Merit 22 owners

[RussC]

project for the day (or two). I love the clean and dry storage Merit provided under the cabin cushions but it seems like there's always sails or other stuff on the cushions that makes access more difficult. time for some shelves and cubby holes to stash often used items. plastic tubs keep everything dry, clean, organized and accessible.

 

[Hayden Watson]

Russ. I like the "Sport-a-Seat"
View attachment 233821 View attachment 233820

Comfortable, movable, lightweight.

Sport-a-Seat The Original Portable and Adjustable Seat! Made in the USA! Sportaseat.com

Sport-a-Seat is the Ultimate in Portable Seating. Superior Comfort & Quality. Made in the USA! The Original Since 1986. Its a Seat, A Cushion, A Recliner, ALL IN ONE! Versatile Comfortable Portable!

www.sportaseat.com

WM sells a cheaper version of this seat.
I bought the original from Sport-a-Seat in 2016. It is still working flawlessly.

I have a couple of these that were on Papillon when I bought her in 1998 and have provided comfort ever since. In fact, john, I think your bum has benefited from them.

 

[Los]

Here are some pictures of my cramps and cramping tool. I used the two AWG die and got two cramps per copper crimp. I screwed up twice and had to remove for copper crimps, using a metal grinder and a screwdriver and a chisel and confirming no damaged strands. It was a little challenging getting the crimps off, but I saved the wire that way.

 

[jssailem]

I felt right at home, Hayden.

 

[RussC]

Well I've gotten in five very full days of sailing Glissade so far and I seriously put in the effort to work in unison with the mid cockpit traveler setup. nope... ain't gona happen. PITA. as fortune would have it however, this boat must have come from the factory with the transom mounted short traveler and converted somewhere along the line later in life, as the brackets were still on the transom also. after some daytime head scratching, and a few nightmares, I concocted a way to use the mid mount traveler bar and existing hardware on the transom mount brackets. If for some reason I'm not happy with it, there was no cutting or major alterations that would keep me from moving it back to mid mount but by just taking it for a spin around the driveway I'm pretty sure this new configuration is gonna make me a lot happier sailor. after placing the cleats on the bar ends, along with the new traveler stops, it reduced the travel somewhat but 32" of travel still remain so I'm happy with that. Now I'm just waiting for a good weather forecast day below 100* to test it out. fingers crossed.

 

[jssailem]

Russ how does the tiller to the rudder work. Does it come in beneath the traveler?

 

[RussC]

Russ how does the tiller to the rudder work. Does it come in beneath the traveler?

Yes. but I did have to add a 1" spacer between the bar and the brackets, to allow clearance for the tiller tamer knob when installing the tiller.

 

[jssailem]

It looked tight in the image. I loved the tiller tamer.

It looks like a great solution if you can feel comfortable with the controls. However, it will require pulling the control lines blind while you look at the sail, or a lot of head turning.

 

[RussC]

It looked tight in the image. I loved the tiller tamer.

It looks like a great solution if you can feel comfortable with the controls. However, it will require pulling the control lines blind while you look at the sail, or a lot of head turning.

Time will tell but it can't be any worse than straddling that dang bar mid cockpit all the time. plus the traveler won't be in constant use for my typical sailing. I figure it's worth a try anyway.

 

[emh56]

After a four year search I'm finally back in the game!! I've continued to sail my Mac25 for the past 10 years but I've regretted selling my Merit22 from the day it went out the driveway 4 years ago, which is about when I started searching for another one to replace it. The Mac is a comfortable camper, but it's loaded down and not really equipped to race. after entering my first sanctioned race two weeks ago I really got motivated to get something a bit more competitive again. as fate would have it, one just happened to come along that I could work a deal for. needs lots of work, as most boats of this vintage do, but the important stuff is there. came with 6 headsails from 100% - a massive mylar 150?, two mains, three spinnakers and one reacher (think assm spinnaker). all sails are in good to excellent condition. also came with a nice 5hp Merc (Tohatsu) 4 stroke motor and an assortment of goodies common to used sailboats. Russ is a hAppy, hAppy boy. might take a month to get her back in shape to sail after sitting since 2013 but that's ok. View attachment 232840View attachment 232841View attachment 232842

I am glad to see you have a Merit 22 again. Your posts about the first Merit helped me out so much when we first bought ours a couple of years ago. We are now into our second season of sailing her (it spent the first on the hard getting repaired) and we are finding it to be a really great boat.

 

[emh56]

Out on the Hudson in our Merit with some girls from our sailing club's Adventure Sail program earlier this summer.

 

[emh56]

I am planning on making a canvas cover for our Merit this fall as we need to store it at the marina and I would be happy to share the pattern measurements when I get done - or would gladly take advice from anyone who already has a cover. The half-assed tarp system we used for past couple of years isn't really working and a cover will be less than shrinkwrapping after a couple of seasons and allow us to get into the boat more easily without uncovering it too early.

 

[RussC]

Finally got a decent wind and weather forcast to try out the new traveler location. WOW. It feels like a whole nother animal now. SO much easier to sail solo now that I have the freedom to quickly mover about in the cockpit. I did loose some vertical boom control on the downwinds but that just means I’ll have to dust off my extra boom vang. No biggie. Even without a vang on my test voyage I easily held my own (aka passed them) against other boats I encountered during the day. Ya… I’m falling in love with this boat again. Now if my crisp new jib sail would just get here before its time to pack it in for the summer……………

 

[RussC]

I can see clearly now.

 

[RussC]

Ya find the strangest head scratchers when you buy a used sailboat . a po had drilled a 3 1/2" hole in either side of the bow and screwed on a plexiglass "window" over it. not sure of the true purpose but I wanted it to go away so it got glassed in today, screw holes filled, sanded and painted. it's now disappeared .

 

[RussC]

What size headsails have you used on your Merit 22 and what size do you use the most often?

 

[RussC]

Someone do me a huge favor and see if your Merit 22 has this rough "seam" in the inner liner alongside the chainplates. it doesn't really look "factory" to me, but I could be wrong.

what I'm wrestling with is that the lee side shrouds tend to go slack when healed over hard. the owners manual says "if the upper shrouds are at optimum tension, when at about 15 to 20 degrees of heal, the leeward shroud should begin to look slack. this is quite natural and should never be tightened". uhh.... ok. but what I see under those conditions seems a bit more that "just begins to look slack" and more like a wet noodle so I began some more intense investigation today. the first thing that got my attention is that the chainplates are anchored not directly to the hull, but rather to the inner liner. huummmmm. it's not possible to investigate behind the liner in that area without surgery so I'm wondering if the PO overstressed the glass and it broke loose from the main hull. instigating the "repair" seen there. I do know this boat was raced hard in the SF bay area (high winds) with large genoas and spinnakers. regardless if it's a case of previous damage, or just typical flex due to the design, I want less slack in the shrouds to feel comfortable pushing it so I'm fabricating struts on both sides of the boat. these tie into the area under the perforated deck railing so theoretically that should stiffen things up substantially.

 

[dlochner]

If the shrouds are really slack they need to be tightened. If there is not enough room on the turnbuckle then new shorter shrouds are necessary.

I'm not crazy about the repair you are making. The thinnest and therefore the weakest part of the hull is typically the upper end of the hull. What you are proposing will put more stress on the weakest part of the hull. If there is a proper way of strengthening the hull, it involves cutting away the liner and adding fiberglass to the hull with the fibers following the load path.

Alternatively, the liner could be beefed up with some glass and the the liner's connection to the hull reinforced with additional tabbing. It will be necessary to see how the liner is attached to the hull. Look for tabbing between the hull and the liner, it may be cracked or peeled away from the hull. Also check all the tabbing on the bulkheads for cracking and peeling.

 

[RussC]

If the shrouds are really slack they need to be tightened. If there is not enough room on the turnbuckle then new shorter shrouds are necessary.

plenty of adjustment on the shrouds but they stand at 180lb tension (10% of breaking strength) and still get loose like a long neck goose when healed over so it's not an initial tension problem. I like my solution just fine, especially from an effort vs results standpoint, but I'd still like to know why I had to resort to it.
BTW the strut is secured at the flange by the same bolts securing the perforated toe rail, which makes it substantially stronger than anywhere else on the upper portion of the hull.