Corsair/Farrier Anarchy

[nige]

Hello Nige,   Love seeing your projects...I had originally come across you when you were doing the Bieker Boats 35mk2 and 42....you were building the components for a baby Bieker 25  did you ever finish it.?..love Totora and Farrier  Thanks

Hey Huey - I think you may have me mixed up with either Simon Miles or Brandon Davis based on what you're describing.  Simon has been building the B25s and at one point Brandon (who I have built a few boats with) was building some of the parts...    Either way, i think the B25's are getting close!

 

[Loose Cannon]

Anybody know where I can get some 3-4 inch wide Velcro backed gray front runner to cover some wiring?  Need about 4 feet worth.

 

[Mizzmo]

Anybody know where I can get some 3-4 inch wide Velcro backed gray front runner to cover some wiring?  Need about 4 feet worth.

I bought a couple of yards from Don Wigston and Windcraft multihulls, it was cheap, and matched pretty well considering the original is 35 years old. You will have to add velcro yourself 

 

[deminimis]

I was looking for a pic of my 970 at the 2015 Southampton boat show.  No luck there, but found a reference to it being unpacked in early Sept, 2015 at Thornham Marina.  Sure enough, there it is.  Kinda cool.

 

[RedHerring]

Anybody know where I can get some 3-4 inch wide Velcro backed gray front runner to cover some wiring?  Need about 4 feet worth.

I used this: "Cable Floor Strip Cord Cover Grip Floor Cable Protector Carpet Cable Management, Hold Cords in Place, Keep Cables Organized, Protect Cords and Prevent a Trip Hazard, 3 Inch x 10 Feet (20 Feet, Gray)"

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WDP4CSG

It matches the gray mouse fur lining my 1999 boat pretty well...

 

[Gib808]

Hello group. I sold my 28 Catalina mono last year after 15 years, and have been looking hard at the corsair 31 and 28/ 880. 

My questions are:

1. What are your thought on single handing a 31 or 28 corsair? I enjoyed single handing my Cat about half the time.

2. I want to keep the boat on a docklift and deploy the amas after leaving the dock. Anyone have experience or comments about this setup? 

Thanks in advanced for feedback. 

 

[Cal20sailor]

Hello group. I sold my 28 Catalina mono last year after 15 years, and have been looking hard at the corsair 31 and 28/ 880. 

My questions are:

1. What are your thought on single handing a 31 or 28 corsair? I enjoyed single handing my Cat about half the time.

2. I want to keep the boat on a docklift and deploy the amas after leaving the dock. Anyone have experience or comments about this setup? 

Thanks in advanced for feedback. 

I had an F-27 and did a few long distance races solo.  A decent Autopilot is essential and docking in a breeze can be a challenge.  Given you are moving from a mono, spend the first year with crew learning the boat and gaining confidence.  The 31 is a pretty good step up from the 27.  Unless you like spending money, The 27 is by comparison a huge bang for the buck.  I've sailed on a 31 that was on a lift and in general they're fine.  But the boat isn't very stable until you get one Ama out/locked.

Go for it and you will never look back!

 

[MultiThom]

Agreed, single handing is no difficulty once you have a little experience and a good tiller pilot.  .  The docklift setup would be best if the prevailing breeze is either up or downwind, you can motor a short distance in protected water to get to a dock to unfold...you can also unfold while motoring but it gets a bit hard doing it alone since you gotta screw bolts and adjust shroud tension which could be problematic in a marina while motoring.  Good Luck.

 

[Sailabout]

Hello group. I sold my 28 Catalina mono last year after 15 years, and have been looking hard at the corsair 31 and 28/ 880. 

My questions are:

1. What are your thought on single handing a 31 or 28 corsair? I enjoyed single handing my Cat about half the time.

2. I want to keep the boat on a docklift and deploy the amas after leaving the dock. Anyone have experience or comments about this setup? 

Thanks in advanced for feedback. 

With a roller furler headsail a 28 is ready to go single handed meaning all sheets and halyard back to the cockpit and the weight aft is of little consequence.
31 has main halyard on the mast.

 

[RedHerring]

31 has main halyard on the mast.

Well... not all of them do, at least.  My 31 runs the halyard to the cockpit.

What are your thought on single handing a 31 or 28 corsair?

I'd be pretty stressed single handing my 31, particularly folding/unfolding, and I'm a pretty fit guy.  Too much to do, too quickly, with too high loads, in the weather we get on SF Bay.  I don't think it would be "fun". 

A 28, maybe.  Depends a lot on the mainsail handling (boom roller vs slab reefing), trusting the autopilot, and the sailing venue and winds...

My take would be that it's one of those things where many people can, but if you have to ask the question, assume you can't.

 

[Wess]

Hello group. I sold my 28 Catalina mono last year after 15 years, and have been looking hard at the corsair 31 and 28/ 880. 

My questions are:

1. What are your thought on single handing a 31 or 28 corsair? I enjoyed single handing my Cat about half the time.

2. I want to keep the boat on a docklift and deploy the amas after leaving the dock. Anyone have experience or comments about this setup? 

Thanks in advanced for feedback. 

I would do a 27 over the 28.  Would not suggest single handing a 31 for docking or racing. 

We had a 27 and left it unfolded in a slip. No way I would want to deal with the hassle of folding and unfolding each time I went sailing. 

All that said the Corsairs and fun fast and safe boats!  Great for the Chesapeake.

 

[MultiThom]

Of his 3 choices, I'd choose the 880 since it is newer and I think you can get one with a self tacking jib (which makes single handing upwind easy no matter how many tacks you have to do).   

Depending on what you want to do with the boat when not single handing...there's nothing wrong with smaller even though shorter is slower.  An F22 is a pretty perfect boat if you can find one.   

 

[eric1207]

I keep my F31 folded on a lift and it is a hassle for day sailing.  In fact I usually wet moor it all summer for ease of use unless I'm going out of town for a while.  If alone, I figure an hour from start to shutting off the engine to sail. Perhaps 15 or 20 minutes less if I have a helper.  One time-consumer is you have to unlace the net lashings about half way to fold and re-lace when unfolding, (but there is nifty way to speed this up, by Robert de Vries I think, over on the Farrier/Corsair io forum).  After stepping thru partially laced nets once and getting a months long, painful hip bruise, never again.  re-lacing is the first thing I do after unfolding.  The F31 is pretty unstable with mast up and folded.  Don't turn sharply or quickly.  I think this is what Redherring is talking about if your moorage is exposed to winds like SFO bay.  If the mast is up and I have my boat on the lift my docks happen to be oriented to tie off the mast to either side with halyards to stabilize the vessel.  I do this if I'll be gone for a few days or if higher summer winds are predicted.  Most will not have that option.  (I have seen an F27 uplake from me tipped over off its boat lift.)  If trailer storing mast up you can stabilize it marginally better by tying the boat to the trailer but it can still tip over in high wind.  I don't think tying the boat to my boat lift would do much to stabilize the set up as the boat lift legs are tall and stilt like; 6' above the lake bottom.  Some lifts you can get spreader beams at the lake bottom to get more athwart stabilization.  I found a pic of an F31 unfolded (and shrink wrapped) on a wide boat lift.  If you have room for this its the perfect situation

I do single hand my 31 in stable wind under 10 or 12 knots and enjoy it a lot.  We have that often on my lake in the summer.  If you do single hand you'll need a tiller pilot.  I usually only daysail for 2 or 3 hours so I actually prefer to single hand my Lightning because the F31 is so fast I find myself barely settled and in a groove before its time to tack on my ~mile wide lake.  Something to consider if you don't have much open water.  If that is your case you might consider a smaller Fboat.  If I commit to full day sail and/or have crew then I take my F31 because I have help, and/or time to roam the larger and wider part of my lake.  My F31 is mostly used for cruising in Puget Sound after a ~2 hour canal transit from my home.

If you haven't been over there you should take a long look at the FCT io forum.  Lots advice there including archives and tips from the most helpful man himself, Ian Farrier.

Good luck in your search.  If you get an Fboat you will not be able to wipe the smile off your face.  And when you are done you'll likely (easily) sell it for what you bought it for.

 

[Tomfl]

Just my two cents but I have a very limited amount of experience sailing on a Catalina and much more on fboats.  As many others have posted the learning curve you will be faced with is putting together and taking apart an fboat while with the Catalina you basically just untied the lines and were ready to go.

On the other hand once you turn off the motor an fboat will be much easier to sail than a Catalina.  First time I sailed on a C24 the owner gave me the tiller and I was kinda shocked to be using my thumb and forefinger to steer the boat.  Even with minimal skill trimming the sails was a trivial effort and we only used a winch for the last minor adjustment.  A self tacking jib almost seems like cheating on an fboat.  The Catalina I was on had something like a 150% headsail and it was always messy tacking or gybing.  Lots of fboats are setup with a bow sprit so you have a self tacking jib and a screecher on the bow sprit for light airs.

I agree a C27 is the best bang for the buck but on the other hand while the C31 can be a real handfull it is a very powerful boat with a lot more space; but the C31 will be harder to single hand.

For me the bottom line is how someone is gonna use the boat.  I spent a long time looking at several flavors of fboats and really liked lots about them.  But I wound up getting a Seawind catamaran because I wanted to cruise for months at a time not just for weekends.  I am still looking for an fboat of some flavor since I live in Florida and usually sorta store my boat during hurricane season.

You did not mention where and how you will be using your boat.  Nothing against a C28/31 but why did you eliminate the C24 flavors.  They are a lot easier to set up, still fun to sail, are cheaper to buy, and can even do camping cruising with a boom tent for the weekend.  Even if you have a family with kids a C24 could work.

Hope this helps.

 

[bacq2bacq]

One time-consumer is you have to unlace the net lashings about half way to fold and re-lace when unfolding,

Funny, my '95 F31, Hull #1 from Corsair, with new nets from Sunrise, doesn't suffer from this.  We laced the new nets with dyneema, everything relaxes as the ama comes in during folding, and tightens up just as the arm comes down to bolt-position.  The new nets are triple-reinforced in the inner-after corners.  I'm hoping you can zoom in to see where the lashings on the arm are.  Different than yours, @eric1207?

 

[bacq2bacq]

I'll add that I've single handed without dragging out the autopilot in fair weather, but Osprey is all rolly-furly as you can see.  Also, the extra control of a tiller-steerable engine *really* helps with single-handed landings.  And yes, I can run the main halyard through turning blocks back to the cockpit, but only have one winch to port, so... just never done it.

 

[eric1207]

The red circle shows the gap that I stepped thru on a C28, and where I lace and unlace my nets every time to fold & unfold.  I was pretty new to Fboats when I was injured and wasn't aware of the potential of dropping thru that gap.  It doesn't appear that you even have eye straps or net grommets to close that gap.  My amas have the eye straps (as well as net grommets) all the way to the inboard end of the ama.  The arrow is where my hip struck the ama with the full weight of my body dropping 3' thru that gap in the circle.  It hurt like h*** for several weeks.  Took months to feel normal.  I think I'm lucky that I didn't fracture my femur (hip).  It does appear that your nets are longer than mine by a bit; the gap between your ama and the aft edge of your net appears to be just an inch or two.  My gap is more like 3 or 4".   This might be enough to reduce the risk of stepping thru that gap to an acceptable level.  My nets are also Sunrise but at least 9 or 10 years old.

 

[RedTuna]

Funny, my '95 F31, Hull #1 from Corsair, with new nets from Sunrise, doesn't suffer from this.  We laced the new nets with dyneema, everything relaxes as the ama comes in during folding, and tightens up just as the arm comes down to bolt-position.  The new nets are triple-reinforced in the inner-after corners.  I'm hoping you can zoom in to see where the lashings on the arm are.  Different than yours, @eric1207?

Gaah! That hurts to look at.  Not using your bumpers, I mean.

 

[Sailabout]

The red circle shows the gap that I stepped thru on a C28, and where I lace and unlace my nets every time to fold & unfold.  I was pretty new to Fboats when I was injured and wasn't aware of the potential of dropping thru that gap.  It doesn't appear that you even have eye straps or net grommets to close that gap.  My amas have the eye straps (as well as net grommets) all the way to the inboard end of the ama.  The arrow is where my hip struck the ama with the full weight of my body dropping 3' thru that gap in the circle.  It hurt like h*** for several weeks.  Took months to feel normal.  I think I'm lucky that I didn't fracture my femur (hip).  It does appear that your nets are longer than mine by a bit; the gap between your ama and the aft edge of your net appears to be just an inch or two.  My gap is more like 3 or 4".   This might be enough to reduce the risk of stepping thru that gap to an acceptable level.  My nets are also Sunrise but at least 9 or 10 years old.

View attachment 502137

Agreed 28 nets needs a better design

 

[MultiThom]

Agreed 28 nets needs a better design

F24 nets also had that gap where a couple crewpeople injured themselves (and I did as well) during races.  Current boat (SeaRail) also has gaps but the ama's are in places where a person would not normally step (way aft or forward of cockpit (and no foredeck)).  It'd be a worse hassle if you had to relace the whole tramp to the vaka each time (which is something SeaRails that fold/unfold on the trailer instead of on the water do).  You can make it quicker, though, with a soft shackle and some dyneema lace.