I'm a noob cat driver, but have a good bit of sailing experience, so hopefully I can "talk the talk". I recently purchased a used Nacra 5.2. It has not been sailed in quite some time (years?). Hulls, sails, rigging appear to be servicable. The boat did not come with side loaders for the daggerboards (I had to find out what they were called). I ordered new ones from Murrays, although I found they can be made quite inexpensively :(. Should the side loaders be secured to the hulls with bungee cord or is line OK? I think I have prepared the right lengths of line, but am not sure how much they may stretch when wet. Right now, they seem to do the job. Any suggestions? With the amount of side force from the side loaders it takes to keep the daggers from dropping, I can't see how bungee cord could maintain enough force to keep them up.

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Eric C

Force 5 project boat
Unnamed

Previous boat
1980 Nacra 5.2
"Double Vision"
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I use the bungee system on mine it workswell.



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Gray Amick
Chapin, SC
'77 NACRA 5.2
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I ditched the side loaders and put felt strips inside the daggerwell lips and it works great I got them at Home Depot for $5.00 they are used for furniture feet they already have adhesive on back just peel and stick. I also added some little rubber feet close to the top of the daggers to keep them from slipping into the well (after I had that happen )

I ues 3/8 bungee cord, pvc and a clear heater hose from Lowes. Paint the pvc to match your boat. Bungeee tension is to taste. I like mine tight, my son hates them. About 10 dollars.

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Nacra 5.2
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hyperope

I ordered new ones from Murrays, although I found they can be made quite inexpensively :(. Should the side loaders be secured to the hulls with bungee cord or is line OK?

Y'all, he's already bought the rollers/sideloaders, so telling him how to fabricate isn't necessary

Hyper, you absolutely need bungee. Line will not work to keep in tension correctly.



edited by: tami, Sep 08, 2010 - 05:25 PM

I had the same issue with my 1982 5.2. The stock system prior to 1985 was just a loop of shock cord attached to the front of the daggerboad board and exteneded to a hook on each hull in front of the front beam. The hook may still be there on your boat. I switched to side loaders just because the loop of shock cord was a bit awkward to get around.

I rivetted 2 small hooks to the hull near the trampoline (some people put 2 grommets in the tramp itself) and ran shock cord between them using a PVC pipe and some foam as the side loader. You should use a decent shock cord and not line. Because you only need a foot or 18" of shock cord and you stretch it when you insert the board you get a LOT of sideways force. You likely couldn't get the same amount of force from reefing on a length of line and tying it off. That and having to retie every time you remove your boards would get really old really fast. The shock cord is tried and true, stick with it!

Don't be too upset about buying the stock side loaders. They generally look and work a little better than home made ones. A lot of the home made ones have problems with fraying the shock cord where it enters the pipe. Probably worth the money in the end.

Here is a pic of the way mine are setup:


http://www.thebeachcats.c…pictures&g2_itemId=74153



edited by: Wolfman, Sep 08, 2010 - 06:09 PM

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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This thread rocks... I didn't remember sideloaders and now I realize my Trac18 is without them and I'm going to make a set. W00t!

I don't think the Tracs come with them, I've only seen them on Nacras. But it's a pretty simple system anyway and would work on any boat with daggerboards. I'm actually more interested in the other methods of keeping the daggers in position. What do the Hobies and newer F18s use? I`ve mostly heard horror stories about carpet glued inside the dagger board wells, but that just might be that the only people who complain are those that have problems. How does a system like that work?


Regards,
Dave

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Thanks for all the help, guys. I'd like to used bungee cord, but how does one customize them for this? Is this something I buy at Lowes that they cut/loop to my specs?



--
Eric C

Force 5 project boat
Unnamed

Previous boat
1980 Nacra 5.2
"Double Vision"
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re: daggerboard friction: in my experience, carpet ALWAYS comes loose (edit: and jams the board at the WORST possible time). I guess if you check it often you'll have good luck with it. The other caveat is that carpet will trap sand, which will scratch the board.

If you've ever heard of friction tape, that seems to be one of the best solutions we've found. Well, here's a link at APS, they call it Japanese Glide Tape:
http://www.apsltd.com/p-135-japanese-glide-tape-34-x-26.aspx

Use this stuff as a shim, but the grooves make for good sliding


re: bungee. The tidy way to do bungee is to get a set of hog-ring pliers and make your own loops. Hog-ring pliers at APS:
http://www.apsltd.com/c-1508-shockcordhogringsandpliers.aspx

no I don't work for APS but they have been good about regatta sponsorship. IIRC, you can find both the glide tape and hogrings and pliers at McMaster-Carr, www.mcmaster.com





edited by: tami, Sep 09, 2010 - 09:02 AM

i had the sideloaders on my 5.2 and they just wouldn't hold the boards up reliably

so i put in some carpet in as well

but it must have been too much as the boards needed huge amounts of force to go up and down

not good when soloing so i started trimming carpet out and used stronger bungee on the sideloaders

finally got the balance right

and it's bliss;o)



edited by: erice, Sep 10, 2010 - 12:01 AM

You can buy hog ring plier at Homedepot they are with the chainlink fence stuff and I found hog rings there too but they are kinda big I ended up buying some from an old fashion hardware store plus this store has way more stainless steel fittings than Homedepots zinc plated junk.