Modified Columbia 30 info?

[TimFordi550#87]

To ensure the fit, I cut a pattern out of delrin and made damn sure the thing slid up and down smoothly.   After all that, though, I'm building a new bulbless keel with internal ballast.  Easy enough to configure on a 5.5 meter sporty, probably not recommended for a 30

 

[95Terp]

Seeing some light at the end of the tunnel finally.  The keel repair is done and it went down reasonably well.  Bottom paint is gone, barrier coat is on.  Powder coated stanchions are installed, new windows, lots of hardware re-bedded, hatch gasket replaced, rudders and cassettes refinished, tiller re-painted, bulkhead installed, rig re-assembled, lots of new lines,  etc.  Hope to be in the water by the end of the week...

 

[Irrational 14]

Looking sweet.

 

[Irrational 14]

Meanwhile, on the Left Coast... sail development almost complete (for now).

 

[Irrational 14]

 

[95Terp]

Looks good. I notice your lowers are attached to the forward hole in the chainplate. Ours were in the middle...?

 

[Irrational 14]

Forward hole. Better lead and keeps the stays close to each other reducing wind-age.

 

[95Terp]

Interesting. Uppers in the rear of the spreaders and chainplates?

 

[Irrational 14]

Yup.

 

[95Terp]

Any tips on starting points for rig tune?  

 

[Irrational 14]

My setup is for Summer breeze on (usually 15-22 ish) - more rake and strung rig. Note we sail w/H1 or #4 regularly. Boat is a riot downwind.

Still optimizing my light air setup... will have more data as I sail more in the light this fall.

For your lighter breeze, you will obviously be softer on your settings but not much as the Southern Spars rig likes to be boned on with it's wide shroud base, plus it's safer to have it like this in case someone is on the runner too late. It's a pretty well built and robust rig regardless.

We sail with top stay runners upwind and down. I also rigged deflectors at hounds. You shouldn't need deflectors with your increased forestay height. Original config forestay is too soft w/o them lacking pointing and ability to flatten main.

I figure with your config, you will need to de-power earlier than your sister-ships so these numbers may work for you but pretty sure your higher forestay height will effect the original design bend characteristics so check for any inversion going on while tuning, especially when you wind on the primaries since they are terminated lower than your forestay. Entering new territory here.

You can start with the following as a base and tweak to match your luff curve on your main. If you are getting overbend wrinkles too early, you'll need to tweak it until you have uniformity. Looking for about 1.75" prebend uniformly from gooseneck to tip.

Lowers = 27 (wind this up more for power and fuller main down low)

Primaries = 36 (range from 27 to 38)

Caps = 32 (wind on more if you have the railmeat to handle it)

Don't over tighten anything more than 38 on loose. Make sure your boat can accommodate this tension.

 

[Irrational 14]

Another question - we're currently rigged with 2 tack lines.  Does that seem necessary?  I've never felt like I wished I had 2 on previous boats.  For the most part we would never do a peel - legs are too short.  Is it needed with the Code 0?  Distance races maybe?  

Recently switched to 2 tack lines for coastal races... now we can peel quickly/easily.

Also added "fractionator " to convert 2nd masthead spin halyard to fractional when we need it for A5. Highly effective.

 

[95Terp]

Wow - that's a lot of tension.  27 translates to around 1100 lbs or so correct?  Accommodate this tension in what way - without folding in half?  

 

[95Terp]

I'll have to do some experimenting.  I set it up initially with the uppers at around 29 and the intermediates at 27 in order to help prevent inversion.  Lowers are at 25 but of course this wasn't based on anything in particular.  We do have masthead runners set up.  Goes in the water tomorrow so i'll have to see what it looks like under sail.  

 

[Irrational 14]

Like I said, my numbers will most likely not work for your modified rig. Your goal is preventing inversion for that setup. I wonder of the PO stiffened the tip? I would.

 

[ryley]

Like I said, my numbers will most likely not work for your modified rig. Your goal is preventing inversion for that setup. I wonder of the PO stiffened the tip? I would.

I've seen pictures of the boat when it was first turned into a masthead rig. The rig was inverted. I doubt he did anything to stiffen the mast in any way.

 

[Irrational 14]

Hmmm. Was this upwind or downwind or both?

 

[ryley]

The pictures I saw were upwind.

I14, you said you have a southern spars mast? is it carbon? I've got the Ballenger alu spar. Boat came rigged with a backstay but no runners. Have often thought that, except for the added complexity and having to remember to use them, that runners might be a good addition.

Also, thanks for your description for your bobstay retrieval. I sto ..  I mean emulated it on the RockIt and it is 10x better than what we had.

 

[Irrational 14]

No prob Ryley - There are so many system upgrades that I am in process or on the wish list and happy to share them.

Boat is really coming together finally and happy with the results so far.

In regards to the inversion upwind dilemma, yeah - that's an issue that needs to be sorted out and directly related to that mod. The original designed fore-triangle is indeed tiny, and is starved upwind in the lighter breeze but somehow, I'm still able to get decent results so far. Anything downwind, well you know the boat rips for it's size and weight.

If I sailed in 1-8kts regularly, I'd seriously consider a J0 (masthead free fly) and tack it off the sprit midway but keep it non overlap. Furl it to tack, ditch it once the breeze comes up and sail the jib again. I'd also look into a forestay tensioner to make the rig tuning easier to soften down/crank up on the fly. We cruise this boat too so can't go too nuts on it. That's what the 14 is for .

Yes on the Southern Spars Carbon mast section - Awesome rig. I was really impressed with build quality once I had it down to inspect everything and change out some items. I've worked on a lot of carbon rigs... this one is nicely done. Overbuilt by today's standards (NZ built, not Chinese) which is fine by me. Boosted my confidence level going to a more aggressive head profile.

The Ballenger section you have is a great rig. More suited to all around conditions, and a better top end upwind IMO. You won't need top mast runners unless you plan on running a fat head. If that's your plan, make sure the rig is stiff enough to handle the additional loads. My main is large, but flat and manageable without the extra roach, designed to fold off at the gaff batten automatically once overpowered.

Pic below is in sub 6 kts. upwind. Our most vulnerable condition but doable. Anybody with a large genoa will most likely roll you on a long upwind but you can usually pass them once the kite goes up.

 

[ryley]

Yeah, the Ballenger sits right behind yours and the masthead in terms of the jib. we have our moments but it was a conversation that I had when I was looking at the various configs. I even looked at modifying the carbon rig for the bigger jib but then the one I ended up buying came along and I'm pretty happy with the choice.

I had a chance at eXigent, but at the time the owner was asking too much. I bought mine and then eXigent went to the south coast for less than I paid for the RockIt. Oh well  I like having the inboard. 15 days to BIRW!