Any one ever remove the center bar on a N5.2? What was the point of the bar? What would have to be done to remove it?
Thanks
Had one.
Did remove the center tube so my father could tack across without knocking his knees. You can remove the castings, but before you do it drill the SS bands and rivet the beams so they don't rotate! Do all eight of them to be safe.
Same here. The center beam was removed before I got the boat. I've added one rivet per corner to prevent the beam rotating, but that was after using the boat for more than a year <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />
i've still got the original tramp on mine and sail it solo so i left it in to help support the tramp
but i did replace the alloy tube with a carbon one cut from the bottom of a broken windsurfer mast
needed a bit of carbon bling somewhere:o)
I decided to leave it on after sliding into it a couple of times instead of the water on the low side.... I sail solo 90% of the time, so I appreciate the extra convenience of not having to go swimming when I least expect it. Helps with the wild thing too, when climbing (scrambling) back up from the low side.
Dennis
The center bar prevents the front and rear beams from rotating. You'll have to secure them with a rivet in the stainless straps that hold them to the hulls (later boats have an aluminum block inside the hull and a bolt that attaches the beams to the hull. I left mine on and got used to it.
I had one of the first 5.2's. Actually I never thought of removing it. Between the old mast rotation limiter, boom, and the tube it got you somewhere. Are there any class rules about removing it? You may want to check if you race, I'm not sure how picky they are about
stock
boats. Enjoy they are a great boat!
factory removed the tramp tube about 1985 when they used bolts that went from the inside of the beam into a captive nut in the beam cradle, maybe when they went to foam sandwich hulls at the new factory...
really they are only a problem for the crew who has to deal with the lower boom and the jib blocks and sheets on the tramp
many of us who sail these old boats mostly solo don't bother taking them off as there is much more space at the back of the tramp and a cleaner tramp
My SS rivets always broke from small twist, but I never really had that much of a problem with the beams moving out of position after they broke. They had play, but not enough to move out of alignment. Definitley a knee buster, remove it without hesistation.
For some reason, I have a 5.2 fore beam in my garage... If you need it.