Update on the Com-Pac 16 "Foundling"

[Bilgemaster]

Even though there was what passes for snow here in Virginia out there on my lawn this morning, I take solace in the fact that we're only a day away from February and the home stretch for prepping for 2017's sailing season.  I'm hoping to finally get the "Foundling" splashed some time in April or maybe early May, depending. 

Now that I've got the interior of the cabin pretty well squared away, next up is the mast and rigging.  The "hard stuff" like the mast itself, shrouds and stays and most other hardware seems sound enough.  The "soft stuff" like the halyards are more of a mixed bag, and much needs replacement.  I see that one of the spreaders had cracked off where I guess a clevis pin holds it into a bracket set on the mast.  For now I thought I might first try just dressing (grinding) the break nice and flat, drilling another hole, and hoping to take up the resultant slack at the turnbuckle on the chainplate.  Failing that, I might try to get one from Hutchins Yachts, though I don't see one on their CP-16 Parts List.  Any thoughts or tips on this would be welcome. In fact, if anyone near Woodbridge, Virginia may find themselves with some free time some weekend to swing by Leesylvania State Park for a look-see, drop me a PM, I could definitely use a pair of knowledgeable eyes on the matter.  Fortunately for me, there's another older but nicely kept CP-16 mast-up and nearby in the same boat storage lot to serve as a guide, but still, there's no substitute for firsthand experience.

[Duckie]

I broke a spreader last summer.  I got a new pair, I recommend that you buy a pair, from Com-Pac.  They weren't expensive at all.  It is my understanding that they usually have them in stock.  Give them a call.

Al

[DaleM]

Excellent craftsmanship!

[Bilgemaster]

Tomorrow's likely to be a red letter day for the "Foundling." Weather permitting I'll be raising her mast for the first time in certainly well over a decade. I'd already wired in the new spreader to replace the snapped one last weekend, so today I laid it all out: mast up on deck, cushion on the companionway sliding hatch, spreaders pinned in, port and starboard shrouds hooked up, halyard led low, all ready for my kid and I to give her the old Okinawan heave-ho.

The forecast claims we might get a brief shower overnight and in the early morning, but it looks like a go for the afternoon.  I might have had it up last weekend, after getting on the new spreader (one was cracked at the mast foot) except for lacking a turnbuckle barrel for the starboard shroud.  The good folks at Hutchins squared me away with one for $30 delivered. Yikes!...But at least they threw in a few complimentary ring-dings, which have come in useful today.

Thanks and a tip o' the hat to Beckeresq, with whom I've been swapping PMs about that DIY-programmed Marine FM and NOAA Weather Radio for less than $30 I'd posted about earlier.  He was kind enough to give me a ring this morning with some very useful tips (including putting that boat cushion atop the sliding hatch to protect it if things should suddenly get all "droppy").

Wish me luck!  Pix to follow...

[Bilgemaster]

So, everything went pretty smoothly and according to plan with the Foundling's inaugural mast raising on Sunday, and once I had ceased babbling half-witted instructions to my kid and any wildlife observing nearby in that "Dad Pseudo-Nautical-Speak", as in, "Concurrently we'll splay the shrouds a-starboard, a-larboard and abaft so as not to foul the halyard periwinkles for the buffnibbins athwart yon fooblebinnacles!", my son and I got her up and pinned in maybe a minute tops--much easier than the larger Macgregor 26X's there in the background, even with its block-n-tackle Mast Raising System.  Here's how she looked:



Of course, the very next evening I swung by the boatyard to drop it all again singlehandedly in order to square away the roller furling's and the main's halyards properly.  The main's issue was just a matter of me being too simpleminded to make sure the right end of it (with the sailhead attachment thingy) was down towards the deck.  Meanwhile, though once up it seemed the furler's halyard might have been jammed up within the furler tunnel somehow, upon closer examination, once she was down again, it just seems that a goodly length of line from some sort of sliding tab that runs the length of the furler in a sort of channel to follow the halyard line within, had simply gone where the woodbine twineth, with only a little remaining residual scrap of line still attached to a hole in that slider tab.  For all I know, the rest of that line is currently the elegant crown molding or supporting a hammock in some fashionable woodchuck's burrow nearby...And I somehow find either option an oddly comforting thought.  Though I'm a bit new to all this, it seems there's no real problem after all: I just need to bowline enough of a length of line into the hole in that sliding tab to run it down towards the deck (possibly passing it first through some block up on the mast, I wonder?).

Next up this weekend will be sorting out the roller furling's lower barrel and its line (and/or lines) needed to furl and unfurl the sail.  My Macgregor 26X has a CDI FF2 furler, with a sort of barrel cover covering the spool within and a single line from its furler barrel.  It just worked from the get go, so I never really needed to fix or even figure it out much.  In contrast, the Com-Pac's furler has a sort of open reel spool for a barrel, and I imagine that there must be some sort of line (or perhaps lines) wound somehow within that spool.  Here's how she looks, from above and from the side:





The furler has no markings I can find that might divulge its make or model, so if anyone can identify it from the photos, point me to any sort of manual or how-to guide or video, or just explain how it may be properly rigged (including its halyard stuff), I would be very grateful. 

Until then, wish me luck!  If all goes well, I am still hoping to splash it for the first time with me at the tiller next month.

[Beckeresq]

Well done!  Looks great.

[Bilgemaster]

Well done!  Looks great.

Thanks!...And thanks again for calling with those useful tips for getting the mast up.  I'm still trying to get my head around the proper rigging of the roller furling. 

For example, in the picture below you can see a reddish line that I have provisionally attached to that sliding tab thing I had described earlier, which slides the length of a channel in the furler and seems attached to a halyard (or some sort of line) within the furler.  As you can see, I have fed that red line through a pulley off of the mast just to see if it looks "right".  Hint: It doesn't.  When I got the boat, that slider only had a scrap of line maybe a foot long attached to it, possibly the remnant of a longer line.  So, what SHOULD be there, what is it really for, and how should it run?  And that pulley off of the mast that the red line's shown running through...What's it really for?

[Mas]

Ok Bilge after all of this beautiful work, and it truly is, you should be compensated well. I know Crazycarl offered you double what you paid for her, but with all of the time and effort invested you deserve more. We are prepared to triple it! Can't wait for your first sailing pics of her. Congrats!

(remember we offed three time the price paid. )

[JBC]

Not sure this helps with your furler questions, but I'll try. The furler gray extrusion tape has (or should have) an internal halyard. One end of the halyard attaches to the head of the furling sail. That runs up externally to the top and through the black halyard device at the top of the extrusion tape, and back down the other (forward) side of the tape, INTERNALLY within the slot of the tape. That end has the slide you describe, which is designed to keep the halyard line within the slot on the tape. From the slide down the internal core of the line has been removed, so that end of the halyard (perhaps the 1 foot end you mention) should feel limp.

With the mast down, tie a long temporary line (about 20 feet, clothes line, whatever) to the limp line below the slider. The limp line portion slips outside the slot. Make sure the slider and rest of the actual halyard is WITHIN and can slide up the forward slot to and through the black fitting at the top. There is an opening toward the bottom forward slot to feed the halyard slide into the slot if has come out. The slider will remain in the forward slot and not exit on the stern facing side of the top fitting with the rest of the halyard. The limp portion however, along with your temporary line tied to it, has to remain outside. Now tie the firm line of the halyard to the head of the sail, and feed the head into the slot opening on the stern side of the tape, just like you're feeding the mainsail into its slot, and pulling on your temporary line on the other side of the tape, pull the sail to the top of the fitting. Once you figure all this out, you can from then on do all of this with the mast up.

Now you remove the temporary line you attached to the halyard and tie the limp end to that other hole on your furler drum. Looks like from your picture one end (can not tell which one) is already tied to the open drum. Anyway, the end of the limp halyard line should tie to the forward drum hole, and you attach a short line to the tack of the jib and tie that to the other hole on the drum. Forget the pulley you tried to use on the tang.

Probably clear as mud, but feel free to pm me with questions. Sorry, I can't identify your furler drum.

Jett

[Bilgemaster]

If I could add a "Karma," I would.

(Hmmm...And here suddenly, I find I can, so there you go Jett!)

[crazycarl]

your furler looks to be an FF1 Flexible Furler.

[Mas]

Our 16 has hank on headsails but our 23 had a CDI flex fiurler though a FF2 which is for larger craft. I agree with CC that it is more than likely the FF1 model. Our 23 had the internal halyard run incorrectly when purchased and another part of it was broken. Sounds like yours is intact. I downloaded the manual which was a great help and also spent much time on the phone with the CDI folks as I was sorting out the problem, getting a new internal halyard set up and run, with the mast up which was interesting (do any work mast down and it will go faster). They were great to deal with. Reach out to them for questions and sending pics to sort things out.

Here's link to manuals:   http://www.sailcdi.com/flexible-furlers

She'll be on the water soon!

[Bilgemaster]

your furler looks to be an FF1 Flexible Furler.

Thing is, I have a CDI FF2 on the Macgregor 26X, and it and its online manual have metal line attachment points atop the spool barrel, while the one on the Foundlng's are plastic--cast into the barrel. It also lacks the metal barrel cover, and the spool itself seems differently shaped.

[Bilgemaster]

Thing is, I have a CDI FF1 on the Macgregor 26X, and it and its online manual have metal line attachment points atop the spool barrel, while the one on the Foundlng's are plastic--cast into the barrel, as shown below. It also lacks the metal spool barrel cover, and the spool itself seems differently shaped.

[wes]

Occasional replacement of the internal halyard on the CDI furler is a really good idea. The halyard is under constant stress and tends to wear out eventually. It is an odd design ("de-cored" at one end to allow it to slip through the slot in the plastic foil) so you really need to order it directly from CDI. Fortunately this is easy, and the installation process isn't hard.

Wes