[quote=texastuma][quote=theblackpearl]Thanks for the great feedback Scott. I am excited to continue upgrading the boat, and another new sail may be in the cards next year. The current one I am using is a 2017 Neil Pryde, and it is in pretty good condition, however there is some wrinkling on the bolt, which is no doubt increasing friction. I’ve learned a lot of lessons since purchase, and and actually sailed into the marina under the main when blowing 7 knots. I am excited to see how much the new rudders that don’t pop up improve the handling of the boat and hopefully confidence. Simply replacing the gudgeons with longer ones made a difference (tested with old rudders while refinishing). I have sailed a couple times now without locking in the main on the hook. Wind was under 10, and I barely used the downhaul. Not ideal I realize, but necessary to allow my wife and sailing partner to feel confident. Had some great outings and are increasing wind speed. In hindsight, going out in 18 knots on the sound with only a couple outings under my belt on a cat probably wasn’t the best choice. Still haven’t flipped her, nor exploited her full potential- although it’s pretty darn easy to hit 18 knots. I love this boat, the challenges of sailing her well, and the steep learning curve. It’s funny when you think you’re a good sailor because you’ve got many years of monohull experience, then you get on one of these.[/quote]
Solving the bolt rope issue is easy. At the bottom of the bolt rope, there will be some hand stitching that goes side to side. Cut that out. This stitching just holds the bolt rope in place while new but makes the sail a beast with a bit of age. When I build mains, I extend the bolt rope 6" below the tack and never stitch it. You will find the bolt rope will suck inside the tape a few inches and the luff will smooth out. This will also help raising and lowering the main. I would also suggest to clean the sail track. I use a large sponge, soap it up and inset it in the sail track like the main bolt rope. Make a couple of passes of the sail track. You can either rinse it out or leave the soap. The soap will actually help reduce friction if you are going out immediately. With older sails, it is also worth a dry silicone (McLube works very well). You can either spray the track or spray the luff of the sail. The dry silicone also works very well on the jib zipper luff. During the winter (or COVID if you're not sailing much) is a great time to roll out the sails and do a double check. Go ahead and remove the batten caps and make sure all the screws are present and the batten hasn't punched through the pocket.[/quote]
No HTML tags allowed (except inside [code][/code] tags)
