Tweaking the rig

I have been sailing twice more.  Both days were beautiful, one was with a good friend, and the other was solo.  I am constantly tweaking the rig and continuing to discuss it here, as I wrestle with sailing this boat solo (she sails great with a crewmember).  Shes kind of beating me up, but in a good learning-curve kind of way.  Each time solo, I understand her better, rig her better, underestimate her less, and am having more and more fun.  Its summer, the water is warm, and now is the time to push it, so I can be safe when further from shore or when the weather goes bad.  This is the time to answer the big questions.

Next week will see some changes to the rig, some slight work done, and hopefully a good day with honking wind to experiment with.

No camera on the past two trips.  Too bad too, I had a great picnic anchored below some towering white pines in a nice breeze on a beautiful summer day.  Next time!

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Beneteau 423 Rig Conversion

Now that weve had the boat for a couple of weeks and Ive been able to dig deeper into the systems and construction of the Finisterra and Im able to start putting together a serious to-do list. Our purpose is to outfit the boat for long distance cruising so the number one item on the list is to lose the in-mast furling system. There are two basic ways to go about this. The easiest is to simply pull the roller furling main out of the mast, put slides on it and run it up the luff groove that is built into the mast. The other option is to chuck the entire roller furling (RF) mast and sail, and buy a new rig. Of course there are a few options between those two extremes, but they arent worth talking about.

Beneteau 423 close reaching under a 140% jib and RF main

After pondering the alternatives and doing the math, we chose to go all the way and put a new rig in the boat. Youre probably wondering why someone would take a perfectly good rig out of a boat and exchange it for something that is usually more work to set trim and douse. My answer is that RF mains work well for many things, but they can fail in ways that could be inconvenient at best and dangerous in some circumstances. They also cant deliver the performance that a full battened main can. In terms of danger, all you have to do is visit the B423 message board to read about a range of problems people have had with their RF main sails. Sails jammed in the slot, batten pockets torn, more jammed sails, maintenance issues on the furling system, etc. Dont misunderstand me, most B423 owners seem to love their RF main sails and have very few problems with them. But if youre planning for offshore cruising to remote places with a shorthanded crew, you want your rig to be 100% manageable in all conditions. So its out with the furling rig.

As it turns out, we can do the conversion for a very reasonable price if we manage it well. US Spars, the company that built the original B423 rigs happens to have some mast extrusions left over from the production days, and agreed to build a new classic rig for us at a very attractive price. We found a local rigger here in SoCal who will take the old rig on consignment and we can surely sell the sail at Minneys, our local marine surplus store. So with the new rig, modifying the boom and buying a new mainsail, I estimate that the entire project will cost around $15.000.

423 with classic main and stackpack

We will include a Battcar system, lazyjacks and a Stackpack to make sail handling easy. With full battens the sail falls neatly into the pack, eliminating the whole flaking exercise. More importantly, the sail can be reliably reefed in all conditions. Ill keep you posted on the progress for this project.

Mainsail neatly stowed. 

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Side bar scales Fun Factor and Money Spent are totalled and explained

So on the left of the blog I have the "Fun Factor" and the "Money Spent" list.

I have totaled them up today in a completely unscientific fashion that will mystify some if they attempt to replicate my results, annoy others, or make others feel really really good about themselves.

First up, the Fun Factor.

Out of a possible of 240 points, building the Goat Island Skiff got 175 points, leaving it in the exclamation point (!) zone, but not as high as I would have liked to see it.  Overall the entire process was immensely satisfying, as it was emotional and frustrating.  On the whole since it averaged out in the 7! zone, it was fun.  But not FUN!  Thats OK.  Stuff doesnt have to be fun all the time to be rewarding, and the fun Im going to get out of this boat over the next few years will far overshadow any kind of frustration from the past year.  The learning curve aspect is also not included in the Fun Factor, and this is a shame, because I went into this project knowing absolutely nothing at all about boat building, and came out actually a lot more knowledgeable than I thought I would have.  This is a good thing.  Learning is good.  Look at some of my previous posts like this one to see how far Ive really come.  I mean, wow.  So in summary, the boat was fun to build, but it was fun like going to college was fun, the sex and the beer but also the exams and the papers and the thesis, but then feeling good afterwards!  So fun.

Second up, Money Spent.

Ok, this list is fraught with conservatism that does not reflect my situation in the least.  It was my honest attempt to track every penny I spent on this boat, but that went out the window fairly quickly.  I have compiled, therefor, a list of the materials as I mostly originally spent on them.  For instance, I got three deckplates for relatively cheap.  Well, they were cheap.  So they got upgraded to more expensive deckplates.  This upgrade is not reflected in the list.  There are other products like this also in place.

Im sorry about that, but the list in "Money Spent" is probably, by far, the LOWEST you could possibly spend, buying crappy deckplates and such.  Ive already upgraded much of the line in the boat, bought useless line, bought tons of hardware that mysteriously didnt get used, amongst other issues.  Therefor, a more realistic target for me, is the $3500+ number.

I will say:  The glue is accurate, the lumber is accurate, the paint, primer, varnish are accurate, as well as the sail (minus modifications).

So there you have it for comparison purposes on your own Goat Island Skiff project. 

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X Yachts XC 38 Review

Over the last thirty years or more, X-Yachts has created a reputation for building fast, high quality sailboats that have won major regattas in both the old and new worlds. In recent years they have broadened their product lines to include all-out cruising yachts, as opposed to the racer-cruisers they have built their fine reputation on. I think Niels Jeppesen has been the chief designer for the company since it was founded around 1979, and he has produced a long and successful string of what I consider conservatively aggressive sailing yachts. Their cruising boat line carries the designation "XC" and the  XC-38 is the smallest in that line.

XC-38: Conservative proportions coupled with a powerful rig.

 Ive always liked the juxtaposition of conservative and aggressive characteristics that Jeppesen and his team instill in their products and this 38 footer is an excellent example of their thinking. With its relatively springy sheer and conservative cabin trunk, beefy hull and aggressive rig, the XC-38 looks like a fun, yet serious cruising yacht. It is, to my mind, unfortunate that we dont see more of this type of boat on the west coast of the USA. In studying the profile view above, notice the depth of the hull and the proportions of the underbody. My guess is that the hull incorporates "V" shaped sections instead of the the more often seen "U" shaped bottom. Couple this with the efficient keel and deep rudder and you have a hull that will be especially fun to sail upwind. Here are some stats:
LOA:            37.99
LWL:            34.06
BMAX:         12.50
Draft:               6.50
DISP:            19,621 LB
BAL:               8,448 LB
SA:                     865 SF
BAL/DISP      43%
D/L ratio:        221
SA/D ratio      19

These numbers are indicative of  boat of moderate proportions and good manners.The keel and rudder are deep and efficient shapes for cruising. These days there is no shortage of stuff in the water to snag and foul keels and rudders. You only have to dive overboard to free the keel from nets, pots or kelp in the middle of the night a few times to appreciate clean and streamlined appendages on your boat.

Big cockpit, artfully curved windshield, conservative lines.

On deck youll find simple lines forward without any fancy flourishes. The foredeck is flat and uncluttered, with an anchor locker and deck mounted windlass. The nearly plumb bow requires a bowsprit of some sort so the anchor rode doesnt rub the finish off the hull when at anchor.

Clean lines forward and an A-frame bowsprit

The sailplan incorporates non-overlapping jibs. Ive designed a number of boats with this type of rig and its great for windward/leeward racing. Its not as good for reaching because when you ease the sheet on this type of jib, the top of the sail opens up much more than the bottom so you end up reaching with the lower part of the jib over-trimmed to keep the top from flogging. One solution is to set up outboard leads for the jib and thats what Id do on this boat if I owned one.

Twin wheels, trapdoor transom and artfully curved windshield.

The cockpit on this boat incorporates nice, high coamings and twin wheels along with a curved windshield. This arrangement invites comparisons with the Hallberg Rassy 412. Notice the instrument console on centerline, with a dropleaf table incorporated into it. This is an acceptable arrangement for daysailing but not very good for passage-making, although it is redeemed somewhat by the instrument displays built into the forward cockpit coaming. The fact is that cruisers spend little time behind the wheel when on a passage, so locating vital displays back there is inconvenient at best. Aboard the Honcho we mounted the GPS on a swivel just forward of the binnacle so you could see it from anywhere in the cockpit. We also traded the Raymarine instruments for TackTick wireless units, which could be mounted anywhere we wanted them, even below. Our Beneteau 423, Finisterra, came with the Raymarine instruments and, reliable as they are, weve already replaced them with Tackticks. Another unfortunate aspect of this cockpit is the permanently mounted dropleaf table that bisects the cockpit. Again, we have this arrangement on the Finisterra and find it to be inconvenient when sailing. Ive already started designing a stowable table that will give us room to maneuver while under sail and still provide fine dining accommodations in the cockpit when we need them. Notice the nearly vertical transom. It sports a drop-down panel and gate to make a swim step or platform. I think a reversed transom with a molded-in swim step is preferable because it is so much more convenient than this arrangement. It would also increase the sailing length of the boat and reduce turbulence at the  transom.

Nearly perfect accommodations plan

X-Yachts offers only one interior plan in the XC-38, which is fine with me because it works really well. The forward cabin is spacious and incorporates a large V-berth, multiple lockers and cabinets, and plenty of light. Those windows built into the hull look small but provide a good deal of light and visibility. The settees in the main cabin are big enough to serve as sea berths. With the galley, nav station and head aft, the crew that sleeps in the main cabin wont be disturbed when you go below to check the chart or fix a cup of coffee during the midnight watch. The galley is large, with lots of counter space and double sinks amidships. I respect the designers decision to eschew a second head on this boat. One is plenty for the cruising couple and this one incorporates enough room for a shower as well. The aft cabin offers a good sized berth and plenty of storage. In studying the photos of the boat on the X-Yachts web site, it took some time to get used to the horizontal grain pattern on the furniture. Im not sure I like it yet, so Ill reserve judgement until I see a boat in person.

Overall, I think the XC-38 would make a very good medium sized cruising yacht. Id ask for that reverse transom and swim step if I ordered one but other than that, this boat is ready to cruise.

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Emerald Bay

We headed over to Catalina Islands Emerald Bay last week, expecting lots of activity for the Fourth of July holiday. This was the Finisterras first voyage to our favorite cove. We left the marina in Long Beach at 1500 and tacked up the harbor toward Angels Gate in light air. The UV cover on the jib let go after four or five tacks at the spot where it rubs on the mast mounted radar antenna, so we looked a bit ragged as we passed through the Gate, with a foot-long tatter trailing off the leach of the jib, but the boat sailed well until we ran out of wind. We motored the rest of the way to the cove, arriving at 1845.

Finisterra moored at Emerald Bay

We picked up a mooring behind Indian Rock and sat back to enjoy the view as the sun set behind the hills. On the trip over from the mainland we used the autopilot and about every twenty minutes it conked out, with "Drive stop" on the display. According to the manual, that message means that the linear drive quit because the force required to turn the rudder is too great for the system. That doesnt sound right to me because the helm was pretty light at all times, so in the next few days Ill be tearing into the system to find out whats really going on there.

The boat is equipped with electric heads that use fresh water to flush. Im not a fan of them and, sure enough, the aft head stopped working. So well swap them out for the tried and true Jabsco manual heads. Aside from that little glitch, the boat and its systems worked well throughout our stay.

Calm weather prevails as we look toward the west end of the Island 

Since this was our first trip aboard the boat, there were lots of little things to fix, and this took some time, but we still had plenty of opportunities to hike and putter around the anchorage in the dinghy. We met some folks from Corsair Yacht Club, John and Judy, who sail a beautiful old Ericson 41. They invited us to a barbeque at their club site, which is located next to the scout camp near the west end of Emerald Bay. It was nice to connect with them. The next day we hiked out toward the west end of the island past Parsons landing, where the views were spectacular and we saw lots of signs of deer, island fox and bison.

Not far from Parsons Landing we encountered this bison on the trail. Notice that his horns have been clipped. For several years the Island conservancy kept them out of the the west end of the Island, but nowadays they roam freely.

The weather stayed cool and overcast until our last day, and we departed the island under beautiful blue skies and sparkling sunshine. The Finisterra sailed under main and raggedy jib, doing seven and a half knots, until we reached the entrance to LA harbor. Passing the lighthouse, we hardened up and reefed the jib in about 20 knots of wind and sailed up the main channel to get a glimpse of the famous old battleship USS Iowa, which recently took a permanent berth near the maritime museum. The ship first deployed in 1943, and participated in bombardments of Japan in WWII. As the war drew to a close, the Iowa was present along with the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay for the official surrender of Japan, marking the end of the World War. It is interesting to note that it was during WWII that the battleship, with its big guns was supplanted by the aircraft carrier as Americas premier seaborne combat weapon. Already obsolete by the end of the war, the USS Missouri was the last US battleship to be built. 

USS Iowa at her permanent home in Los Angeles harbor

The big guns on the Iowa are impressive artifacts of a bygone era

Leaving the Iowa behind, we headed back down LA harbors main channel and bore off for Long Beach, only to be confronted with the sight of a large ship entering the harbor loaded down with several new hammerhead cranes destined for service loading cargo in the Port of Long Beach. It was quite a sight to see the ship with its cranes working its way, with the help of a couple of tugs, through the harbor entrance and into her berth. The cranes were painted with the COSCO/SSA emblem. COSCO, not to be confused with Costco, is short for China Ocean Shipping Company. SSA is an American logistics company that manages marine shipping terminals.

Its hard to imagine this shipload of cranes crossing the Pacific. The weather routing service earned their pay on this project. Shipping companies, like us regular yachties, use routing services to route their ships to avoid weather systems. 

Three tugs guide this unwieldy ship to her berth in Long Beach harbor.

We got back into our slip before sunset after a nice sail down the harbor. I have been pleasantly surprised by the performance of the boat with the small roller furling main sail and look forward to sailing with the new rig. The mast has been shipped from the manufacturer and we expect it to arrive this Friday. 

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Left Coast Dart

Not long ago I met Jim Lee at a community college in Oak Harbor, WA where I happened to be teaching a seminar on composite materials. Jim mentioned that he wanted to start a boat company in Anacortes and was searching for a design similar to the B25, which, coincidentally, I had designed back in 1987. The B25 had been a highly successful trailerable sailboat with a long string of victories at major events in the 1980s and 1990s.

Dart with a mini-sprit punching upwind 

Jim had sailed a B25 on San Francisco Bay and we agreed that it would be a great idea to produce an update of that design. So I made some preliminary drawings for a boat that would be a worthy successor to the B25 and it became the Left Coast Dart. The idea was to continue the theme of a fast, seaworthy boat with a lifting keel that could easily be trailered. It would have basic accommodations, including good sized berths, a porta-potty and a place for a single burner stove. It would have just enough comfort for a couple with perhaps a kid or two to spend a night or weekend aboard. I wanted the styling to be roughly the same as the B25 but modernized.

Notice the dacron sails. Laminated sails would be lighter and faster.

In the years since I drew the 25, there have been vast improvements in composite materials and processes as well as the design tools we use. In 1987 I drew all my boats by hand and had only rudimentary computational devices to optimize the hull design. Today I use powerful software to model the hull, rig and foils in the computer and generate the drawings in AutoCAD. So lets start with the hull design.

Lines Plan showing fine waterlines forward and powerful aft sections

In the lines plan you can see the fineness of the bow sections and the slightly hollow waterlines. Notice that the bow is not quite plumb. I prefer that over a plumb bow purely for aesthetic reasons. Aft, I gave this hull a flat, clean run and firm bilges. I could have incorporated a hard chine here, but this boat will operate in both displacement mode and planing mode and chines add a bit of turbulence when the boat is traveling at hull speed. I think chines are something of a fad these days. You find them even on beefy Jeanneaus and Beneteaus that will likely never surf, let alone plane. Here are some numbers:

LOA -- 25’- 10”

LWL -- 22’- 10”

BMAX -- 8’- 4”

DRAFT -- 6’- 0” (Keel Down)

Draft -- 3’- 0” (Keel Up)

DISP -- 2,200 LB

BALLAST -- 850 LB

SA (100%) -- 338 SF

DISP/LENGTH -- 82.54

SA/DISP -- 31.97  

I -- 31’- 6”

J -- 9’- 1”

P -- 31’- 3”

E -- 12’- 6”

The keel is a vertical fin with a torpedo bulb. If youre a regular reader of this blog you know Im not a fan of this type of keel for cruising boats. For racers, it is the best solution from a performance perspective. At about 6 feet of draft, the Dart is deeper than the average boat of this size and nearly all of the lead ballast is in the bulb, making it a stiff boat. I designed a kelp cutter for the keel, which would be built into the leading edge.  Youll want to order that option for sailing in southern California. The rudder is a deep, high aspect ratio foil with the leading edge tucked under the transom to provide balance. The result is a light helm and very easy steering. The numbers indicate a lightweight, high powered vessel, but not extreme. It will provide excellent light air performance and exhilarating downwind speed.

Superb craftsmanship on the keel plug. They used this to create the keel mold.

I originally designed the boat for a carbon fiber mast and retractable bow pole, but Jim was adamant that it be fitted with an aluminum rig. Aluminum is certainly less expensive but it costs the boat about 12-18 seconds/mile in performance. Jim was also fiercely opposed to the bow pole, preferring instead a conventional symmetrical kite. This also cuts into the boats performance and it didnt take long before he added a short bowsprit. My hope is that the next boat out of the mold will be fitted with a retractable pole and a carbon rig to take advantage of the boats true potential.

Dart, circa 2010. Non-overlapping jibs and moderate proportions for the spinnaker

B25 circa 1987

1991 B25 Listed on Yachtworld for $21,000

Simple, efficient deck plan

On deck, goal was to make the boat a comfortable and efficient sailing machine. The cockpit is long and wide with the mainsheet traveler mounted on the sole. Jib tracks are mounted well inboard for close sheeting angles.  With the compact proportions of the cabin trunk, the companionway hatch lifts off instead of sliding forward. This caused Jim no end of tension, but its really the only way to make it work on a boat of this size and type.

The original design had a split bow pulpit. Jim preferred the type shown here, but you can order the split version.

Jim did some innovative things with the electrical system, such as molding the electrical wiring into the deck so there is almost no wiring visible in the boat. Along the way he invented the Simple Stereo which enables you to connect your IPod or MP3 directly into the amp and and rock the boat. Construction is is vacuum infused vinylester resin using biaxial e-glass over a lightweight Corecell foam core. This is standard practice these days and it is a vast improvement over the hand layup method we used back when we were building B25s. The Dart is longer, roomier and much faster.

Simple, lightweight accommodations. Most who seriously race this boat would dispense with the V-berth.

Lightweight internal structure with just enough wood to keep it interesting.

Hull #1 sitting outside Jims shop in Anacortes

When Jim started this project he was fairly new to boatbuilding. Its not easy to be a boatbuilder even in the best of times and the last few years have been anything but. So I give Jim a lot of credit for sticking with it and building exquisitely detailed pocket racers. For Jim, I think its more about building very nice boats than making a profit, and that is a refreshing departure from the thrown together boats we often see at the boat shows these days.

In its brief career the Dart has had some impressive wins:
First Overall, 2012 Lake Pontchartrain Racing
First in class, 2012 Whidbey Island Race Week
First in class, 2011 PITCH Regatta (Bellingham)
First in class, 2011 Windermere Regatta.

Check out Left Coast Yachts at http://www.eskimo.com/~leftcst/iWeb/Left_Coast/The_Dart.html

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Rig Conversion Update

The new mast is scheduled to be delivered in early July. US Spars says the standing rigging from the original mast will fit so we wont have to buy new rigging. When the mast arrives well unship the old one and transfer the instruments and antennas, including radar and TV. We will also install a Tides Marine sail track and lazy jacks. There wont be much to do on the boom except add some sheaves and reefing lines. On deck well add a set of rope clutches for the reefing lines.  The new mainsail is also on order and we expect to have it in mid-July.

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On the beach waiting out the fog

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Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 41 DS

DS 41: New Look from Jeanneau

Recently Ive been looking at the new Sun Odyssey DS line of cruising yachts and had a chance to go aboard one of these uniquely styled boats at a recent boat show. In reviewing this design Ill start with the overall proportions of the boat because we can learn a lot about a boats sailing qualities just by assessing the juxtaposition of the keel, rig and hull volumes. Boats can be beautiful or not, but I think boats that perform well are always better looking than those that dont, regardless of dimensions and coefficients. In the profile view above, notice the relationships between the hull, keel and rig. The nearly vertical leading edge of the keel is slightly forward of the mast.  On the deckplan youll see that there is a jib traveler also just forward of the mast along with a pair of jib tracks just aft of it, with the shrouds led to chainplates that are located almost at the gunwales. All of this dictates that the 41DS will carry small headsails, while the mainsail shown in the photos is a good looking fully battened and lazy-jacked unit with lots of power. This arrangement looks to me like it will generate a good deal of weather helm, so itll be interesting to take this boat out for a test sail.

Beamy and full ended, the DS 41 offers plenty of room below, but how does she sail?

In studying the shape of the hull, I see that Jeanneau has embraced the current fad of chines from about station 6 to the transom. This may add a bit of visual interest to this hull but wont appreciably affect its performance. I would call this a chubby boat in which accommodations were perhaps more important to the builder than speed. The rudder is deep and powerful and will be appreciated when the boat is on a reach.

I think the DS 41s deck is a bold, even audacious, design. The height and bulk of cabin trunk is visually mitigated by the clever use of smoked plexiglass windows and molded-in steps aft. With the jib tracks mounted on the cabin top, side decks are uncluttered, making fore and aft movement easy. The cockpit coamings are an extension of the roofline of the cabin trunk, curving downward to a point just forward of the helm station. I leave it to you to judge the aesthetics of this design, but I will say that I found the slope of these coamings to be uncomfortable for sitting. Of course there are seats aplenty in the cockpit, but I still think the coamings should be more than just styling points. While Im on the subject of the coamings Ill mention the winches. I appreciate that they are conveniently located for the helmsman, and that they are electric (at least on the boat I was aboard). But the location of them means that under sail, the helmsman is going to be very busy at times managing the sheets and other controls that are led to this pair of winches. Given their location, there is no good way to get any real leverage to pull on any of the lines that are led to them and the crew who jumps in to help will likely be a distraction for the helmsman. The mainsail is controlled by a German style sheet system without a traveler. Were seeing this arrangement on many new designs and I think it is an inexpensive alternative, but I prefer to  have a traveler.

Twin wheels are really a requirement on the 41DS because of the very wide stern of this boat. They enable the helmsman to sit well outboard so he or she can see the jib teltales, and they have the added benefit of making access to the swim step easy. I really like the swiveling instrument pod on the aft end of the cockpit table. Im not sure how far it swivels but Id like it to go far enough so that I could sit in the cockpit and see all the data. The cockpit is large and will be a fun place to congregate when the boat is on the hook.

Going below, you can see the benefits of that buxom hull. The wide open spaces, light colors and natural light from the plethora of hatches and ports make the 41DS a very inviting boat. More so when at anchor than at sea.

Condo-like accommodations

The DS designation stands for Deck Salon and, combined with the tallish cabin trunk, the cockpit sole is raised far enough to create a massive aft cabin with sitting headroom above the centerline berth. I think this arrangement is going to be a huge selling point for the DS 41 among buyers whose sailing ambitions are oriented more toward weekends at the island than passagemaking, which is the vast majority of sailors these days. The galley is reasonable for a boat of this size. The sinks are a bit smaller than I would like but still usable.  Opposite the galley is a large head with the shower integrated into it. There is lots of counter space and storage room here. The main cabin incorporates a large and deep dinette to starboard and a short settee to port.

Large chart table, plenty of light and even a wine locker...very French.

I like the large chart table. That enormous monitor can display all the ships data, including navigation, radar, wind, etc. as well as movies. I like this new technology, but whats missing is a good sea berth. Forward of the main bulkhead is a private cabin with ensuite head, plenty of room and lots of light. Once again, this will be an inviting place to hang out when the boat is at anchor.

Dining table converts to coffee table.

The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 41DS represents a growing trend in the sailboat market. Except for racing enthusiasts, sailors want a roomy, comfortable place to spend time with their families. They want reasonably good performance but not at the cost of comfort. I think the 41DS fulfills these requirements very well. I would add that given these harsh economic times, which are even more so for sailboat builders, providing for the needs of their customers at a cost they can afford is an extremely difficult proposition. Synthetics are replacing wood, square corners and modular structures are replacing handcrafted interiors, and closed molding is the method of choice for making fiberglass parts. The result is boats that are strong, lightweight and have the aura of styling by IKEA. This can be a good thing if your yachting taste runs in that direction.

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Beneteau 423 Rig Conversion Update

Over the last couple of weekends weve made good progress on the rig conversion. We finished modifying the boom, added some rope clutches for reefing lines and a second jib halyard, and installed the necessary hardware for the lazy jacks. We also installed a Tides Marine sail track. It was easy to install, fit perfectly and looks great. The new mainsail was also easy to hank on, and slides up and down the track with all the ease I had hoped for.

Notice the artfully shaped reinforcement patches. Im not sure if they an improvement but they do look sporty.

I installed the track before putting the boom on. To make it easier to install I put a spare sail slide in the track and attached a halyard and downhaul so I could put some tension on the halyard then just guide the track into the mast. When it was all in, the halyard held the track exactly where I wanted it while I installed the retaining screws. Once the track was installed, it was a simple matter install the boom, vang and control lines and, finally, to hank on the sail and secure all. The entire operation took about four hours.

Mainsail installed. Notice the custom Home Depot sail cover!

The stackpack bag wont be ready for another week so the sail is flaked on the boom and covered with a couple of plastic tarps from Home Depot.  Were looking forward to going for a sail over the Labor Day weekend.

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