Actually, I originally just let the camera run so that I had a record of how the sails looked. But sometimes it's just fun to set up a camera and see what happens. I think that Lucy and I mess about more than we get down to doing serious work. As for rockstar - you have never heard her sing. That's all I'm saying. Cheers, Paul
Brilliant move offering to play cameraman during the grindy bits ;) Serenity is coming along nicely. You know what they say, "Ship like that'll be with ya 'til the day ya die." ;) Keep flyin'!
Thanks. Absolutely right. Serenity will probably last forever, or possibly even a bit longer. And, Lucy likes power tools - one day I might even include a video of her with a chainsaw - That is scary, but she loves it. Cheers, Paul
@@verynearlyaboutsailing8114 Lucy and chainsaw....now, there's a video we all need to see. A shame the foot on the Yankee wasn't cut a bit higher to clear the lifelines. Perhaps, giving it a new shape could be Lucy's first operation with the chainsaw. A little bit overkill, but fun to watch. WCGW? Cheers from FL, USA. Come sail over and see the Manatees! (we have TONS of sharks for Lucy too).
A small 100 to 110% jib works really well when motor-sailing which a cruiser ends up doing a lot of in the real world. More than that is too much since you really don't want too much heel when motor-sailing because oil starvation to your diesel engine will ruin your whole day. A little bit of help with the wind not only works wonders with reducing fuel consumption and extending range but stabilizes the boat when motoring from wallowing and rocking in the swells and especially in confused seas. It also helps a whole lot when getting waked by motorboats when they pass you in narrow channels, inlets, and on inland waterways. A higher-cut like a Yankee even a shorter luff with a pendant to raise the sail up a foot or so does womders for visibility too, especially when close-hauled snd sheeted in very close. That's the point of sail where a deck-sweeper makes it quite difficult to see what is in front of you. When motor-sailing it is usually close hauled because it is lower windspeeds so the apparent wind is often way forward. Not being able to see other boats and obstructions.such as crab pot floats is not fun. We have raised all of our sails up to get the maximum visibility under them. Overall a smaller headsail makes motor-sailing more sensible.
Its a difficult one. Close hauled with wind below about 12 kts with all the sail inside the life lines, it works brilliantly - except, as you say, you can't see. Every other combination is a compromise. The big sail doesn't furl well. Plus, because I am not a very good sail trimmer, the tell-tales are already furled up. I might get the small sail modified with the aim being to get a general purpose practical sail out of it. And very good point about motorsailng. I have no shame in motorsailing - and sometimes all you want is some sail up to steady the sideways lurching a bit - very tiring. Cheers, Paul
Use Arbokol 1000 for the joint. You don't need an adhesive sealant like sika, saba, CT1 as thats what the keelbolts are for! The above are far better adhesives than sealants as over time it hardens and gets less flexible and eventually the sealant properties fail. You only need the tiniest gap for water to get under the sealant and capillary action will do the rest. Arbokol skins over and will stay flexible. It sticks to anything but it doesn't have any real adhesive qualities. When I refit a boat my rule of thumb is that if it bolts down it needs a flexible sealant, if its screwed and you need extra adhesive then Sika, CT1, Sabatack (which we use at the yard ) is fine. G-flex would work but is expensive and really not needed for this application. You also need to be careful with the prep. Normal west would be too brittle and won't take the flex and probably areas will let go over time. Also it looks like your Genny is a 145% or 150% overlap. One of the reasons for this is due to fashion at the time, following the racing rules of the day, where that any overlap aft of the mast was considered unmeasured area. Hence yachts of the 70's and 80's design had huge genoas and tiny mainsails. I recommend an overlap of no more than 135% with two reef (roll points) at 110% and 90%. Be careful if you raise the clew point too high, if you get a Yankee cut, as you might find your track fairlead won't go far enough aft.
Thanks, very useful. The sealant that is in place (whatever it is) is brilliant. I feels like rubber and passed inspection with flying colours. Whatever I use to cover up the join will mostly be cosmetic. It needs to stick to iron and fibreglass, be easily sanded (or possible to put on very smoothly) and be easy to paint over. I know that both Sika and G-Flex will do this. I will try some Arbokol 1000 on the skeg boot when I put the rudder back on (hopefully in the next few weeks). I can then see if I like it. It would be great if it works, partly because it is very cheap. As for the sail. That makes sense. Serenity was used a lot for club races by her previous owner. Hence coming with 5 sails and an extra set of winches in the cockpit. I think I need to dig out an original sailplan. The big sail is in much to good condition to be original. The sheets have to be rearranged every time when you change point of sail. There is always some interference from either the stanchions or guard wires or both. Also, because of the overlap, tacking can be horrible single handed. I sometimes roll it in quite a bit before tacking otherwise it inevitably gets caught in the baby stay. Not a problem with club racing when you have a member of crew dedicated to each individual task. Cheers, Paul
Are the two head sails the same weight of cloth? I assume they are and the difference is one is a spare. Generally when purchasing a sail you are paying for the labour and not the cloth. I would speak with a sailmaker about the issue you have with the sail possibly with photographs of it sailing. You might want to think about marking on the sail reef points so when you reef the mail you have a guide where to roll the sail to. Tell tails on the sail are easily solved with wool and a needle, you never have enough.
They are the same weight. But the smaller one is definitely older. I had the sails checked out by a sailmaker a while back. He said that the bigger one was newer and had a better cut. He thought that the smaller one had been modified at some stage. He also fitted a leech line and a new UV sacrificial strip to the bigger sail. I thought I remembered him saying that the smaller sail was more of a Yankee cut - which is why I was checking it out. But thinking back on it, he might have said that it would be useful to have a sail that was more of a Yankee cut. So for the time being, the smaller sail will be a spare. Good idea about marking the reef points. I've been with some serious racers who mark absolutely everything so that they can immediately go to the optimum setting without faffing about. Cheers, Paul
Yes. Maybe I can get the smaller sail modified - nothing to lose. All the sails are in pretty good condition and I don't particularly want to buy a new one. I have never had a problem with West System products. I haven't tried G-Flex, but I did have a long technical chat with someone from WS at the boat show a few years ago. He said it would be ideal for smoothing over the keel join - just enough flexibility, but all the benefits of epoxy. Cheers, Paul
Sorry, not sure why that didn't work. I've tested it and it works fine for me, but RUclips is not always logical. You can find it if you do a search in RUclips for: Thames estuary revealed as critical habitat for harbour porpoises Cheers, Paul
"Did I look ready?"🤭
BTW Lucy's a rockstar.
Actually, I originally just let the camera run so that I had a record of how the sails looked. But sometimes it's just fun to set up a camera and see what happens. I think that Lucy and I mess about more than we get down to doing serious work. As for rockstar - you have never heard her sing. That's all I'm saying.
Cheers, Paul
Brilliant move offering to play cameraman during the grindy bits ;) Serenity is coming along nicely. You know what they say, "Ship like that'll be with ya 'til the day ya die." ;) Keep flyin'!
Thanks. Absolutely right. Serenity will probably last forever, or possibly even a bit longer. And, Lucy likes power tools - one day I might even include a video of her with a chainsaw - That is scary, but she loves it.
Cheers, Paul
@@verynearlyaboutsailing8114 Lucy and chainsaw....now, there's a video we all need to see. A shame the foot on the Yankee wasn't cut a bit higher to clear the lifelines. Perhaps, giving it a new shape could be Lucy's first operation with the chainsaw. A little bit overkill, but fun to watch. WCGW?
Cheers from FL, USA. Come sail over and see the Manatees! (we have TONS of sharks for Lucy too).
A small 100 to 110% jib works really well when motor-sailing which a cruiser ends up doing a lot of in the real world. More than that is too much since you really don't want too much heel when motor-sailing because oil starvation to your diesel engine will ruin your whole day. A little bit of help with the wind not only works wonders with reducing fuel consumption and extending range but stabilizes the boat when motoring from wallowing and rocking in the swells and especially in confused seas. It also helps a whole lot when getting waked by motorboats when they pass you in narrow channels, inlets, and on inland waterways.
A higher-cut like a Yankee even a shorter luff with a pendant to raise the sail up a foot or so does womders for visibility too, especially when close-hauled snd sheeted in very close.
That's the point of sail where a deck-sweeper makes it quite difficult to see what is in front of you. When motor-sailing it is usually close hauled because it is lower windspeeds so the apparent wind is often way forward. Not being able to see other boats and obstructions.such as crab pot floats is not fun. We have raised all of our sails up to get the maximum visibility under them. Overall a smaller headsail makes motor-sailing more sensible.
Its a difficult one. Close hauled with wind below about 12 kts with all the sail inside the life lines, it works brilliantly - except, as you say, you can't see. Every other combination is a compromise. The big sail doesn't furl well. Plus, because I am not a very good sail trimmer, the tell-tales are already furled up.
I might get the small sail modified with the aim being to get a general purpose practical sail out of it.
And very good point about motorsailng. I have no shame in motorsailing - and sometimes all you want is some sail up to steady the sideways lurching a bit - very tiring.
Cheers, Paul
Use Arbokol 1000 for the joint.
You don't need an adhesive sealant like sika, saba, CT1 as thats what the keelbolts are for!
The above are far better adhesives than sealants as over time it hardens and gets less flexible and eventually the sealant properties fail.
You only need the tiniest gap for water to get under the sealant and capillary action will do the rest.
Arbokol skins over and will stay flexible.
It sticks to anything but it doesn't have any real adhesive qualities.
When I refit a boat my rule of thumb is that if it bolts down it needs a flexible sealant, if its screwed and you need extra adhesive then Sika, CT1, Sabatack (which we use at the yard ) is fine.
G-flex would work but is expensive and really not needed for this application.
You also need to be careful with the prep.
Normal west would be too brittle and won't take the flex and probably areas will let go over time.
Also it looks like your Genny is a 145% or 150% overlap.
One of the reasons for this is due to fashion at the time, following the racing rules of the day, where that any overlap aft of the mast was considered unmeasured area.
Hence yachts of the 70's and 80's design had huge genoas and tiny mainsails.
I recommend an overlap of no more than 135% with two reef (roll points) at 110% and 90%.
Be careful if you raise the clew point too high, if you get a Yankee cut, as you might find your track fairlead won't go far enough aft.
Thanks, very useful. The sealant that is in place (whatever it is) is brilliant. I feels like rubber and passed inspection with flying colours. Whatever I use to cover up the join will mostly be cosmetic. It needs to stick to iron and fibreglass, be easily sanded (or possible to put on very smoothly) and be easy to paint over. I know that both Sika and G-Flex will do this. I will try some Arbokol 1000 on the skeg boot when I put the rudder back on (hopefully in the next few weeks). I can then see if I like it. It would be great if it works, partly because it is very cheap.
As for the sail. That makes sense. Serenity was used a lot for club races by her previous owner. Hence coming with 5 sails and an extra set of winches in the cockpit. I think I need to dig out an original sailplan. The big sail is in much to good condition to be original. The sheets have to be rearranged every time when you change point of sail. There is always some interference from either the stanchions or guard wires or both. Also, because of the overlap, tacking can be horrible single handed. I sometimes roll it in quite a bit before tacking otherwise it inevitably gets caught in the baby stay. Not a problem with club racing when you have a member of crew dedicated to each individual task.
Cheers, Paul
Are the two head sails the same weight of cloth? I assume they are and the difference is one is a spare. Generally when purchasing a sail you are paying for the labour and not the cloth. I would speak with a sailmaker about the issue you have with the sail possibly with photographs of it sailing. You might want to think about marking on the sail reef points so when you reef the mail you have a guide where to roll the sail to. Tell tails on the sail are easily solved with wool and a needle, you never have enough.
They are the same weight. But the smaller one is definitely older. I had the sails checked out by a sailmaker a while back. He said that the bigger one was newer and had a better cut. He thought that the smaller one had been modified at some stage. He also fitted a leech line and a new UV sacrificial strip to the bigger sail.
I thought I remembered him saying that the smaller sail was more of a Yankee cut - which is why I was checking it out. But thinking back on it, he might have said that it would be useful to have a sail that was more of a Yankee cut.
So for the time being, the smaller sail will be a spare.
Good idea about marking the reef points. I've been with some serious racers who mark absolutely everything so that they can immediately go to the optimum setting without faffing about.
Cheers, Paul
Small wrap around sail might do.West is best
Yes. Maybe I can get the smaller sail modified - nothing to lose. All the sails are in pretty good condition and I don't particularly want to buy a new one.
I have never had a problem with West System products. I haven't tried G-Flex, but I did have a long technical chat with someone from WS at the boat show a few years ago. He said it would be ideal for smoothing over the keel join - just enough flexibility, but all the benefits of epoxy.
Cheers, Paul
Can’t see Lucy’s movie link.
Sorry, not sure why that didn't work. I've tested it and it works fine for me, but RUclips is not always logical. You can find it if you do a search in RUclips for:
Thames estuary revealed as critical habitat for harbour porpoises
Cheers, Paul
Haha not guadaloupe island then just good old Canvey