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Update: used some lubricant and another crow bar arrangement and was able to get the mast out. Culprits are either the wood plug or some screws that have worked themselves out a bit. With regard to the plug, that might be my fault. Prior to the season I had put a layer of fiberglass with epoxy around the outside since the plug had cracked. I will try to sand some of that off. I will reset the screws as well so that they do not come out.

I'm putting my C17 away for the winter and I am not able to lift the main mast out of the boat. I was able to pry it up about a half inch by using the sail track as a purchase point for a lever. I'm hesitant to put too much pressure, however, on that aluminum sail track. Not sure about the cause. Bottom cap to the mast has perhaps swelled up due to moisture? Has anyone experienced this before?

Thanks. I see what you mean. I'm going to try it. Thanks!!

I store my C17 on a boat lift at a lake. I have a custom cover that covers the cockpit, but I need to take the sails off their tracks along with the wood spars. Do any of you store your boat on a lift and if so, how do you handle (store) your sails? I've thought about just getting a sail cover that laces up the mast at the head of the sail, but those are typically designed with a boom in mind. Interested in ideas at this point since I want to get away from taking off the sails completely and then putting them on the sail tracks again. Thanks for your help.

I've looked for but cannot find the expected weight for the sprits on the core sound 17. When I did the conversion to the new sail plan, I had to make a new spar for the main sprit. I made it out of fir and now am wondering whether it is too heavy. It seems heavy anyway. Anybody ever weighed theirs? Mine weighs 5 lbs 12 oz.

Thanks for the help everybody. I think I have a good idea of what to do now.

I was putting on the main mast on my CS 17 and stepped back on to the seating area of the boat and heard a crack. See the damage below. It is on the step area just forward of the centerboard trunk. I was planning on sanding the area down and putting down a strip of fiberglass and epoxy and maybe wrap it around the edge. Any further ideas or advice for this repair?

Thank you both for your help. Everything appears solid below the crack, but I will also do some further investigating to make sure. What kind of trim piece would you recommend? I don't have the build instructions as I bought the boat second hand.

Thank you everybody for the advice.

Hi everybody. I'm putting my CS 17 away for the winter a little early to get at some deck painting that I want to do. I'm attaching a photo of crack on the topside of the bow that appears to run along the lines of the plywood as the two halves were constructed. I'm wondering whether this is a something I should address with some sort of filler or just paint it? I was thinking of 3 possible approaches: 1) Just paint over it and let the crack expand and contract as it wants. 2) Try filling it in a bit with some slightly thickened epoxy, then paint over it. 3) Maybe try filling it in a bit with something that can expand and contract ---maybe something like 3M 4200? Any ideas? Thank you.

This is probably a stupid question, but which way should the halyard be run throught the block at the top of the mast? A. Shackle attached to the head of the sail runs on the inside of the block--closest to the mast. B. Shackle attached on the head of the sail runs on the outside of the block --away from the mast. I've been having a some trouble with binding so maybe I'm creating tension somewhere. Up to now, I've had the halyard shackle go on the outside ---away from the mast.

Hirilonde and Paul356, thanks for the help. For now, I pieced together a epoxy glue-fiberglass strip kind of thing that I'm hoping will be ok for the races tomorrow. I think,however, that one of your ideas would be a more permanent fix that I will try to get to in the fall. I notice that whatever board I put in there will need to have a fair amount of bevel so it doesn't interfere with the way the pulley of the centerboard is at rest when in the up position (that is, centerboard down). I thank you both for your advice.

See attached picture to see what I'm looking to repair. Basically, over the years the centerboard has damaged the plywood after hundreds of slams into it from the centerboard going in the down position. I'm thinking of getting some epoxy between the de-laminated plywood layers, clamp together lightly (using wax paper to separate clamp from epoxied surfaces), and then overlaying with a strip of fiberglass later. What do you think?

In general, I like to keep the outboard motor off the boat and just sail without it. There are times, however, where I think it is a good thing to have on board. When I do have it attached to the mount, the head of the motor interferes with the rigging of the mizzen. So with every tack, I have to lift the mizzen sheets off and over the outboard. See the attached photo. Would there be any problem with me moving the sheet's attachment to the mizzen sprit forward (maybe 8 inches)? Right now it is about 2 or 3 inches from the stern end of the sprit. I also have wondered about moving the the two pulleys on the stern forward --the ones that anchor the mizzen sheet and sprit to the boat. aAs Would such a modification do any harm? I think the change would prevent the constant fouling with the outboard motor. Interested in the advice of those on the forum. As always, thanks for your help.

Hey Thrillsbe, I think a couple of things were at work. 1) for whatever reason, I think the wood was not good. Dry rot? Wrong type? I'm not sure. 2) We did have a fair amount of weight and there was a strong gust. But on the other hand that shouldn't make so much difference. 3) I wonder whether I was experiencing more helm than I should have? Perhaps I didn't have the rudder down all the way? Perhaps that could have created more pressure on the rudder and tiller and would make #2 and #1 above more important. Anyway, I just replaced the rudder halves with "select" pine from home depot. Just used the old tiller as a template. I raced 5 races this weekend and the tiller held up just fine. Thanks everybody for their help.

Home Depot has some select pine from New Zealand. Okay to use for the tiller? It's called Claymark Select Pine.

We had 4 guys in the boat---so a fair amount of weight. Moderate wind. We were going against the wind. Tiller broke during a gust. At the time, there didn't seem that there was a lot of pressure on the tiller.

A friend looked at it and thought it might be teak wood. Maybe not the right choice? Anyway, thank you guys for the help. Thanks also to Alan at B and B who replied to my email and offered more help come Monday. Nice to have a boat that has such good people behind it.

We had 4 guys in the boat---so a fair amount of weight. Moderate wind. We were going against the wind. Tiller broke during a gust. At the time, there didn't seem that there was a lot of pressure on the tiller.

My tiller broke today on my cs17 in the middle of the lake. Made a duck tape repair on the water and was able to let the wind blow us back to my side of the lake. Thankfully, the wind was blowing the right way. I bought this boat as the third owner, but I think it came with the plans so I should be able to re-make what I need for the repair. Wondering whether there are any updates to the design that might help me. Also wondiering about the wood choices. Wood that broke looks dark and slightly reddish. Mahogany? Are there any drop-in consumer replacements that I should consider? Does B and B sell the rudder/tiller assembly as a kit? Thanks in advance for your help. I'll attach some pictures.

Hi, I've been racing lately on my midwestern lake in minnesota with my CS 17. I've been getting beat badly. I really fall behind during the first leg to windward. I make plenty of mistakes, but I also don't know for sure how far to "sheet in". I found this picture of a CS 17 going windward. I haven't come anywhere close to sheeting in this tight. Is this how the boat should look going windward?

Thank you everybody for your advice. I'll try to put some of it into practice this weekend.

I see some CS 17's have installed topping lifts to hold up the aft end of each sprit. I assume this is mostly for getting the sprits off the bottom of the boat during storage? Are there any sailing benefits of the topping lift?

Thanks for this advice. I will probably have more questions down the road.

Any racing advice for someone who’s about to start a race in light air with My core Sound 17? I’m in the second day of racing. Had some trouble yesterday getting stuck when tacking. Wondering whether my weight should be forward since I’m going solo? I’m welcome to any other Css 17 sailing tips.