Topics

I am hoping to bring my new 12 to 12Fest and am looking for a crew.  Having upgraded from a Paper Dart to a Baggy Trousers (Bicycle Clips), I am expecting to have more fun than success.  I am looking forward to the coaching to get some tips on the new boat.

If any one of any age or experience would like to come, please message me or reply.  I've been taking complete beginners out for the last few weeks at my club.


I can offer a sofa-bed in Burton if you don't want to camp, and I can transport anyone from Mansfield/Nottingham/Burton/Derby.




Jonathan Twite

I am wanting to replace the mainsheet block where the sheet goes to hand, with one that has a swivel built in.  Being a bit tight, I am looking for the cheapest option that will work - does any one know what is the lowest safe working limit required for a N12 mainsheet block?  I have a fairly standard aft-sheeting arrangement, sheet goes from horse to boom to horse to hand.


Thanks

Time has come to repaint the inside of N2709, the paint has been slowly comming off for sometime, and I have now descovered that leaking epoxy hardener is a brilliant paint stripper...  Does anyone have any suggestions on the easiest method of removing paint from a fibre-glass hull (that is cheaper than a bucket-full of hardner....)?
 
Thanks

I have an oldish (2nd hand) drysuit, and the legs have started leaking.  It is my dad's and I don't want him giving up crewing for me...  The tape on the inside of some of the seams appears to be perishing.  Does anyone know what I could use to repair this and where I could get it?
Thanks for any help people can give.  Jon

The winds that we had at the Inlands seems to have cracked the plasticy window on our jib (it's a pretty old jib design).  We do have a spare, but were wondering whether the window could be repaired with Mylar (clear) sail repair tape?

 

Thanks for any info

The shrouds on my boat have apparently stretched over the years and now I have no rig tension at all.  They appear to be 3.5mm wire (the measurement with a caliper is 3.48mm or .144in).  I have been trying to shorten them and although I have been able to get 3.5mm ferrules, I cannot find anyone who has a crimping tool that will do wire that big.  Everyone at our club seems to have the type which is two metal sections that are forced together by tightening bolts, and have circular holes in them for the ferrules & wire; these seem to only go up to 3mm.

The shrouds appear to have been designed never to come off - the top ends have a hard-eye inside the mast, around a bolt through the mast, but the hard eyes must have been put on after the wire was threaded through the mast probably before the top section of the mast was put on.  This means that it is impossible to get the shrouds off to take them anywhere, and replacing them will be very hard.
So I'm kind of stuck.  Do I hunt around for a 3.5mm crimping tool?  Is it possible to use anything else? or should I attempt to remove the old shrouds, get some 3mm wire and try to crimp them into the mast myself (will probably require removing the jib-halyard block and threading the shouds out of there before trying to hook the bolt through them...)

Before you start, however much I might like it, a new fancy mast is not an option...

Here is a clinker hull based on a N12 but with a Yawl rig and Lugsail main

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sailing-dinghy-/221038782709?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Sailing_Boats_ET&hash=item3376f028f5

Hi all
I am needing to shorten the shouds and jib halyard on my Paper Dart as I currently have almost no tension in the rig (goes like the clappers in a F0 - F1, anything stronger, she just heals in gusts without going forwards...).  The boat has on/off shoud levers but no other fine adjustment to use when afloat.  In order to measure the lengths we need the shrouds and halyard to be shortened by (probably more than 1.5 inches each) I would like some advice on "standard" settings.
In zero - very light winds I sail with mast ram on and shroud tension off both sides, both upwind and downwind.  Is this bad practise?
In light winds I sail with maximum jib halyard tension and mast ram to try and get as little rake as possible (that is, mast as upright as possible).  How upright is the most upright that should be used?  Hanging a weight off the main halyard at the moment means it hangs 6-8 inches back from the goose-neck.  Should I be aiming to get the halyard to touch the mast as my light-wind, zero-rake setting or hanging a few inches back?  Is this measured with or without mast-ram on or sail up?
On a related question, does the spirit-level-on-centreboard-casing method for leveling the boat work, or do we need to measure this while afloat?

Thanks for any advice you can give

Hi all

I have recently bought a Paper Dart (2709) with which the previous owner had been using a set of newer sails from a different N12.

How do I tell if the old sail is worn out beyond usefulness?  I hope to compete at some local opens meetings, not necessarily win the nationals (yet).

Also the newer main sail is loose-footed, where as the original main runs along the boom.  Having most recently been sailing a Laser, I am somewhat more accustomed to loose-footed mains, but I have found, due to my N12's square (older Enterprise style) boom, we have to pull the foot down behind the boom every time we tack.  Is there a difference in performance between loose-footed and fixed-footed mains?

N.B. using the newer main will require the bands on the mast to be re-measured and we appear to have to apply downhaul (Cunningham) to remove a sag in the lower luff of the sail in light winds, which is why I am considering using the older sails at the moment.

Thank you for any information / advice


Jon Twite