For non-racing, the zippered luff where the halyard and the forestay are zipped over while you're raising the jib and then untied from a short piece o...

I agree mostly with Dogboy on this one but would like to add a little bit. You might want to seriously consider where you are sailing and launching b...

MN3 wrote: i ended up making mine VERY loose - and just hung in it, to avoid it digging into me I did the same thing. When it's tight, it pulls the s...

There will be many varied opinions. Don't limit yourself to the boats you mentioned. With older boats the condition and experience of the seller sho...

Both front and rear tramps have one bolt rope each that fit in tracks in the front and rear beams. All those holes are for lacing. Each tramp is lac...

This is a tough one. Comfort is the main thing. I have owned both types and one of my favorites was a sailboard harness which I shouldn't have sold ...

Thank you all for your input. Obviously, there are a few variations to reach the same goal. Right now, the red tide's really bad here in this part o...

Maybe I haven't made myself clear enough. I want to do what is in the photo with one major difference and that's to put the control line inside the b...

No confusion here. The photo depicts what I have in mind, the basic difference being I think I want to put the control line inside the tube. To put ...

An eight-foot one piece will be cumbersome. Telescoping would be best. You'll need those eight feet because the N5.0 is very buoyant and when you're...

A Hobie 16/18 and a Prindle 16/18 or even a Nacra 5.0 probably sold new for around 5K in the early eighties. I'm just guessing, but my point is when ...

Costs, lack of launch spots, competition from sports that are easier to "rig" and transport I don't believe that costs are a major factor but competit...

It would be nice to have a boat that's Hobie/Getaway-esque, drawing some of the form of high-performance, wave piercing hulls with decent performance,...

Here's an idea. Beach your boat on a nearby sandbar, relax, enjoy a drink from your cooler and when done, resume sailing.

Sometimes I use a "soft cooler" that's shaped like a thick briefcase that lends itself nicely to being secured on the tramp. I also have a tramp bag ...

You can get the wire portions of N5.7 halyards from Murrays Watersports. When using mainsheet lengths from another 5.7, don't forget to take into acc...

Follow MN3's advice and go to the Dunedin Causeway and look for a 5.7. Perhaps the owner would let you take measurements. On January 9th I posted so...

One thing you must remember about restoring old boats: "The sum of the parts can be greater than the whole." The SC 17 is a popular legacy cat, an...

The original mainsheet was a 6:1 and in my opinion that's not enough. 8:1 much better. You've probably already done this, Google G-Cat and there's l...

I've messed around with tarps over the years, and it always comes back to the same problem. Here in Southwest Florida, it rains so frequently in the ...

Yeah, it will make the tramp slippery right after you apply it but sunscreen for your skin is not a fair comparison. I gave up putting sunscreen on m...

I assume we're talking about the plastic trapeze handles. For what it's worth, I had one of these break on me after several years of use. Rather tha...

You're overthinking this. There's no set formula. The tongue weight should be heavy enough that when you lift it there's some physical effort to put...

I've delt with this problem on two different occasions. The first time, I simply sawed off a section of the tongue by hand with a hacksaw. It was a...

If you Google the 450 there's a photo that if you look really closely it looks like the bridle was attached with pad eyes and not a tang. If the prev...

I used to live on a canal and launched my 18 ft cat with a davit. The "sling" I made was four pieces of 3/8ths line that were connected to the cross ...

Nacra 500 or its predecessor the 5.0. Even though you mostly sail solo, there will be times when you want to take a friend especially if it's too win...