Restoring modified Freedom 45 CC to self-tending jib?

[RichR]

I have a 1991 Freedom 45 CC, which was modified by a previous owner to eliminate the camberspar; put a larger headsail on; add a roller furler; genoa tracks, running backstays, and jib winches.

I am interested in converting back to the original self-tending design. But the camberspar and mount are gone. The bow pulpit has been modified and could interfere the the camberspar mount. The original small track in front of the mast has been repurposed as a turning block for the in-boom mainsail furling line.

I am interested in finding:

rigging diagrams that would show the pieces of the camberspar system and all associated rigging
sources for the camberspar and any other unique rigging required
anyone with personal knowledge/experience with this exercise!

Can the camberspar system be used with a headsail furler, or does the furler have to go?

Thanks!
Rich Reavis

[Paul Langevin]

Rich, we have a 40/40 with a camberspar. I don't see anyway that you could use a camberspar with roller furling. While the roller furling is convenient and frees up the foredeck for handling ground tackle, I have found that the camberspar is far superior to roller furling when under sail- especially down wind. I don't know what mods have been made to your pulpit but I would think that you would need to change your head stay, find an new camberspar and hardware, likely get a new jib with the pocket for the camber spar and repurpose the the track ahead of the mast to accommodate the self tending camberspar. I would suggest that you give Paul Dennis at Warren River Boatworks in RI a call as he is the expert in all things Freedom. His contact info is 401-245-6949, "WRBtwks@aol.com" . BTW, I believe that the early 40/40s and the 45 had the same mast dimensions so you might be able to find a camberspar of of a 40/40 converted to roller furling.

[Hans]

I completely agree with Paul regarding the camberspar versus roller furling.In my opinion a freestanding ( flexible) carbon mast is practically incompatible with a roller furling which requires a rigid headstay, esp. when furling under load. Most probable the roller won't function properly when the wind pipes up and you want to reduce headsail surface. There is no way you can combine a camperspar with a roller furling. The sailmaker Bierig made the original camberspar but stopped doing so. As fas as I know Paul Dennis took over all te parts. He is the one to ask. Good luck and safe sailing with your 45.

[Laisve]

Paul or Hans (or Geoff),
we have a Freedom 40/40 with the camberspar and jib traveller, but are not sure whether the way we connected the jib sheet is correct. Could you send a picture of your setup, i.e., how and through which block(s) the jib sheet is connected to the camberspar? Much appreciated!
Also, does anyone know where to get those bumper thingies at the ends on the jib traveller? Ours got knocked off and now the traveller car is getting chipped on tacks.

[RichR]

Thanks for the replies! I will make an inquiry to Warren. The bow pulpit mods may have messed up the spot for mounting the camberspar. FWIW, the boat has running backstays to help compensate for the furler/larger headsail. But they are a bit of a pain in their own way, too.

If going back to camberspar is untenable, I may be stuck just trying to clean up the present headsail arrangement. The lead from the deck to the combing-mounted winch is way to steep an angle, and balls up on the bottom of the winch.

Thanks!
Rich

[GeoffSchultz]

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[Laisve]

Thanks, Geoff, for the pics. So I see you have no jib traveller at all. The camberspar brochure on this site also doesn't mention a need for a jib traveller. Now I'm curious what it's supposed to add - a better downward angle control? Any ideas?

Also, is your non-skid original? Looks nice. Ours is starting to chip in places.

[RichR]

My boat also has an athwartships jib traveller. I was going to also ask if that was part of the standard/original setup? The block has been repurposed as a turning block for the boom furler's furling line.