H146 Rigging guide?

[tpzahm]

I went ahead and bought the boat (2005 H146). There are some gouges in the hull, the worst of which were caused by the previous owner's not correcting the forward trailer bunk's falling forward. (This allowed the steel bracket ends that supported the bunk to come into contact with the hull.) There's plenty of help that I've found on this site to help with the gouges -- I've ordered some Devcon Plastic Welder - White, and will post some pictures showing the degree of color (mis-)match when the repairs are done. (I'm hoping to avoid the painting step.)

The point of this post, however, is to ask for some help. The boats I've sailed in the past were much older, didn't have boom vangs, and none of the sails had reef points. Further, they used boltropes in the sails, not slugs. So --

1. Does anyone have (or can you point me to) anything resembling a rigging guide for the H146? I called Hunter and they were of absolutely no help, saying that they had nothing other than their woefully inadequate owner's manual. (Actually, they didn't call it woefully inadequate; I added that.)

2. One of the slugs (the lowest on the luff, if I remember correctly) has a strand of fiber hanging from it. The previous owner repeatedly knotted it, presumably to make it shorter and get it out of the way. From what I've been able to glean from the 'net, it may have to do with shaping the sail. I could really use some help with it's use.

3. I principally sail on a small inland lake, and will probably only reef the main *before* going out on the lake. I presume that there aren't any "built-in" aids to reefing in the stock rigging of the H146, and that moving the outhaul to the higher clew, fixing the higher tack to the boom in the place that the lower tack would normally go, and tying the sail to the boom at the other cringles is the simplest way to go. Am I missing anything? Do I have anything wrong (for example, should I be tying the tack to the mast, instead)? I'm not particularly interested in jiffy reefing at this point.

4. Is there any other advice that the community would like to offer to a new H146 owner coming to it from older, simpler boats?

Thanks in advance.

Yours in sailing,
Tom Zahm

 

[BlueRunner]

3. I principally sail on a small inland lake, and will probably only reef the main *before* going out on the lake. I presume that there aren't any "built-in" aids to reefing in the stock rigging of the H146, and that moving the outhaul to the higher clew, fixing the higher tack to the boom in the place that the lower tack would normally go, and tying the sail to the boom at the other cringles is the simplest way to go. Am I missing anything? Do I have anything wrong (for example, should I be tying the tack to the mast, instead)? I'm not particularly interested in jiffy reefing at this point.

As far as I can tell, that's the way I reef my 170 (before I go out). I'm also on a smallish lake (1 mile wide by 8 miles long.) I doubt I'll ever take my boat to another lake. Of course, I don't know anything about the 146, but on my 170 it would be a real bear to try to reef underway in a "blow" unless I had a tiller person. I think if I got caught is a sudden squall, I would drop the main and head for the nearest beach to reef the main. The reason I say this is that I saw a 170 "turtle" in gusty winds while a crew of 2 were trying to reef the main. You got my interest up in jiffy reefing and I did a web search to see what was involved. Looks like it MIGHT be easier to reef single handed with one of those systems.

I just took a look at the 146 on Hunter.com and didn't notice any motor option. I have a 2 hp outboard on my 170. Do you have any alternate power option if the wind goes calm? I also have a 12' GigHarbor sail boat that has a rowing option (which I've used more than once on Lake Sammamish) when the wind goes calm. The GigHarbor also has an electric motor option bolts to the rudder. It works fine, but I find the boat difficult to come about with the electric engine hanging on the rudder, so I don't have it on the boat anymore and the oars work fine when I need them.

 

[esterhazyinoz]

I just took possession of my new Hunter 15 (the 146 constructed in fibreglass but the same boat). The owners manual that I was sent looked sufficient for me to set up the boat (of course I could be just wildly optimistic, I’ll be doing its first rigging this weekend). I live in Perth, Western Australia and the Hunter agent (very helpful to date) is 2500 miles away in Sydney.

The one thing that I'd like to find out though is if anyone has come up with a clever way of stepping the mast single handed. I'm sure someone has worked out a way to hold the mast up while you attach the forestay??????

All advice gratefully accepted.

Cheers

 

[BlueRunner]

I've got a 170 and it was a real chore the first time I stepped the mast. I'm not sure what the correct term would be, but I've got a couple of attachment points up on my mast similar to the attachment point for the forestay. If you have the same attachment points, connect a line to the one you're not using for the forestay and run it to a pulley attached to the mast "resting" point on your trailer or anything else on your car. From that point the line should run back far enough for you to reach when you're about ready to raise the mast.

As you walk the mast forward, keep tension on this line. It will also aid you slightly when the mast gets above 45 degrees. Continue to walk the mast vertical and secure the line to a cleat on the mast. That will hold the mast from coming back until you secure the forestay.

I just set my boat up this way about a month ago and did a practice step in my driveway. Worked like a charm! The only problem with this method that I see is that you will then have this line hanging down as long as the mast is stepped. If you had a "loop" toward the top of the mast, you could then start this line at the base, run it up through the loop and then down to the forward pulley and finally back to the point where you could reach it when you're ready to step the mast. When you're finished connecting the forestay, in this situation you could then recover the line entirely.

However, having the line attached permanently is not a bad thing as it make the recovery when you're unstepping the mast a lot easier also by once again holding the mast vertical when you are disconnecting the forestay.

The red line is the line I use to put up the mast. As you can see, it's tied to a pulley that is above my furling jig/forestay which hooks to the attachment at the extreme left in the photo. My boat has an addition pulley slightly below the forestay attachment.

The second shot shows the pulley that I attached to the upright mast support on my trailer.

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[esterhazyinoz]

G'day Blue,
Thanks for the advice. What you described was what I had in mind. Also keeping a permanent line on the mast for stepping/unstepping is a great idea. I hope to sail solo a lot and your suggestion sounds like a great solution.
Cheers!

 

[BlueRunner]

Today I did a practice setup and will launch tomorrow. The "red" lines show my setup with the red line cleated securely to the mast. As shown, I can then get out of the boat and walk around to secure the furling jib to the attachment on the front deck. This is the line I keep in my hands as I walk the mast up vertical (keeping tension on the red line. When the mast is vertical, it's actually leaning forward slightly, making it VERY easy to attach the forestay/furling jib. Once that's attached, the line is removed from the forward pulley and attached straight down to the same cleat as in the picture.

I'm also considering moving the pulley on the vertical mast resting bar higher up the bar as I think this may also give me more power when raising the mast.

While this job can be done also with the standard shroud adjusters, I replaced all 4 of them with Johnson quick release shroud adjusters which makes this operation a tad easier. However, 4 of these beauties costs around $120 US.

On my mast there is another unused pulley near where the blue line is shown in the picture. I'm thinking of giving this one a try as I think the angle might give me a little more power in stepping the mast.