[quote=erice]terry it sounds as though this old thoroughbred is kicking you in the shins
ask around, some young fulla may want to swap it for an old nag that is happier to walk the kids round in circles than keep'em honest in the grand national
the 5.2 was designed as a full on race boat, a la 1975, (that's 35 years ago!) with every string to pull that they could think of at the time
it's mission?, to beat the all conquering hobie 16 around a race course
which it did and in doing so became the grandfather to the modern f18 and perhaps even the vx40
in 1975, big over lapping jibs were the hot performance ticket
that jib needs the blocks in that position, close to the boats centre. (the previous owner of mine moved the blocks to the hulls to free up some tramp space) but i soon moved them back over the tramp when the jib refused to trim when pointing. now on our little lake at least no one thinks cats can't point
hobies, prindles etc. were more aimed at the recreational market so that cut of jib was never chosen. hobie used a fully battened jib (which seems to hang on the mast every tack in light air)
trying to turn an old race machine into a recreational machine means making some changes or living with the old racing compromises
when i want to carry people on my 5.2 i don't rig the jib and take the blocks and sheets off. if people want to sit on the tramp i find they aren't looking for hull flying thrills anyway
when i'm racing the jib blocks aren't a worry solo. and the 5.2 really powers up solo which is why i try not to sail with crew
ideally to update the 5.2 you'd do what the tornado did from classic to modern and fit a taller? narrower self tacking jib and an assym spin
but that pretty much makes it a 2 person boat that costs about the same as an older f18, so what's the point?
the last 5.2 jib blocks were a bit further out and further back, just inboard of the daggers. a common mod was to sew reinforcement cloth to the tramp and then mount the blocks directly to the tramp. it gets rid of the wires but the sheets still get in the way of tramp lounging passengers
<!-- editby --><em>edited by: erice, Jun 16, 2010 - 09:33 PM</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
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