Thanks Daniel, very generous offer. I am going to have crew for the race event on Saturday so should be fine. If breezes are light could be an advantage. If I am single handing on Thursday or Friday and its blowing hard I'll put up my old McKibbin jib. Not pretty but works in a pinch (no pun) Neil ----- Reply message ----- From: "Daniel Rich" <danielgrich@gmail.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: M_Boats: M15 reefing and storm jib-other thoughts Date: Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:03 pm I remember that jib. I have an extra original that you could borrow for the Cruiser Challenge if you want. Just let me know. I could Fedex it or you could come by. Daniel On Jul 5, 2012, at 9:00 PM, Neil Dorf wrote:
My adjusters are indeed on the forward holes. I think that also my primary jib is too much sail. It's a lapper and deck sweeper. Need to bite the bullet and buy new working jib, storm jib, and for that matter a new main. Unfortunately will not happen for Cruiser Challenge.
On Jul 5, 2012, at 7:59 PM, Daniel Rich <danielgrich@gmail.com> wrote:
I keep the rig fairly loose like a dinghy.
A backstay is nice, especially with a full rig such as an M17. But the M15 is a fractional rig, and much simpler. I prefer the simplicity of the rig for stepping the mast etc.
In terms of weather helm, actually, I think raking the mast forward reduces weather helm. In the M15 the center of effort is behind the center of rotation, so that the big main pushes to weather. The farther forward the main relative to the center of rotation, the less weather helm you have. The jib obviously reduces weather helm, as it is far in front of the center of rotation. So, dropping the jib and proceeding on main alone causes massive weather helm.
On TwoCan do you have the shrouds in the fore or aft holes in the chain plate? If they are in the aft holes, I'd move 'em forward if you have too much weather hell. Many on this board are much smarter than me about this, so I'd get another opinion about that! Of course it is all a matter of balance, length of the shrouds etc.
Daniel On Jul 5, 2012, at 5:43 PM, ndorf@surfbest.net wrote:
Daniel, question for you and for the group.
How tight are you fixing your forestay to the chain adjuster? I used to make the mistake when stepping the mast of getting that stay as tight as I could, thinking at the time that tighter was better. I was creating a mast rake of a few degrees forward. In retrospect I think that had the effect of perhaps giving me a little more pointing ability but added weather helm with it. And I think it compromised sailing off the wind.
Jerry chime in, but I think the M15 was meant to be a "looser" rig, and I have noticed a little less weather helm since I got into the practice of not tightening up the forestay on the chain adjuster quite so much...just enough for a little "play".
Sometimes I wish I did have a backstay, as I learned sailing with Dave on his boat that a little tightening on the backstay created some "bend" in the mast (not total angle from the tabernacle--just some bend near the top) that had a remarkable effect on reducing weather helm on the tiller. Not an easy mod to do on an M15 with the traveler in the way, so I don't expect I would try.
Keep those videos coming, Doc!
-Neil