Commander 227

[Tony G]

Mike,

I am so sorry to read of your mishaps! The horrid sound of a beer bottle bounding loosely around the cockpit and careening out of control just ahead of and out of reach of the hand had to be unbearable. Your wife was right, as I'm sure you realized immediately. After watching the video clip of your first gybe, which appeared flawless, one could only surmise that others to follow might be less 'graceful'.

Timing is working out great for me thanks to you. I have been drawing lines and cutting out ptterns for a bowsprit with the main focus being anchor rollers. So I have been leaning a little more toward resistance to a downward pull. But I have also tossed around the idea of a tack for an asymetrical cruising chute out there too. A fulrer is a bit more than I was planning but it makes perfect sense for 'Princess'. You nailed the proportions! It looks great. As though it was there all along.

So I gotta ask. Could you do a little write-up about materials, construction and what not? Did this set-up change whats going on at the mast head?

Standing by,

Tony G

P.s. About that summer sail...we just moved, again. PIA! The upshot is we down sized again, but we're still loaded down with enough posssions for a 32-35 ft boat. We're getting there! Belize 2013!

[Commander227]

Tony,
To make room on the masthead I just drilled and tapped for three 5/16" bolts deep into the top of the cast masthead and bolted on 2' 12ga. X 3/4" stainless square tube. I have the aft end sticking out so I can move my backstay to it and get a larger roach on my next mainsail.
(anyone want to buy a two year old main after this season?)
The sprit was a pretty simple addition. two pieces of 3/4" marine plywood bonded together. I picked this dimension simply because that matched the rubrail. it is through bolted with stainless threaded rod with the nuts counterbored and the rubrail covering them. it was installed with 5200.
The bobstay tang is just bolted through the bow. The way I see it, the sprit is mostly experiencing compression loads and slight side loads. My only engineering was to look at how flimsy a old Catalina 30 sprit is and build mine a little stronger. That sucker has been carrying a big old masthead 150% genoa for 30 years without any problems.

[mbd]

... anyone want to buy a two year old main after this season? ...

Yes! I could really use a newer main since I'll be going engine-less until I can afford to fix/repower. How much do you want for it?