Tobago Modifications

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Factor

Also worth remembering that a rotating rig should help with getting sails down when you arent directly into the wind. Which can help with reefing - ie slightly off the breeze with the headsail still driving you can feather the mast and have the ability to reef



I think Chris White discusses this in his Cruising Multihull book.



On the cat I had with a rotating rig, I had a couple of padyeses in the deck and small turnbuckles that enabled me to absoluturly lock the mast for just that reason.

I'm going to have a good set of battcars, so hopefully reefing on any point of sail should be OK. With or without a rotating rig, depending on which way I go.

The turnbuckle idea is a good one, I'll definitely take that onboard if I end up going rotating.

I've read that book, but don't remember reading about the nav lights, time to re-read again.

With your cat do you think the rotating rig was a worthwhile performance gain? Did you ever try to compare mast centred v mast rotating in the same conditions to see what the difference was?

[gramos]

Originally Posted by Nordic cat

I have been using a bow sprit for a number of years for the gennaker and Code 0.

I made the fitting on the forebeam, and the aft of the sprit, so that the sprit stays roughly horisontal, that is the reason for the odd shape of the sprit end fitting. The sprit is a piece of 80 mm carbon tube, end fittings in 316 ss.

I now have fixed 10 mm stainless steel stays, I have tried other solutions using Dyneema and blocks, but the blocks got damaged, and I didn't want to fork out 250€ for 2 good blocks... The length of the sprit is around a meter, so the sprit is stored on the seagull striker with the furler at the bottom.

To handle the forces pushing the forebeam back, it was neccesary to stiffen it. The way I chose was to mount a nearly horisontal "seagull striker" that could be mounted under the tramp netting, as I didn't want to have a fore/aft tube under the tramp in case one falls on it.
The wires are attached to the ends of the crossbeam, and the the wires tightened up. It's worked well, without this I was getting 3-4 cms aft flex in the crossbeam.

The stays are attached to the fittings on the outside of the bows a bit above the waterline as shown.

Cheers

Alan

hi ,alan i am finding this really interesting, a like minded soul into modifications . now , how do you tension the whisker stays once the bowsprit is dropped into position ? i have fitted a bowsprit and find it hard to get the right tension as its fixed but its 1 metre long forward of the crossbeam . also did you extend your old mast or buy new ? ,and is the s/tacking jib less powerfull on a beam/ close reach as it must be smaller in area than the original ? what sort of ball/ socket have you used at the mastfoot and lastly - how much faster is she now !

[Nordic cat]

Hi,

The stays self tension under load, that is why I made the prodder attachment so that it just hangs nearly horisontal. I can then attach the sail. I use the halyard to adjust the tension in the leading edge of the sail. When loaded up the prodder is around 10-15 degrees above the horisontal.

There seems to be a problem with CF as it doesn't let me use the quote function at the moment, so can't remember the other question, so I will reply seperately.

Cheers

Alan

[Nordic cat]

Originally Posted by gramos;189519[QUOTE

] also did you extend your old mast or buy new ?

,

It was a completely new mast with a propewr wing profile, the chord is 330 mm. Mast height is now 15.5 metres from the base. Area is around 45 m2 for the main. Nice roach and 7 battens.

and is the s/tacking jib less powerfull on a beam/ close reach as it must be smaller in area than the original ?

Yes it is, as originally there was a genoa around 120% with around 34 m2 area, now I have around 18-20 m2. The jib track limits the trim possibilities. I have made an attachment for a barber-haul on the stanchions, so can trim the jib better for beam reaching. In light winds I use a Code 0 on the prodder, this is around 43 m2.

what sort of ball/ socket have you used at the mastfoot and lastly - how much faster is she now !

[/QUOTE]


The ball/socket fiiting is a custom one made by Riggtech in Germany who made up the whole rig, stays and ordered the sails. The owner, Norbert Dittmer is a trained sailmaker as well, so he has made sure the sails are as he wanted them as well.


I have written a bit about the changes on another thread, see here:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...t-17678-3.html

See post 32 and a bit further.


cheers

Alan