full battened mains

[thedavo]

I am hearing about lack-luster performance in the C-P27s and am wondering if anyone has a full-battened main and if they were experiencing improved performance. My experiences with F-B mains is limited to what I had noticed on a Heritage 36 that we raced to Cuba. Not only is the sail much more powerful but it really cuts down on the flogging too. I would expect big gains in the life expectancy of the sail due to this. The other side of the coin, I am also finding through posts that due to the shoal draft keel configuration, that the boat is a little on the tender side and with that in mind, perhaps a more powerful main would be contra-indicated. Would like to hear some opinions on this. Particularly on the tenderness question as I have yet to sail a C-P27 myself. dave.

[Steve W.]

Dave
You do need to get out and sail a 27, I think that you will be surprize at what a great sailer they are. If you are looking for a racer then this may not be the boat for you, but if you get a racer with a 6' fin there will be places that the 3.5" of the Com-Pac will get you that the race cann't go. I do not find the boat tippy if you look at the side view of the boat you will see that the keel is 12 feet by about 3 feet that will stop any quick movment. and with a beam of 9-6 it carry its sail well. I have a FB main but did not notice much improvement over the non FB main that was on the boat. Again find a 27 that you can sail on.
On the hatches I would call Com-pac and find out what they have to say. They are great people to work with.

[thedavo]

Good info Steve!!

I am pretty much done with racing for the most part. The competitive juices just don't flow as rabidly as they used to.  But, I still might do a little PHRF here and there in destination races where it could be a reach from start to finish. Leave out the triangle races altogether.  
The CP 27 fixer-upper I am looking at broke the stay that goes from the waterline up to the bowsprit during Hurricane Charlie and I have the part  on order. All the other rigging looks good but I've been through four dismastings and the hardware didn't show any obvious signs of weakness on any of those occurences either so I am anticipating replacement of all standing rigging as they are eighteen years old on the Compac and weathered Charlie.  I should be taking her out for a sail this weekend or the following.  Hopefully I will see enough breeze to get a real feel for her.

This past weekend I was looking at the boat and man! what a wide set of spreaders! I was thinking that this could be a real hindrance to pointing. I was considering the possibility of running the genoa sheet between the upper shroud and the lowers with the genoa track car moved further aft to free up the leech and maybe allow some more sheeting in? It would have to be pretty breezy though, and a leg of considerable distance to make it worthwhile if it worked at all. Hard to tell sitting at the dock without even a sail to unfurl though.

Who made your sails Steve? Do you use some sort of track on the backside of your mast to run the mainsail luff up on? I know it was necessary on the 36 that i sailed on but that was my only exposure to a fully battened main. Doyle sails touts a special teflon slide that does not require a track. I'm thinking that maybe a twenty seven footer doesn't really need the track anyways but what is yours like?

Doyle also makes a main where only the top two battens are full and the remaining lower battens are standard sized.  Benefit is to allow depowering of the sail since the bottom half can be flattened more. I haven't seen or heard of anyone I know of having one of these to formulate any sort of opinion though

Thanks for the reply Steve!
Dave.

[Steve W.]

Have Neil Pryde sails. I have not had any problems with the Full Batten useing the grove in the mast(nothing special ). I do bring the boat into the wind to lower the sail,
I have a 155 and 135 and do not feel the need to be able to sheet in more then the upper allow.
When you sail the boat you will be able to juge for yourself. I hope you get to sail for a couple hours.
Let me know what you think after the sail.

Thanks
Steve

[thedavo]

Well Steve, It has been nearly a year since the last post and I just have sailed the boat for the first time about New Year's. I am not disappointed in the least. I did just this past weekend applied some racing technology to the boat and added a backstay adjuster. It is proving to be a real effective adjustment. Gave me five degrees in improved pointing ability immediately. It also aids in sail furling as a stiff forestay roles up smoother than one that has a softer tension on it. I'm gonna do tons of mods to the boat and will try to keep you guys updated as I go. Some of the mods will include a better functioning traveler, adjustable genoa car leads using something similar to a traveler arrangement as opposed to having to step on the genny sheet and pull the pin to move the car, floating tack on the genoa to act like the cunningham on the main when tensioned, and a host of other things. As they occur, I will post my impressions. Take care. Dave.

[Steve W.]

Glad you had a good sail. Will be a couple months before we will be sailing again.

[Connie Meadows]

Dave, I have a 27/2 in Panama City,right around the corner from peggerman.  I am anxious to hear about your modifications. I have a 1988.  I too have the F-B sails on her.  I will keep a closer eye on this website to see how you progress.  
If you get a chance, check out this website:
sailfar.net.  
It is geared towards boats 30' and under.  Lots of fine folks with good input. Many are refitting their boats too.
See what you think.

[thedavo]

Sure nice of you to post Connie. I have only sailed my boat a couple times but immediately put a backstay adjuster on and that alone was a terrific addition.  I tensioned it to what felt like the original setting (forestay tension), sailed the boat to get the telltales streaming evenly, then applied greater tension to the backstay which effectively tightened the forestay. Immediately the outer telltale drooped as if I was sailing too low and took five to ten degree course change up into the wind to get them streaming again. I repeated this three more times to confirm my findings. Results were the same.
The only other thing I have done so far was add a teeny block and tackle to the tack of the genoa. My boat (being an '87 year model) has the Isofurl system that I am guessing was from the factory as the mast is from the same company. It is unusual to me in the respect that when you raise the sail, it locks at the top no longer requiring a halyard once it is up. Then I trip the halyard shackle (after have attached a long lanyard to the shackle) and pull it back down leaving me a spare halyard. The downside of this system is that it does not afford the ability to adjust luff  tension. But instead of having the tack permanently affixed, I have a block and tackle that allows me to adjust luff tension. You know, I have a digital camera around here somewhere and it is a nice sunny day out. Maybe I will run out and take a couple shots. Keep an eye out. I should be able to post them in short order. Dave.  Oh! and thanks for the tip on that site. It will hit my favorites list as soon as I visit it.