Hmm. I wouldn't dream of removing mine, but I don't have a furling system so
I really need it for sail changes.
> I use a mushroom anchor
> that I stow upsidedown atop the chain locker vent collar. Kinda
> looks like
> a ventilator. I also installed a stainless steel bow cleat that seats
> itself flush to the deck when not in use.
do you have a pic of this? or a catalog reference? sounds handy. I've
thought of moving the front cleat further forward, but the deck is thinner
and uncored forward of where it is mounted on mine, so I just beefed up the
mounting in the original location.
> Also removed the two
> toe-thumping fairleads that guide the furler line aft from the deck and
> replaced them with while plastic pad eyes that I epoxied to the starboard
> side of the cabin.
Where were these? I removed some toe-thumping jibsheet blocks cuz people
would always step on them and drive the blocks into the gelcoat and I always
use the genoa track anyways.
>I like the idea of a stern light mounted in the stern.
> Thanks for going into detail about how you did the job.
No problem.
> Modifications I am considering are adding a 100-pound torpedo bulb to the
> base of the daggerboard and a back-stay so I can hoist a full sized
> spinnaker. Any comments, suggestions, or criticisms on these
> ideas will be
> greatly appreciated.
I have a backstay and couldn't really imagine not having one. Frankly,
unless you put on a taller mast and more sail area, etc, I see no practical
benefit of more weight in the keel. With proper trim she stays on her feet
remarkably well with the sails available. A bulb on the keel would add more
drag, weigh down the trailer even more, and probably hurt light-air
performance. If you're going to add 100 lbs somewhere, add it inside the
cabin low and forward.
Further stripping I have planned are to remove some cabintop-mounted turning
blocks (4 total) a previous owner used for leading halyards aft for a pair
of single blocks on the mast itself, to cleanup the cabin roof, eliminate
some potential leaks (though these are places on my boat that actually don't
leak for a change).