Hi, I'm new here. Some background: I've spend years sailing a really old Hobie 16 with its original sails, and I fairly recently came back to the sport by buying an even older Nacra 5.2.
And when I say old, I mean old! The exact year is unknown, but it's one of those with no core in the hull, just a single layer of fiberglass. It originally had a center beam over the tramp apparently, but this has been removed before my time (and never replaced by anything? Maybe the black stuff I see between hull and beam is some kind of glue?). Also the sails are not as old as the boat, but pretty close <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. But hey, money is expensive and I didn't pay too much for it.
I'm having fun club racing this thing solo on handicap: I'm faster than the Dart 18s and the FX1s, on par with the Hobie 16s, but way slower than the F16s, Tornados and Hurricane 5.9. One leg I'm consistently slower than everybody however is the downwind one (before you ask: yes, I'm a proud owner of "cat racing for the 90's" and I know about tacking downwind). I've been passed by lowly RS400 and other Fireball on the downwind legs and that's definitely not good for my self-esteem. So I hatched this cunning plan: put a spi on this thing and fly a hull downwind (or capsize trying!).
Anyway, this boat has apparently been equipped with a spi at some point during its life, and there are some remnant of it:
- a 3.2 meter pole I found strapped to the trailer, with an small bracket under the mast on the front beam for it;
- a small block and a spinlock riveted to the beam on the right of the mast;
- a tang affixed on the mast with a pad eye 40cm higher
I recently acquired a used spi on eBay (17.5 m2, Hobie branded, apparently from a Hobie 16), ordered a snuffer (I was unable to find a used one, so I got a brand new one, the cheapest I was able to get was the same setup as used on a stealth 16), and asked a sailmaker to put three patches in my spi (still awaiting the quote on that one...).
Now, I'd like to point out I never flew an asymmetric kite before, so I have some questions for you all about how I go installing all this stuff.
First the pole: how do I attach this thing? Its aft side enter in a bracket and I'm just going to put a screw through it. Simple. Now which angle should I aim for the pole? As close as horizontal as I dare? Snug in the corner between the bridles (but it then is really high and looks funny!). How do I support the pole from coming down when sailing upwind, and support it from bending upward when loaded by the spi downwind? I'm concerned that the bridle attachments on the hull are really far back on this boat, and simply attaching a line from there to the pole end will not be enough... Is there anybody running a spi on a 5.2 willing to send me picture of its pole attachment?
Second, what to do on top of the mast. I'm going to put a small block on the upper padeye, but I'm a little lost on what to do with the tang. All the rotating mast/spi flying boats I looked at have some kind of loop from the mast track the spi halyard go through. Anybody go an idea about how to use a tang at the same position?
Third, lines and blocks: I need a bunch of line, and I'm cheap. Any suggestion for a halyard? For a sheet? For the pole bridles? Is there any place I could buy a big roll of cheap stuff to be used for everything or is it unrealistic? And what to use as ratchet blocks? The Harken ratchamatic look like the ticket, but those are not cheap (do you notice a pattern here? Yup, that's the word cheap!)...
And finally, where can I route the retrieval part of the halyard? The ideal route for the retrieval line when it exits the back of the bag is to continue under the tramp, but I can't find a good way to get it back on top without sharp turns. Going all the way to the back of the tramp to come back up via the lacing is not really practical, as there is a flap covering the lacing there... I though about drilling my way through the front beam, but it seems fairly extreme...
