<< have been reading your posts about the CDI furling system with interest.
I want to add the system to my P-15. I contacted Sailrite, which has the
cheapest prices, about the FF1 model. They said the forestay must have a
turnbuckle, not the chainplate that comes with the P-15. What do you know
about this? Is it easy to add the luff tape to a Genoa?
>>
HI Richard,
I got my CDI from Sailrite too. They had the best prices around. I wonder
how many P15 owners have installed it and how well it works?
You'll need to add a turnbuckle to the bottom of your forestay and then attach
that inside the plastic center part of furling drum. You then attach the
furling drum directly to the chainplate on your bow. The plastic center part
spins around the trunbuckle.
The CDI unit requires a 10" open-body turnbuckle, if my memory is correct.
You can add it yourself at home, do it at West Marine using their tools, or
have a rigger do it. Be sure you figure out how much of the forestay to cut
off so your forestay is the same length when you're done. Most 10"
turnbuckles will give you about 3" of adjustment (but check this on the
turnbuckle you buy), so you should probably set it up so that you have the
correct length with the turnbuckle set halfway between the shortest and
longest settings possible. When I put the turnbuckle in my FF1 furling drum,
I found that I couldn't lengthen it quite the full 3", I could only get 2.5 "
before it hit something inside the drum.
IMPORTANT -- Make sure you put cotter pins in the turnbuckle or else it will
undo one end of the turnbuckle when you roll the sail up or while you're
trailering. (Don't ask... Fortunately I discovered my omission in a pre-
launching rigging check, not out on the water!)
Redwing needed a new forestay because she had a different furling system on
her when I bought her, so I had the rigger make it for me. The stay was a
little more complicated, because Bruce Little, the previous owner, had beefed
up the other stays for coastal cruising and I wanted to keep it all the same.
If your stay is older than 8 or 10 years and sits in a damp environment, maybe
it's time for a new stay? Check for discoloring, especially around the swaged
fittings or nico-press do--hickies. If you can see corrosion, there's likely
to be more underneath the fitting where it's covered up. Stainless steel
required exposure to Oxygen to form a protective coating of chromium (?)
oxide, and it tends to corrode where ever it's covered up. 1/4" stays for a
small boat like a P15 or P19 aren't very expensive so it's better, IMHO, to be
safe than sorry.
Regarding adding luff tape: the sailmaker charged me $4/foot to install the
luff tape, plus a little bit more to change the grommets at the head and tack
to webbing with a ring so they would roll up a little nicer. It was about $80
for my P19 lapper.
In addition, it's usually about $75 to add a sunbrella UV edge cover, (but my
lapper already had one.) If you leave your sail out in the open, you'll need
it to protect the sailcloth. If you keep it undercover, you may not need or
want it. If you sail in light air, you're better off without it, because it
adds weight to the sail. Or you can get lighter weight UV protecting fabric
than the sunbrella, but it doesn't last quite as long (maybe only 2-3 years if
you leave it in the sun). Still, it's cheaper to replace an edge cover than
the whole sail.
There's an inexpensive stick-on version of UV edge cover, but the sailmaker
advised me that it just doesn't work very well. It comes unstuck. I think
Sailrite sells it. The sewed on stuff, whether it's sunbrella or lightweight
dacron is supposed to be much better. The sunbrella UV cover on Redwing's
lapper is about 10 years old and doing fine. I ordered a sunbrella UV cover
on the small high-wind jib I'm getting too, because I plan to leave the CDI
attached to the mast and it sticks out in the sun a little from underneath
Redwing's car port. I rarely use the genoa, so I'm not going to bother paying
for a UV edge cover for it.
According to the CDI instructions to the sailmaker, they recommend webbing and
a ring instead of a grommet. If you contact CDI, they will fax you the
sailmaker's instructions (or I can send you a copy) .
.
You need to make sure that the luff on your sail isn't too long for the CDI
extrusion because you loose some available length when you installl the pivot
at the top of the extrusion and the drum at the bottom. Give the sailmaker
the length of the extrusion after you install the CDI unit. Your sailmaker
can figure out whether to trim the luff off or the foot or both when s/he
installs the tape.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Judy B.
Judith Blumhorst, DC
HMS18/P19 Fleet Cap'n, Potters Yachters
1985 WWP19 #266 Redwing
(Rigged so a petite woman can solo)
Sailing on SF Bay, CA
(5-35 knot winds, 2-4' chop, 2-6' swells, and currents up to 6 knots)
Visit <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/jblumhorst/HomePage/index.htm">Judy B's
West Wight Potter Pages</A>
and <A HREF="http://songbird.com/potter_yachter/">The Official Web Site of the
Potter Yachters</A>