Jaysen's Helms 24

[Jaysen]

1. I KNOW the cart is not in the correct location for the jib. It was fixed on the dock.
2. I also KNOW the jib trim would get me kicked off every boat ever floated on the salty water.
3. I do KNOW that main would have been a nicer balance, but I discovered that I only have one usable reef leaving 90% of main up when reefed.
4. Tony would be impressed to KNOW that with winds steady at 15 gusting to 25 I only flew the sail I knew I could get down without leaving my inexperienced wife in holding a tiller wondering what to do with it.

My wife was less than helpful with her video. I have about 15min of the back of the dog's head. This is the only actual video of us sailing.
https://youtu.be/zKAuhfgyi7w

My initial impressions...

• Good god she's fast! I had 6kn on my GPS with just the jib. Max heel was 15° but that was in a gust. She hardens up at 10° and hauls adz at 12°
• This boat is much more nimble under sail than motor. I think it has to do with the motor offset and location relative to the rudder.
• She's very forgiving of everything but missing the end of the chains on a tack. I kept getting backwinded with just the jib up because I missed the actual wind direction (we were in the shadow of that bridge and a point of land).
• While the halyards and sheets are trimmed to the minimum, there is way too much crap underfoot in the cockpit. I may need to move the main halyard up to the mast.
• The stupid winches are in the wrong stupid location for where the sheet car needs to go. The gib that is on there now (100) needs the carts to go 3 feet behind the winches. I can't imagine how a 120 or 150 would work... use the spin blocks?
• She backs up wonderfully now that we understand how she works. The trick is to get all the weight on the port side to get about 5° port heel and back she goes. The better answer is a longer throw on the lifter, but that requires money (which requires job).
  
  All in all I'm very happy with today. Next trip out will be mainsail only so I can get used to tack, gybe, points of sail to wind and helm. If that goes as well as today we may wind up with full canvas out to see what she will do fully spread.

[Jaysen]

When I replace the jib winter/next year I’ll have a proper UV strip sewn in. This jib isn’t long for the working world.

I may have covered this already but I bought some fabric and used my mother-in-laws 50 year old sears sewing machine and added a UV strip to my quite old jib. Ain't pretty, but it works and saved me at least a grand for a few years.

1. Mrs is currently forbidding me from touching her sewing stuff. Long story short... she hates asking me to load the bobbins for her. Don't ask.
2. The jib is pretty close to "dead on the stay" already. Very thin with a lot of mini-holes starting to show. Especially at the head where the algae is really stubborn.
3. Based on the cart problem I think I need to lower the foot to get proper sail shape. This one feels very "Yankee cut" to me. The clew is about 4' off the deck vs the 6-12" I'm used to seeing. This furthers my opinion that this sail may not be long for this boat...

[Jeff]

Congrats Jaysen!!! Looks like a really good day!!! Jeff

[VT_Jeff]

If you're hitting 6kt with just the jib then you are stoked! Interested in how she'll point under jib alone. The fact that you are finding her fast and nimble is really great news, you seemed sure she'd be a pig.

That luffing upper leech is nothing but a fisherman's reef, great technique to avoid too much heel. Well done.

10-4 on the disposable jib, got to know when to cut losses and not lipstick the pig.

Excited for you, keep the updates coming!

[TomW1]

Nice report Jaysen. Sounds like you had some fun.

Tom

[terrulian]

Big fun, my man.
BTW, I think you mean the jib "cars" not "carts" unless there's a local variation.
I'd love to see a photo or two of the layout of the tracks for the jib cars and their relation to the winches. It is possible, I suppose, that the previous owner had everything set up ass-backwards, but maybe there was method to his madness. I love sorting out running rigging stuff. This time in boat ownership is probably my favorite, when everything's new and you're dialing it in.
Not sure about the wrinkle at the tack of the jib, but I suspect you're right, it's the location of the cars. A lot of this is just messing around with your boat and seeing how you'd like everything set up. There are no absolutes but maybe we can save you some time and help you avoid the worst of it.

Yes, I think we understand now that you weren't planning on using shackles except when stowing the jib; nothing wrong with that.

[Jaysen]

My phone hates me. Should be “cars”. Only took 5 time to get the one in quotes correct.

Here are pics of the rail and car on port. Starboard is the same.




The more I sit and pretend to sail today, the more I think the winch placement is wrong for single/short hand sailing. Seems to me that they need to move aft about 24” to allow manipulation from tiller.

The existing car position would work with a lower foot. Later in the sail yesterday I was able to get a much better shape everywhere except the foot. The foot was always poorly shaped. No tension on it at all. My experience is that then you can’t get the foot tight move the car back. When you can’t get the leech tight move car forward. I have plenty of space to move the car but now I’m loading the winch backwards (in my mind).

I’m also thinking that I could just drop a second set of winches aft of the existing ones and make this boat a true frankenboat.

[cape man]

Great stuff Jaysen! Keep posting.

[Jaysen]

I’m going to start my new washboards and trim. I’m using 1/2” meranti. I’ve my measurements based on current configuration.

My plan is to create a basic lofting on the sheet of ply and cut the trim base layer and washboards as one piece. I’ll separate the washboards via 45deg angled cut. That will ensure that water is moved to the outside of the boards.

The sad part is that I have to do this with a jig saw. I’m wondering how much gap I should build in to accommodate environmental change of the wood. The saw kerf is 1/16 making 1/8. From that I’ll need to account for epoxy and topcoat. I’m less worried about the washboard/washboard junction but the edge to trim.

Will be adding spacers between the trim backing and the cabin bulkhead for drainage and to prevent binding.

I don’t think plywood moved much on any axis but would like some confirmation from those more experienced.

[Jaysen]

If y’all recall I made a trip to get some supplies from BBC. Jeff tossed some cardboard in the trailer and I held onto it. That was a smart thing as I grabbed a piece to practice lifting from my measurements. I’ll cut it out. A bit later to test fit tomorrow.


After our little sail yesterday Mrs may have suggested we consider a look at Piacere as if we need to sell the house (equity would cover asking). I sure hope she’s joking.

This is Piacere