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New Weekender


Herschel Payne

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OK ! I see they did come out. Now for a question. One of the photos shows the sail as per the plans, however the boom is too low. I can't live with it that way.

The next photo shows the temporary modification to the sail to get the boom to an acceptable height. now I don't want to fool around with the mast and the shrouds etc. So, I would rather modify a new sail along the lines of the photo.

The dimensions will be: 106" for the luff going up the mast. The angle at the boom to the mast will be 75 degrees running along the foot of the sail for a total of 128"

So in effect the sail is holding up the boom and I will have the clearance. The only measurement I'm not sure of is the leech but I guess that is just a question of connecting the line from the top of the gaff to the foot of the sail.

Once again thank you all for all your help in this forum during the building process.

The boat took me 500 hours and 4 months. A special thank you to Frank

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Welll.....I know you say you don't want to yank the mast again, but Barry suggested I take another look at my mast box angle -- we ended up tipping it forward 3 degrees, and it made a world of difference in the boom height.  Might be worth checking out.  Here's the thread -- mast picture is at the end:

http://www.messing-about.com/forums/index.php?topic=7388.msg65378#msg65378

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I've only had mine out a half a dozen times so far, so I aint no expert, but I'd say go ahead and launch her.  I worried about the height of the boom so much that I actually raised it a few inches up the mast.  However, when I went sailing, I found that when the sail bellys out, the boom rises a fair amount.  Just guessing, but your mast angle looks pretty good.  I had to wedge mine forward a bit to knock down the weather helm.  I don't know if my sails came out perfect either.  I have a issue with pulling the main taught enough to stop the luff from flapping itself half to death.  But, she sails pretty good in spite of me. 

For sure, put a topping lift on it before you go out.  It will save your wood work. 

Nice boat.

Al

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I can't live with it that way.

Why?  Is it not as specified in the plans?

When a sailboat is designed well the location of the mast and the sail plan are a critical part of the design.  The performance of the boat depends on this.  I would talk to the designer before making sail shape changes.

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Okay, got it. 

Before I built my weekender, I went for a ride with Bill Paxtion on his.  I noticed that it was real tough for me to see traffic to leeward.  I also was worried about getting whacked by the boom because I have such a stiff back that I can't duck out of the way too easy.  Because of that I lifted my boom up oh maybe six or seven inches, I don't remember.  You could try that by unstepping your mast and putting a block of the height that you want to try in the bottom of your mast box.  I've heard that it makes your boat heel over too easy, but I couldn't vouch for that. 

This might a lot easier than reshaping your sail.  And if it doesn't work, you're not out much time or effort.

Al

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I will not add a block. I want to keep my center of gravity low. However, I will make a new sail with 106" length at the luff and a 75 degree angle at the foot. I figure that the sail will raise the boom when hoisted. Of course I realize that I will have less total sail area then 120 sq. feet. but I want the boom higher and there is a lot of wind here anyway, enough that one would think of reefing every other day.

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Your particular situation is difficult to access without considerably more information, but making up a topping lift to simulate the new boom height with these dimensions, is a reasonable idea. I'd suspect you really don't have to go to this trouble as a very slight adjustment in mast rake will lift the boom a great deal, but if you feel the need to lift it, then a topping lift to simulate the proposed changes and see how you feel about it. In reality (underway), the boom height isn't a concern except in course changes, when the boom crosses the cockpit. On these occasions, staying seated is a prudent decision and the experienced sailor is aware of the boom and it's likelihood of cockpit sweeping.

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