Henderson 30?
- Thread starter cajunkiwi
- Start date
Christian
Super Anarchist
eerie sailor
Super Anarchist
I currently rate 42 on Lake Erie and 51 Detroit Regional Yacht racing Association (DRYA)
BalticBandit
Super Anarchist
- 11,114
- 37
Partly because at the time a Synergy 1000 was being driven very hard by a very good crew. And Rated at 54 it was logical to put the Hendo 30 level with the S1000 that was beating it. Gardy is a good boat with a good crew, but in the races that we beat her, it was mostly starting line and course strategy that did it. We were ALWAYS hearing the footsteps behind us...
eerie sailor
Super Anarchist
We race a well prepared, well sailed Synergy once or twice a year. Upwind we seem to be tied together with a string. Off the wind both boats have slightly different sweet spots. As far as our handicap differences, I owe him time on Lake Erie, we are even on Lake St Clair and he owes me a bit of time under ORR.
Paul at Masthead
New member
I trimmed main on New Wave for a few years in the late 90's. It was always a great battle against Zoom and a few of the other Henderson 30s. In 1996 it is/was a great design with a few cool innovations. nothing but good times.
eerie sailor
Super Anarchist
Threads been quiet. Here is a pic with a reacher up.
eerie sailor
Super Anarchist
Rudder bearing update:
So I pulled the balls out of both upper and lower races and replaced them with delrin bushings. It was pretty clear on the first sail that there was to much friction with this setup. The boat had lost its light air feel in the rudder, and spinnaker reaching above 15 kts was difficult.
Round two:
We pulled the bushings out and put ¼” notches on the inside circumference of the bushings about every inch all the way around. This dramatically improved the performance though still not 100 % satisfactory.
After round two I decided to abandon the bushings for the rest of the year due to a packed racing schedule that included a few distance races. We did make one more mod before we took off for the races.
Round three:
I took thin strips of 3/8” delrin and 4200 them to the inner and outer walls of the bearing races. Then I used a dremel tool and sanded the races to size. I replaced the bushings with the 3/8 balls. I was hoping to get the original feel of the rudder back with no wear on the races.
Round three worked great!! I have sailed in quite a few races since the last mod which included both light and heavy conditions, upwind/downwind/reaching and the bearings have worked great. I pulled them apart for an inspection and there is no visible wear.
Regarding the bushings…………………………….I have a lot of time and a few hundred bucks in the project. I probably will try notching the outside of the bushings and insert them again inside my delrin lined races and see how they work. But round three is looking good,
Eerie
So I pulled the balls out of both upper and lower races and replaced them with delrin bushings. It was pretty clear on the first sail that there was to much friction with this setup. The boat had lost its light air feel in the rudder, and spinnaker reaching above 15 kts was difficult.
Round two:
We pulled the bushings out and put ¼” notches on the inside circumference of the bushings about every inch all the way around. This dramatically improved the performance though still not 100 % satisfactory.
After round two I decided to abandon the bushings for the rest of the year due to a packed racing schedule that included a few distance races. We did make one more mod before we took off for the races.
Round three:
I took thin strips of 3/8” delrin and 4200 them to the inner and outer walls of the bearing races. Then I used a dremel tool and sanded the races to size. I replaced the bushings with the 3/8 balls. I was hoping to get the original feel of the rudder back with no wear on the races.
Round three worked great!! I have sailed in quite a few races since the last mod which included both light and heavy conditions, upwind/downwind/reaching and the bearings have worked great. I pulled them apart for an inspection and there is no visible wear.
Regarding the bushings…………………………….I have a lot of time and a few hundred bucks in the project. I probably will try notching the outside of the bushings and insert them again inside my delrin lined races and see how they work. But round three is looking good,
Eerie
Please let me know how the new races work. We have to fix the bearings every few years.Here is a guide I put together in the last 20 minutes for a couple of guys on how to dissassemble the Henderson rudder bearings. I haven't really proof read it in detail. Let me know if it doesn't make sense or if it needs more detail
Eerie.
Guide to disassemble the Henderson 30 rudder assembly.pdf
Migelikor
New member
- 29
- 0
We're wrapping a solid 5th season on the Heart of Gold (#119) up in Boston. For anyone considering a Hendo, here's what we think we've learned:
1) Reefing sucks.
2) We got a big-foot #2. It's damn fast.
3) Sailing at 1450ish lbs is fast. Since we have ladies aboard, that means 8-9 bodies, with 8 as the sweet spot for rail real estate.
4) That 8-13ish kts of breeze pre-plane bracket sucks. We have a very tough time fighting IMX-40s etc. in those conditions.
Regarding how the boat's holding up, I'd say remarkably well. We've had to address soft spots under the rear stanchion bases, caused by years of hiking, but beyond that, it's in great shape. The scariest day we've had was a big-breeze Buzzard's Bay Regatta, where we managed to take a massive amount of water in around the bowsprit port...that may be a design flaw, as we've tried lots of different gasket materials without a lot of luck.
1) Reefing sucks.
2) We got a big-foot #2. It's damn fast.
3) Sailing at 1450ish lbs is fast. Since we have ladies aboard, that means 8-9 bodies, with 8 as the sweet spot for rail real estate.
4) That 8-13ish kts of breeze pre-plane bracket sucks. We have a very tough time fighting IMX-40s etc. in those conditions.
Regarding how the boat's holding up, I'd say remarkably well. We've had to address soft spots under the rear stanchion bases, caused by years of hiking, but beyond that, it's in great shape. The scariest day we've had was a big-breeze Buzzard's Bay Regatta, where we managed to take a massive amount of water in around the bowsprit port...that may be a design flaw, as we've tried lots of different gasket materials without a lot of luck.
I tried it with a 135 genoa and a -1 for fat head main, but had a 155 genoa made .... Wow what a difference... Crew weight is key... If you lots of light weight females, then 10 people is not unheard of. It is all about keeping the boat balanced.Turd Sandwich said:
I know other owners who only carry the155 to 8 kts true and goes down to a 142. I keep the 155 up to 15 kts if I have full crew. The 155 is a weapon in light air!
I added Melges 32 knees under my stanchions right after I got the boat. I had no problems with stanchions, but wanted to stiffen the boat up.
Been sailing on the hendo Mojito on Lake Erie and we have found that if we can have the 155 up we are almost untouchable upwind against our local phrf fleet.
eerie sailor
Super Anarchist
I know a lot of Hendo owners check in on this thread, and that is a good thing. So the next step. Can we get together and race? Here is a loose criteria that I have for racing other Hendersons.
1, Prefer east of the Rockies (sorry)
2, Would prefer a non Key West Block Island type regatta (to expensive)
3. Would be best to piggyback onto a regatta with PHRF classes in case we don’t get enough boats for our own class. (Planning wouldn’t be wasted, we could still race)
4, Would prefer a regatta with free launch, free dock & cheap local lodging.
5, Months I won’t travel is July. June is tough also.
6, If you have a cool local regatta in your area, let us know. I like traveling to these types of events.
First event I’d like to throw out for consideration is St Pete NOODS in February. Free lauch (ramp or singlepoint) free dock, lots of local lodging.
Any thoughts?
1, Prefer east of the Rockies (sorry)
2, Would prefer a non Key West Block Island type regatta (to expensive)
3. Would be best to piggyback onto a regatta with PHRF classes in case we don’t get enough boats for our own class. (Planning wouldn’t be wasted, we could still race)
4, Would prefer a regatta with free launch, free dock & cheap local lodging.
5, Months I won’t travel is July. June is tough also.
6, If you have a cool local regatta in your area, let us know. I like traveling to these types of events.
First event I’d like to throw out for consideration is St Pete NOODS in February. Free lauch (ramp or singlepoint) free dock, lots of local lodging.
Any thoughts?
