Storing of Nacra 5.2

Okay, CC. If your mast is as Lars said, you MUST use a wire with swaged ball for the top portion of your mainsail halyard.
Sail goes into the luff track, the halyard goes up the track, over the two sheaves at the top, then down, ON THE FRONT OF THE MAST.
Raise the sail, until the ball gets just below the “fork” on the front of the mast. Then move the halyard in against the mast, aligned so the wire in in the fork. Release halyard, the ball is captive in the fork. Stow halyard in pocket. Tension sail via the means I showed in the photo above.
To release, undo the Down haul, pull the halyard enough to move the ball slightly down from the fork. Move the halyard outwards, so the ball won’t re- engage,then allow the sail to slide down the track.
It is a simplele & foolproof system. If you have to store & launch your boat without being able to turn it into the wind, this is vastly preferred over the hook.
My Cats are stored on modified Seadoo lifts, & can’t be turned. Even with the sail against the shrouds, it is easy to raise, or lower. Not so with the H18, & worse with the Dart.

The fork can be seen about 50 cm down on front of the mast.

Yes, good catch. It appears he is missing the front sheave, which means he cannot raise the sail properly until it’s replaced.

Hi Ed,
Found the image on internet, not CCs mast, just to show how the system works. To bad the sheave wasn´t there.
Checked my 5.5 rear beams and the same hook is used for setting the distance between the hulls 😎 .
About the rope/wire halyard, do you know who makes/sells them?

Edited by revintage on Sep 07, 2022 - 12:25 PM.

All, thank you for the input.

Noted about the mast rotator, I think I see it now.

Album added to my profile where I'll post all the old pictures.

1) Regarding the forestay, I am still asserting that what my boat came with, the forestay is too short, unless I get what would be at least a 12" stay adjuster. I have no other parts that came with the boat. Previous owner looks like he just used the furled sail with the smaller forestay that's integrated with that. Does anyone have a measurement of the length of their forestay? (Edit I guess it's about the length of the furled sail with forestay I have).
I guess I could just get a new forestay to do this properly. Bringing this image back from an earlier post, there is this random 10 inch splice of a stay on the main cluster right above the blue circle. I put a block on it (ignore that), but maybe that was used to extend the forestay to try and reach from 2 owners ago?

2) Regarding the main halyard, the boat did also not come with a wire/rope combo with a ball to hoist the main. I am also about 95% sure there is no clip at the front of the mast to clip a ball into. Here is the only picture I have of the top of the mast. There is something there, but it doesn't look like a clip for a ball. As an engineer all I care is that it's safe/doesn't break. What would be the safety/structural issue with using just a rope as I am now? I realize I am creating some extra stress into the mast by hoisting it and keeping the halyward taught down the front, but is this something I should look into replacing with the wire/ball combo?

Must ask, is the mast joined from two pieces just under the rotator?

- I don't think so but will verify

Watched some youtube videos on tacking in cat and I think I can figure it out now. I was stalling out by turning the rudder too much. Have to let the jib back fill and power up the main in a close reach before making it through the track.

What does the top of your mast look like?

Unfortunately I won't be with the boat until next weekend. I will take much more detailed pictures.

Edited by canadian_catamaran on Sep 07, 2022 - 03:52 PM.

What does the top of your mast look like?
Unfortunately I won't be with the boat until next weekend. I will take much more detailed pictures.

No need to, the image above is good enough. The fork is missing and you must have one. A rope halyard is to springy and is not good in combination with the mast bending due to the high sheet and downhaul tension. When the mast bends the halyard looses tension.

About the "short" forestay, it could as well be that your non original bridle wires are to short! In Australia where the 5.2 main beam is 2400mm long, the bridle wires are 3' 11 1/2".

We are all here to help you to get rid of all the homemade solutions from the previous owner.

Edited by revintage on Sep 08, 2022 - 06:37 PM.

We are all here to help you to get rid of all the homemade solutions from the previous owner.Edited by revintage on Sep 08, 2022 - 06:08 AM.

The beauty of buying a used boat...

So hyptothetically I'd need at least:
The hook on the mast and a way to mount it
The new halyard with ball
A simpler downhaul.
Perhaps new bridles and/or new forestay.

After some breif googling, where would be the best place to buy this?

The hook on the mast should be mounted with stainless steel rivets. There will be some load on it. Don't use the existing holes if they are routed out too much or if there is significant corrosion that would weaken the backing of the rivets.

You'll have to go to a rigger for the halyard with the ball. The ball is sometimes referred to as an aircraft fastener or nicopress ball and only a rigger will have the right kind of hydraulic roller press to get the ball on where it won't slip no matter how much downhaul pressure you have. You could cheap out and use a copper swedge instead and even do it yourself, but these have been known to slip. The boat I'm sailing now uses that method and has never slipped, but on a former boat it did and I had it replaced with the nicopress ball and it never did slip after that. Be absolutely sure you have the correct length of halyard between the ball and the thimble.

There are ways to lengthen the bridle and/or the forestay without buying new as long as you only have to lengthen them a little and you trust the existing ones. Not as good as new, but will save you a lot.

There are many ways to improve a down haul. Too many to comment on, but most important for you is to have enough purchase so it's not a physical effort to get the right tension.

The hook on the mast and a way to mount it
The new halyard with ball
A simpler downhaul.
Perhaps new bridles and/or new forestay.

1 I have one but it is farfetched to send it from Sweden, maybe Edchris have one? Hobie will probably work perfect https://www.mariner-sails.com/hobie-hook-halyard.html

2 https://www.ebay.com/itm/132008635767

3 The downhaul is exactly as it should. It is the junk sitting above the blocks that is wrong, exchange it for a loop of 6mm rope.

4. I gave you the measures, check if your wires are correct.

Edited by revintage on Sep 10, 2022 - 02:41 PM.

revintage wrote:

The hook on the mast and a way to mount it
The new halyard with ball
A simpler downhaul.
Perhaps new bridles and/or new forestay.

1 I have one but it is farfetched to send it from Sweden, maybe Edchris have one? Hobie will probably work perfect https://www.mariner-sails.com/hobie-hook-halyard.html

2 https://www.ebay.com/itm/132008635767

3 The downhaul is exactly as it should. It is the junk sitting above the blocks that is wrong, exchange it for a loop of 6mm rope.

4. I gave you the measures, check if your wires are correct.Edited by revintage on Sep 10, 2022 - 02:41 PM.

Thank you ! Will check dimensions next weekend at the boat.

🙂

Hi CC,
Did you get a spinnaker when buying the boat?

revintage wrote: Hi CC,
Did you get a spinnaker when buying the boat?

I got a gennaker with the boat which is quite large, picture below.

Regarding the bridles the longest bridles I have are 3 foot 11 inches matching yours. The shorter pair is 3 foot 3 inches. The short set is currently mounted as thats what worked with furler sail combo as seen previously.

I found another furler with a stay extender on it of about 6 inches. Maybe I could get the real forestay to reach the long bridles with the stay extender.

The jib with the zipper to be raised over a forestay.

The large gennaker

canadian_catamaran wrote: [quote=revintage]Hi CC,
Did you get a spinnaker when buying the boat?

I got a gennaker with the boat which is quite large, picture below.

Regarding the bridles the longest bridles I have are 3 foot 11 inches matching yours. The shorter pair is 3 foot 3 inches. The short set is currently mounted as thats what worked with furler sail combo as seen previously.

I found another furler with a stay extender on it of about 6 inches. Maybe I could get the real forestay to reach the long bridles with the stay extender.

The jib with the zipper to be raised over a forestay.

The large gennaker

That looks like a furling hooter, not a spinnaker. This rig really is a frankenboat.

Nothing wrong with Frankencats, I sail one myself, but you need to be watch out for DIY solutions that harms both strength and speed.

Beware of the shorter bridle wires as they might load the chainplates to hard :-O . The shorter wires can load the chainplates with double the tension compared to the longer :-O . Would not be fun if you ripped them out......

Can calculate the actual numbers if you measure the distance between the holes in the bow chanplates.

In my case one time with shortened bridle wires the starboard front top hull plate popped loose and bow came in a couple inches. Close call. Yes beware of shortened bridle wires without any reinforcement or spreader bar.