Delta Ditch Run at Stockton Sailing Club/Richmond Yacht Club | June 2 |
Story |
Norcalsailing report featuring Summer Palace:
http://www.norcalsailing.com/entries/2012/06/05/ditchrun2.html#.T-iWoI2Mfqs Below quoted from Pressure Drop: Drew Scott was helming a F-28. "My crew is starting to swing around to pick me up when El Raton, in perfect control slides up beside me and asks if I would like to get picked up. They had already doused their chute and stopped beside me. I took their offer and got back into a boat (trying to stop a lightweight trimaran next to someone when it is blowing in the mid-20s is not easy so I figured I would not turn down El Raton. My crew ably finished the race on Papillon, only one boat behind El Raton! And I had many adventures with El Raton, but that is their story to tell. So, a great big thank you to the Ray Lotto and the crew of El Raton for pulling my soggy hide out of Suisun Bay!! Drew Scott Papillon (most of the time)" |
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Author: Brendan Subject: Mast tuning - with pics :) Info: (14515 views) Posted: Tuesday 9-18-12 06:23:35 PM |
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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