I recently bought a 1988 nacra 5.5 uni. I am wanting to convert the boat to the sloop rig but i have discovered my forestay attachments are different than any other 5.5sl i have seen. Mine are just like the ones on the 18 sq. in the link below. Should I relocate them to where they are on other boats? What can i do? http://www.eugeneyachtclu…egatta%2007/large-5.html
http://farm4.static.flick…394070726_d3837e23ea.jpg

some would say to fit spin and forget the jib

or you search for pics of the 5.5 sloop and study the differences

does the sloop have a bridal foil?

Yes the NA sloops have bridal foils, it takes the load and directs it more upward than inward. The jibs are huge on nacra NA sloops. The regular 5.8 and 6.0 sloops do not have a bridal foil and much smaller jibs. It depends on which way you want to go.

Well I was really wanting to put a furling jib and a spinnaker on the boat but I have thought about just the spin if the jib is to much trouble. I'm not sure if the bridal wires would affect the spinnaker because they attach to the forestay pretty high up. The sloop does have a bridal foil which I believe is 4 1/2 ft long. I was also thinking to use one from a 5.8n/a or 6.0n/a since they are longer or just fabricate a foil myself for cheaper since it won't be class legal anyway with the wrong foil. I'm just stuck on what to do at this point. I just took a few pictures of the boat so I will post them real soon. I'm open to any suggestions.

It seems like the bridle attachments are designed for more of an upward force than an inward like the 5.5sl and would the bridle wires be a problem with a spinnaker if I went that route.

Yes, older 5.5 uni hulls were based on 18sqm hulls, where it was never envisioned to attach a bridle, so the placement of forestay attachment points was not an issue. Newer 5.5 hulls, have forestay attachment points on inside of hull, since they were thn using the same hulls for 5.5uni & 5.5 sloop (and it doesn't really matter for 18sqm where you mount it.
The conversion of your older 5.5uni hulls to sloop rig will be a problem. Moving the attachment point to inside of hulls will be a lot of major surgery, I think. At least you will have to take off the top of the hulls, and investigate how to reinforce the inside of the hulls.
Maybe, depending on your jib setup, you can just use a longer bridle wires, so the place where single forestay attaches to the two wires from the front hulls will be higher up, but same angle as if it was mounted from the inside attach points. But. still, the forces on the attach points will be different than originally intended with your hull design.
Good luck, let us know what you decide to do.
Jim Casto
1995 NACRA 5.5uni with jib & bridle kit.

You might also check out :
http://home.comcast.net/~ragenpl/nacra/nacra.htm

Normally when 5.5uni are converted, it is with use of a "bridle foil", main purpose of this is to allow much larger jib to be mounted, by lowering tack point. However, it *can* change the angle of the forces of the bridle wires, depending on the length of bridle foil, and length of small wires attaching it to the hulls. On the 5.5, the official bridle from NACRA, when mounted with stock short wires, the angle of these wires are exactly the same as if you did not have a bridle foil. So it does not change the angle at all. If I were to do it again, I would buy a NACRA6.0 bridle foil, for use with my N5.5. The N6.0 foil is longer than, making the short bridle wires more vertical. you can achieve both at same time, larger jib/lowertakc point, and still keep forestays almost vertical/less stress on hulls.
Jim with uni

Mike,
If you want a sloop rig or spin, you should really consider selling the uni as is, and buy a 5.5SL, 5.8NA, or 6.0NA. In the long run it will be cheaper, more reliable, and less catastrophic. You should think this through. There are great buys on the sloop rigs all the time, and you should have no trouble selling the uni.

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Philip
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From what I understand, the 5.5 uni is able to point much higher than the sloop version, so a uni with a spin would be your best bet.

The other thing to consider is that the carbon mast is class legal for the uni, but not the sloop.

If you do want to run a jib and are concerned about the inward pull, run a longer bridle foil. If it is long enough the force vector should be similar to the uni rig. This may not be class legal, but I don't believe a spin is either.

If you use longer bridal wires you also have to go to a much smaller jib.

Well there is a lot to consider right now but I'm thinking to first see if I could find an 18 sq. with the forestay attachment points on the inside of the hulls so I could just swap out the hulls. I actually talked to a guy selling one but I'm not sure if he has the hulls I need yet. Is there a year they started making the all the 18 squares with the inner attachment point?

Not longer bridle wires, longer bridle foil. It will have to be stronger than the normal length (4.5 feet) one. The bridle foil is also the easiest support for the spin pole.

I have a 2001 and it has the bridle wire attachment on the inside of the hulls.

Rich,
2001 is one of the newest of the uni's that I know of. Did you order it new?

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Philip
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Hi Philip,

I bought mine from Mark Biggers at The Cathouse in Michigan. I believe that the previous owner (Ray Fullerton) switched to a Nacra F-17.

I have considered making the same switch, but I can't seem to find any information about the performance of the F17 without a chute vs the 5.5 uni. I know that the spinnaker makes a big difference when you can use it, but I am overpowered with just the main a good portion of the time. The F17 appears to be heavier and carry a smaller main than the 5.5, so without the chute, the 5.5 should be as fast, or slightly faster.

If anyone has any info, please share.

Rich