Victoria 18' ?

[Deac]

Tweety is looking nice RussC.

I have a Victoria Eighteen I have been sailing for the past 4 years. I just decided to tune it a little this week to get it to point a little better into the wind. Before I started tuning, my uppers and lower shroud tensions were very low, I was seeing them slack on the leeward side. I am going to go out today and try the new tuning. I would welcome any suggestions you might have about the issue.

 

[Brian S]

You can start with this tuning guide from Seldén Mast: http://seldenmast.com/files/1456145028/595-540-E.pdf

 

[RussC]

Tweety is looking nice RussC.

I have a Victoria Eighteen I have been sailing for the past 4 years. I just decided to tune it a little this week to get it to point a little better into the wind. Before I started tuning, my uppers and lower shroud tensions were very low, I was seeing them slack on the leeward side. I am going to go out today and try the new tuning. I would welcome any suggestions you might have about the issue.

Just our 4th time sailing Tweety today, and it was the first time sailing in any worthwhile wind. 12-15 with gusts to 18 or so for much of the late afternoon sailing. I've actually been pretty impressed at how well ours points. the weather helm is a bit of an issue, but the little bird flys pretty well for such a short water line. I noticed our shrouds were quite slack on the lee side as well, but I've already ordered a Johnson lever for the forestay so they can be adjusted tighter and still manage to attach the forestay (we strictly trailer sail). I did see somewhere that the factory suggested that the shrouds be pretty tight. in fact they said you should be able to pluck the uppers "like a guitar", and the lowers a bit looser.

We're really loving the little Vic 18 so far. it's like having all the fun of sailing a dinghy, but without the constant threat of taking a swim. I had our Vic heeled over pretty good today just to see how far I could take it. very comforting to know how solid she gets when loaded up.
I'll be interested to hear how the "tuning" goes on your Vic. please post when you find out.
RussC

 

[Deac]

Thanks for the guide Brian S. It looks to be a pretty comprehensive guide.

I had the Victoria (Stargazer) out yesterday to test the new tuning and I was pretty happy with the results, although I think I need to try some other tension configurations to get the rake on the mast the way I want it to reduce the weather helm.

With my first configuration attempt I had 140lbs on all the shrouds, measured using a loos tension gauge. I think it really helped the boat point into the wind a lot better, and when I would go too far into the wind and my heel began to decrease it was much easier to regain my heal as the mast wasnt bowing leeward anymore and changing the sail shape when I lost the wind.

Im going to give that guide a look and try to come up with a better tuning configuration for Wednesday to try to reduce the weather helm.

Ill report back my findings.

 

[Jackdaw]

We're really loving the little Vic 18 so far.

You'll love it more if you can move your jib lead 6 inches forward! ;^)

 

[RussC]

You'll love it more if you can move your jib lead 6 inches forward! ;^)

It's already in the forward most position on the 4 foot of track. Forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject, but I'm thinking you're referring to the amount of twist?

 

[Brian S]

In about 10knots of wind, close hauled, you want about 3º of weather helm in the tiller. If you have too much, loosen the uppers a turn, tighten the forestay, and go sail to see how it feels. Keep tweaking until it feels good. You will be moving the center of effort of the sails forwards with respect to the center of resistance of the keel. The idea with the bit of weather helm is to provide more lift with the rudder. However, the Vic has a keel hung rudder. I'm not sure how much the idea of extra lift applies, compared to a high aspect foil that is not attached to the keel. On the other hand, a bit of weather helm is good to get the boat to round up if there's no one minding the tiller.

That being said, it's hard to get rid of weather helm if the sails are baggy.

When I first tuned my boat, I thought I had the most neutral helm ever. Until it was a bit winder the next time, and I realized I had lee helm. Nope, just rake that mast a bit, shall we?

 

[Citysailor]

Russ- I've been catching up on your posts on your Victoria 18. I have a question on the replacement "Victoria Eighteen" decals you said you acquired. First, did they need to be applied by the graphics shop, as you indicated? Could you not get them and apply them yourself? I ask because our Victoria 18 could use similar replacement decals and am wondering how best to acquire them. By "our" Vic 18, I mean a boat which actually belongs to my sailing club, Twin Cities Sailing Club (tcsailing.org), sailing on Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. We acquired this boat in 2014, but did not get it refitted and launched until summer of 2015. She is lacking the traditional "Victoria Eighteen" on the coamings and I would like to see about getting them and would welcome information you have on that.

 

[RussC]

Russ- I've been catching up on your posts on your Victoria 18. I have a question on the replacement "Victoria Eighteen" decals you said you acquired. First, did they need to be applied by the graphics shop, as you indicated? Could you not get them and apply them yourself? I ask because our Victoria 18 could use similar replacement decals and am wondering how best to acquire them. By "our" Vic 18, I mean a boat which actually belongs to my sailing club, Twin Cities Sailing Club (tcsailing.org), sailing on Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. We acquired this boat in 2014, but did not get it refitted and launched until summer of 2015. She is lacking the traditional "Victoria Eighteen" on the coamings and I would like to see about getting them and would welcome information you have on that.

On our boat, the original lettering was still good enough to rub a tracing that I took to the graphic shop to show them what I needed. they recognized the font right away so it was no problem to have them duplicate them in a vinyl transfer. I applied the side lettering myself, but had them put the "Tweety" on due to it's size and the curve involved. My total cost was under $40.00 for everything.

 

[Citysailor]

If you are willing to share contact information for that shop, I'd like to see if they can send me vinyl transfers of the "Victoria Eighteen" for our boat. Since the sizing and design work has been done, and if you're satisfied with how it came out, I'm glad to take advantage of it and order from them.

 

[RussC]

That would be ok with me. tell them it's the item done for Russ Camp. the owner knows me. The shop is called: Logan Design at 541=474=7127 - If they balk for any reason then I could be the middle man for you.

 

[Citysailor]

Thanks, Russ. I was able to order the decals from Logan and they'll send them to me.
Paul

 

[RussC]

@Citysailor,
Have you been keeping up on the 1 Vic 18 in the Lake of the Woods regatta currently going on up in Canada? If you check the "Victoria eighteen" page on Facebook (it's a public page) the crew has been reporting in every day and are actually doing very well overall alongside the big boys. it's day 6 and is well worth the read.
Did you get the decals from Logan ok?

 

[Kermit]

when I was out my V18 friends would try and catch me. Come to think of it, I should have let Nancy (in the sailor cap) succeed!

I can't decide if that cap was made for her or if she was made for the cap. But you made a HUGE error in not letting her catch you!

 

[Kermit]

I was trying to keep her close! ;^)
Nancy is a good friend and a local artist here in town. I go to her exhibitions regularly.

Maybe you should take lessons from John Travolta in "Phenomenon" and buy all of her paintings.

 

[RussC]

Kermit,
[clears throat] I believe Jackdaw has other interests on his mind at the moment.

 

[Citysailor]

Hey Russ,
I did get the decals delivered by Logan. I haven't gotten them on, but they look like what I was expecting. The Vic 18 is just one of our 17 club boats and I've been spending time with some of the others. Today I enjoyed some of my best sailing of the summer on one of our MC scows in some brisk winds on Lake Harriet.
Yes, I have been checking out the Vic 18 Facebook posts on the regatta on Lake of the Woods. Quite an adventure on a small boat.

 

[mhindin]

new link for Seldon mast tuning and safety
http://www.seldenmast.com/files/1456145028/595-540-E.pdf

 

[mhindin]

Glenn was having a ball with the recent heavier winds. I am a recent Vic 18 newbie so I envied from shore. Bought new 1981 Vic 18 named Flewbayou. Not ready for rowing to moored boat in heavy chop and sailing solo in higher winds.. Wednesday night was great. Previous owner made lots of gizmos that I am trying to figure out. Sadly have to pull her out on Monday

 

[jssailem]

Sadly have to pull her out on Monday

Oh the season goes by so quickly. Well on shore you can spend time exploring your new boat. Understanding all the "new" gadgets and preparing (dreaming) about next season.
Write you ideas and questions down here. There will be a bunch of guys/gals in the same condition... Watching the frozen white stuff piling up around the doors, windows, covering the house. A time when the mind says "let's put the youtube sailing videos up on the big screen and turn up the heater".