Good luck with this Roy. Setting new sails can be quite problematic😉

Hi all up a bit earlier than I expected (5:30) and put the sails up as a first try. Not so good, the main is very baggy and will not hang flat, actually more folds than baggy. It is usually worn out sails that stretch and get baggy. I went outside to see how the wind would affect it and found I had to tension the sail haul bowsie up tight, this did help, but not a lot.
I decided to do things in reverse and fit the mast and boom to suit the sail. I started to progress and got the upper part of the sail a bit flatter. Brought her back in and found if I pulled the sail down towards the boom rather than let her run free the sail would start to flatten out. Also tightening up the lower part of the sail to the mast looked a good thing to try. So a bit of lashing this afternoon. I shall run a 'rope' through the lower seam and try and spread the effect of the lashing along the sail boom.

The jib was not so good as I had tried fitting a flexible wire into the bottom seam but this had a separate life of its own and distorted the sail especially when the jib was hauled in. I had a fore stay running through the forward edge and a separate sail haul. I will abandon this and go back to a jib boom which will need making.

Progress of a sort but curing the faults is a first step. Who ever said its just a rag and stick job!

Regards
Roy

Looking forward to seeing the alternate set of sails 🤔😀

Hi all good news the tangle is untangled! I found some of the elastic return loop had snapped and the rest which was firmly wound around the drum had hardened up. I found the reel of plastic elastic and as there was no sell by date on it I measured some off to replace the old lot.

This was starting to get a bit tricky as I had to remove the winch drum to reduce the tension. I set up the winch assembly again and tied on the sail sheets and gently replaced it into the yacht. I made the hatch just wide enough to fit my arm inside and locating the guide pin into its slot was a feeling job, but all screwed into place now.

The RC battery an eneloop one failed to respond to my intelligent charger so I started it off with an SLA charger and after 10 minutes I got a response and then reconnected it to the intellligent one where it took a full charge. This enabled me to set the position of the winch drum on the winch servo. I will have to be careful as the 'sails in' works fine but there is more travel than needed at sails out.

That's all for now, busy in the morning but will do a set up of the sail suite in the afternoon.
Cheers
Roy

Looking forward to seeing it finished sounds like a lovely yacht

The winch unit looks very similar to the set up we use in our schooners. Work fine and can be easily removed to service if required. Looking forward to seeing your progress
dave976

I found an old, or perhaps I should say original set of sails for my Gracia yacht. After a wash and iron, please do not let my wife know I can do those things, I thought there was not enough sail for the job and decided to have a fore sail which I made quite quickly. I use wunda-web for glueing the seams rather than stitching.

The yacht is from an old Graupner kit , there is some detail in my harbour, the part built model was a gift, but I have the plans as well. I thought it would be nice to have an interchangeable set of sails. As I type this is still an on-going project.

But testing the yacht for its functions, the rudder worked but Oh dear the sails made noises deep within but no sign of movement from without! On opening up I tried to remember how it all worked, we are talking 17 years ago when I completed her and my memory failed me. Eventually after internal inspection with a good torch I could see I would have to remove the winch system.

I could then see that the elastic had broken!

It was also necessary to fit another location to take the additional sail. This is a filed down section of old brass curtain rail from about 100 years ago, Needed a few holes drilled and it was screwed in place.

The sail set is being constructed around an old mast probably pre-dating the kit which had a ready fitted jack-line, but it was not long enough so the lower part had another 12 inches or so scarfed in, but my woodwork is not so good these days and so I painted over the handiwork, but it is straight and true.

When planning what to do I realised I did not have any small eye hooks to allow for the several bowsies on the mast. A rather long search on the Internet led me to dress making fittings and I ordered 100 for the paltry sum of £1.87 including postage and they work a charm!
Also I used to make my own bowsies but time is a bit more valuable to me now and I ordered some from one of the almost ready to sail yacht model suppliers Volantex I think, 20 of them, and over half gone already. As these were black I also decided that new brass fittings which I made would be left in black which is also the colour of the etching paint.

Now a 4 foot long mast 1/2. inch diameter and a bit tapered bends a bit with the wind. Bending moment is about upper middle. So with the mast stepped on the keel and although adjustable it needs a semi-clamp as it goes through the superstructure.

This moves the bending moment up considerably. Why bother? Well the main sail is closely located to the rear of the mast and likes to be in just 2 dimensions, introduce a 3rd. dimension and it has to fold a bit to accomodate. This sail set had sail battens to deal with this. Inspection showed they had suffered over time and so the broken ones were fished out and new strips of white PVC plastic were cut and inserted.

The deck is separately planked and joggled into the king plank as the hull when I received had printed deck planks which had faded to barely discernable.

More as the job proceedsl.

Regards
Roy