Fully Adjustable Jib Sheet Car Control Mod

On the 235, the jib sheet car controls are a pin stop solution. For some, that is fine but, I wanted things to be fully controllable. I looked in to replacing the cars but, new ones are pricey. I looked at Harken becasue well, all my stuff is Harken. Each car is $383.00, track ends are $230.00 for a set of 2 (at least ya get 2), and of course the new cars do not fit the existing track so that is another $91.00..... each. So the grand total plus fasteners would have been, $1178.00.... plus shipping too. So yeah, that was definitely cost prohibitive, I began thinking of another solution.

What I came up with was this, I would mount a cheek block at the track forward end. I would also mount a PXR at the other end of the track. I then needed to keep the pin up on the car so I got about 2 feet of 3/4" diameter Delrin rod to fabricate stops for the pins. Reusing everything and adding a few new parts to the boat. I bought 2 pieces of 1/4" x 15' Cajun Rope XLE for the line. 

Materials List:

• (2) 29mm Harken cheek blocks $27.02 for the set.
• (2) Spinlock PXR cam cleats - $70.80 for the set. 
• 30' of XLE - $13.10.
• (4) M5 x 70mm bolts. Can't recall the cost but not much.
• (4) M5 Nylock nuts. Can't recall the cost but not much.
• (4) M5 washers. Can't recall the cost but not much.
• 3/4" x 2' Delrin rod. Can't find the cost but around $3.00.
• About 3" or 4" of existing Butyl Tape.

So somewhere in the neighborhood of $130.00 all in. That is a lot better that nearing $1200.00.

So you cut the rod to an 8mm thickness, drill a 3/16" hole, and then cut a slot so you can snap it on the pin.

Cutting the rod.

Drilling the hole.

Cheek block mount.

Stop with slop cut.

PXR mounted.

Finished

I cut some scrap pressure treated wood to mount the cheek blocks to so that the line wouldn't chafe on the track end.It also helps with the angle to the pin. I slipped the stop on and things slid well. I wrapped it in some white e-tape and then tied a Halyard Hitch to secure the line to the pin and stop. Ran the line through the cheek block back through the PXR and we are in business. A fairlead could be added, I thought about it, but, it isn't really necessary. I am considering adding another line and a fairlead to attach to the car so we can pull it back if it doesn't do that well on it's own from sheet tension.

So there ya have it. We get to use the new setup Thursday night in racing conditions.

Sometimes it is the little things

Just a quick post here as there has been less sailing than wanted this season. Was off the water for about 9 weeks, the reason will be explained in a forthcoming post. But, I made a small upgrade to the traveller system by adding cages to the cam cleats. This will help the main trimmer a lot as they allow almost 90 degrees of lock/unlock angle. Will be very useful when single handing as well. 

Seemingly small change that will have a large impact. The fasteners did take me 3 attempts to get the length correct. Otherwise it was quick and easy. M4x50mm by the way and nylock nuts.

Traveller

OK, now it is time for that traveller upgrade. The First 235 has a 2:1 Harken traveller which, for the most part, does a great job. Seeing as we are racing now, and the hardware is original, it was time to think about replacing the 2:1 with a 4:1 to make things easier. Another reason is that the 235 has mid boom sheeting, loads are higher when using the traveller and main sheet than on a boat with end boom sheeting.

I started doing my research on this at the end of the season last year. Worked out the parts needed and how much it was all going to cost. A fair amount to be honest. I was hoping to utilize the original track as I really didn’t want to deal with pulling the track off the boat. I bet you already know where this is going….. Anyone who has worked on a sailboat and needed to remove and add hardware knows that access most of the time require one to be a contortionist with small but agile and strong hands……

I ordered all the hardware from Vela Sailing Supply in Texas. These guys are great, awesome prices and top notch service when you need it. Took a couple of days for it to arrive but that was of no consequence because at the time, there was still snow on the ground and the temps were in the low teens most of the day.

So I was poking around the Harken website and I was looking at the parts lists that they had and I came to a realization…… I had ordered the wrong car. The one I had was for light loads and I had too much sail area for it. So I had a quick conversation with Vella customer service, got an RMA, and then sent the incorrect car back. At this time I was the luck owner of 2 traveller cars as they of course couldn’t refund me until they got the one I previously ordered back. Lucky me eh?

I love the smell of new hardware in the morning.

So the weather hadn’t really been cooperating anyway but there was a weather window on a Friday in early March, so I took the day off with visions of removing hardware and adding the new stuff utilizing the existing track. I took off one of the end stops easy enough and then I slid the car off the track. Torlon balls everywhere!! Oh how they roll…….  I initially thought they were very worn to do that. That was until I tried to slide the new car on with the captive bearings. Hell, the new end slipped on fine, I was on a roll. /rimshot…… So as you can imagine the new car would not slide on…. Hmmm…. Oh yeah, there is that clip holding the bearings in. Oh looky, directions….. So now I RTFM and find out that on track older than like 2000 or something, mine is at least 1992, you have to remove the clips, very carefully (their words) put the bearings in a box or bag, pull the track (sigh), and then carefully slip the same number of balls in to each side of the car. Ummmm, yeah, gonna have to pull the track anyway now… no to the ball bearing step. Order new track. Back to Vella’s website cause spending money unexpectedly is fun!

That put an end to the work for the day but, hey, I had the day off and it was Friday!

So the following week a long box shows up with the track in it. I pull it out and the first thing I notice is that it is the high beam track. Ok, no big deal as it would still work. Then I notice there are no holes in it. Definitely the wrong track. Wait, check your order Dan! So I do and I ordered the low beam track that has the predrilled holes. Back to Vela, no worries, here is a return label for FedEx. Your correct track will be shipped today. Nice! Still cold as a well digger’s @@@ anyway. This is all starting to remind me of the turnbuckle cluster of couple years ago with the old and slow boat……

So the correct track shows up and I can finally figure out when to do all this. As I know it will be a two person job, Clay and I get together at my place after proper motivation and we start un-bolting. Of course access is nonexistent for some of the bolts. On my '92, some of them were behind the bulkhead that the companionway stairs attach to. This could be different on other 235’s. So we cut a circular hole that an access port cover will eventually fill. Remember my contortionist with small strong thin hands comment? Oh yea, that was fun to get out. I think there were 5 like that.

Yeah, that is easy to work inside.

So next on the list when the weather cooperates is to fill these old holes with thickened epoxy, damn do I love epoxy, and then get the new track set. Did that on the next weekend and that went OK. At this point of beers, which happens frequently as you probably can tell now, Clay and I were discussing the track and how maybe I should have gone with the Lewmar system. They have their bolts in the track and they slide and then you can match your original pattern. Well seeing as I didn’t plan on new track or even pulling the old one that was not a consideration. Ahhhh 20/20 hindsight. About half the cost too. See how Clay did it on Blue J here.

So I had been puttering about when I could, getting things marked, drilled, filled, etc for the new track. Finally the weather was decent last Sunday and Clay came over and I had been working earlier getting the holes drilled and was putting Butyl Tape around each hole. After some more contortioning on my part, we got it mounted with the ends and the new car, ran the line and were done.

All told if I would have thought it through a bit more, I probably would have gone with the Lewmar system instead. Just due to cost savings to be honest. Half the price…..

Anyway, Seeker has a new 4:1 Harken traveller system which, does not suck as Harken is the original vendor. Launch is this coming Saturday and that will give us nearly 4 weeks of sailing before the first race. Liking that for sure.

Here is the parts list;

• Harken 2731 car.
• Harken 2743 end control. Set of 2.
• Harken 342 double block. 2 of these.
• Harken 22mm low beam track. 1.5 meter length. Cut down to 51"

Original track was 42", new track is 51". Gained about 5" or 6" more track travel.

Here is the Harken page on parts selection.

That time of year comes early

Spring has sprung, very early here in Minnesota. Ice out on Minnetonka was the second earliest on record, March 17^th 12:17am. I had taken the cover off of Seeker back in late February as the snow was pretty much done. My project list for spring before launching was as follows;

• ·         New motor mount for the outboard. I had swapped out the massive all electric bells and whistles 9.9HP Yamaha with a nice simple 6hp Yamaha. Got a bunch of credit as well. This mount also raises the motor out of the water a bit so, less drag when sailing.
• ·         New rudder bushings. The lower ones were shot and the rudder slid back and forth.
• ·         Modifications to the jib car controls. Make them no longer pin stop and easily adjustable. Got the hardware for Christmas for that.
• ·         New Traveller. 2:1 traveller being replaced by all new Harken hardware and making it a 4:1.
• ·         Anything else that comes up.

 

Not bad for February.

A fine late February Saturday was hitting the mid 50’s for temps, yeah like I said, very early spring. So I started early in the day and got a bunch of things done. Motor mount, rudder bushings, took a look at the traveller and went, yep gotta go. 

Out with the old.

Comparing new to completely shot.

Installed

Yep, that's a motor mount.

I also saw that a nice little chunk had been taken out of the trailing edge of my rudder. Well, seeing as I needed to fill the holes for the electrical wires for the old beast motor, I was going to be mixing up epoxy anyway. So I backed it with the multi-tool known as duct tape and had at it. Wasn’t a big deal and it is on the trailing edge above the water line, so should be pretty harmless. 

Ouch!

All better.

Got the other holes filled including the ones for the bimini brackets that were just screwed in to the deck. Why anyone would think I bimini works on a 235 is beyond me. Was a very successful day, especially for being February in Minnesota. Ya gotta take advantage of warm temps as much as possible. At this point I had the traveller upgrade and the jib car mod left to do. Time to spend a few $$ and order the traveller hardware. As this was a pretty extensive mod, that will be covered in an upcoming post. 

I know, you all can hardly wait….. 

Season Wrap Up

Finally getting around to wrapping up the season with a post. The holidays will delay things.... So we had a good year on Seeker, first year on the boat and I would like to think we learned a lot. Our times improved each race, especially towards the end of the season. Got to do some great fall sailing in November.

Nice that I could sail my own boat in November in Minnesota. Like I have said before, fall sailing is awesome. There were times that it was just us and couple guys out fishing.... Put on the tunes, open a bottle of wine and put the boat on a beam reach. Not much better than that.

Haul out day was Saturday November 21st. It was a balmy 20 or so degrees, no ice on the lake (thankfully), and a light 6kts of breeze. We got to the boat about 10am and my helpful crew was there shortly thereafter along with my friend Clay. (First 260 sailor). Of course the motor wouldn't start due to the cold. Clay gave us all the obvious answer, which I knew was coming, "It's a sailboat, let's sail it to the crane!". So we did. Was a fun last unexpected sail of the year. We should have sailed the Sunday before, 60 degrees and 8-10kts but, my work got in the way of that. We were out that Saturday so... no real loss.

We got he boat hauled and home with no issues. She is in the drive way under her cover waiting patiently for next season. Have some upgrades coming so that all will be documented eventually. Holly took all the pics below. As you can imagine, I am already getting anxious for spring. 

 

   

      

 





 
 


 

My Yacht Club

Wayzata Yacht Club celebrated 50 years this past season and at the awards banquet, a video presentation was shown. It really shows who we are as a club and why it is thriving while some others are declining. Video is a bit over 15 minutes in length. 

WYC 50 years

Almost time for haul out. Been some great fall sailing. A summary of the season post will be forthcoming. Easy, don't get too excited about it now... ;-)

Getting better

The saying goes, practice makes perfect. Well we are far from perfect but we are improving our racing program. We are getting better with our sail trim and the boat speed is showing that. Better decisions on the course is also helping us. We had our 50th anniversary fall regatta this past weekend at the club and we in 3 of the 4 races over the weekend, we beat three boats to the line. Of course two out of three corrected over us but, we are improving, which is a good thing. Below is a vid snip from race #2 on Saturday. It was blowing about 10kts and we were doing about 6kts. The GoPro makes it look a lot faster for some reason. 

Only 4 more weekends of racing. 3 Commodore Cups and then the final Frostbite Cup. But, there is still November sailing too.... 

Just a couple of pictures

Just a couple of pictures from the season so far. Haven't really had an opportunity to take many as I have been racing more than fun sailing but, hoping that changes a bit as the season goes on.

More to come.... 

Been a busy spring and in to summer

So where have I been you ask all of my faithful readers? Why sailing and doing boat work and racing and.... yeah.. been a busy spring so far and the summer is looking to be the same. 

My son Stu having a look at the situation Ben is dealing with. 

We finally got Seeker launched on May 4th, yes, Star Wars day to you of the geek persuasion. That all went very well until we wanted to start the motor and head to the mooring. The motor would not run at low idle so we could not get it in to gear. After fiddling about with it for a while i decided to utilize an empty slip directly across from the crane we use to get the mast up at the club. I talked to the manager and the next day I emailed the person who's slip I was in and all was good for the rest of the week. 

Looks good in a slip.

Disconnecting (cutting) motor wires under the cockpit. Yes it was a blast...

The next day I and my friend Clay, First 260 blog here, tried to get it going with lots of carb cleaner, beer and swearing to no avail. I called my friend the car, airplane and not train mechanic but I am sure he could if he wanted to. He said "Dan, just take the f***er off and bring it over to my place." So I did. A couple of days of taking the carb apart, cleaning the sh** out of it and working it out, we (the "Royal we"), got the motor functional. The next day, Friday, which was the last day I could be in the slip, my crew guy Ben and I put the motor back on over lunch then I returned in the evening to motor out finally to the mooring. 

Yep, that's a carb.

Finally on the mooring. Needs boom & sails though.

The next thing that had to be dealt with was the furler. The drum was not quite high enough but not all that bad. So after a few days of messing about with that and trying a few different things, i.e. spending $$$ that I ended up not needing to, I made the decision that hell, the damn thing spins like it is supposed to, let's get the damn sail on and get on with it. So that is what happened. 

In the slip next to Clay's 260 so we could play (work) on her.

Test sail. 

Finally sailing.

We have been racing on Thursdays, Sundays, and Saturdays this season at WYC. We have been learning the boat, gaining experience, and finishing last.... We are not all that experienced racing to begin with and getting used to the boat is taking some time. Staying on the wind, paying as much attention as possible to tell tales, not over driving tacks/gybes is what I am working on learning as the driver. Main trimming, jib trimming, and just plain sailing well is coming along but we all have a long way to go. Schedules of summer make gaining more experience than in races difficult to schedule but that is the nature of the time of year. 

Boom Kicker install.

Boom Kicker install.

Boom Kicker install.

I will be posting more soon on races and sailing in general. Still need to get a pic of her under sail from another boat and I have purchased a GoPro so videos will be coming too.

As for projects;

• Furler.
• New Boom Kicker (finally).
• Lots of little things boat owners can relate too.
• New Dacron main.
• New 135% Mylar/Kevlar Genoa.

Until next time!!