Easy newbie questions

[Mookie]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I sold our big keelboat (Sabre 38) and are now proud owners of S2 7.9 hull #279. We have sailed her the last month or so and are ecstatic with the performance under sail and build quality. The forum archives have answered a lot of questions, but we still have a few if anyone can help us out:

- I'm curious about the stern grab loops versus the full stern pulpit. What are the merits of each, or why is one preferred over the other?

- Is there still a source for stern boarding ladders?

- We are having issues getting enough travel in the outhaul. Any suggestions?

- What are the do's and don'ts for the mast while trailering? Does anyone travel with the mast in the stern crutch, or does it need to come down to the pulpit?

- We have never raced but would like to. Any recommended reading?

Thank you in advance,

Bill and Susan

[J.D. Kloss]

Glad to hear you're happy with the boat.

I think the loops were the original design; my boat, #8, has them. Biggest advantage: you don't have to lift an outboard over the stern rail. Disadvantage: safety? Some rules require a full stern lifeline. I added lifeline stanchions to the stern and braced them to the transom and loops. Not an expensive modification and it works well.

My mast crutch has two positions; for trailering mast sits in the lower one and on the bow pulpit. Put a large fender under it at the cabin hatch. Be careful with the aluminum mast foot. It can fall off and would be impossible to replace.

I'm pretty sure Tops in Quality has gone out of business; they were the source for OEM stainless steel including stern ladders.

Jim Kloss
s/v Ambivalence
S@2 7.9 #8

[dave]

On the outhaul: the block and tackle will twist over itself inside the boom with use. This makes LOTS of friction and shortens the whole system......... Something that I doubt few have thought about. You only need about 6" of useable throw for sailing, and that's pushing it.

If you change out, a cascading system has less friction and fewer parts, and also twists less.

[Mookie]

Thank you very much for your replies; that answers a lot of questions. I should also mention that Brad Boston has been very generous in helping us figure out the spinnaker rigging, since we haven't flown a symmetrical chute before. We are working our butts off in local club races, flying our old Dacron sails, and slowly working our way up the learning curve. We are having a blast. Flying the chute in a race is our next big step.

We may have accidentally set an S2 7.9 world record. We were already late trailering to a race, and realized we had forgotten the gin pole. Dumbass. After going back to retrieve it, we were really late for the race but we figured we'd try to make it anyway. If nothing else, we'd learn how quickly the two of us could step the mast and rig the boat. Susan started her stopwatch when we got out of the truck at the launch ramp to start rigging the boat. Thirty four minutes later we motored away from the dock towards the start line. We rigged the main on the way out, and got the jib up after crossing the starting line. It was of course bedlam, and you've never seen a bigger spaghetti factory in the cockpit, but we were pretty happy with 34 minutes.

Dawn Patrol finished fifth out twelve, but we think not having sails up hurt us.

[dave]

Holy cripes..........

That's some FAST RIGGING!!!!!!

[Jameso]

I found tha Catalina 22 ladder works very well for the S2.

http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm ... ct_ID=2673

$259.

[Mookie]

Thanks for the ladder info. I showed it to Susan and she said "How much does it weigh?". I guess she is getting the hang of this racing thing. On a related note, I posted a question about CCRs and NOODs in the general section. We are curious to know what the various levels of racing are, and the differences between CCRs, NOODs, regattas, Key West Race Week and things like that. How good should we be for events like this? It would be great to sail with some other 7.9s to see how things are done and to share a few beers.
Bill and Susan

[LarryE-old]

Thank you very much for your replies; that answers a lot of questions. I should also mention that Brad Boston has been very generous in helping us figure out the spinnaker rigging, since we haven't flown a symmetrical chute before. We are working our butts off in local club races, flying our old Dacron sails, and slowly working our way up the learning curve. We are having a blast. Flying the chute in a race is our next big step.

We may have accidentally set an S2 7.9 world record. We were already late trailering to a race, and realized we had forgotten the gin pole. Dumbass. After going back to retrieve it, we were really late for the race but we figured we'd try to make it anyway. If nothing else, we'd learn how quickly the two of us could step the mast and rig the boat. Susan started her stopwatch when we got out of the truck at the launch ramp to start rigging the boat. Thirty four minutes later we motored away from the dock towards the start line. We rigged the main on the way out, and got the jib up after crossing the starting line. It was of course bedlam, and you've never seen a bigger spaghetti factory in the cockpit, but we were pretty happy with 34 minutes.

Dawn Patrol finished fifth out twelve, but we think not having sails up hurt us.

Mookie, my wife and I can, without working at it, do ours in 30 minutes. But we have done it at least 40 times and we both mid 60's
I did my mast alone and loaded it on the trailer in less than I hour. Amazing what you can do when a cat. 4 hurricane is coming.

[Mookie]

Larry, that's impressive. Do you have any tips or tricks to making it easier or quicker?

[LarryE-old]

Mookie,
When I bought Purrfect in 1997 I set everything up exactly as it said on the website. Using the angle and the spinnaker pole.
EVERYTHING that I need is kept in a large plastic container. I marked the rail with a Dremel tool. There is no measuring and the total setup time is less than 5 minutes. I made a support with a wide roller for the back, so it's just let the mast down on the roller, pull out the bolt, roll forward, tie down and your good to go. The key is to have everything you need together and we have done it so many times, we just work together. Really if you use this setup one person can do the job.
I designed a Alum. float on trailer, so its just float on, hook up, put the strap on and hit the road.
It gets easier every time you do it