Advantages of midboom sheeting?

[jbarros]

I was reading about the history of the C30 when I saw it had been improved and updated during the mkI phase, to midboom sheeting. It would seem to me that endboom sheeting would give you more leverage, and put it closer to the tiller/wheel for easier singlehanding.

What is the advantage which makes midboom sheeting an upgrade?

Thanks

- James

[davidpm]

I suspect that the most likely reason to go to mid boom sheeting is that on boats of that size end boom sheets tend to be angled pretty close to the helmsman's head.
In fact on a 28' boat I was on recently you had to sit or the sheet would take your head off.
Which for those of us that wear hats would be an inconvenience.

There is no good solution AFAIK for main sheets.
Mid Boom on the cabin trunk like the Catalina 30 and you have to have a lot of tackle which takes time to sheet in and it is too far from the helm for single-handing.

Bridgedeck sheeting is in the way of the companionway.

Sheeting in the middle of the cockpit like the j24 is perfect for the helmsman but cuts the cockpit in half and interferes with parties.

End boom sheeting means the sheet is behind you and keeps taking your hat off on every tack.

The best solution I have found is to drop the sail, sheet the boom to far port and dock on starboard so it is easy to get off the boat without hitting your head.

[Faster]

Mid boom sheeting has few (if any) advantages from a performance/handling point of view, but what it does do is clear the cockpit of obstructions. This facilitates lounging there, and simplifies installations of dodgers and biminis.

For short handed sailing, though, without elaborate sheeting arrangements generally the mainsheet becomes inaccessible to the helmsperson, esp on wheel-steered boats.

[captbillc]

on my nimble 30 express the traveler is across the front of the seats and a little over a foot aft of the hatch so the sheeting is about 3/4 back from the mast to the end of the boom. this works out well.

[sailortjk1]

Originally Posted by Faster

Mid boom sheeting has few (if any) advantages from a performance/handling point of view, but what it does do is clear the cockpit of obstructions. This facilitates lounging there, and simplifies installations of dodgers and biminis.

For short handed sailing, though, without elaborate sheeting arrangements generally the mainsheet becomes inaccessible to the helmsperson, esp on wheel-steered boats.

Nailed it!

[scottyt]

i have cabin top mid boom. the line does go thru a cam cleat, which i can control from behind the wheel. i like it with 2 exceptions, one it stops me from having a dodger, two it is a fair amount of line to pull to go from a reach to a tack. but honestly the line is not a big deal, it only takes a few seconds to pull it all in.

yes end boom does give better leverage but they normally offset that with more pulleys, but that means more line.

i think each boat is different, what works in one will not work in another. maybe the "upgrade" just works better on that boat

[BarryL]

Hello,

Advantages of mid boom sheeting:

• Main sheet is out of the cockpit so guests don't trip on it.

• traveler becomes more effective because the working length gets longer the more forward the sheet is.

Disadvantages of mid boom sheeting:

• more force is required to move the boom
• the main sheet may be a far away from helmsman

Barry

[JohnRPollard]

Some of the mid-boom sheeting arrangements I've used worked fine. Others were terrible. So while there are some general observations about pros/cons, like ScottyT said, it can really depend on how it's implemented on the specific boat.

Originally Posted by davidpm

Bridgedeck sheeting is in the way of the companionway.

It can depend partly on the design of the bridgedeck. Our traveller is mounted there, but it's not in the way because our bridgedeck is deep. There's very little effort getting around it.

I prefer having the mainsheet traveller mounted on the bridgedeck while sailing. The traveller is readily accessible for tweaking, and the mainsheet attaches to the boom about 4/5 of the way out toward the end, giving it plenty of mechanical advantage.

The mainsheet unclips from the traveller and secures outboard of the cockpit at anchor. So there's no issue with the mainsheet impeding occupants of the cockpit when lounging.

[klem]

Many good points have been brought up, one more that I can think of is that it allows your boom to be built a little lighter to have the sheet partway up it. You don't put as large a bending force on the boom by decreasing the unsupported distances. It is a similar theory to why the shrouds on small boats only go about 2/3 of the way up the mast. Be wary though, this is not true for loose footed sails where you really should have the sheet come from where the clue attaches.

[paulk]

Originally Posted by klem

Many good points have been brought up, one more that I can think of is that it allows your boom to be built a little lighter to have the sheet partway up it. You don't put as large a bending force on the boom by decreasing the unsupported distances. .

Unless I read you wrong, midboom sheeting requires a stronger, heavier boom because the lever arm that the sheet has to work with to hold the boom in place is that much shorter. The sail still pulls with the same force, regardless of where the sheet is, so to overcome that force with less of a lever arm, (as in mid-boom sheeting) the power of the sheet needs to be increased. A sail that you could control with 3:1 sheeting at the outboard end would need 6:1 to give the same control if it were attached in the middle of the boom. 6:1 pulling down in the middle of the boom is much more likely to bend (read: break) the boom than 3:1 pulling on the end. Booms with mid-boom sheeting therefore need to be stronger and heavier, not lighter. Mid-boom sheeting also requires beefing up of the cabin tops and traveler rails that they're mounted on for the same reason: you don't want to be increasing the headroom below when you trim your mainsheet.