Recent content by Norman_E

I have quite a collection of PBO, Yachting Monthly and even one or two Sailing Today. Dates range from 2005 up to 2019. I am going to have to clear them out as I need the shelf space. I am in East Sussex close to the Kent border and I anyone wants some before they get chucked, please let me know.

Good idea, I always had spare stainless ones on board, and they would have been springy enough to make a pawl without heat treatment.

look on the bright side, at least its bulkheads did not fail!:)

To check whether that is the problem try to drop the sail with the topping lift tight, and then with it slack. If the sail drops further with it slack then you need to sort that problem before trying other more expensive solutions like adding a track and cars. Any of the ropes inside the mast...

OK, so the big boats are in Hobart, but Ollie the cat still has 200 plus miles to go. I applaud the sailors who do races like that, just to finish and have a go at a class win.

To see how close winded modern race yachts can be, have a look at this. Look at the film of Law Connect sailing particularly from about 1 hour 18 minutes onwards. The yacht is at a bit less than 40 degrees to true wind with the mainsail centred and a big overlapping sail (code zero?) flown...

My Jeanneau 45.2 could be pinched up to 40 degrees, but sailed much better at 50 degrees. The autopilot was set up to tack through110 degrees, so if single handed I would just bear away to 55 or 60 degrees off true wind to get best boat speed, then push the tack button and get the Genoa through...

This one. Very unusual design, but also very well thought out.

I am proud to say that I have never been in IKEA, or owned any of their bags.

Wow, this is an ancient thread. I sold the boat 3 years ago. I did not have a diverter valve to pump direct to sea, but could dump the tank contents to sea if well offshore, though the contents were normally pumped out to onshore facilities. I did in fact fit 38mm Tru-Design non-return valves...

That should work just fine as Graham says, but when my through hulls were replaced with Tru Design and all new Tru design ball valves they were done with a different Sikaflex in a small tube. I cannot remember the number but it allowed the fittings to be moved to get them aligned correctly for...

Once you are coppercoated you can save on lift out costs. My boat stayed in the water and I just had a diver to clean and grease the MaxProp occasionally.

Its a special problem of catamarans that the two hulls can be dancing as described, and the wide cockpit does not help with safety. My solution to rough weather sailing in a monohull was to fit stout U bolts that I could clip on using a three hook safety line. The U bolts were spaced so that I...

I hoist them every trip, its worth it for the good sail shape. :)

My old 45 foot boat with a heavy full battened mainsail and a 12mm halyard took a bit of effort, but I could pull the sail up by hand to about a yard above the second spreader. That was probably about the same weight of sail as mainsail of a 34 foot boat. After that I had to winch it. What I...