So last time I sailed my P16, the wind was plenty enough to load all rigging - for a change. But I noticed that my mast would not easily rotate with the sail. When I changed tack, the mast would stay turned into the wind so the sail would make a sharper angle with it than necessary. Eventually, something - I am not sure what - would happen and the mast would pop over to the right direction.
Is that normal behavior? Or should I be fixing something? I don't think my standing rigging is very tight, so maybe the mast deflects to leeward too much? Or could it be that the base of the mast is too rough to turn easily? I snapped a photo of the inside of the mast base () - it's far from polished but doesn't seem criminally rough either.
I thought of smoothing out the mast base with a dremel to eliminate that possibility - but then I thought I might make the hole too much bigger than the mast ball and ruin the mast base. Not a good idea especially if the rough surface of the mast base is not the problem.
So I figure I should ask the opinion of the pros here. Should I smooth out the base of the mast? Are there any specific things to look out for when doing that? Is my mast rotation behavior normal or am I doing something wrong (e.g. not tightening the standing rigging enough)?
I am having the same issue, got the standing rigging tight this time, read how in manual, so got 1 more notch in the shrouds. I just give mine a little nudge & it comes around. My ball is very old, refit this winter.
Mike, if you use a polishing buffer it will not change the size of the mast base indent.
We had a great sail today, almost flew a hull, wife was getting wet & cold.....so we took it easy.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
-- 1975 P16 "Spring Rain"Sail # 642
Home Built 2004 Optimist-Delta "Unity"
So old it has Dino hide for a sail Chrysler "Pirateer"
Steve
Oyama BC
Lat 50.1167 N
Long 119.3667 W
1700 ft --
When tacking as you go across the tramp while swinging the tiller around you should SHEET OUT approx. 2-3 feet of mainsheet and then recleat. That move takes off some of the load and allows the mast to rotate easier. This move will become easier with practice and eventually become second nature.
No Mike it didn't , the boat liked it though, still had slack on the lee shrouds, which you want....
-- 1975 P16 "Spring Rain"Sail # 642
Home Built 2004 Optimist-Delta "Unity"
So old it has Dino hide for a sail Chrysler "Pirateer"
Steve
Oyama BC
Lat 50.1167 N
Long 119.3667 W
1700 ft --
i was told to tighten my forestay as tight as possible where it didn't impede on mast rotation
I use a Portuguese turnbuckle system atop my furler drum and in most conditions will tie 3 or 4 wraps of my halyard around the ring/thimble and then give it a good yank down to set and tighten it. I knowi will lose some ( 5-10% ?) of the tension when i tie my rolling hitch and with creep - so i plan ahead for that.
in 15-20knots i will go a bit extra tight because i want my rigging tight and responsive
on afew occasions in light air i realized i had over tightened my forestay and it was impeding on rotation, so i had to manually move my rotator limiter to the other side each tack....
If your mast is not rotating freely when you tac, you may have your shrouds too tight for the winds you're sailing in... On the 16, there is a mast rotation tab limiter on mast base to keep your rotation to under what I believe 45 degrees... You should be able to freely move the mast to the stops with your hands.
I use to make this same mistake with the shrouds, that is tighter is better..... When they held the Prindle Nationals in Long Beach, CA in 1999, this gent (no.... not Boat-less Bruce) that was sailing one of the Prindle 19s went through my 16 and helped me set it up.... the right way....!!!! It was night and day improvement when we loosened up the shrouds a notch or two... the mast went over real smooth.
With that, you mast base looks pretty clean..... I have seen worse. I use carry a Scotch-Brite pad along with some water or Windex with me to clean the mast base before each sail on my Prindle's.... You may want to get in there with some wet/dry 400- 600 grit paper and polish it up a bit more than it is, but overall your OK there... How is you mast bearing (half ball) is it rough and old - white chalky color? If so may be time for a new one...
Huh. You're the first one who said mast could be too tight. The manual actually says to use the wind in the sail to tighten the leeward shroud then turn the boat around and tighten the other side to match. I was actually sure that if anything my sidestays are too loose because I was too chicken to do this on the trailer. My rig tension is such that you can just barely reach the bridle shackle with the forestay without pulling much. I tried to adjust the sidestays once without the aid of the sail but couldn't quite reach the next hole in the shrouds. Will try to tighten the forestay turnbuckle a touch but have to be careful not to tighten it so much that I can't reach the forestay to the bridle next time. I hope I don't have to loosen and tighten the turnbuckle each time I rig the boat!
I -THINK- the mast rotates freely when I don't have wind in the sails - it was only jamming under noticeable stress (perhaps because the mast tilts sideways enough that the rotator limiter tab touches the mast base?). Will check next time I rig the boat (may be spring - it's getting cold here in a hurry).
It does have some grooves and powder on the base, but not so much that powder residue would spread onto the crossbeam or something. The surface is obviously rough to the touch - not sure if the photo shows that - but without any real sharp spikes or anything. I suppose I could give it a little rubdown with a fine sandpaper - though I think the imperfections are deep enough that a dremel abrasive ball would be required to make it smooth to the touch. This is why I am concerned whether I would be making more harm than good by increasing the size of the mast base indentation.
When you step the mast, you should have no problem hooking up the forstay, there should be plenty of slack with out having to yank on the forstay....
Once you set the turnbuckle it should be never touched again unless you are fine tuning for a nationals race or something... I would unscrew it all the way and then bring it back in to 15 to 20 turns... that should be a good starting point that will get you in the ballpark for your mast rake.
You should set one side on your shrouds before you step the mast and leave the other side on the top hole in the side stay... this will keep your rig slack, it will give you plenty of room to attache the forstay, and you'll only need to power up one side... And, this is very easy done by your self... Put your harness on, hook into the trap, and then drop so the trap wire is taking on you full body weight... This can be done on the beach, but better on the trailer as you have a little more leverage (drop) for hanging... Oh! Just make sure the boat is still tied down... You can do this with the main sheet too..... hook one side to the trailer and the other to the trap wire and honk it down to when you have enough slack to power the rig... Use to set up, sail, and tear down my 16 and 18 all the time as a crew was not always available.... I guy smaller than me showed this trick...
As I can recall with my 16 I was 15 turns in on the turnbuckle, and at the #5 hole from the top on the side stays...
It really shouldn't be jamming at all... once the wind catches the sail is should flip right over... the only tilt you should have is fore and aft (mast rake)
Just wondering if you have tried sheeting out some mainsheet when the boat comes head to wind while tacking. I have just looked up tacking catamarans in 4 books and everyone suggests doing it.
Welcome to A Fleet by Jack Sammons
Catamaran Sailing for the 90's by Rick White
Catamaran Sailing from start to finish Phil Berman
Sometimes the problem is very easy to solve
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