CP 16 jib

[beames]

Hello,
I recently purchased a 1982 Com-Pac 16 and have a few questions. The boat has been restored and updated with rigging found on newer Com-Pacs. I have only had her in the water 2 weeks and sailed twice. I am very impressed with the stability for a 16' boat. The sails are fairly new with a 120 jib. My question is, should i consider a larger jib? The 120 does not seem to be enough even in stronger winds. I am use to sailing larger boats and realize I'm in a slightly different world now but i don't feel like I'm getting the boats full potential. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brooke

[Craig Weis]

I have not  sailed in a 16 but my 19 has a calculated hull speed of around 4.2 knots. However I have seen 7.2 in a following sea and a good wind...yippy! Were flying.

I also make 4.2 to 4.5 knots with a five hp Motor...so my sails make 5 hp? I do have a 155% lapper from the factory and a bow sprit.

And [our boats] are not fast..as they say about flying, "When you have time to spare, go by air".
To play off that...go by boat...LOL skip.

[Henrywhf]

http://adbrsbgfwasfe.host.com
                desk3
                desk4
                [link=http://adbasbgfebrdd.host.com]desk6[/link]

[idouglas]

I have a 155% Genoa on my 1994 CP16/III/XL and it makes all the difference in the world.  Sails like an entirely different boat.

If you are interested in getting one I can send you details on specs and ordering.

idouglas

[B.Hart]

I have a 155 genoa and a original jib on my 16 and I have found that the boat points better in heavy winds with the jib, but the genoa helps alot on the light air day of summer here in florida. My 2cents.    BILL

[beames]

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely look for a 155 Genoa. My 16 has the original mast with the fractional 3/4 rig (?) but has the wooden bowsprit found on newer Com-Pacs. Getting the correct size jib/genoa may require a little math. My current sails are from Air Force Sails but I'm open to any suggestions. I have enjoyed the summer sailing on the York River in VA. The more i sail her the better i like her.

Thanks again,
Brooke

[Craig Weis]

Let me start out by saying that I don't know beans about the C-P 16 and it's rig variations...having said that I have some questions.

1~The 3/4 rig was this on older 16's? And masthead's on newer 16's?

2~Then a 155% headsail with or without a bow sprit and 3/4 rig would not 'set' right when in use as this sail I think would need to be at the head of the mast, as in a masthead sloop, right? Plus I can not see [understand] just how a sailor is to get that much sail around the mast to a different tac in light winds. And light winds are the need for all sail up. Right?

3~Can a masthead be ordered up for a bolt-in masthead and redo the standing rigging. Not cheap and I can't say if additional performance can be had.

4~Maybe we ought to sail it as the designer intended it to sail. Slow and stable. skip.

[Paul]

Well Skip, I think I can answer some of your questions.   (I've got an answer for everything.) 

I think all the 16's have a fractional rig.  No masthead rigs from the factory.

One would logically think a 155% jib in such a small triangle would be cumbersome.  However, that's a percentage of the fore-triangle made by the forestay in it's fractional rig design, not the masthead-to-bow triangle.  Therefore, the sail is smaller than that imagined by the larger triangle.  It's all a matter of proportion.  So, in fact, the jib of the 16 is no harder to tack in light airs than a 155% of a 19 or 23, or another boat for that matter.  Again, a matter of proportion.  Incidentally, the difference between a fore-triangle of a 16 without a bowsprit vs. one with a bowsprit is very small, yielding a small difference in sail material.

Regarding design, a 155% jib is fine for a 16 in light airs, say up to 8 knts.  10 to 12 knts is fun, but a handful.  Above that, the regular jib is a better choice.  Plus, a big headsail is pretty under the right conditions.  I figure, why not look good and sail well, too.  Afterall, it's slow either way you sail it.

[cheapsyacht]

I had a C-16 back in 1985.  One of the shortcomings I found was the standard jib handling hardware amounted to a couple of stand up sheet blocks mounted on the gunwale just aft of the cabin bulkhead.   Bigger sloop-rigged boats use stand-up blocks on cars that can be travelled on car track to acomodate various size headsails.  This is probably overkill but I went to the trouble of finding some 3/4" wide brown anodized Shaeffer jr track and thrubolted 5' long sections on top of the gunwales.  This was a lot of work because C-16's of that period at least had foam flotation under the gunwales and I didn't want to screw the track on with self tapping hardware, it had to be thrubolted with 10/24 phillips flathead stainless screws with nuts on the backside and the 4" thick foam was applied right over the bottom of the gunwales where the nuts needed to go.   Always looking for ways to turn adversity to advantage I figured if I could devise a way to position the nuts in the foam right unter the screw holes the foam would hold the nuts in place allowing the screws to be driven and tightened from the topsides.  I made a slide hammer up with a long smooth hard 3/16 rod with a sharp point and 10/24 threads at the bottom of the rod.  Starting at the forward end of the gunwale I drilled the first screw hole, drove the pointed rod of the slide hammer down thru the foam, screwed a 10/24 nut on the exposed rod and slide hammered the nut up tight against the fiberglass on the bottom of the Gunwale.  I then carefully unscrewed the slide hammer rod from the embedded nut and installed the flat head track screw.  This was repeated 11 times on each track so the track had a screw every 6 inches.  The Gunwales are gently curved so working from front to back is imperative to allow the track to be gently bent to follow the centerline of the gunwale.  The installation looked factory and the brown color of the track looked right at home with other brown trim on the boat.  I then had the flexibility of being able to correctly set a jib sheet car anywhere I needed for optimum control of any size jib or genoa.