Friends,

I am learning a lot from your site!

After repainting inside and out, balancing and building the A4, and stripping a trashed racing hull for hardware, I am refitting Chalupa, #56. This boat is a member of the family that I started sailing on before I was born, so I really want to do everything right, but of course, as a poor professor that means I end up doing most of it myself since I can't afford to hire the best!

I am interested in learning about jib track placement. I noted on the Triton site that someone recommended moving the tracks forward, near the forward of the two main cabin portholes. I was wondering about possibly moving them outside to the toe rail and putting a long track or even a rub rail that would allow placing blocks anywhere along the length. While we had only a working jib, from the racing hull, I now have jibs ranging from a small storm jib to a 150% Genoa. So, from your experience I hope to learn:

1) how much performance will I lose going outside the safetly lines or should I just forget this?
2) what do you think is the best placement
3) what do you think is the best length
4) what is the best brand where both quality and price are considerations

I appreciate the feed back!

Ted