Chrysler Sailors Forum

How about dual rudders mounted on the stern? They could be rigged to turn the outboard at the same time. Then, you would not have to move anything else. Macgregor sailboats (if you can call them a sailboat) use twin rudders.

Hey Craig, Yes, very important to support the fixed keel, flexing the hull is just not good. Here are the guides I made: http://www.cyberdronics.com/boat/guides.jpg However, work on my C26 has been delayed for a few (gulp) years, but I am just now starting to work on her again. The point is that I h...

A really simple way to resize photos: This process requires that you have outlook, outlook express or Microsoft mail as your default mail client, and are running Windows. (sorry Macs) 1) select the photos you wish to resize in thier folder, you can do just one, or several at a time. 2) right-click o...

Where is this exactly?

I plan on using my box frame trailer in salt water. It is an older painted trailer that has been used in the ocean many times in the past. It does have rust spots that I have cleaned up and then I used a rust converting primer on it, that is supposed to protect it for 5 yrs, called Rust Destroyer, w...

Hey Carl, Roller furling is the way to go for short or single handing. But keep in mind that a hanked on 150 genoa has more sail area than a "150" on a furler. That is because the foot of the sail on the hanked on jib is at deck level, but furlers typically require a yankee cut jib, with t...

Hey Billy, If your bulkhead is under the mast, and acts as the support, you'll want to put in the arch, as you were thinking. I love the arch that is in a Santa Cruz 27, it looks really solid. If I removed the bulkhead in my C26, I would make something like it. http://www.cyberdronics.com/boat/sSC27...

I have tried a man overboard drill, actually more than once, with a hat. (and not by choice). But the most difficult was the retrieval of a loose dinghy in a squal with a torn painter. Tried to go to leward of it, thinking it would drift closer and be easy to snag with a boat hook, but even with the...

I have yet to be anywhere near a hurricane, and the earthquakes in California just don't have a significant effect on boats (at least so far, no significant tsunomis yet). But I have friends that have gone through them, on thier boats, and oh the stories they tell! Listen to Scott, get everything of...

Hey Greg, I raised my mast by myself the first time. Took me a bit to rig up a temporary harness out of ropes, but I used the chrysler recommened method with the boom and it went up pretty easily. I did not have to use a winch, but I was using the main sheet tackle @ 4:1, not the boom vang tackle. A...

Adam, Yes, you are correct, a traveler would make all the difference, and the use of the boom vang definitely would have helped. Flapping is the #1 killer of sails. I am not sure of the term "blading", never heard of that one. But you definitely want the sail flat like a blade in strong wi...

Hello. And I learnt that a 30 year old original main sail isn't made for that kind of wind anymore. The leach tore about an hour into the sail and I spent another hour sailing home with the jib. Adam Hey Adam, One thing you might want to figure out is why the sail actually tore. Was it actually the...

Bengatte, I agree with leatherneckPA, you would be unhappy with a smaller mast. This is just a rough calc, since I don't know the exact specs on the LS-16. The sail area for the stock mainsail is 110sqft with a 24' mast, I will assume that your usable sail luff is actually closer to 21', and that wo...

Hello Alan, She previously had no name, as far as I can tell, which I think is sad. The mast has lines all over it. Including the obvious main and jib halyards, but it also has a spin (It did not come with a spinnaker or a spin pole) and two others that reach the top of the mast plus a furler! It's...

"Great Stuff" expandable insulating foam . . . We used it to make a volcano for our daughters science project a few years ago. It sets up very well. Jeff Gee, I thought the "Volcano science project" was only done on TV and in the movies !! :wink: Anyway, what about recycled mate...

For a simple, truly emergency use setup, I'm thinking large hose clamps or u-bolts to affix some 1/2" ply to the whisker pole, then lashing it to the stern pulpit at the transom. Should give me a solid fulcrum and hopefully enough leverage. I have read, more than once, that that style of makes...

Lucky Jack wrote: Now all I need to do is get the Chrysler ON the trailer.

Best not to imploy the same technique in reverse.

Hey John K, I think it would be bad to cut your crossmember with the boat on the trailer (It may be under a load). I needed to work on both my trailer and my boat in my driveway, so I built a small structure to hang the boat. You can check out some pictures on the thread here: http://www.chryslersai...

I just learned a new trick: if you are just working in a small area, you can use oven cleaner to remove paint from gelcoat or fiberglass. It seems to work pretty good. Just be sure to follow up with some acetone to remove the residue.

You can tie a small piece of yarn (some people us mylar from an old audio tape) to your port and starboard shrouds for a wind indicator. Beats that climb up the mast. Some people do that even if they have a wind vane so they do not have to keep straining thier neck looking up at the mast head (which...

Adam, Sounds like you had some fun. The only thing that I can think of right now would be that you were turning too hard. When the rudder is hard over, it can act like a break. Try a more graceful turn, starting with a dip downwind to increase speed then turn up through the wind, but using less rudd...

Adam, Having the top batten in line with the boom would be a properly adjusted main. However, without the batten you will probably not achieve that anyway. Flattening the sail for strong winds is a method of depowering the sail, and should, by itself, reduce heal. You want to to allow the wind to sh...

Hey Adam, While you should always have about 5 degrees of weather helm when sailing upwind, too much means that you have too much main sail up. If your boat has a traveler, moving it to leward will help that a lot. It is very important that you NOT have lee helm however, as that can be really bad. A...

Hmm, We are planning on sailing tomorrow. The expected weather here is a high of 72deg with winds 5-15mph. I might even break a sweat.

Be carefull what you are attached to when you are cranking. You don't want to pull the bow eye out! You might consider a strap around the keel, held up in place with some lines around the top.

I read somewhere that a good starting place for lead blocks are where the sheet bisects the sail evenly at the clew. Adam You are correct, drawing a line from the center of the luff to the clew is a good starting point. But it is more important to do a sea trial and look at the foot of the sail and...

I am assuming you are referring to the Jib. The rule of thumb is correct that you should bring the sail in until it stops luffing, but the telltails are the more accurate refference. However, if you need to sheet the jib in tighter because it is luffing while the telltails are streeming back, then y...

I figure that I am more "green" when I am out sailing, than when I am on my computer reading this forum! (and I don't mean seasick)

Terrence, Glad to have helped. I have found that if you look at ten boats, you will see ten different configurations. I race on Santa Cruz 27s, which are a one-design fleet, and each boat is set up a little different. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what works best. Funny thing with the w...

Hey Terrence, Sounds like you are describing a Gross/Fine adjusting mainsheet system. Here is a link to the Harken page that shows different mainsheet setups, was it one of those (the fifth, sixth, or seventh one down) ? http://www.harken.com/rigtips/mainsheet.php They are used for fine-tuning the m...