CDI furler sail change/replacement...

[mayrel]

I've been reading the CDI manual to determine how to change the sail.  Seems the PO cut the CDI halyard short making it difficult to drop the sail and change it out.  I know I can sew a line to the halyard and get the said down/off the boat.  Just thought I'd ask if there is anything I should know about the CDI furler which isn't necessarily in the owners manual...John

[brackish]

It is supposed to be short. There should be a short decored section at the end with a stop ferrule. You tie a messenger line to the decored section and use that to change sails. The messenger line stays outside of the luff extrusion.

[mayrel]

Thanks for the response.  I figured I'd have to sew on a messenger line to drop the sail.  Soon as the sail arrives, we'll give it a bloody go!

[mayrel]

We successfully replaced the headsail.  It was relatively easy; loosened the halyard, sewed a messenger line to it, and dropped the sail.  Installing the new sail was easy too.  However, it doesn't roll up as smoothly as I would like.  I think the forestay is too slack.  Of course we performed the sail change at the dock on a calm afternoon.  Possibly when the sail is used a few time with some wind it will work better.  We don't trailer our CP19.  I believe the PO left the rigging loose to make it easier to rig.  I'll tune the rigging accordingly.  Obviously you can loosen the back stay if you need to drop the mast, then retighten after it's up again.  This takes more time, so I'm sure the PO didn't bother.

[wes]

If you are able to unhook the forestay and drop the mast without loosening the backstay turnbuckle, then your rigging is way too loose and your boat will sail poorly. It's really essential to tighten up that turnbuckle on the 19 after you raise the mast.

Wes

[mayrel]

Thanks Wes, this has been my thinking all along.  I just purchased this boat a couple of months ago.  The PO lowered the mast for trailering when I arrived, but I don't know what he did to the rigging.  When I stepped the mast, I did tighten the back stay, however I am convinced it's not tight enough.  I need to drop the mast to install the wind vane, new spreader boots and new steaming light this week.  When I step the mast I'll tune the rigging.  Currently the CDI doesn't work very smoothly, and I'm sure it's due to the loose forestay.  I've had a CDI before on a Montgomery 17, so I'm somewhat familiar with them.  I just purchased a new genoa 135; I regret now that I didn't go with a hanked on sail.  Using a down haul for the head sail is not much trouble, it never fails and everything works smoothly...just my opinion.
One last comment. Having only sailed this boat 4 times now in varying conditions, I've been pleased with her performance on all points of sail.  She doesn't seem to be as slow as others report.  In winds 7-10mph we achieved 4.8-5.4mph, in winds 17-24 we hit 7.4mph.  She points better than I expected, albeit a wet and rough ride on a hard beat.  Reefing the main helps, this was a point I picked up off this site.  We are pleased with the boat overall, for day sailing and short trips, we'll have a great time.