Guess I have to learn how to sail now.

[taylormade]

I can't see any of your pictures.... (the sight says it is under maintenance at this moment...)

But if there is even a single strand damaged on a forestry - don't sail it. I inspect for cracks, rusting, anything less than perfect... replace it.

A forestry failure is probably the worst failure for the right (although non of them is good.)

Ed

Yep, I'll do that today then as there are two strands that I found and snagged my hand on. At least I'm getting practice lowering and raising the mast!

[Bilgemaster]

And FWIW, you can buy the mast extrusion from BWY, among other sources.

Of course I know what an extrusion is, but for everyone else here, why don't you explain it to them please?

Think "Play-Doh Fun Factory", but with aluminum alloy.



Getting along with that smaller mainsail for a time might be a way to go, or repairing (lengthening) the existing mast or perhaps raising the boom's gooseneck. But in case you were interested in someday going whole hog and converting your 26X to use a 26M mast, there's this. Not cheap, sadly.

[sailboatmike]

That main is looking pretty baggy if the halyard is all the way up, baggy sails is bad news

[Tomfoolery]

Rudders were cut short, too.

[taylormade]

[
Getting along with that smaller mainsail for a time might be a way to go, or repairing (lengthening) the existing mast or perhaps raising the boom's gooseneck. But in case you were interested in someday going whole hog and converting your 26X to use a 26M mast, there's this. Not cheap, sadly.

I guess I'd need to look into how to lengthen the mast some more as that sounds interesting but scary at the same time. As far as going with the M mast, that'd be > 50% of what I have in the boat already and I certainly won't be investing another $4k into it without putting a much bigger motor on it.

That main is looking pretty baggy if the halyard is all the way up, baggy sails is bad news

Ugh. I think it was all the way up, but I'll double check later today and report my findings. I'm becoming less and less convinced that my "good buy" was a good buy at all. I've got an oil leak that I'm still in the process of tracking down as well... hoping it's something simple as a gasket.

Rudders were cut short, too.

Why on God's green earth would someone cut the rudders short?!?!

Open invitation and solicitation for anyone in the central Florida region to come out and go over this boat with a fine toothed comb and tell me everything that needs to be addressed before I put my or my loved ones lives in danger. Name your price.

[March]

Going by their shape, he rudders are not the original ones. The owner must have replaced them with after-market rudders (IDA, most likely--the brackets and hardware seem to be the steel version) but even so, they do seem kinda short, though wider than the regular ones. Wonder if that makes a difference; as long as they bite...
The previous owner might have dragged them in the down position and decided to shorten them both, lol.
Can you see the bottom edge? Does it look like they have been shortened and then glazed over (or not)?

[Tomfoolery]

They may also be on backwards. I have the newer style, but the older ones had the 'notch' in them, and the leading edge curled under the hull a little when down. At least that's how they are on the spec sheet line drawings.

[taylormade]

Ok, so I raised the main and winched it down. It's at the top and it is, indeed, "baggy."




So what's next? Lower the gooseneck? If so, any recommendations on how much I should lower it?
Get the sail shortened again? If so, by how much?
Lose the shackle and go direct rope to the head? Looks like if I did that, I could gain 2-3"

[Tomfoolery]

Zooming in tight, I can't tell if the headboard is running out of room up top (halyard knot hitting), or not. And it looks like the tack fitting (front/bottom of sail) isn't attached to anything, which ain't helping. The manual shows a U-bracket for it with a 1/4" bolt through it, but that's when using the bolt rope in the groove. With slides, it has to be secured farther back. I posted something a while back about the sail shape, and how much improved it was once I got that tack fitting secured where it belongs.

But having said all that, the sail sure looks badly blown out. Nothing you can do about that other than replace the sail, which I would NOT do until the mast is restored to its 28 ft length. New OEM sail is actually rather cheap from BWY. Sails don't last forever, and 16 years is a lot of mileage on one.

[March]

The leech of the sail seems pretty straight to me. Losing the shackle would not do you much good.
The "bag" seems somewhere in the middle, between the luff and the foot of the sail. Try pulling down the last slug at the boom and see if you can stretch the sail, and if moving the gooseneck several inches down would really make a difference
In all honesty, I wouldn't worry too much about it--unless the sail is really old and the looseness comes from stretches. If it's no longer crisp, I would replace it

[taylormade]

Zooming in tight, I can't tell if the headboard is running out of room up top (halyard knot hitting), or not. And it looks like the tack fitting (front/bottom of sail) isn't attached to anything, which ain't helping. The manual shows a U-bracket for it with a 1/4" bolt through it, but that's when using the bolt rope in the groove. With slides, it has to be secured farther back. I posted something a while back about the sail shape, and how much improved it was once I got that tack fitting secured where it belongs.

But having said all that, the sail sure looks badly blown out. Nothing you can do about that other than replace the sail, which I would NOT do until the mast is restored to its 28 ft length. New OEM sail is actually rather cheap from BWY. Sails don't last forever, and 16 years is a lot of mileage on one.

Ok, so is this one of those "if you don't know what you're missing, you're ok" type of things where I can use it for a while and then replace the mast, the sail, the rigging and get a roller furling all in one fell swoop and be amazed at the difference? Or do I need to correct it now?

Thanks as always for everyone's input.

[taylormade]

The rudders look fine (at least structurally) and there's no evidence of tampering or chopping off of the bottoms. Are they on backwards? Probably lol.

[Tomfoolery]

The look backwards to me, but they might also be shallow draft aftermarket rudders instead. Hooking forward, under the pintles, makes them a bit more balanced, as opposed to all being abaft the pintles (like mine) which can make for a heavy wheel sometimes. Perhaps someone can give you measurements of the OEM rudders of that vintage (like those in the pic) to compare to yours. Maybe they're cut - maybe they're not.

Also, check the profile of both edges. If they're foils, the leading edge when in the water will be rounded but thicker than the trailing edges, which are more knife-like. Like an airplane wing.

[taylormade]

Yeah, they're definitely of the airplane wing variety and the waters around here are shallow, so it'd make sense if they were replaced for that reason.

The first pic doesn't do a very good job showing the rounded front, but it's tapered much more severely in the back


With it raised, you can get a better understanding of the shape

[dlandersson]

If that's an X, the rudders are on backwards.

Rudders were cut short, too.