I've found I have a small sail, Advice?

[Lpenrose]

Relativellty new to sailing, I purchased a Hunter 25.5 (shoal draft) this past summer. We keep it on Lake Chicamauga near Chattanooga. A month ago we had some good wind and the main ripped pretty much from leach to luff on the seam just below the first reef. The good folks @ Sail Care tell me the sail is not worth repairing and that it's not the original sail. Original dimensions should be 9' Foot, 26' Luff. What I have is a 7'6" foot and 23'Luff. I think that someone in the past raised the boom to clear the dodger and bimini, then chopped the boom to it's current length.

Here's my question , , , I'm about to buy a new sail, , How much more performance will I get if I purchased an original boom and went back to the original size sail. If the boom was 2.5 feet lower you'd have to worry about getting hit in the head and that's one of the things that made my better half hate the Hobie Catamaran + we'd have to do some serious changes to the dodger & bimini.

We were relatively happy in our ignorance but now wonder how much we're missing out with the smaller set up and if it's worth the $$ and head room to go back to original?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Leif

 

[Don Guillette]

Leif: This one is slam dunk. If you went back to the boom and sail size the Hunter designers and engineers built into the boat you would get the max performance the boat was designed to give. Believe me the Hunter designers know more about performance than the previous owners of your boat. It always blows my mind when boat owners mess with the design for creature comfort. Instead of a sail boat they should buy a house boat!!

 

[Alan]

Don, you sure said a mouthful!! Giving away 2 and a half feet not only takes away sailing performance, in this case it has moved the CE of the sail-plan up making the boat even more tender than it already is.
If you check out the boat pics of other H 25.5's on the Boat Info forum you'll see that many have dodgers and bimini's with the stock sail-plan.

 

[Lpenrose]

One solution that was suggested by the folks @ Sail Care, was to obtain the original boom, then lower the goose neck as low as it could go keeping the clew end high enough to clear the dodger. They said it would gain back the part of the sail area that had the most "drive" but still leave the dodger. Then they'd make a custom sail for this odd shape.?

My wife and I have discussed it at length.. She was hit by the boom once on our catamaran and has said that what she likes about our Hunter is that she doesn't have to worry about getting hit again. The last discussion went something like "If I have to worry about getting hit again you can just tell me about how it was when you went sailing" instead of going with me.... She likes the boat and that makes me a happy camper if not an efficient sailor.

I've been able to locate quite a few places to get new and/or used sails but I'm at a loss where I can find a used boom. Is there anything I need to ask to make sure I get the "right one"? once I find a place that has used ones....

I appreciate your comments. Idealism is great, efficiency to be desired and , , , , , , Happy wife , , , , Happy life! Alan, I"ll check out those photos

 

[LANCE ON CLOUD NINE]

Just a thought-

Your owner profile says your boat is a 23.5- But your post says 25.5- is there any chance your sailmaker thinks your boat is 25.5 ? And this could be the reason he thinks your sail is too small? Anyway, have fun on that boat whatever size it is!

 

[Lpenrose]

Nope,

It's a Hunter 25.5. I don't remember filling out the profile information. I've got it right now.

 

[Don Guillette]

Lpenrose: Here's the bottom line. I can't tell you how many married guys I've know on the various docks where I've kept my boats and I NEVER met or even saw their wives. I did not want to join that group. Everything my wife wanted to add to the boat was fine with me as long as she continued to like "going to the boat". In fact, when I sold the boat and removed all my stuff the water line went UP over 3"!! I'll tell you mate, you have your priorities straight and whatever the little lady wants she gets. You really don't want to join the dock neighbors I mentioned above - do you? Of course not.