Hi all,
I promised to keep you posted, so here is the story:

Yesterday I took a look at an inexpensive 1984 (maybe I'll call her George) Nacra 5.2. Cosmetically its not a very pretty sight... Luckily for me, I could not find any traces of structural problems. The mast and rigging are beautiful. The sails are surprisingly decent. The tramp is only so-so, and that about sums it up.
It looks like the previous owner (gotta love previous owners;-) threw some expensive paint in the general direction of the boat and decks, thereby instantly destroying what was left of the boats resale value.

The boat is sitting on the pavement behind the house waiting for a parking ticket right now. I'll see it I can rig her up this weekend. Won't have time to go for a sail for almost a month, but that's life...

Thanks again everyone for all the friendly advice!

regards,
Dennis

Congratulations Dennis. The 5.2 was my dream boat when I started sailing cats in the 80s. We only had Condors in Ireland. Enjoy <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Congratulations! Let the good times roll! It's going to be a long month, I bet.

congratulations dennis, a few of us "cash poor, time rich" 5.2 sailors here with lots of mistakes that you can learn from

send us some pics!

a 1984 boat is going to be 1 of the last solid glass boats and will probably have the swept spreaders but maybe not the alloy tramp tube

if the white gelcoat has worn off the bottom of the hulls now might be a good time to put a couple of layers of white gelcoat over the exposed glass

1st hint for solo sailing is to sit as far forward as you can comfortably to get those sucky transoms as high as possible. those big bows won't tuck under on you like a hobie16, pic attached of some fool sitting too far back

Congrats, you will love the boat.

I sail a 5.2 that I retrofitted an Inter17 spinnaker on and wow did it speed things up. But learn to sail her how it is, they are a fun boat that when well sailed can run with alot of the newer boats.

Congrats and thanks for the update. Lets see some pics!!!

As others have suggested, you might consider some "yard sailing" to test your rigging and learn how to set it up in the yard. I personally love tinkering with everything my cat

Yard sailing:) That really is an excellent term. When I bought my 5.2 late last year I rigged it several times and posted photos to the forum. I received great advise, sorted out all sorts of creative rigging by previous owners, purchased the right parts and now am better prepared for this seasion.

Here we are sailing in the yard...

Dean

And if you can't afford playground equipment for your kids, the 5.2 makes a great alternative...

erice,
the boat is definitely solid glass, one less thing to worry about: delamination!
The spreaders I see look very effective and robust. Don't know if this is the type you meant. I do have the tramp tube. I'll give it a try to see if I can get used to it. If not, then off it comes.
The bottom of the hulls appears to have been nicely repaired before the hasty paintjob hit the boat.
I looked at the picture of the sucky transoms... I agree that is not the way I'd drive the boat! But you know, photographers always choose just the wrong moment to take a picture...

Gree2056,
I'm keeping my eyes peeled for an i17 spin. But I agree with you, I first must learn to handle this beast solo as it is.

Andrewscott and healeyBN7,
I have to agree Yard sailing is a really nice term. Unfortunately I had to leave the boat at my in-laws. That means I won't be able to get out here much before hitting the beach. Maybe I'll attempt a yard sail and a fresh water sail before sailing on the sea though.

attached are some pictures... the dent in the main beam is probably the worst damage I could find. But the beams are absolutely straight. Any crooked lines that should be straight are due to the camera.

looks good dennis, lucky you, got a trailer, mine came without

on the tramp tube, if you remove it you need to fix the beams to the hull somehow to stop them rotating in the straps. others have riveted thew straps to the beams but as mine will come apart quite a bit i will probably use a couple of small stainless bolts instead of rivets. or put a large bolt through the beam and beam seat as was done on later models. have attached a pic of me trying to work out much extra weight i need to self-right the boat with a "paddle on the hull" righting pole. however it looks like i don't need the pole to be that long, in which case i may use the tramp tube as the righting pole and simply tie it to the dolphin striker area. perhaps drilling the tube end right through with 10mm holes and inserting a short 10mm nylon pipe through the holes and then an 8mm? through that.....many options

erice,
that setup actually looks quite stable. I bet if you could lie down along that pole, with your feet at the position shown in this picture, the boat would come back up easily.