MY MAIDEN! OF A SKOL MOTH!

[Max McCarthy]

Hi everyone,
I took out my moth today for the first time (after renovation) it is all still in one peice (amazingly) and has done very well, I managed to keep up with a tasar (not sure if that is good or not!), the boat has had a bit of trouble with the centreboard cleats, and as a result has caused a few capsized. Although all in all it has been a great day, I will post some pictures and a video or two when I have put them on the computer. Are there any meets for vintage moths? And does anyone have an idea of what sort of the PY handicap? Just one last thing, when sailing the boom got lower and lower until eventually every tack or gybe made me capsize due to the boom not being able to go over to the other side, is there a way to stop this?
Thanks,
Max

[roger]

Hi Max

Good to hear you had a good day.

I am concerned that your boom was getting lower and lower. First check the main is staying up properly. Is the halyard cleat holding properly? Second and possibly more worrying would be the mast moving back. Is the foot fixed firmly, is the forestay fixed well and not pulling out of the front of the boat?
Basically check it is stillwhere it should be. Good luck.

[Max McCarthy]

I know about the concern, the forestay has held fine, although the mast is designed to swivel, so I have got a feeling the mast has been moving back, as I doubt the sail is stretching, if it is would there be a way to sort it? Also someone gave me advice about using an old carbon fibre windsurfer mast and using that instead of the wooden one, is there any way I could convert the 5.2m mast I have already got without damaging it beyond use?

[Max McCarthy]

Here are the pictures (take note of the boom height, these were taken in the morning):

[JimC]

Also someone gave me advice about using an old carbon fibre windsurfer mast and using that instead of the wooden one, is there any way I could convert the 5.2m mast I have already got without damaging it beyond use?

Its not a small job, because you need to put a track on it. Caravan awning track glued on with something *very* expensive works I'm told. You then have the problem of getting the luff curve of your sail to match the characteristics of your mast...

[Max McCarthy]

I had a feeling it would be a tricky job, but I will ask at my club when I go next weekend about a more advice to do so.

[JimC]

I had a feeling it would be a tricky job, but I will ask at my club when I go next weekend about a more advice to do so.

If you're keen on a Carbon stick then it would make more sense to hunt around for something longer that's broken at the bottom. Early RS600 masts are quite good for this, but recently the owners of such things have stared thinking that you should pay them money for recycling their rubbish for them, which is at the very least a bit of a cheek...

[JB9]

My son took out IM 3848 yesterday afternoon following some deck and hull repairs. Some questions:-

There is an old mast gaiter (for want of a better word) that has seen better days. It had a clip around the mast and elastic around the hole which the mast goes through. Any ideas about an easy replacement? The mast rotates.

The hull is now quite old grp and very thin in lots of places but seems really weak forward of the mast. Any suggestions for strength? Clearly the days of it being competitive are long gone so we are just keen to lengthen the life.

Finally, I did not a notice on the wanted page for a sail but I was wondering how easy they are to make?

Thank you.

[SoggyBadger]

but I was wondering how easy they are to make?

I make my own sails (won races with them too). The tools and equipment cost quite a bit though. It would probably cheaper for you to buy a new sail. I was lucky in that a local sailing club wanted new sails for some of their teaching dinghies and the "profit" from that paid for my equipment.

[jpa_wfsc]

Well done!

if you were keeping up with a Tasar you were doing very well. If you meant the Laser in the photos and the wind was right you would probably keep up OK.

Boom getting lower and lower can only be mast bending, leach stretching, mast step sinking into the deck or forestay stretching (are the stays as tight now as before you started) or halyard slipping. The last two being the most likely.

Just thought - I can't see if your Mothie has a three spreader type system - i.e. one each side and one to the forestay? The forestay spreader (often called a "prodder") could I suppose either have bent or come detached from the forestay - that would cause the rig to fall back a bit and also allow the mast to bend a lot more, both of which would get the boom lower.

You are about to learn that one good sail equals about 10 hours of fixing / fettling your Moth! Enjoy!

[JimC]

The hull is now quite old grp and very thin in lots of places but seems really weak forward of the mast. Any suggestions for strength?

It all depends on how much work you are prepared to put in...

If you can separate hull and deck readily then you could simply put in some small foam sandwich stringers from front bulkhead running forward. This is by far the neatest job.

If the hull is already painted (or you don't mimnd losing the gel coat finish) then you can strip off the gel coat (or vast majority), add an extra layer of fibre (more where neeeded) in the appropriate places, then resurface her fair and fill then repaint. This is many hours of horrendously filthy work and personally I wouldn't consider it.

Alternatively you can just see how she does and not sail her in waves, which would probably be my inclination.

regards, Jim C

[Rupert]

I suspect Jim's 3rd solution (the not sailing in waves) is the only viable one of the 3, really. They were built very thin to begin with, and time and pounding will have softened the layup a fair amount. It might we worth working out if a large hatch could be put in anywhere to allow access to the bows to put foam stiffeners in forwards, but it would probebly have limited effect.

[JB9]

Thank you for the suggestions.

[Max McCarthy]

Well done!

if you were keeping up with a Tasar you were doing very well. If you meant the Laser in the photos and the wind was right you would probably keep up OK.

Boom getting lower and lower can only be mast bending, leach stretching, mast step sinking into the deck or forestay stretching (are the stays as tight now as before you started) or halyard slipping. The last two being the most likely.

Just thought - I can't see if your Mothie has a three spreader type system - i.e. one each side and one to the forestay? The forestay spreader (often called a "prodder") could I suppose either have bent or come detached from the forestay - that would cause the rig to fall back a bit and also allow the mast to bend a lot more, both of which would get the boom lower.

You are about to learn that one good sail equals about 10 hours of fixing / fettling your Moth! Enjoy!

Thanks, amazingly it was an actual Tasar, but only for a while, it is a two spreader system with three shrouds (one forstay, two side shrouds). I made the shroud spreaders out of 10mm aluminium pipe, to replace the old ones (built in the same way, but damaged), so I could always build one for the forestay, would you recommend it?
Also does anyone know were an old RS600 mast for cheap?

[solentgal]

Hi Max,

You have my old Skol ! I sold it in the summer (having had a lot of fun refitting and sailing it) I sold it to a chap who took it up north-west England somewhere I think, and he must have passed it on to you.
However, he appears not to have passed on the sail that was with the boat. It was a newish Mylar sail, and cut differently to the sail you are now using. The mast is a home built conversion from a windsurfer mast I think (not built by me) and I did some serious cleaning up on the mast track to get the sail to move freely, as it was clogged with epoxy. The mast did not have any spreaders or a prodder fitted (although the fitting is there to take one) and if you are going to make a decent system to fit on that fitting, it will need to be something like this drawing in the pic below which I have done from memory from when I had a similar system on a Magnum



I think the sail you have is not really suitable for that mast, but that mast does flex a lot, and pushes forward in the middle, so building a prodder of some sort, preferably adjustable, may solve the problem......it was on my list of winter jobs but never happened!
By the way.......the swinging centreplate is not original on that boat. I found good evidence that the centre board box had been replaced (when I was chipping away years of floor paint) but whoever did it made a decent job of it, and I prefer a pivoting plate anyway......I found she hardly needed any plate at all with the wind aft of the beam, and planed really easily without that extra drag.....you couldn't get a daggerboard up as far as that without fouling things. I used to find the same on my Scow Moth too.

hope this helps, and I'm glad someone is really getting some fun from her