Cradle lines and sail covers

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I am about to have a new sail cover and new bimini commissioned. The canvas maker was having some difficulty visualizing the project. I decided that if the cradle lines were correct, he may have more vision. Currently, the cradle lines position the sail with a serpent like profile when the sail is at rest in the cradle–not a very attractive look.

I found the cradle line lengths for my NS30C in the New Owner’s Guide. There were five lines called out in the New Owner’s Guide. I made them out of 1/4 dyneema that I had lying around, each 2" short to account for the soft shackles I made to attach them to one side of the wishbone. The cradle lines themselves have eye splices at each end.

I got to the boat with my 5 neat lines only to find that there are 7 lines on my boat. My rigging in general is a hot mess. I am eating this elephant one bite at a time. We will be hauling the boat in a few weeks to paint the bottom, replace the thru hulls, replace the air conditioner filter and find out why the pump does not work.

Anyone know the distance between the cradle lines? Any idea why I have 7 instead of 5?

I am not understanding all I am reading about stack packs on a Nonsuch. I may have to travel to view some. I know that I want a top zipper. I do not know whether I want a fiberglass rod on either side like my sloop had-- I think I do not since there is no boom there for it to ride on. I also think I want the cradle lines to attach to the top sides of the cover so that I can remove the cover if I want to.

Finally, I am pretty sure my choker is not rigged correctly and I know my slab reefing is not rigged at all. I am having some doubts about my topping lift. Also, my boat has a down haul on the luff. I have not seen mention of one of those.

Please excuse my ignorance. I love the boat and I am trying to get up to speed as quickly as I can. Thank you for any assistance.

Fran Trapp
Spirit NS30C #106
Lake Murray, South Carolina (inland lake near Columbia)

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Fran,

That’s interesting. No idea here why yours has seven – I see that some designs were specified for five and a few for six, but first I’ve heard of seven.

The New Owners Guide information on cradle lines is simply reprinting the original factory information. FWIW, even though your boat’s set up for more, this means you could probably choose to interpret the difference as it doing no harm but not being required. (That it, unless there’s something non-standard about your set-up that I’m not taking into consideration.)

The original specification for the cradle lines assumed there’d be a cover wrapped around the sail, with both sail and cover lying on top of lines running from one boom side to the other. I’m pretty sure everyone who’s gone to a top-zipping cover has ended up splitting the lines and cutting them shorter, i.e., integrating the cover as part of the cradle. The cradle lines then attach to the cover itself instead of running underneath, still paired along port and starboard.

There are a couple of stock top-zipping designs by Doyle, Mack and (maybe) North sails and canvas companies. A number of those attach the cover to the sail so that it’s pulled up flat along the sail when the sail’s raised.

A lot of less expensive designs just have a cover that unzips and hangs below the sail when raised. Those have a couple of different approaches to minimizing the windage from the cover being there.

Both the commercial and the home-grown designs have the advantage of guiding the sail to fall into the cover. Also, because the cradle attachments are at the bottom and easily in reach, it lets you easily adjust each cradle line pair to get the sail to stow without the serpent like profile you mentioned. People with fiberglass rods in their sail covers might attach the lines to the rods themselves or run reinforcing straps with eyes around the cover with eyes for the cradle lines to attach.

There are two good, well-tested designs for semi-custom top loading designs accessible to INA members.

One can be found on the www.Nonsuch.org web page by opening the MEMBERS tab, selecting MEMBERS’ TIPS & PROJECTS, and scrolling down to Ted Eedson’s article titled, “Nonsuch 26 Top Loading Sail Cover - Posted October 2020.”

The other was pioneered by the Chesapeake Bay regional INA affiliate, with Butch Garren as among the earliest I’m aware of. The canvasmaker who built a number of these for CBNA members has retired, but he gave me permission to share the plans and some instructions with people who are interested. Here are two pictures that show what this one looks like with the sail up vs. the sail put away.

If you’d like more information on that cover design, send me a private message and we can talk about it.

– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch 326U #233
Marina del Rey, California

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You do not want lines contacting your sail cover as they will abrade the material. Use 1” webbing where they contact the cover and a line on each side to attach to the wishbone. Connect one side with sister clips for easy removal of the sail when needed. There should be several posts in the INA website. Sorry i don’t have photos, but someone else may.

Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA

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I designed/built a top-loading cover a few years back. Somethings to consider:

• You probably want two zippers - one from the back to a spot just about between your dodger and Bimini. Your reefing lines (when you run them) come out this spot. The other zipper then runs from that spot to the mast.

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Hi Lloyd,

Thanks for sharing your insight and experience. We were thinking of changing our sail cover in a way that sounds like what you have done. One of our projects planned for this winter.

Do you have pictures of your top-loading sail cover that you could share with us?

Thanks,

…..Ed

Ed and Marlene Brost

SaSeaCat - NS30U/322

Sarnia Yacht Club

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Hi All,
I’m wondering if anyone else is using shorter cradle lines than specified in the manual ?

On Soave ( NS33 ) the lines are 2’-3’ shorter than prescribed in the manual. Seems to work OK, except for a serpent hump at the 4th line.

( HERE ) is a google doc showing length from NS33 manual vs Soave actual. Each line consists of port and starboard lines joined by brummels to make it easy to remove the sail for storage.

My cover is an “over the top” type with slits for the cradle lines and reef lines. I like this approach for now. The one thing I don’t like is that the cradle lines are fed through grommets in the foot of my sail and they seem to affect it’s shape. Perhaps because the lines are shorter than designed.

Rob Cohen
s/v SOAVE
NS33 #009
Westport, CT

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Rob: I think the consensus was to get rid of the lines running through those grommets/cringles along the foot. There should be something in the past postings. That way you can use webbing which is easier on the sail and cover.

Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA

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I had mine made by the North sail loft in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia about 10 years ago. North calls it a ‘Quick Cover’. They provided a template to document the various measurements including girths at a few stations, overall length, hanger spacing, etc. Hanger (cradle) lines attach to D rings at top outer edges of the hanging cover. There are ABS pipe battens running the length of this seam where the D rings are located, with a zippered flat top between the battens. It works very well. The battens are important to keep the cover open so the sail drops in, and loosely flakes itself into the open cover. Good enough to power to the dock in most weather, then packed down by hand before zipping up. I assume I lose some sail efficiency with the bit of overlap along the length of the foot. As I replaced a 30 yr old sail at the same time I only experienced a noticeable gain in performance. The North sail which was bought just prior (bent on before measurements were done) has one full batten at the top. I lubricate the bronze slides (harvested from original sail) and track with a spray of 50/50 water and dish detergent every lift. I also check the track screw fastenings and track section alignment every winter as the mast is unstepped when on the hard. My wife and I both love this cover (she is our sail flaker) and it was the anniversary gift she requested that year. We have enjoyed sailing Misty Cat for over 20 years now.

I hear the term Stack Pack used a lot, generically, for these top loading covers. I understood that is Doyle’s trademark name for their cover system, which integrates the cover into the sail itself. That makes for a very heavy sail which we did not desire.

I am happy to answer any questions about our setup.

Greg Silver
Misty Cat 26C #121
St. Peter’s, Cape Breton Island
Nova Scotia

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I am following this discussion with interest from the other side of the ‘pond’, very few other Nonsuch boats to compare with here! Prior to my Nonsuch30U I built a Captain Cook 42’ catamaran with a wishbone boom controlled in the same way as my Nonsuch 30. I experimented with various sail covers and ended up with one shown in the attached photograph. It worked extremely well in practice. The weigth of the sail is taken by the short lengths of webbing under the cover and the short slings sliding, when required, up and down the cradle lines utilise prussick knots. When the sail is stowed the slings keep the sail cover slightly taught keeping everything neat and tidy and when lowering the sail the sail cover in this position guides the sail quite effectively. Once sailing the prussicks can be slid down and the sail cover becomes a neat folded strip under the sail, rather than a voluminous bag flapping in the breeze!
I have already modified the sail cover that came with my Nonsuch when I bought her and she sports the lower webbing and the strops with prussicks but the full conversion utilising the round glassfibre wands will have to wait until the cover requires replacement. The top zip opens from the mast towards aft. There is a velco tension strap to hold the sides together at the mast end to make the initial zipping easier whilst singlehanded. A bight of each of the three reef lines is taken aft and loosely clips into an open hook shackled at the outboard end of the wishbone. This allows the zip to easily close to the very aft end of the wishbone. A poor photo of the (green) Nonsuch cover is attached, but that is all I seem to have! Hope this adds some ideas to the discussion.
Peter Richarson
Nonsuch 30U, #449
Craignish, West Coast of Scotland, UK

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