorry that the video only shows a very brief glimpse of the cunningham. Video taken about 40 miles from Canada on a 90 mile crossing of Lake Huron back to Michigan. The helm is locked and required no attention for almost three hours.

Telling the story also reminds of another later that night. While I've seen a great many meteors enter the atmosphere, I've only seen one that exploded in a starburst. It was seen about 2 AM with the starburst covering an area somewhat typical to a fire works. The meteor or possibly satellite made an arc of half the sky before exploding.

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mikesuej
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119 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2010 : 11:32:22

Wow! Thank you all. I guess it's probably not worth running to the cockpit then. Thank you all for so much great advice. It's been very helpful and provided me great direction. MJ

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mikesuej
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119 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2010 : 11:35:37

Arlyn, So What I'm getting from you is that I can simply route my reefing line through the cunningham cringle and winch down. But when I have to reef, just run it through the reef cringle again?

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John Russell
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Response Posted - 07/08/2010 : 11:59:16

That's how I read it too, Michael. But it sure takes the "jiffy" out of the jiffy reefing system. I'd jury rig something and test it to see if tightening the luff with the cunningham really makes enough of a difference in boat performance to justify the trouble of something more permanent. I think you'll find that it won't.

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mikesuej
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Response Posted - 07/08/2010 : 12:12:17

Yes - I kinda like being jiffy when it comes to reefing. At this point, I think I'll just do a simple block arrangement and cam cleat or something simple rather than running it back to the cabin. Don't really want to spend another $170 on a 3 way rope clutch anyway. Thanks all again.

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Arlyn Stewart
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Response Posted - 07/08/2010 : 17:02:54

John is right, it would be much too difficult to do with the stock jiffy reefing setup. I use double line reefing and do it at the mast so it would be easy to reroute the reef line but as noted, a cunningham was only used on that one occasion.

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