Transportation Mode to Sailing Mode

[Caesar Paul]

Wishing you all a happy new year of sailing, and I trust you had a merry and thoughtful Christmas.

Questions:

How long does it take to rig the vega for sailing from transportation mode?

Does a mast hoist system come with the boat?

Have some vega owners install a rudder on the stern to give greater control when reversing in tight spaces? I thought I saw a picture with a stern hung rudder, if so how has it helped, and will you recommend such a modification?

My rhodes 22 is for sale.

Caesar

 

[n6ric]

Cesar,
The boats don't come with a mast raising system. Many of the people on the site have approached it differently. Some using long poles and lifting the whole mast up so it can be dropped in place. I've taken a different approach and designed a collar that fits around the mast and has a shorter pole connect between the collar and a chain plate on each side and a small hook at the base of the mast to align it to the mast step as the mast is raised. The collar and poles keep the mast from being able to go to either side as the mast is winched up using the jib halyard. Using this process I should be able to raise the mast by myself. I haven't had a chance to use it yet because my rebuild isn't that far along, however, I stole the idea from a boat of a similar size and it worked great.

There was a guy in Europe someplace that was making rudders that bolt onto the stern and according to the posts it worked very well. Again, I am choosing to do it a little different. For about $2000.00 you can get a Norvane self steering wind vane that has a setup for a tiller connection for use as an emergency tiller. I'm betting that it could be easily rigged to work in concert with the main rudder with the same lines that vane uses to steer the boat. That way you have both better maneuverability plus a steering vane at a reasonable price.

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www.selfsteering.com

Good luck,

Ric
s/v Blue Max
#2692

 

[tymish_z]

Did anybody try to use Norvane as emergency rudder. Doe it help with backward steering?Tym