Hello everyone,
I'm having some issues getting my father's 1975' (I think) back on the water. A little history and info on the boat. He passed a few years ago and I couldn't stand letting it sit and rot, so I decided to fix her up and start sailing it again. I haven't sailed it hard since I was in high school, so it's been about 18 years. To be honest, I didn't really know much about the boat back then, but I knew enough to stay out of trouble. Now after taking it out a few times, I'm pretty hooked. I'm trying to soak in everything that I can, learn how to trim everything according to conditions, and make sure everything is rigged properly. Upon inspecting everything, I've found that one of the side stays was the newer shorter version, so I bought a new one for the opposite side. I've extended the front shroud since the original front stay is pretty short. I'm currently two holes down from the top on the side stays, and the blocks have about 6"-8" between them when the sheet is pulled in hard. I've replaced all of the clevis pins, and looked over the sails. The main appears to be an 85' Nationals yellow in pretty good shape, and the jib looks to be a 75' flamer, and could probably stand to be replaced. I've replaced the once repaired main halyard, and added a 2nd trapeze. The main line is not in the best shape but is still working. The rear tiller connectors were shot, so I replaced those. The rudders were a bit sloppy as well, so I purchased some bushings and a shim kit, but have yet to install them. I haven't yet checked the toe in, however I will need to figure a way to modify the system since the older style is not adjustable.
Now onto the problems. It seems as though the boat is fairly sluggish. Keep in mind that it's been nearly 20 years since I've pushed it hard, so my perception could be different these days. For example, I was out yesterday in 13mph steady, (18mph gust) winds. Downhaul pulled snug, outhaul snug, jib haylard pulled pretty tight, to where there was no tension in the side stays. Due to not having anything to brace onto, I was sitting near the back most of the time with my heel dug into the tramp lace when flying a hull, as there wasn't really enough wind to trap out, so that balance was a bit aft for a reach. Max speed yesterday was only 15mph a couple times. It would move "okay" in the steady wind, and when there was a good gust, the boat didn't really react with much of a speed increase. It would just want to blow over, and even while letting the main out a bit and steering a bit into the wind like I've always done, it just didn't feel like it wanted to "shift gears" and take off. Both the main and jib travelers were in all the way. I played around with both the main and jib trim. I didn't feel it was windy enough to depower, so they were full for the most part. There was only two reaches where it did feel as it should and really felt like I was moving good. One major thing that I noticed, which I'm sure has a pretty negative effect on the boat, is that when the gusts hit, the mast would turn and stick 90 degrees, perpendicular to the front beam, and pretty much get stuck that way until tacking. I would imagine it is tremendously hindering the aerodynamics and lift on the sail. I thought that having the jib haylard pulled too tight or the mast raked back too far prevented the mast from rotating at all, so I'm a bit confused as to why this is happening. I don't feel that the mast rake is that extreme, as I'm only on the 2nd hole from the top of the shroud adjuster (old style shrouds), and the old style blocks, which are pretty tall.
Next issue is pointing. I've seen the diagram of upwind angle vs. boat speed, so I know it gets exponentially slower the more you point into the wind, but I'm only able to get about a 60 (just a guess) degree to headwind tack, making traveling upwind very difficult. If I point much more into the wind, the jib starts to luff pretty bad and the boat slows to a crawl.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I'm not sure what else to try.
I should also mention, I'm located at the Indiana Michigan state line between Bristol and Elkhart, if anyone happens to be nearby.
-Mike