First time on h18

"Twisted Sisters" is her new name. Today was her first time in the water since stealing her.

My brother and I launched his just-bought H18 for the first time. Very interesting that she held her course when on stbd tack but would round up as expected while on port tack. We tried every combination of rudders and d-boards out of the water. We both thought it a hazard to not have the boat fall off or round up. Winds were 5-8 kts which was perfect for this first time in the water. Hulls were bone dry.

Daggerboards make great paddles back to the dock.

Try to rake the mast back as far as it will go placing the forestay in the uppermost hole on the roller furler chainplate, then make sure both sidestay shrouds are tensioned in the same hole, preferably as low as they can go. This of course assuming the shrouds are the same length. Make sure also both diamond wires are tensioned evenly. Without the mainsail hoisted, you should be able to press both wires to the mast about 10 inches high. My guess is your problem has something to do with the old wire rig. Is the rudder rake in the same position for both ? Also, are they slightly toed in ?

Thanks, Al. Those are very good points.

The forestay was in the top most hole on the furler.* The shrouds were in the bottom holes. For the D wires, do you mean 10" up from the attachment at the tang? Where exactly to measure from, please.

I'ill check the rudders.

This week we go out again. Hopefully more than once next week. We're trying to get the bugs out in order to go to Catalina in late Oct. The "bugs" aint necessarily the boat, it includes our lack of familiarity with the H18.

*The top most hole was all I could get when we stepped the mast. This even with my very determined brother leaning into the pole.

Richard,

Who are you planning on going to Catalina with? I may be interested in joining you. You planning on going to Two Harbors and spending the night on the boat?

Tom

Richard, just to be sure, please check the hull alignment from front left bow to aft right stern using the very tip of the bow and the rudder pin hole and the other side too. Distance should be the same. It's kind of hard to have this problem on an 18 or 17 but you never know with an old boat. Please get back to us and let us know I'm sure together we'll find the problem and fix it.

Well, it's not exactly the tang but I know what you mean, yes, up from the attachment to the mast close to the trampoline and the mast rotation arm, where the adjusters are. The wires should touch the mast with equal tension just above the adjusters, that is a fairly tight adjustment for more power--heavier crews. It will limit your mast bending and will protect its structural integrity more. I once had a fellow sailor break his brand new 17 sport mast. Wayne Schaefer happened to be sailing with him that day and I always believed that if it had diamond wires it would not have broken. Now, with the shrouds in the lowest hole, how do they look when the boat is sheeted in, is it a tight rig or are they loose ? being an old boat they could have stretched with time and it might be a good idea to replace them. You might also prevent a demasting with this replacement. Sounds to me like if you have everything down to the bottom holes the rig should be very tight and that is OK specially with heavy air sailing.

Al, another good point. I already checked the hulls. I measured the 'diagonals' of the hulls and then the tramp. They're parallel and squared up. I used a 'winding stick' to check the hulls for 'washout' or twist. Everything is parallel to each other and square to the fwd and aft cross bars. Both hulls show the same angle as measured from a reference mark on the fwd cross bar and the inboard side of each hull.

I still haven't checked the rudders.

Tom, my brother and I will be taking his H18. Most likely Emerald Bay, but that is subject to change. As the date gets nearer we'll know better. Heck, at this point, we're not even exactly sure of the actual dates. It would be cool to get multiple boats on the trip.

Richard, let me know if and when you guys get serious and when you think you may go. Do they allow camping at Emerald Bay? I stayed there on a mooring last year and I don't think they have many facilities there. My boat is ready to go, just need misc gear such as waterproof bag, etc.

Oh, Tom. I hope you didn't mean that we're less than serious simply because we don't have an exact date right now. We just don't work that way. Plus, this boat with this crew have only made two outings so far. We hope to have another couple by this time next week. Right now we're restoring two other boats, my brother is buying a house, and I'm looking for steady work.

When we do go, we look forward to having you join us. I'll be sure to post the date when I know and with as much lead time as possible. As I said, it will be late Oct. I suppose we'd start our outbound trip on the 27th/28th. We plan on about 4-7 days camping too so we're planning a bit more than a quick out and back. I'm leaning to leaving out of Long Beach, he might want Dana Point. As always, the winds dictate. Hell, I'm game wherever we depart.

Leave from LB. If you leave from Dana Point you'll have to tack and it takes a lot longer.

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Sorry Richard if I made it sound like you were'nt serious (that's the problem with these forums sometimes). What I meant was that when you get serious about a date let me know. Jeremy's right, you definately want to leave out of LB as opposed to DP. Cabrillo Beach is a good jumping off spot.

Tom

Yeah, it's a different bearing. Sailing aint all about "getting there" all the time. However, as always safety is paramount.

It'll depend upon the swell direction and height as well as the winds.

Thanks, Tom. And thanks for mentioning Cabrillo Beach. I'm not familiar with beach launches from that area. I'll google it.