Three Bridge Fiasco (Doublehanded) at Singlehanded Sailing SocietyJanuary 30
Story
Fantastic day during the Three Bridge and Great turn out with 25 e27s participating.
SSS TBF Trophy Meeting Oakland Yacht Club, 7:30 pm Wednesday, February 10th.

Congratulations to the winners!

DH : El Raton (6th out of 284 overall) Recap by Ray
SH : TAZ!! (1st out of 41 overall) Recap by George
Result
PosBoatTotalRace 1
1El Raton11
2Shenanigans22
3Witchy Woman33
4Chile Dog44
5Peaches55
6Wile E Coyote66
7Light'n Up77
8Verve88
9Take Five99
10Taz!!1010
11Ergo1111
12Abigail Morgan1212
13Desperado1313
14Magic1414
15Magic Bus1515
16Thumper1616
17Dianne1717
18Opa!1818
19Get Happy!!20DNF
19Moxie20DNF
19Swampdonkey20DNF
19Attack From Mars20DNF
19Wetsu20DNF
19Mirage20DNF
19Discotheque20DNS
19Elise20DNS
export csv

Regatta Message Board

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Author: Brendan
Subject: Mast tuning - with pics :)
Info: (14359 views) Posted: Tuesday 9-18-12 06:23:35 PM
It's hard to see exactly what is wrong from the pictures, but I'll take a stab from what you describe.

You say the mast base has sunk 3/16". If the base is "sinking" into the deck of the boat, then the plywood core in the laminate under the base is rotten. This is a fairly common Express 27 malady. This needs to be fixed--the sooner it is fixed the less extensive the repair will be.

If this is the case then it would describe your rig tuning problems, as if the mast base is angled significantly then it could impart the inverted bend you are describing. This is no good, and could possibly lead to rig failure--more likely it will just be impossible to tune your rig well.

The core under the mast is plywood, which isn't really great at withstanding rot. Especially in the mast base area (lots of holes that invariably leak). Fresh water and freeze/thaw cycles are especially bad, but the problem is common in saltwater environments also. There is no alternative but to cut out all the rotten core and rebuild the deck in this area.

The good news is that if the interior is intact (main bulkhead, main bulkhead supports, and inner skin) then the repair is straightforward. Just cut and grind away a good sized area from above, replace the core, and then the skin on top.

I recommend a repair area at least 18" square--I've seen some small (mast base sized) repairs that "punched through" the inner skin at the edge of the repair. G-10 (multipurpose garolite) can be used as a replacement core that will never rot or crush no matter what you do to it. The hard edges of the G-10 need to be dealt with (tapered, reinforced skin) or they can cause cracking.

Unfortunately this is a repair that is worth putting on the short list. You may be able to get a couple careful sails in, but this will probably only get worse and having your mast invertered is not a good thing.

If this isn't your problem, then I can take a stab at rig tuning...

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