Main fitting....

[paxfish 5]

Howdy Gentlemen.

 

Spring is slowly breaking out here in Maryland, and in between gale force winds, I managed to find a couple of hours of 8 to 10 knot winds over the weekend.

 

So I raised the new main and started working out sail controls.   I still need to rig a proper Cunningham, and with very little room for a 4:1 purchase, your creative solutions are solicited as always.

 

Here's a short video:   https://youtu.be/HiM7VGZqfiQ

 

I was encouraged by the shape in the upper 2/3rds.  

Upwind seemed much more powerful and generally the shape was decent.

The simple pultruded battens look like they will work out.

The boom I built last month seems great, though I still need to add the tack reefing tackle.

Visibility with the lower foot, as predicted, is reduced.

Still gotta figure out an easy flaking/lazy jack/ mack Pack rig.   Ease of use is critical for us.

Excessive weather helm on the wind remains an issue, and I am hopeful that the Cunningham will alleviate this.   If not, I will be shortening the forestay to reduce mast rake.

 

I appreciate the board's encouragement to take a chance on this sail.   I think it is going to work well.  As interest, it was originally built for a hot-rod F-31R in Chicago called Cheekee Monkee.

 

[Ed 143]

Looks really good,

 

Couple of suggestions:

 

For the Cunningham, do what Cunningham did and put in another cringle 250mm above the tack of the sail.

 

Make sure your main halyard is decent low stretch rope, ideally 2:1 and going to a decent clutch, otherwise the sail will drop slightly under load and you'll loose Cunningham tension and associated travel.

 

Looks like you could do with another slug towards the bottom of the sail, outhaul tension is going nowhere. Maybe tie a loop through the reefing eye around the mast for a quick fix

 

If the visibility becomes an issue, consider cutting the foot of the sail horizontal, won't make a massive difference to the power you have, and will make Cunningham adjustment much easier.

 

Be careful shortening the forestay, you may find the main starts to push the bows down.

 

How easy is the boom to detach? Could you move it off of the beam and onto a temporary point on the mast to flake the sail onto at the end of the day?

 

Unfortunately, when the boat isn't originally designed to have a big roach main, a bit of weather helm is inevitable as the centre of pressure moves back in the boat.

You just need a bigger headsail

 

If you are going downwind with too much weather helm, put some board down. Lee helm, lift the boards

[Black Panther 1,584]

I was carrying around a bit more helm than I really like, then after a couple of years pulled the outhaul on. Most of it disappeared.

I'd do nothing drastic till you finish playing with the sails.

[Freedom GBE 27]

Longer centre boards, a large code 0. 

 

Always keep a good look out below.

[paxfish 5]

GREAT IDEAS there, Guys!   I'm gonna try them all.

 

As interest, this boat was designed for a big roach main (massive roach).   The new sail has less roach as in the pic/overlay below.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Atw2LhI.jpg

 

Ed:

I added another slug down low - might add yet another.  I also re-positioned the top slug which should get me four more inches of hoist.

I have new halyard lines to fit - replacing sta-set (4%) with Sta-set-X (1.5 % stretch)

Halyard is 2:1

Halyard Ties off to a cleat - will consider a clutch.  I have no winch on the mast BTW.   The whole thing is predicated on getting a good hoist and tightening up with the Cunningham.

Cringle is a good idea.  I mounted a turning block at the base of the mast yesterday, and will try to mount the Cunningham higher as well.

Yes - I can move the boom up at the end of the day and am leaving that loop there for now.

GREAT comment about the Lee helm downwind.  I come from Hobie 16s, and had no idea this would be a fix when things get squirrelly down wind!

Rudders are halfway down, which might be contributing to weather helm..  I did that because I broke a rudder and two cassettes last year.   They raked forward well, but become unstable at high speeds.   I "carboned-up" the cassettes this year, but am still leery of dropping the blades all the way at speed.   At some point, I'm gonna have to build a mold and make new blades I think.

 

Black Panther - Gotcha and good advice.

 

Freedom  - Yeah - longer boards...  another mold to build! 

With regard to the code zero - it is in the works.   Now that the prodder is built and installed, the furler in hand, it remains only to figure out exactly what the code zero should look like.  Almost certainly, it will move my CE forward and alleviate the balance issue.

 

possible shape:  http://i.imgur.com/jID4NnI.jpg

 

As always, Guys, thanks a LOT!

[paxfish 5]

Thanks again for your help guys.   I've been sailing for a long time, but always with sail controls that someone else designed!   This new sail is very promising but has some unique challenges...

 

Here's where I am so far.  https://youtu.be/737kAYYHUTQ

 

I have a reasonable Cunning ham rigged up using the 1st reef cringle and turned down to a block up to the tack.  .  Gonna have to figure out how to actually reef though

 

Any tricks for tightening the battens?   I do not have adjustable batten cars and the aft end uses velcro pockets.    The sail has a little wrinkles right up by the batten cars.

[ScottiE 174]

I looked over another turissimo at the weekend and they were able to turn their cunningham onto the boom (cheek block was on the mast from memory) and could then use the boom mounted winch to crank on it seemed to work well for them.  Looks like you'd have enough height between tack and 'gooseneck' to look at that as an opton?

[paxfish 5]

Thanks Scotti.  I think I'm good for Cunningham on full sail now.  Reefed is another matter!  But I'll get a couple of beers and drink about it for awhile.

 

Though perhaps that is part of the issue.....nah!

 

I have noticed that with the boom on the crossbean that the mast tends not to rotate as much as it used to - especially when the outhaul is cranked.   That might be a good thing.   Easing the outhaul should help the mast rotate more, which is desirable I think.