After relaunching the boat in November I have gone ahead with the mods to remove the cutter rig and convert the head sail so its self tacking,with much success.
I know the purist in the group may see this as sacrilege but it was purely for convenience and ease of sailing.
Mod's Done
1/ Remove all hardware associated with the cutter rig.
2/ Remove inner stay and chain plate and use stainless backing plate to seal the holes in anchor locker by through bolting it with washers and nylock nuts on the inside sealing it with some 4200. The original external chain plate protruded above the deck and would have guaranteed me stubbing my toe at some point when going forward, the backing plate used on the inside is shorter and when installed lies below the deck inside the anchor locker.
3/ Drilling and through bolting the cutter track with oversize 1/4 20 stainless screws and mid size fender washers on the inside. The two measly end bolts were probably number 10 or 12 screws with the balance of the existing screws being wood screws into the teak board below the track. The new screws needed the head counter bored wider and deeper into the track and there was sufficient material in the track to do this so they sat flush.
4/ Remove existing cabin top winch and replace with similar size Self tailing unit, bolt hole pattern was exactly the same so the swap over was easy.
5/ Add a snap shackle onto the end of the stay sail line to attach to the jib.
After all of this was completed we took it out for sail and using the existing Yankee we found the system would tack through with no problem. In fact under most points of sail in 10 to 15 kts of wind the sail set was reasonable without much flutter at the top as I expected.
The only time the set was poor was close hauled because the sail was to long to properly set, rectified by furling to 60-70% at which point the line coming of the track could set the sail because of the better angle with the line forward of the track.
Since I had replaced the dorades with lower profile ones there was no interference with the track rigging as it tacked through. The only hang up that occurred was during a slow tack with the full Yankee the line managed to flap its way around one of the mast winches requiring a tack back and a quicker tack to the new heading after the line freed itself.
A rather interesting consequence of utilizing the original track and block locations is that as you tighten the line to say sail close hauled the sliding block on the track centers itself because of the tension and as you fall off to a reach releasing the tension allows the block to travel to the outside of the track.On the opposite tack the block settles in on the opposite side in the same position on the track.I was wondering if I would need some way of restricting how much of the track the block could travel, more for a reach and less for close hauled but the tension in the line automatically restricts the blocks travel.
All in all it was a worth while mod and really simplifies sailing this beautiful boat.I will keep a set of sheets attached to a snap shackle on deck ready for a quick changeover whenever the wind direction isn't conducive to the self tacker or, I decide to go old school and I'm feeling energetic.
And yes all the original gear is still available to convert it back should I have a change of mind.
I know the purist in the group may see this as sacrilege but it was purely for convenience and ease of sailing.
Mod's Done
1/ Remove all hardware associated with the cutter rig.
2/ Remove inner stay and chain plate and use stainless backing plate to seal the holes in anchor locker by through bolting it with washers and nylock nuts on the inside sealing it with some 4200. The original external chain plate protruded above the deck and would have guaranteed me stubbing my toe at some point when going forward, the backing plate used on the inside is shorter and when installed lies below the deck inside the anchor locker.
3/ Drilling and through bolting the cutter track with oversize 1/4 20 stainless screws and mid size fender washers on the inside. The two measly end bolts were probably number 10 or 12 screws with the balance of the existing screws being wood screws into the teak board below the track. The new screws needed the head counter bored wider and deeper into the track and there was sufficient material in the track to do this so they sat flush.
4/ Remove existing cabin top winch and replace with similar size Self tailing unit, bolt hole pattern was exactly the same so the swap over was easy.
5/ Add a snap shackle onto the end of the stay sail line to attach to the jib.
After all of this was completed we took it out for sail and using the existing Yankee we found the system would tack through with no problem. In fact under most points of sail in 10 to 15 kts of wind the sail set was reasonable without much flutter at the top as I expected.
The only time the set was poor was close hauled because the sail was to long to properly set, rectified by furling to 60-70% at which point the line coming of the track could set the sail because of the better angle with the line forward of the track.
Since I had replaced the dorades with lower profile ones there was no interference with the track rigging as it tacked through. The only hang up that occurred was during a slow tack with the full Yankee the line managed to flap its way around one of the mast winches requiring a tack back and a quicker tack to the new heading after the line freed itself.
A rather interesting consequence of utilizing the original track and block locations is that as you tighten the line to say sail close hauled the sliding block on the track centers itself because of the tension and as you fall off to a reach releasing the tension allows the block to travel to the outside of the track.On the opposite tack the block settles in on the opposite side in the same position on the track.I was wondering if I would need some way of restricting how much of the track the block could travel, more for a reach and less for close hauled but the tension in the line automatically restricts the blocks travel.
All in all it was a worth while mod and really simplifies sailing this beautiful boat.I will keep a set of sheets attached to a snap shackle on deck ready for a quick changeover whenever the wind direction isn't conducive to the self tacker or, I decide to go old school and I'm feeling energetic.
And yes all the original gear is still available to convert it back should I have a change of mind.
