Capri 18 - time at ramp

[john6206]

Always a learning curve with rigging and launching.

with our old boat we started with about 2 hours at the ramp, and we got it down to something like 25 minutes after a couple of years. With the Capri we started with about 2 hours, and after 3 years we have it down to about 2 hours.

Some things are just going to take longer, like the trailer tongue extension, but how long does it take you?
In other words - what’s a reasonable goal?

 

[SailingLoto]

A big trick I've learned on small boats, park bow down. It makes the mast easier to raise and it will hang against the rear stay while you attach the forestay.

I've never rigged a 18 capri, but my 25 goes together with 2 people in less than an hour with no gin pole or raising apparatus. I've found its easier to step it from the bow back . One person pulls the rearstay the other walks the mast up.

On my first boats, I would practice several times on my driveway before heading to the ramp. Polish my technique a bit so I was efficient and looked like knew more than I actually did

 

[john6206]

@SailingLoto
Pulls the rear stay?

 

[SailingLoto]

@SailingLoto
Pulls the rear stay?

Yep... I've found that on that boat, it's easier to start with the mast in the pulpit. One person walks the mast up from the bow to the mast step, the other pulls on the rearstay/backstay to assist. There is more room on the foredeck to handle the mast vs trying to lift it from the cockpit and have someone pull on the forestay. I've also done it this way singlehanded using the mainsheet attached to the backstay , mast on my shoulder and lifting the mast/pulling the sheet at the same time, but you run the risk of the mast going sideways before the shrouds keep it from moving side to side.

Attached is a pic with the mast down to the bow.

I don't know the weight of your capri 19 mast, but I have a starwind 19 and I can simply walk it up from either end of the boat. This is where parking downhill can be to your advantage, especially if rigging it by yourself. Walk it up, let the shrouds and whichever stay is uphill hold it until you can clip the opposite stay in place. On a hill it's past vertical and will hold itself and you have less arc to travel through to get it past vertical and over center. It is using gravity in your favor.

I'm not a big guy. 5'10" 160lbs 40yrs old. Years of working alone have lead to some ingenuity with difficult tasks that normally require 2 or more people.

 

[SailingLoto]

Rereading the post I notice there may be some confusion. I have 2 boats the c25 and the sw19. I've owned several small boats and I always rigged them on land and bow down, tilting from stern forward.

The 25 is the only one I step bow to stern.

 

[john6206]

For what it's worth we went sailing this weekend and launched it in less than an hour, about 45 minutes to get it packed up once we pulled it out of the water.

Things that just take extra time on the Capri include the trailer tongue extension and the mast raising.

We have two tongue extensions - we've kind of gotten into the habit of always using the long one. The short one never seems to be enough. It's always tempting to try the short one first because the long one is such a pain in the butt to use - but the worst thing is to not be able to get the boat off the trailer and have to pull it back out and get out the other tongue extension!

This weekend's big adventure was a combination of a boat ramp designed for shallow draft fishing boats, and some pretty brutal cross winds. I ended up going chest deep in the October water and muscling it onto the trailer.

 

[MarkHejtmanek]

Still working on this myself. I've only had my Catalina 18 for a few weeks, and we've rigged it three times - each time improving our time. 1st time = 3 hours (had difficulty attaching the forestay), 2nd time = 90 minutes, 3rd time 50 minutes. My Son In-Law has helped me each time, so the two of us are gaining understanding each time out. We believe we can get the process down to 45 up/45 down which is workable for me.

 

[shemandr]

... I ended up going chest deep in the October water and muscling it onto the trailer.

I've done that in December on LI. When I launch or retrieve I assume I will get in the water. I'm almost never wrong. Sometimes it is to the knees, sometimes the hips and sometimes worse. I have waders but usually forget to bring them. I always wear a bathing suit and have dry clothes to change into. It helps that there is a watering hole steps away from the ramp.

 

[watercolors II]

I just finished my 30th season with a Catalina 22 on a small lake in the mts. of western PA. I have helped rig and de-rig many other boats from 18 to 30 feet on this small lake.

So, de-rigging is a big help in rigging the boat the next time. Make sure you de-rig the same way every time making small changes till you figure out what works best.

De-rigging, make sure every thing on the mast is stretched tight and attached to the mast in it’s standing position before lowering, this way no entanglement when raising mast.

Do not remove the stays from the hull for trailering, find a way of securing to mast in a way the stays do not rub on the gelcoat on a rough highway.

22s to 27 foot boats, a 100 foot hardware store line attached to forestay, backstay or halyard stretched out in the parking lot or a couple docks with a 1/2 person pulling and holding with just a little lift from the stern or bow.

Little harder setting up rigging on land than at the dock but, on land all parts and tools can be recovered.

Over the years I’ve added STUFF to make everything easier and faster; such as Crutches to hold mast at special angles, Trailering mast supports that attach to the hull for quick locking and de-locking. A canvas bag to store the boom in, with the mainsail still attached to the boom with battens, the reefing lines, cunningham, sail ties, sailcover, mainsheet and vang all attached, in one bag.

 

[MarkHejtmanek]

Hi John, your post came out just as I was about to purchase my own Capri 18 out here in Colorado last August. My first time rigging (with helpers) after I brought it home took 3 hours - half of that time was just trying to get the dang forestay attached. Later, we realized that where the stay comes out of the top of the mast can sometimes slide back into the mast and when you pull it to attach to the bow it's just not long enough. The stay can get hung up and the only way to fix it is to drop the mast, and manually pull ALL of that stay out of the mast and then raise the mast again. With that little bit figured out, my son-in-law and I got the rigging time down to 50 minutes and un-rigging to about 45 minutes. I wrote out checklists for Rigging, Launching, Recovering, and Un-Rigging and we've adjusted those checklists a little over time to get more efficient. We got much faster as we both learned what order we wanted to follow and could anticipate what step was coming next - in short, our teamwork got a lot smoother. We both feel like we can get that time down to around 40 minutes to rig - perhaps even a little faster (I really like the idea in the post just above mine about leaving the mainsail on the boom and might try it - today, I pull the Main and fold it each time without the battens installed).

I'm still learning the Capri 18 but so far I'm having a blast! We sailed it several times on Chatfield Reservoir in Denver before bringing it down to Mexico (where it will stay). I've been sailing it in the Sea of Cortez, and am now learning what combination of sea/wind conditions are conducive to a fun experience, and when it's better to stay ashore and go sip some tequila.

Cheers!
Mark