Hello everyone. I have just bought an 84 Nacra 5.2. Got a great deal on it, everything seems in order, just dirty. I'm sure I will have many questions, but these are the first I've come up with.
1) Dagger boards- They are both in great shape, except for the bottom aft corners. They were both in a storage bag together. I'm thinking that at some point during the last 10 years (the length of time the boat was stored prior to my purchase), the bag was dropped. The corners are split a bit, and flimsy now. The damage only extends less than 1 inch from the bottom and the back. What I'm wondering is if I should trouble myself to repair them, or should I just round off the corners and be done with it? Rounding them off would definitely be the easiest route. I can't think of any marked deficit in performance that it would bring.
2) Battens- First off, I'm missing the third batten down. No big deal, if anyone has one, I'd be happy to pay you for it. The other thing is that some of the lower battens seem broken by the mast. There is a 3 inch piece directly next to the mast, then a 1 inch gap, then the full batten all the way back to the leech. Is this right? I'm not sure if all the battens are like this, it was dark when I pulled the sail out of the bag. As far as the missing batten goes, can I replace it with another batten from an old Melges sail I have lying around?
Bring on your opinions, and thanks in advance for your help. 🙂
daggerboard: simpler fix is to clean the split, squirt in some epoxy, and clamp it shut to cure
Battens: none of that is ok, including the melges batten which bend characteristics are likely not the best. Battens are continuous pieces
where are you? I might have some old NACRA battens laying around that would work.
I'm in Atlanta.
Don't use broken battens, you run a real risk of them tearing through the sail, both ends need to be inside the plastic batten end caps.
It is very easy to fix the split in board. Dremel, saw, whatever, the broken/loose stuff out. Pack some fiberglass matting into the void, then pour a bit of resin in. Mash it around a bit with whatever you have small enough to fit into the gap, to get the resin to fully soak the matt, then wrap saran wrap or wax paper around & clamp til cured. The film barrier will prevent the resin from sticking to your clamps. Sand so as to match the original contour & you are done.
E C Hilliard
Nacra 5.7
Bombardier Invitation
as above on the daggers
the battens can be repaired if like me you are too far away from anywhere to buy replacements
but the reason they broke at the sail is because that's where they are thinnest and that's where they get the biggest stresses
i used over-long 3mm? wood cores and then put 3 layers of (tapered length) glass on each side, then trimmed to length and sanded smooth. as repaired they are a bit stiffer than normal so only try this if you can't get replacements
1982 nacra 5.2
2009 weta
railbird, see your PM regards battens
never mind, pm is wonky
find message below
IIRC the battens are from a 6.0na sail, so they're prolly pretty long. Cut the thick ends to shorten them. Longest batten is 8 feet. There's five battens.
Looking forward to a somewhat cleaner storage area,
tami
Edited by tami on Oct 29, 2010 - 09:29 AM.
I'm having trouble with PM again...
The battens are Robichaux Batten Systems (RBS) foam-core 'glass battens. Five of them. Total weight about 2.5 lb.
Let me know what you want to do
Tami, I don't want to hijack your offer above, but if that falls through let me know. I just found out that 2 of the battens were broken in the 5.7 sail I just bought. They are made by US Composites, & just under 8 feet long.
I don't race, & don't care if they end up being a mismatched set.
Thanks
E C Hilliard
Nacra 5.7
Bombardier Invitation
Edchris
I have also pm'd to railbird so if I don't hear from him soon you're welcome to them, just arrange for their shipment in some way
Ed, or whoever gets the battens, it's a good idea to measure tapering foam battens' "weight" and write it on them with a marker pen
you basically want stiffer battens at the top, tapering down to flexier battens at the bottom
this will help you work out where to put the longer battens into your order before cutting them to length
measuring is covered in cat sailing in the 90's and other books but basically you need a kitchen spring scale and a chair. ie you put the scale on the floor and then standing on the chair with the thinnest part of the batten on the scale you push down from the top so the batten bends and the scale measures a "weight"
at some stage the weight will stop increasing even though the batten is still bending. this is the battens "weight", write it on the batten
typically the top 2 battens are about the same weight, the middle 3? and then all the same to bottom, ideally from the top down each would be slightly softer as they got longer
lots more info on the web to be found
Edited by erice on Nov 12, 2010 - 12:39 AM.
1982 nacra 5.2
2009 weta
Thanks guys. I think I remember reading about measuring the stiffness of battens, but I never gave it much thought.
I can see the advantage of the foam core, they sure are light compared to the all glass ones.
Let me know what transpires Tami. Shipping stuff that long can be a pain, I might just fly down & pick them up.
E C Hilliard
Nacra 5.7
Bombardier Invitation