Would loose outhaul lead to weather helm?

[BAD ORCA]

Just curious what changed. I'm restoring my sailboat and because of some big projects have not sailed her in a few years. Previously I had not spent much time with sail trim. Sailing and the boat was still relatively new to me. Sail trim is still a big weak point of mine.

On our previous sails i remember the boat had slgiht weather helm. Not much but if you took your hand off the wheel she would round up within about 100 yards or so. Last weekend we finally got projects done and took her out for her first sail in a long time. We had to dial in the new autopilot and just have some fun. We noticed the foot of the sail was a tad loose and tightened up the outhaul maybe two or three inches, as tight as it would go.

I noticed that when hand steering the boat was extremely well balanced all of a sudden. IIt was a light wind day (10+ kts) and we had the genoa and main sheeted in fairly tight, but in the past we had sailed the same. The only other change was replacing the mainsheet and blocks. Would tightening the foot of the main just that little bit have that drastic of an effect or was it just likely something else i wonder?

The only other thing i can think of is i added about 250+ lbs of tools and gear to the v-berth. Would weight in the bow help with weather helm?

 

[Davidasailor26]

Flattening the main can definitely reduce weather helm. A looser outhaul tends to power the sail up, which brings the boat’s center of effort back and adds weather helm. A flatter sail gives a little less power. Above 10 knots is generally where depowering can start to be the right thing to do, depending on the boat.

 

[BAD ORCA]

Flattening the main can definitely reduce weather helm. A looser outhaul tends to power the sail up, which brings the boat’s center of effort back and adds weather helm. A flatter sail gives a little less power. Above 10 knots is generally where depowering can start to be the right thing to do, depending on the boat.

Interesting, thank you. So much sail trim to learn. I disassembled the boom today for repairs and cleaning and finally figured out what and where all the lines coming and going are attached to. baby steps

 

[marcham]

Mainsail trim (hallyard /downhall tension, backstay tension, main sheet tension and traveller positioning, outhall tension, use of reefing points) and jib trim (jib fairlead position and sheet tension) along with adjustment of your foot and leach tension lines all can impact how the boat behaves. Weatherhelm is the boat telling you that something is out of whack. Most modern boats (90s + ) are designed to be neutral at the helm.

 

[Davidasailor26]

A little bit of weather helm is generally a good thing; you just don’t want too much. With about 3 degrees of rudder angle the rudder actually helps generate extra lift to windward, counteracting leeway. Some people also like the little bit of “feel” that it gives to the helm to help stay in the groove. You certainly don’t want too much or the rudder becomes a brake, but just a little is good.

 

[American_Mainsail]

A little bit of weather helm is generally a good thing; you just don’t want too much. With about 3 degrees of rudder angle the rudder actually helps generate extra lift to windward, counteracting leeway. Some people also like the little bit of “feel” that it gives to the helm to help stay in the groove. You certainly don’t want too much or the rudder becomes a brake, but just a little is good.

I just wanted to quickly add: that three degrees (give or take) of weather helm can actually reduce the boat's overall resistance to windward. If you look at a vector diagram of a sailboat traveling to windward, the boat isn't moving directly in its compass direction, it's slipping a little to leeward as the keel "climbs" to windward and the drag forces on the sails act to push the boat down to leeward. The boat must point a few degrees higher than the boat's actual course.

The result of these forces resolving is that correcting for a little bit of weather helm (steering slightly to leeward) angles the rudder more into the real flow field in order to reduce rudder resistance.

Sailing gets cooler and cooler the more you dig into it.

 

[BAD ORCA]

I just wanted to quickly add: that three degrees (give or take) of weather helm can actually reduce the boat's overall resistance to windward. If you look at a vector diagram of a sailboat traveling to windward, the boat isn't moving directly in its compass direction, it's slipping a little to leeward as the keel "climbs" to windward and the drag forces on the sails act to push the boat down to leeward. The boat must point a few degrees higher than the boat's actual course.

The result of these forces resolving is that correcting for a little bit of weather helm (steering slightly to leeward) angles the rudder more into the real flow field in order to reduce rudder resistance.

Sailing gets cooler and cooler the more you dig into it.

Yeah i agree, very interesting. I dont mind a little weather helm. My boat is somewhat moderately heavy for her size and seems to sail really well with it. Even with the weather helm i described earlier, steering was still pretty easy. My biggest concern now that i have a wheel pilot is to not overpower it, but i'm starting to realize how powerful this little CPT is, so im worrying a little less about it now.

 

[Sunbird22358]

Just to add,.the "rake' of the mast will affect Weather/Lee Helm as well. If mast is leaning aft it will increase Weather-Helm, leaning forward will increase Lee-Helm (tendency for boat to want to turn away from wind.)
Most boats do best with the mast tilted ever so slightly aft, my assumption is that given your results after tightening the outhaul, that you did not change the rake of the mast after this "restoration" work, so the outhaul tension will indeed be what helped to reduce the weather-helm.