Rigging on a megles c scow

[Vagabond131]

I just bought my very first sailboat. A 1990 Megles C Scow. However all the rigging seems to be there and right. However there’s a couple places where I’m not sure where rigging is going or how it attaches to whatever it attaches to. Does anyone know of a video a book that can teach me these things. Yes I’ve called the manufacturer and they said to look around on their website. I’ve found nothing there. I’m in northwest indiana an hour south of Chicago and hoping to find someone close to me that has one that I can learn from. Thank you

[Sailmonkey]

You aren’t kidding about the melges site!

This is the best I found with a quick search

https://wlyachtclub.org/content/diagram-c-scow

Other results here as well

https://www.google.com/search?q=c-sc...&client=safari

[Lemsteraak]

Hi Vagabond, that is a pretty advanced rig. Anyone would find it challenging to set up correctly. Racing skippers also don't make it easy when they make changes so, you will want to determine what is factory and what was changed.

I would start by finding an old book called "Royce's Sailing Illustrated". I seem to recall that they had the rig documented, and even if they don't have a scow, they have similar boats. You will want to start with the basics, the main controls like sheets, vang and then you can go sailing. The rest will become more clear as you become familiar with the boat.

There are some pages online. Here is a link, if you scroll down you will get to the scow. - https://books.google.com/books?id=CS...page&q&f=false

[Vagabond131]

Thank you. I will check out those two links

[Vagabond131]

Thanks again I will look for the royces illustration. I wish I had know how advanced that boat was before I bought it. But it was a hell of a buy anyway. But I agree that once I learn the main sheet and vang the rest will come in time. I’m not looking to race but to just learn how to sail before I decide if I want to get a much larger sailboat. Thanks again

[Lemsteraak]

Vagabond, I think you did the right thing, especially asking for rigging advice. My bro in law asked me to sail on his "new" Melges and he had some serious mistakes in the rigging but insisted I go. That is a powerful rig and we were on a high alpine lake so It was a challenge to sail her. I wasn't able to de-power the rig so we were severely over canvassed. The trick with performance dingies is to get them up on a plane. Once on top of the water, they have a great deal of stability. The trick it to get them there.

He has now progressed to very high performance NACRA cats. Scows will really teach you how to sail because they will spank you if you make a mistake. The lessons you learn will stand you well in larger boats. Many cruisers do not really use their sails well. I had a fellow who was going to sail around the world starting the next week on my racing keelboat. We were approaching the SF city front from the south and I told him to put on his foulies because we were going into an ebb "gale". He asked why I wasn't reefing, we never reef we flatten and depower the sails. He said he has never seen that done before. Racing is a great learning tool and racing boats have a lot to teach us. Master your scow and you can sail anything. Remember to always have you and your crew wear life jackets and let folks know where you are if you go long. If is stops being fun, come back in and try another day.

[Vagabond131]

Originally Posted by Lemsteraak

Vagabond, I think you did the right thing, especially asking for rigging advice. My bro in law asked me to sail on his "new" Melges and he had some serious mistakes in the rigging but insisted I go. That is a powerful rig and we were on a high alpine lake so It was a challenge to sail her. I wasn't able to de-power the rig so we were severely over canvassed. The trick with performance dingies is to get them up on a plane. Once on top of the water, they have a great deal of stability. The trick it to get them there.

He has now progressed to very high performance NACRA cats. Scows will really teach you how to sail because they will spank you if you make a mistake. The lessons you learn will stand you well in larger boats. Many cruisers do not really use their sails well. I had a fellow who was going to sail around the world starting the next week on my racing keelboat. We were approaching the SF city front from the south and I told him to put on his foulies because we were going into an ebb "gale". He asked why I wasn't reefing, we never reef we flatten and depower the sails. He said he has never seen that done before. Racing is a great learning tool and racing boats have a lot to teach us. Master your scow and you can sail anything. Remember to always have you and your crew wear life jackets and let folks know where you are if you go long. If is stops being fun, come back in and try another day.

Thanks for the pep talk and advice. I was starting to think I bought the wrong boat but what you said makes sense I wish I had a crew though so it’ll be just me. I’m sure I’ll find someone once I get out there in the spring to sail with. I’m sure it’ll be fun either way. Thanks again

[mholtzberg]

Down here in Apollo Beach we have a Melges E-Scow but, I have never heard of a C-Scow... And yes our E-Scow is confusing as !@#$ and there are split controls on either side of the cockpit. Our E-Scow looks like a giant surfboard on steroids. With a Main, Jib, and spin... they clocked it hitting 14knots. Which is crazy for a boat that has as much freeboard as a 420 .

Not a great boat to try and teach Sea Scouts how to sail on.

[hlev00]

Check out the wawasee yacht club https://sites.google.com/site/wawaseeyachtclub/


They don't have any active C-Scows but they do have a lot of E-Scows and are super friendly people. One of the active E-Scow or I-20 members may be close enough to you that you could recruit some help.


Have fun! The C-Scow is a blast to sail.
Harry