CS-20 MK 1 Number 36

[Don Silsbe]

I always reach for my sheets at the cleats.  There is never any doubt as to which I’m grabbing.

[Andy B]

I finally had some time to work on the boat today. 

First project was waterproofing the hatches.  We replaced the broken hatch latch.  This one screwed in easily, which means the earlier one was defective.  We also laid the new gasket liners in.  They just mash in there without silicone or anything else and get the job done.  I didn't test rigorously but poured a bit of water over them and the hatches stayed dry.

 

Next step was getting the masts in and starting to sort out the sprit riggings, the snotter and clew.  Getting the masts up was harder than I thought and took up a decent amount of my time.  The bases and tops of the masts are wood, not starboard.  The mizzen mast has swelled some so it wouldn't fit in the hole.  A trip to the store for a rasp file and then multiple times of shaving it down, trying to fit it in, and then shaving off more.  My back is sore, but good practice getting the masts up.  They are a lot heavier than my Sea Pearl masts!  I think in the future I need to build some sort of half circle to push against, like a pole vaulter.  Without than getting the masts up solo is an adventure.  I will need to get some starboard caps and bases from Alan in the future, the swelling has me worried that they could crack the aluminum or cause some corrosion, but this is okay for now.

 

Next I assembled the mizzen snotter assembly.  I still need to drill holes in the sprit for the eypad, but I think I have it now.  I'm not confident the sprits are long enough for this hardware but I need to give it a try before I decide for sure.  That's something even I can build.  The main thing from today was figuring out how it works, I have confidence now I can figure this out.

 

I did get the sails attached on, so the halyard and sailtracks work.  It was nice to see some sails up!  The blue and white is growing on me, I had thoughts of painting the hull a matching blue with the sails.

[PadrePoint]

You’ve got a good looking crew with you.

[Andy B]

I'm likely going to build some new sprits.  The ones I have are old-school, with the fork built into the forward end.  The plans call for sprit length of 10/ 7" for the main and 9/ 1" for the mizzen.

 

Assuming I am going to attach the snotter via hardware, what is everyone's recommendation for length for the sprits for the CS-20??

[Paul356]

Make the sprits longer than the plans call for.  As specked, they are likely to come up short when you hump them tight.  Someone else here had noted short sprits, so I made mine longer.  In fact, they're still just barely long enough when I pull the sails flat.  If I recall correctly, I made the mizzen sprit the length shown for the main, and the main correspondingly longer.  I should go measure them for you, I guess.  Alan or Graham may have updated measurements for you.  Just occurred to me that this could be because I ordered the full leech sails rather than the pure triangles.  Not sure at all.  In any event, you can always cut them shorter.  Just don't let the main sprit pull back so far it catches on the mizzen mast.

[Steve W]

I second what Paul said. I made mine longer on my 20.3 and I still couldn't get enough tension. I ended up repurposing the main sprit for the mizzen and making a longer one for the main. It's like haircut.....you can always take a little more off, but.......

[PadrePoint]

I had made both of my sprits long… and discovered that the mizzen sprit, with one reef, extended forward enough that it caught the mainsail during a tack and caused a lot of heeling for a moment. We didn’t capsize in the event but I did cut a few inches off each longer sprit. I tested whether this would occur again by rigging everything at home.  All is good… and I’m aware of that one unique possible problem.