Windrush 14 hot rod

[Blackhawke]

Hi all,

Over here in New Zealand we only have the equivalent of your Mark 1 hulls ( no bulkheads only polystyrene) which I understand were made under licence here so hulls typically weigh 35-40 kgs each.

Rigs were 2 forestay with multi coloured sails so pretty basic. We are fortunate to have rear beams with I beam track and ronstan car and most with drop down rudders

We have now 10 old windies at our club so not a bad fleet. The sails are nearly all buggered and all need work done but we have a keen bunch of sailors all keen to get these going quicker

We won't be racing in the Aussie nationals so sticking to your rules not a biggie .

We will be getting sails made here, square top similar to what you have and running single forestay rigging

So to hot rod the Windrush 14 and not spend a fortune what else would could you all suggest.

Ideas for sail design, rigging, hardware setups etc all welcomed

Cheers

[knobblyoldjimbo]

You can get quite a bit of mileage from old sails with a bit of attention to the bolt rope.  More than anything with old sails bolt ropes go stiff and lose flexibility.  Either replace completely or splice a foot or two onto the bottom (or top).  The difference is amazing. 

[Windysailor]

In my experience, these things have made a difference.:

 

Make sure the polystyrene is firmly glued in with epoxy to make sure they are good and stiff, its much easier to do using the old hulls.

Reduce the flex in the front and back beams by ensuring the bolts a tightly screwed in with a pair of multigrips. If there is still flex pop a strip of seat belt webbing into the section that the seats the beams, and then tighten it up. If its STILL flexy, you can probably put one more bit of webbing in.

 

Ensure your main halyard lets you raise the sail as high as possible to get as much of your square top sail into the wind at the top of the mast. With more sail area up top its worth capitalising by getting the sail as high as you can up the track.

 

Make sure the rudders don't wobble (the bolt through the rudders can open up the hole a little bit over time and they can start to flop about a bit. Also have a little bit of toe in on both rudders.

 

Add trapeze wires!

 

If I think of anything else I'll post it here.

[Blackhawke]

Thanks for great tips

Found this tit bit re beam width and hull tracking..... Instead of increasing rear beam width(new beam) could you shorten the front beam means a tramp mod?

Also is the jib downhaul worth doing?

Haha, some think i am crazy but the 6mm sheet does it for me...

Will be good to catch up at the Nationals. Im looking forward to the roadtrip (all 4 and a bit days of it)...

I'll need Rush in peak condition for it, few little maintenance things need doing before its fit to defend the Cat Rig & Supersloop titles...

I've read the rules back to front hoping that i'd be allowed to use a jib downhaul but no such luck...

All sorts of other things i've been looking at doing to it, but unfortunately our rules wont allow it... just like the addition of 25mm to the rear beam... they FLY upwide with it tracking wider in the rear but its not allowed... Steve Miners tried it...