You don't have to spend a lot of money to make your old boat run more efficiently
6 DIY tips to make your boat sail better
One of the great things about small boats is that they don't cost a lot of money. They are affordable, you can do most of the maintenance yourself, and you can leave them at home during the winter.
That's how Dave Carruthers and his Evolution 19 work. scorpionHe found it in Kent and towed it to Poole and drove it home. He now spends his winters on the road and his summers on a dry mooring at a local sailing club.
Like many small cruisers over 25 years old, this Evolution had become what local sailmakers describe as a “bitzer boat.” In other words, it was made up of bits and pieces of this and that.
Have you ever wondered how to make a rope? Check out our video on traditional rope walking equipment.
The previous owner had gotten the sails from various places, so when Dave assembled it and started sailing, it worked OK, but he suspected that everything wasn't as it should be. I held it.
Curious to find out what he tried, I went on a voyage with him to see what it was all about.
1) Set up your rig correctly
Like many boats dedicated to or primarily used for cruising, the Evolution's rig lacked tension.
This is especially important on fractional sweep spreader rigs, as the leeward cap shroud plays an important supporting role.
When the mast loosens, the mast essentially hinges around the upwind cap, putting rotational forces on neither the mast nor the spreader for which they were designed.
You can also use a rig tension gauge on the mooring line to check accuracy, but a simple check is if the rigging doesn't feel tight, it's too loose.
Another problem here was bending backwards. Instead of bending forward in the middle, the mast curved backwards. This is alarming. This is because without the forward lower part or baby stays to support it, the midsection of the mast could gradually bend backwards and eventually cause the entire rig to collapse.
This is especially true on boats with masthead rigs and inline (non-swept) spreaders, sailing with just the headsail and no mainsail to resist mast deflection.
Many boats with fractional rigs are not equipped with baby stays or forward lowers, so it is important to set up the rig with the center bent forward.
In addition to preventing flipping, this “correct” bend also gives the sail a better shape. The mainsail, as it is known, is cut with a slightly rounded luff to accommodate the pre-bend (a bend caused without the aid of the backstay), and when the backstay is tensioned to increase the bend. The sail flattens in strong winds.
If the mast bends in the wrong direction, it will add bulge to the sail, especially towards the luff, and instead of contributing to forward propulsion, the sail will encourage the boat to heel up and go sideways. . Sagging caps can also lead to excessive sagging in the forestay and too much headsail.
Under adjustment scorpion's The rig was very simple. I turned the bottle screw on the cap shroud several times, and the bottom he turned a turn or two. This significantly increased the tension on the cap, causing it to pull.
Adjust the mast to the correct shape.
Problem: here
Mast bent the wrong way – center aft
solution:
Tighten the cap and loosen the bottom to get the correct bend.
2) Renovation of headsail sheet system
Despite the Evolution's small size, there's no use trying to use a headsail seating system designed for a fraction of the dinghy's weight.upon scorpionthe seat was led directly to a plastic fairlead with an integral rotating cam cleat on a plastic track.
This kind of arrangement is not designed to handle loads. With the fairlead at her 90 degree angle to the seat there is too much friction and the weight on the seat will constantly pull the cam cleat to the front end of its travel.
Trimming the sails in the wind was a difficult task.
Another problem was that the tracks were mounted too far back. Even though the tack was raised above the drum by a long tack strip, the fairlead had to be right at the forward end of the track without the sail's leaf. Reefing the sail can cause excessive twisting as the sheet lead cannot move forward any further.
My suggestion is to add an appropriate length of track (about 1.5 meters/5 feet) on each side to accommodate a short-legged headsail, in case Dave gets one in the future. The idea was to extend it far enough forward (at least to the chain plate). The sheet passes through the vehicle on the track and reaches a small winch at the stern and a cleat near the helm.
Dave often sails shorthanded, and sometimes solo, so making the sails as easy to maneuver as possible was a top priority.
Over the winter he went shopping and found a Lewmar No6 winch on eBay for £57. The local Chandler had an old stock Burton truck and supplemented it with new lengths and some end he caps.
Another eBay session netted me two Genoa cars, and after getting all the nuts and bolts I needed, I ended up spending just under £190 in total. This was less than half the cost of a new car. Dave then used his engineering skills to cam separate his cleats from the fairlead and attach them directly to old nylons on his truck so they could rotate as needed.
Problem: The headsail sheet was led directly to a dinghy-style fairlead with an integral cam cleat on a plastic track, making it difficult to trim the sail under load.
Solution: Added longer tracks. The sheet runs aft to the winch and then to the cleat near the tiller.
3) Avoid wrapping the halyard around the headsail furling drum
The Genoa is one of the “bitser” elements of the Scorpion and almost certainly came from another boat.
Due to the very low aspect ratio, long foot section and short hoist section, the head is well below the top of the head foil.
The very short luff means a few feet of halyard above the top swivel runs parallel to the head foil. As soon as the headfoil begins to rotate, there is a risk that the slight friction of the swivel will cause the headfoil to also rotate as the sail rolls or reefs, causing the halyard to wrap around the headfoil.
Some furling systems e.g. scorpionthere is a deflector plate at the top to ensure that the halyard is connected to the top swivel at an angle to the head foil, but this is only effective if the swivel is close to the bottom of the deflector.
like a short hoist headsail scorpion'sAll you need to do is place a strip between the head of the sail and the swivel to position the swivel near the top of the headfoil. That way the halyard will not wrap around the head foil.
The line length was too long, but it worked temporarily.
Problem: Here the sail is tied to the top swivel several feet below the top of the headfoil. White plastic deflector plates designed to prevent halyard wrap are useless in this situation.
Solution: Add a strip to the head of the sail to minimize the distance between the top swivel and the deflector or halyard sheave.
4) Hoisting the main sail
Something as simple as attaching a halyard to the head of the mainsail may seem so routine that you don't need to think about it, but some methods make more sense than others.
upon scorpionThe halyard was attached with a bowline to a captive (and captive pin) shackle sized not to be out of place on a 45-foot ship. It was a waste of heavy and expensive stainless steel.
Another thing to consider here is that the shackles and the bow line between them are now several inches long. This means that the head of the sail is well below the masthead sheave.
On such a small cruiser, it makes sense to completely omit the shackle. You can save weight in the air and potentially achieve greater luff tension by increasing the amount of hoisting by an inch or so, especially if the sail is close to its maximum luff length.
There are many ways to attach a rope halyard directly to the sail, but here we will introduce a simple and widely used method.
First, tie a figure eight at the end to avoid losing it in the mast in the worst case scenario. (Some people prefer to use plastic balls). Next, feed the bight through the hole in the headboard, leaving the working end (with the knot/ball) long enough to pass the bight past the headboard.
Just take the slack out of the standing part of the bite and you're done. Among dinghy sailors, this is probably the most common method of installing a halyard.
Situation – Halyard tied with a bowknot to a large shackle
An easy alternative to not using a shackle – tie a figure 8 at the end and thread the bight through the headboard
Thread the figure 8 through the bend, tighten the bend, and you're done: simple, lightweight, space-saving
5) Trimming the mainsail
main sail is on scorpion This was another “sinister” element, as the number and angle of the battens suggested they had been cut from the craggy sails of a dinghy catamaran. The mainsail built for the Evolution 19 has fewer than six full-length battens.
The fit was fine and the set wasn't too bad, but they needed to be flatter in active sail situations. Our problem was that Crewe's outhaul was a huge failure.
Loose sail claws should be held down with a strap around the boom or a piece of metal in the groove. It also requires an outhaul to pull directly aft along the boom.
In this example, the metal slug had been replaced by a plastic luff slide, which was not designed to carry such loads. It doesn't slip and can break at any time. A lot of space was also wasted between the crew and the block providing his 2:1 purchase of outhaul.
As a temporary measure, I used a long line to serve the downward component instead of the plastic slide, mounted it around the boom and sorted out the outhaul placement with the help of a small spare shackle. , allowing greater tension to be achieved. feet.
Problem – Outhaul arrangements for this crew are not working properly
Solution – Strap around the boom makes it safer and more functional
6) Improvement of kicking strap
The kicking strap was working and no emergency action was required.
However, it was attached to the mast step with two shackles. One of his purchases was not only noticeably larger in size, but he also aligned the bottom block of his purchase so that the pulley axis was horizontal.
As a result, the line was unfairly ejected, with the port deck organizer subsequently being ejected aft over the coachroof.
bypass the jammer
I moved the giant shackle to the spare box and used the second smaller shackle to attach the block. Removing one shackle also rotated the sheave for better line exit, but it still wasn't perfect as the lower block had his V-jammer built in between his two sheaves .
Bypassing the jammer meant that the line was rubbing against the bottom of the jammer, but not in a way that would be fatal. Ideally, a jammer-free block would be used instead.
Problem – Two shackles were used to secure the kicking strap to the mast step. The lower shackle was huge and unnecessary.
Solution – Here I removed the larger shackle and used only the smaller shackle. This aligned the blocks more accurately.
verdict
A few simple adjustments can make a big difference in the safety, performance, and handling of your boat. Most of the things we did cost nothing or very little.
In some cases, we removed unnecessary hardware. On others there was room to spend a few pounds to improve the temporary lash-up, but the only item that cost a lot of money was the placement of the headsail sheet.
Still, it wasn't an expensive undertaking for a significant improvement.
Read 6 DIY tips to make your boat sail better.
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