First sail! Questions (trailer, sails)

Stu Jackson · Mar 19, 2007

Great day for you

glad you enjoyed it. In answer to your question, one of the best books I found for our C22 (1981 boat #10496, owned from 1982-1989) (in addition to the C22 Association website) was Pat Royce's "Sailing Illustrated." The book's still being published. It has quite a bit about the C22 specifically, and discusses all the things you asked about. It's well worth the cost and you may find a used copy, say at abebooks.com or elsewhere. I highly recommend it. You could buy dozens of other books, but this one covers EVERYTHING that you asked about and includes what you need to know (and more), written by a fellow who was years ahead of his time in sailing small boats.

Mike · Mar 19, 2007

2 suggestions

1. I would not use the bow cleats to winch the boat onto the trailer. Use the bow eye that is on the bow, just below the front of the deck. Check inside of your anchor locker to be sure that there isn't any rot in the wooden backing piece, and add super large heavy duty washers under the nuts if there aren't any there. If the winch doesn't line up with the bow eye, you can adjust it's position on the trailer by loosening the nuts, sliding it, and retightening the nuts. Also, buy a set of trailer guides for the boat and install them on the trailer. They're made of square galvanized tubing that bolt onto the trailer frame with brackets, and have PVC pipes that slide over the metal tubing to prevent scratching the hull. If installed correctly, your boat will stay centered over the trailer when you float it on.2. Just drop the mainsail and lay it accross the boom and secure it until you are at the dock, then, undo the bungees or sail ties, and flake it neatly onto the boom. If you have a helper, it's very easy. One at the mast and one at the boom. Take the midpoints between the sail slugs and fold it over first to one side, then take the next midpoint between slugs and fold it to the opposite side of the boom. the helper will mirror your movements. Keep doing this until the entire mainsail is neatly flaked onto the boom. Tie it with sail ties or bungees, but avoid bungees with metal hooks at all cost, because they may rust and stain the sail, tear the sail with the metal hook, or slip and KNOCK YOUR EYE OUT!

Bilbo · Mar 19, 2007

Trailer

Well, I intend to add vertical guides on my trailer so that this doesn't happen. These can be PVC pipe uprights that go outside of the boat on each side right behind the wheels. That way, the boat's stern isn't going to be out of alignment when loading and the swing-keel isn't being put under stress from some keel-centering system that may be too low in the water to begin with. The first time I loaded the boat from the lake, it wasn't good. I had to reload it a few times with a crowd of pontoon rental workers waiting for me to move it. This last time it was better. Boat centered well and not too tight on the winch. Only problem was that my brother tried to winch the boat up tighter after it was out of the water. It may be better to get it close to the bow stop and then pull the boat out a bit so that it's sitting on the bunk boards before tightening the winch. That way, the winch or the Bow U hook won't get ripped off. Some people fold the main as it's going down and tie it off. Probably works better with two people and a bit easier if the winds aren't too high or you are dead into the wind. Another idea is called lazy-jacks. Sailcare.com has a rigging kit for about $115.00 That makes things pretty neat up there.Some people use something called a Dutchman flaking system on their boats but I think that's a bit much for a C22.I have a logic question about raising the main for you all. I have been thinking about this from tegwilym's other post about how to. If you raise the main to the top by the halyard and then cleat off the boom downhaul to tighten, why is there a halyard winch on these boats? On my boat which is docked for the season, I have the boom tied for the whole summer. The sail is ready to go up. All I do is remove the sail cover. Motor out to deep water. lower the keel. Head into the wind and raise both of the sails ...by the halyards.

Mike · Mar 19, 2007

For reefing

You lower the mainsail some to put a reef in the sail. Then you need to raise the sail back up some to tighten the sail. A winch makes tightening easier. How is Pymatuning Lake right now? Is the ice all gone? Have the seagulls come by for their annual spring sh*t in at the marinas?I may be putting my boat in maybe by the end of the month. I sail out of Jamestown, aren't you somewhere north, along the Ohio side?

Bilbo · Mar 19, 2007

Bowers

Article on flaking the mainsail at the bottom of this link:http://catalina22fleet20.home.comcast.net/news/rpts/200507/200507.htmHi Mike, I guess that reading things like this got me thinking that the main halyard is for raising the main:http://www.ehow.com/how_8887_raise-mainsail.htmlhttp://www.catalina22fleet58.org/Learning_Center/single_handed_sailing.pdfI'm up at Bowers bay. First dockage south of the causeway by Andover, Ohio. I have not seen Pymatuning for about a month. I live in the Youngstown area and it's fun to go up and see the ice on a warm winter's day.I did stop by the state park at Mosquito last weekend (3/11/07) and a few couples of geese were out walking on the water...ice actually. See the last shots:http://baggins.150m.com/Lucy/Lucy.htmlI suppose that Pymatuning is still hard or pretty cold. Our docks don't allow us to put in until 4/15 or so and I need to do some touch-up work. The boat's outside and the weather's crappy. Still learning the lines. I originally wanted to joint that Century club because of it's location but the wife doesn't want all the responsibilities of a club and all that socialization. She wants to take the dogs out for a nice day and relax. Anyway, I kind of like our dock location. Close to the causeway and if the winds kick up from the north, the waves are minimal around there. The dock area is relatively protected from most storms unless the winds are out of the west or SW. We were out several times last year and generally it was pretty good. After grounding in one place, I bought a fishfinder and a handheld GPS. The farthest south we got to was around the Snodgrass boat ramp a few times. Mike, Do you think that a VHF radio is a must for Pymatuning? Handheld or base station?

Bilbo · Mar 20, 2007

Mike

Mike, I just bought a handheld that has the weather channels. At least that's good for something. I have a Cell too but for some reason at the dock it doesn't work well.i've noticed that the P.A. State things have gone down some. We used to go to the swimming area near the state campground that you are writing about but it isn't as kept up as it used to be a few years ago. They had concessions and the beach seemed cleaner. Oh well. At our docks we had a few issues. They had that one high water where the docks were underwater by about 6 inches. See 4th & 5th shot:http://baggins.150m.com/Sailing/Photos_1/Photos_1.htmlThen 2 of the sailboats were basically demasted in the one storm. Combination of winds and higher waves I guess. ONe of the baots was moored though, I was glad that the C22 has the 6 cables of standing rigging holding up the mast at that point. I understand that some guy sunk his sailboat sailing in that storm at night. 3:30 AM and two sheets to a very strong wind. He spent a few hours till morning holding the top of the mast. Not sure but that's what I was told. I think that we may try some evening sailing at some time. I was thinking about getting a few LED replacements for the bulbs on the mast. AS far as where we go, we end up down in that bigger basin often. We hit bottom at a place where I didn't expect to hit. It was in the west PA side, above that Snodgrass. On my map, I think it was near Burns Road. There is an area which looks kind of like a bay that was shallow.Meeting on the lake would be fun.

Dick of Sylvan · Mar 20, 2007

Can Roll Sail

Tom: Re/storage of mainsail, some racers place a plastic drainage pipe, say 4 to 6 in dia. along the boom then roll the mainsail around the two neatly. Or do this just around the pipe with mainsail off the boom. This avoids making wrinkles in the mainsail. Can also roll the jib either in same package or separately around its own pipe core. Then store in a cool dry place. But if your sails are old like mine, simply stuff them in bags which is the easiest way to go. Dick

Mike · Mar 20, 2007

Bilbo, again

Stay about 300 yds offshore along the East side of the lake. There is a shallow shelf that protrudes from shore, and you'll go from sailing to stuck real fast. Another place to avoid is anywhere south of the Pymatuning Yacht Club going towards the Jamestown Beach. Also, there is a hump along the bottom right smack in the middle of the lake between the Jamestown Beach and a white house on the East side that has custom windows that are pointed to match the slope of the roof. I've dragged my keel across it a few times, and once was aground in the middle of the state's 2nd largest lake! It still is a fun place to sail.

Bilbo · Mar 20, 2007

Flaking tegwilym

I think that link explains how to flake the sail. I basically end up with some sail ties that I wrap around the sail while I'm on the lake. I don't worry too much about being too neat on the water but I do try not to bend or break the battens. I use a couple of bungee chords that are made as a loop with a plastic ball on one end right now but a rope or strap with a loop in one end can be tied fast too.As for how deep to put the trailer. I think that you end up gauging on something. I think that I get my rear wheels of the tow vehicle right up to the water's edge but that's for our vehicle and the specific ramp. I think that what is necessary is to get the bunks slightly submerged at the front of the bunks or to get them right at the point of being underwater. Remember that the boat can slide on the bunks some if it's still partially floating. I wouldn't want to try to slide it after the boat's completely out of the water. You can hurt the bow eye or the winch. You can also break the winch cable.

Bilbo · Mar 20, 2007

Mike, again

Thanks for these tips.I know that by that other PA beach at the campground it can be shallow. Near "Beer Can" Island or some such name. The general terrain up there is kind of flat so the lake isn't too deep in general. Where I end up most of the time I get readings on my fish finder of about 20-22 ft. over the old creek bed.It would have been nice if the Army Corps of Engineers would have cleaned up the bottom before they filled it. I remember fishing back in the 60's and seeing the old stumps floating in the middle of the north end. Lost a lot of Rapalas up there. I think that humps like you mentioned are usually old roads or railroad lines. I also heard from someone that there is an old grain silo somewhere. Some story about a sailboat getting it's keel into it but couldn't get back out. A good point for swing keels.

I think too that I had a fishing map once with depth measurements around the lake. I need to get a good one again. It would be a pain to sail all the way down to the dam and run aground on some old road. Hope to see you out there sometime. stmiller_1405 (at) sbcglobal.net (no spaces)