mmiller wrote:
Yes.
You should add heavy downhaul in these conditions. A full sail aloft will pitch the rig forward in gusts and drive the bows down.
Ease off batten tensions to just remove wrinkles in the pockets when rigging. Lots of downhaul and outhaul to help flatten the sail.
Thanks for the info. Got the 6:1 rigged over the weekend and was able to go out solo in 15+ mph wind. I honestly can't believe the difference, wish I had done this a long time ago. The boat has so much more control in the gusts and very steady. The sail has a much better shape as well. Going out wednesday with a crew, we will see how much it helps.
play wrote:
No one ever mentions how tight is the boat. A 16 at our beach used to pitch pole constantly, I had a boat of similar age that in the same conditions pitched less and I always wondered why. Then one day I watched him lift the boat on the beach. He lifted on one hull and the other stayed put until the other was like a foot off the sand. It struck me that it doesn’t matter what you do because the other hull is almost acting independent and continues to dig in. Over the winter he glued his boat, that was 4 years ago and has not pitch poled since. I also bought a 2012 4 years ago and have never pitch poled it either. When the boats are tight you can just push them. If your boat constantly wants to pitch or dig in see how tight the boat is. Should be able to lift at the bow on one hull and the other should raise at the same time. His boat was an 81 and mine was an 83, so we both had old worn boats and through two different was of getting a tight boat we have the same out come. Although it was funny pitching that much and lost all fear of it happening, it did get annoying.
Yeah, I've never payed too close of attention to how much flex before the opposite hull moves when lifting the bow, the boat has always felt fairly solid. If I had to guess from memory, I'd say there is about 2-3" of slop between the hulls when lifting one. It will be worth checking out though next time I'm out.