Ok, in the case of squares, the leeches are the sides of the sail. British and American warships seem to have favored straight leeches - ie, a straight run from clew to earring. Every French image I've seen of topsails (attached) have scalloped leeches, ie, an inward curving cut from clew to earring.

This will obviously put tension on the leech and stiffen it.

Your other option is working bowlines.

BTW: Is the main bracing as far as the fore when braced hard over? If it's as far as it will go, you could cause the fore to brace a little less.

Also, your fore-n-aft sails will hold wind up into the 45-40° area while the squares are working up to around 55-50° at best - closer to 60°. That means you can ease the jibs and stays'l and still be good close hauled - especially that stays'l.

Dan, I'm not sure on the material of your sails, I use Dacron sails and use heat on the leech to tighten it up after a couple of years of sailing, you have to be careful not to much heat just a little at a time, I use a monocoat iron
John R.

Good advice on easing the staysail - it needs to be set before sailing and I will try a much looser set.
Good idea on the heat. I'll try that. But since I have bolt ropes, I might have to do some "surgery" to change the leech length.
May get out again next Mon or Tues. Need to mod the sail before then.
Thanks for the thoughts.

Originally Posted by DanL

Good advice on easing the staysail - it needs to be set before sailing and I will try a much looser set.
Good idea on the heat. I'll try that. But since I have bolt ropes, I might have to do some "surgery" to change the leech length.
May get out again next Mon or Tues. Need to mod the sail before then.
Thanks for the thoughts.

Dan--I really loosened up my stays'ls so none of them are forcing the tops back. I doubt mind do any good at all for sailing--I just like the looks of them.

The problem I have had with stuns'ls has been they are only good running with the wind. If I have to attempt to tack at all with them it is useless. They look great in a photo but for working sails they are mostly useless.

The fellow that figures out how to remotely set stuns'ls will get rich
They aren't the simplest things to set in real life.

i`m finding out more and more about sailset with my little brig somers.

And one thing i found is that the headsails need to be a lot less tightly sheeted in when beating with a square rigger than sloop headsails, also getting them too tight will prevent your head from coming up into the wind. Dan of your pic from above the headsails look very tightly sheeted. The same is true with the staysails. i`m always trying to imagine where i would like to have the boom on a sloop on a comparable course and set my F&A sails accordingly. so with the 1 maybe 1 1/2 points we get on the wind your F&A sails should still be pretty loose to set for best performance.. my observation

paratrooper, meatbomber,
Good advice. Next time out I'll keep the F&A sails much looser.
I'm re-doing the foot boltrope to shorten the leeches on the main topsail.

Too many chores to sail today, but I amy try to do a quick backyard video of a broadside.

Originally Posted by DanL

paratrooper, meatbomber,
Good advice. Next time out I'll keep the F&A sails much looser.
I'm re-doing the foot boltrope to shorten the leeches on the main topsail.

Too many chores to sail today, but I amy try to do a quick backyard video of a broadside.

Today might have been a good day on the lake but only early this morning. It is now poking holes in 84 degrees headed for 90 plus--but the winds were nice.

Tell you what--I might load up in the backyard as well and see what happens. With a little windage and a tad more powder I might be able to send shot and shell in your general direction.

LINK to a vid of a fellow with a little cannon shooting up his house. I think it ends when he takes out the video camera.

I thought it might give you an idea of Syren's potential next hunting season.

Originally Posted by JerryTodd

LINK to a vid of a fellow with a little cannon shooting up his house. I think it ends when he takes out the video camera.

I thought it might give you an idea of Syren's potential next hunting season.

How do you find stuff like this?

Well I was amused for 2 minutes--back to work.

Ray,
If you hang some lightbulbs on Surprise, can see if I can take them out.....
like the song says...."seeee yooouuuuuu in Septemberrrrrrr...."

Crossover jib tension
The sheets, attached to the clew of a headsail, work as a pair - one moves forward as the other one moves back. The length is adjusted so they are just a little bit tight. As they move, not much slack develops, even with no wind in the sails. With any wind at all, the sheets are taught.
So to keep the sheets on the drum, no elastic is necessary. The flanges of the drum are big enough to keep he lines in place.

Dan, a question?

How much larger must the minimum diameter of the CD "to the servo" to ensure that the lines have not come down.

lucc,
Does this drawing answer the question?
I'm really amazed at all your detail and how good it all looks on a big model.

I'm really amazed at all your detail and how good it all looks on a big model.

Nothing compair to your work and level off detail

Does this drawing answer the question?

Yes Thx Dan.

Did you glued this new winch-servo on top of the old servo ,our did you do something else ??

lucc -
side view might answer more questions.
Dan