Was first planning on posting this in the nacra 5.2 parts breakdown thread BUT my first post on this forum should not be an request so I'll start by introducing myself =)

I'm 23 years old, live in the city of Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden, Scandinavia, Europe ;)
Got hold of an 1980 Nacra 5.2 in the summer of 2006, was in pretty bad condition, did some repairs of the hulls, daggerboards, made a new trampoline etc.. and some new paint. Have experienced both good times and very bad times with my Nacra 5.2. Good times being sailing this summer, bad times being spreading clouds of small paint drops over seven brand new cars last summer, sometimes having insurance is great ;)

Atm. the main halyard is basically just a rope going through the top of the mast and back down into a clamshell, and there's no downhaul, hard to get the main all the way up and to get it stretched.
Also the jibsail blocks are mounted on rails (not original i know) that are mounted just parallel on the inside of the daggerboard holes, however this works very well but I'm thinking maybe they should be mounted narrower to each other?

Is it possible to get some pictures of some 5.2 owners cats, with details on main halyard, downhaul etc..?
Ubicomp: A copy of that Nacra 5.2 manual would also be great, can donate some some $ if it's alot of work to scan it!

Have already read through a lot of posts on this board and there seems to be lots to learn from here. I'm exited to finally get in contact with other nacra owners, feels like I'm the only one in the country atm ;)

Cheers, Sebastian

Go to http://nacra.us/nacra/nacra.pdf for more info

hi Sebastian,
great to hear of someone else giving an old cat a new lease of life
my hours searching for nacra 5.2 info show this forum to be the place to come to with questions

for 5.2 pics you might want to visit airborne's collection and compare them to your boat
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/558964894sVJNBainfo

the above pdf manual is good but it is for later model boats with the adjustable spreaders etc. i have an earlier 5.2 manuals which i will start scanning

the standard halyard is used to pull the sail to the top of the mast. it is then pulled forward until the ball on the cable can be locked under the tang at the top of the mast. if the mast isn't pointing into the wind this can be a little tricky. also you have to hook onto the ball and not the rectangular blob which is a few centimeters below the ball
once the main is locked in the base of the sail is pulled down with the downhaul. my and airborne's use the oem system with very little purchase. a double pulley on the hook and a single pulley on the mast base, (but as they are now you can only use 1 of the pulleys on the hook). the rope is then cleated off. a simple upgrade would be to replace the small block on the mast base with a double block so that the 2nd pulley on the hook could be used, have tried to attach a composite pic showing my and airborne's downhaul system, gree is experimenting with a more modern system

eric e

as for the jib block the 5.2 originally had a system that put the jib blocks on wires that ran between the beams. many people didn't like the wires or that it made the tramp very cramped to moved the blocks and cleats to the hulls

that's how mine was but i found i couldn't trim the jib correctly for any kind of upwind performance so i went back to the old system. from the attached pic you can see my jib wires have been covered with garden hose and then rubber hose. this way they can also be used as hiking straps. the fiddle blocks are not the original harken blocks but bigger main sheet fiddle blocks from a small sailing dingy. their base isn't attached to the wire but to a thin nylon rope that runs from the rear beam. in the background you can see the alternative jib blocks/cleats on the hull. if i need the tramp space i can simply switch to those

eric e

oops, pic attached this time

eric e

Another option for adding purchase on the downhaul is the attach an identical block to the other side of the mast and then I also changed out the cleat to a swivel one that I can adjust from all over the boat.

I will add a picture tomorrow.

I also just got a 78 5.2 It seems to be in great shape.
It was missing all the jib lead hardware. I have already found allot of info and a great photo showing the original set up.
If anyone can get me a copy of the early manual I would be grateful. the mast has the original step and I guess it is difficult to raise with this set up any ideas?

Thanks in advance

John Mahoney

mine also has the oem mast base

i only need to step it once or twice a season, it needs 2 people and the person on the ball, needs to be on the ball

or get a new base

eric e

I have the old style and step mine alone all the time. The easiest way I have found to step it is to turn the boat on it's side with it tied to something so it can't fall. Then attach the mast and right the boat. I takes alot of room and some soft ground but it works really well when solo.

There are three 5.2s at my club that are not used. I am SURE there are spare parts at the owners homes. The hulls and tramps may or may not be salvagable - but the beams, masts, boards, rudders, sails, and other hardware may be of some use. Trailers are probably ok after replacing tires.

Or you may could buy them really, really cheap. I'll be glad to hook you up with the owners.

I found a few old 5.2's today after racing in a regatta with a friend on his F28 tri.

There are alot of older cats sitting around a local lake. I plan to do some research into them in the coming months and see if I can buy a few for parts or find some for friends.

Thanks for all the feedback people!
I've read the manuals that are available from Nacra, good for general "how to put this boat together" info but not much details. The spare parts listing from them is however very nice and this year we got a official dealer here in Sweden too!

eric e: Thanks for the pics on the downhaul, exactly what I was looking for. Next season I'll finally know how to put it together.

As for the main halyard. How can a ball on the halyard run through that narrow space on the mast top (where the two "blocks" are), when raising the main, to be hooked underneath the thang on the _other_ side of the mast? I have that thang on the mast but no "ball" or rectangular blob on the halyard.

Maybe the Nacra 5.2 manual has some info on this? I would very much appreciate if someone with access to it could scan it!


Cheers, Sebastian H