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Securing equipment for travel


Reacher

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In particular, how to you secure the sprits  and tiller/rudder? I try tying the sprits with the sheets to hold them down, but not satisfied. Has anyone developed a clamping system? And I have been leaving the rudder in place, but it seems vulnerable to damage. I appreciate any suggestions.

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Not the greatest answer here, but I have a few hundred road miles under my wheels with the boat now.  So, here is how I do it:

  • masts are stored on deck resting on seat cushions that are tied down to the boat (Ilost one once on the highway). 
  • rags are wrapped around the masts to keep them from banging together.
  • Mast is tied to stern and bow cleats with no stretch line.  
  • mizzen sprit is left connected to mizzen sheet and laid on the port seat.
  • Main sprit is left connected to main sheet and laid on the starboard seat.  
  • Sails are stuffed in bow compartment. 
  • Oars tied down to seats
  • motor left on stern
  • tiller is put under starboard side of thwart with the blade sitting in the cockpit. 
  • bailer open if it is raining.  

Rigging time to launch is about 20 minutes from arrival at the ramp.  Be careful with how where the snotter, downhaul, and main halyard lines are when stepping the mast, as this is where I find I lose most of the time rerouting everything. 

 

I have dreams of making official mast carrying supports from 1X3, carpet, and plywood.  But, it has not been a priority. 

 

Good luck.  

David

 

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For short distances, just lashing the spars together will do, but for longer distances, you'll want some padding and things need to be well dogged and tidy, or it'll beat the finishes to death quickly (less than a few dozen high speed miles).

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For temporary trips, wrap the spars with this stuff, which is cheap, on a roll, waterproof and easy to apply, with packaging tape. This stuff is available at the big box store and is about 3.5" wide. The image below shows it's use. This boat travel about 120 miles with no damage. You can see the tape is applied over the foam, so it doesn't stick to the finishes.

 

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For more long term approaches, you'll want more serious padding, like indoor/outdoor carpeting, which I don't like that much, because it's so abrasive. Leather is a traditional choice and works well, but has it's issues too. The real key is a well thought out set of "chocks" to support all of the spars and other stuff, like the rudder. The rudder on this boat was carried in the truck. An ideal chock design will suspend the spars, so they can't touch each other, but most tend to band them together tightly, which I find causes abrasion which scuffs things. FWIW . . .

 

 

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I use foam pipe insulation and bungee cords and secure the sprits parallel to the mast.  The main mast is on a tabernacle and use a crutch in the mizzenmast step tube.  The mizzenmast lays parallel to the main mast on the aft crutch and a little hook on the main tabernacle.    I leave the snotter attached to the sprit.   The rudder is in the cockpit on eyebolts through the mast crutch.  Knock on wood no damage yet!  Our CS20.3 has a streak of gypsy and wanders quite a bit, we can generally rig in 10 minutes and be underway.  

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1 hour ago, Thrillsbe said:

 Eacher-- which boat do you have?  It makes a difference.

Core Sound 20. Original version. No tabernacle so the masts ride on crutches. Based on earlier responses I bought some pipe insulation today for sprits. Tiller rudder is a tough fit in the cockpit and I don't want it bouncing around while trailering.

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My rudder just lays in the bottom of the boat with the tiller attached.  (One of these days I'm going to sew up a cover for it.). My sprits also lay in the bottom of the boat, but they get some padding.  I bought a large diameter swimming noodle, and cut off four 3" lengths.  I stick these on each ends of the sprits.  Keeps them from hurting anything and vice versa.  Hope that helps.

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I have towed everywhere with the rudder on the transom for 50 years without issues to the rudder. I have had my share of trailer problems though. That is seriously a lot of miles. My worst incident was when the draw bar broke at 60 mph allowing the trailer to go awol, the catamaran hit a gum tree and took 4 feet off of the port bow causing the rig to rotate the aft starboard hull aft into a big fence. My only consolation was that one was hurt and no collateral damage. I recall that the rudders survived. She was rebuilt and turned into a very successful boat, not to mention getting a better trailer.

 

My reason for leaving the rudder in place is that I wan't to keep set up and break down to a minimum. Carlita's setup is getting better with time. My only aggravation left is to make a pair of padded crutches to carry my sprits on top of the masts like Jay does. I have been lashing them to the trailer with padding. It is safe and secure but tedious. 

 

I considered making a box on the trailer to carry them but sitting the sprits on the masts keeps them close to where they are used. A spiral wrap bungee will also corral loose halyards and keep the companionway clear.

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I was just sailing on the Chesapeake a week and a half ago and watching the 7 boats rigging and unrigging was informational. There were five Joel White Marsh Cats and each guy had a different system. So launch varied from 30 minutes to an hour. The differences were specialized cradles and whether they took the rudder off and where items were stowed, etc. All in all it was fun to watch.

 

I like to take each boat I have and rig and un-rig on the trailer next to my shop. And then think how each step slows you down and what you can do to make it faster. As an example, 1. my outboard motor has a safety lanyard that has a snap shackle that clips to my Sea Pearl. It takes a second to un-clip it when I used to tie a knot. 2. The masts will mar up the interior stern of the boat so I made a carpet pad that is held captive and slips on in a second, when I used to tie on a towel.

 

Both of these steps probably save only 30 seconds each, but there are many other steps that together probably save me 10 minutes total. That's loading and unloading. 20 minutes of lost sailing time. If you are retired and in no hurry, no biggie. But if just getting sailing is a challenge I can't waste 20 minutes of sailing time.

 

Bonus.....a pic of my Sassafras river trip. 591dd6a046e71_DSCN2426(002).thumb.JPG.1c364ad4d79d1b841a805b59075daa7a.JPG

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On Summer Breeze, I leave the sprits attached to the snotter and topping lift. To raise, I just lift and pin the masts in place (They are both in tabernacles.), then release the topping lift to lower the sprits, hook up the sheets, and put on the sails. a few bungees around sprit and mast when lowered secures it all. Mizzen lowers into a crutch on the side of the main tabernacle, and the main lowers onto a boom gallow. The only aggravation is feeding the sail slides (slugs) in place. The rudder is left on, but has a safety lanyard to hold the blade up.

 

Gotta be sure that the sprits don't flop over to the wrong side of the masts as they are raised. Yes Vern, this can happen!

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The super-fast rig time is one reason I love this rig. I swear that my Wayfarer took a full hour to rig.  The only consolation was, at my reservoir in the Appalachian foothills, that people would pull up beside me, and shout "you goin' fishin'?"  I would just smile and say "no, I'm goin' SAILING!"  I got a nice assortment of confused looks.

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On 5/18/2017 at 10:44 AM, Designer said:

 

 

I considered making a box on the trailer to carry them but sitting the sprits on the masts keeps them close to where they are used. A spiral wrap bungee will also corral loose halyards and keep the companionway clear.

Normally, I agree with Graham, but let me tell you a story, in case you start thinking about boxes on your trailer for spars. Many moons ago, my brother had a sailboard-- a Mossberg Mallard.  He thought it would be clever to make a box on the trailer for storing the spars.  He hinged it at the rear, and secured ithe door with a hasp.    While trailering it, the door became undone, and the mast disappeared forever. We had a devil of a time getting a replacement, due to the odd rig on this boat.  Because of this, I prefer to have my spars either 1) where I can see them, or 2) in the hold.

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Just back from the FL120 here is my rig ready to hit the road last week. Crutches at main and mizzen mast steps and a gudgeon mounted crutch on the transom. I wrap my sails around the mast leaving all halyards in place ( my sail battens are vertical instead of traditional horz, just enough to keep the roach open in light air). Canvas sleeves are pulled over mast to keep sails clean and lines contained. Mast are laid in crutches and sprits laid on top and bungee corded at each crutch. Boat is held to trailer with 2*4 cross bars that extend far enough beyond the hull to keep ratchets and straps from touching the hull. Normally I only use the aft cross bar unless traveling long distances or carrying kayaks on top.

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