AD16 - Cool Change

[D2Maine]

nm

[ArizonaBuilder]

It has been a while since I have had an opportunity to get out sailing, with getting married and moving.
So yesterday, I finally made it out to the lake for a nice afternoon sail. The winds were up and it looked like a great day
for a sail. After motoring out to the middle of the lake it was time to raise the sail.

When I went to install the first sail slug, I noticed that the delrin tube had collapsed and the track opening for the slider was blocked. There was no way to raise the sail..



Now the question is how to fix the problem as sailing is out of the question until a solution is found.

Do I throw out the CF mast and boom and buy a dwyer mast? Sounds expensive.
Do I cut out the old track and replace with new tubing? Sounds like too much work.
or do I fill in the existing track with epoxy/flour combo and add an external sail track. So far my choice.

I am thinking about filling the existing sailtrack tube with an epoxy/flour mix. After it hardens I will flatten
out the top surface so I have a flat area to secure this SS sailtrack. Now how to secure the track. Are screws at
6" centers enough or should some type of epoxy/glue be used on the underside of the track?

http://www.sailrite.com/Sail-Track-Stai ... ot-Section

And I will need to change the sliders on the sail.

I sure need some help here.

[TomW]

AD I'd put some 5200 on the back side just for insurance. That way you will have a good seat along the entire length of the track and not at just every 6", I always play it cautious. It looks like that system would work well for you. Sorry the other one failed.

Tom

[AD16 The Opportunist]

Sorry to hear that , Terry... I Have replaced all the delrin tubes with some FG ones, of course the inner surface is smooth, not smoother than delrin but I can live with, I think your solution could be a good idea, but first try to slide out the delrin from one side, reduce the sides with a router(I think is epoxy/microballons) and fill the groove with epoxy thickened with woodflour and cottonfibers or woodflour/milled glass fibers (better)... I'm wondering only about the different hardware needed for an external sail track... trying to figure how much to cut away to have the main sail in the same position


BTW, cutting the sides with a router before filling, allows you to work on two already flat surfaces

[ks8]

If sailing is a high priority with the new Mrs. (congratulations! ), then I'd get the section of Dywer and sail during the daylight, while working out the other in the evenings, as time permits. Your boom should still be fine, though the gooseneck arrangement may need to be altered. A CF mast is nice, but I suggest letting the Mrs in on the decision to get a Dywer for this season, especially if it means the difference between using the boat or not for an entire season. A honeymoon season no less.

5200 sounds better for the back of that SS track. But get it right first time... last time.

[ArizonaBuilder]

Guys, thanks for the help..

Ks8, our sailing season here is actually starting to wind down. Once we start hitting June, July, August, the winds on the lake start to die and it gets awfully hot on the lake. However, it is a great time of year to head over to the ocean for some great sailing.. I am planning on the attending the small cruiser challenge in July in the great Pacific ocean. This will be my goal for completing the mast repair.

The new Mrs. and I are heading down to Key Largo in 3 weeks to stay at the Key Lime Sailing Club. We will have use of a 22' Catalina for the week. I am looking forward to sailing in the ocean, possibly catching some fish.

So I have some time over the next month to afix my repairs.

I will take some pics and post them as I complete the different stages of the repair.

[ArizonaBuilder]

Well one month short of two years and the repairs to the mast have been done and tested. Today
was what I would call a perfect sailing day. The temperature was 90 degrees sunny and the wind was blowing from 7 mph to 18.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to sail Cool Change when the wind is blowing.

When we made it out on the lake this morning the wind was fairly calm around 7 mph and Cool Change (CC) moved along at 2 - 3 mph. I very slow relaxing sail . This gave us time to settle into the sailing routine again. About an hour later the wind picked up and we were running downwind at 5 mph with the wind speedometer at 7 mph.. So I guess at that time the wind was blowing around 12 mph. It would have been really nice to have launched a spinnaker. Maybe in the near future.

Over the next couple of hours we had wind speeds averaging around 10 - 15 mph and CC moved along between 4-5 mph a very nice sail speed.

Bondo. You had asked if the AD14 was slow/medium. Lets say if you get some nice winds around 10 mph or higher you will really enjoy yourself. She will move along near hull speed. So I would say medium. The next question is how does this compare to other boats in the same size range. I guess the only way to find out is to sail with them.

After we had enjoyed ourselves for a couple of hours we decided to point the boat back up the lake toward the boat ramp. This meant sailing into the wind and tacking along the way. The wind again decided to pickup and blow around 15 mph, so I decided it was time to see how high I could point into the wind. I can't tell you an exact angle, but looking at the wind vane it was very good. Continued on next post.

[ArizonaBuilder]

Now the fun began when I decided to haul in the main sheet all the way. I could feel the boat picking up speed and heeling over between 20- 25 degrees. I was in my glory. The wife was a little intimidated when we were heeled over as she was on the high side and was worried about sliding off the seat. The dog our little beagle who was sleeping at this time was not amused when he started to slide over to the other side of the cockpit floor..

Bondo, no worries the AD points just fine and moves along well with the winds. I am totally happy with boat except for the lack of standing headroom and no shower.

Be prepared for chatting with fellow boats at the ramp about your boat.

[ArizonaBuilder]

During todays sail I decided to take some of the slack out of the downwind shrouds. So I had my wife handle the boat on different tacks while I took out some of the slack. This was fine on the lake but when trying to disconnect the shrouds from the chain plates later was near impossible now to the extra tightness. So I have decided that I really need a couple of Johnson quick release shroud levers to make connecting/disconnecting the shrouds less of a chore.

[gk108]

Could you get away with only one lever on the forestay?
Also, how did you resolve the sail track problem?