Hey guys,

I have a Prindle 19, and starting to get a little use to it, but I was wondering what would be a good way to set the shrouds and forestay tension. Is there a good amount of mast bend to start out with? How to measure it, possibly run the haylard up and see how far it is away from the base of the mast?

Thanks,
Pete

the nacra Europe has the basic P19 tuning guide in its 'manuals' section - should be a good place to start

Rick and Mary cover this in Catamaran Racing for the 90's - look at chapter 7 the first couple of paragraphs get into pretty good.

Also, there is a section on your Prindle 19 by Randy Smyth. I have used some of these setting for the 18-2 and they seem to work for me too.

Hi Pete,

I have composed a long explaination in "WORD" about my spinnacker installation/set-up but I can not get it to paste over to Catsailor, as I'm not to good w/ these things called computers ... half the time I want to throw the D_mn thing out the window!!!!!

(note to Mary/Rick: I HATE the "timeout" feature for posting, I do not compose posts quickly and have problems continually w/ "the form is no longer valid!!!!! AH AH AHHHHHHH)

Anyway, shroud tension is completely seperate to mast prebend .... prebend is determined by the luff curve designed/cut/constructed into the mainsail. Who's sails are you using ... Danger(Glaser's) ... Smythe .... Saber ... Elliot-Paterson ... the P19 was/is an "open" sails class and any sailmaker could construct sails as long as they measured in. You need to ask the sailmaker who constructed the sails to recommend the mast's prebend. Ex: Smythe's MX's 1 3/4" - 2". Which is totally different from my origonal Smythe "Pinhead" sails

I set my shroud tension so that the mast will rotate when tacking ... this varies w/ the wind velocity, OK? since the P19 has a turnbuckle on the forestay you can adjust the tension until you find the correct range. But first the mast rack is set by the holes you pick to set the pin in on the shroud adjuster's, then you can adjust the "rig" tension ... it will have a small effect on the mast rack if you do it correctly.

First check whether your hulls on the P19 are flexing "INWARD" ... not up ... rub you hand fore and aft just in front of the front crossbar on the inboard side ... is it smooth or are there whipples/waves. I installed a Nacra 6.0NA Bowfoil on my P19 to reduce the horizontal loading and translate the load to the vertical axis, OK?

Please PM/E-Mail me at my E-Mail address in my profile ...

Sail Safe, Sail Flat, Sail Fast
Harry Murphey
P19MX w/spin, #86/ CRAC
H18mag, #9458/ Fleet54,Div11

P19 Tricks/Upgrades:

My boat is down at RHYC w/ the mast up. I’ll try to take some pic’s …. But I don’t know how to download them and post them on Catsailor ….

I didn’t comment on the loop/dogbone height because the other posters had it correct as to just touching the hull or 1” above … that’s how I have mine set at currently.

1) To clarify why I said to use a micro/air double block was because you rig both traps bungie this way …. Initially I had (4) blocks out of my spare parts box tied under the tramp, but I cleaned it up by using doubles.
2) I’ve been toying w/ changing the forward trap back to an “adjustable” so the crew can get just a little lower …. This is for mainly when I race in distance races and need to see over the crew when both of us are trapped out. In buoy races you are tacking so much that you don’t have the time to play w/ the adjustment … you need to concentrate on just making the boat go fast …. and you need to be able to get off the trap and on the boat …. From the helm position if you are too low you can not see/judge the waves/wind as well, and the hotstick starts to rub on the gunwales of the hull
3) When I converted the boat to a MX , I installed a Nacra 6.0NA bowfoil to reduce the horizontal forces on the hulls … that has worked well. But I,m not really sold on the HUGE overlap jib that Randy Smythe included in the MX sailplan … I’m not sure that the boat is really any faster then w/ a standard/stock P19 jib … I may go back to the “stock” jib …. I have a new “stock” jib stashed in my loft that I could use.
4) I purchased a BEAUTIFUL All White 25m Zucolli Tornado Spinnacker from Robbie Daniels (and Jill) several years ago. Robbie helped me with setting it up on the boat. I started w/ a 15’ carbon fiber windsurfer mast that I cut down to 14’3” added a dolpinstriker …. Filled in the “butt end” w/ marine-tex … used a H16 gudgeon (old style- non welded so I could bend it to the front crossbar curve) … carved out the marine-tex appropriately ….drilled 3/8” hole horizontally …used a cut-down Hobie rudder pin to attach the spin pole to the crossbar.
5) I installed a pad-eye at the mast head … used a “dangle” line to adjust the hoist height w/ a Harken Air or Micro Block … I have a small piece of spectra passing through the small shackle holding the block to the dangle that is attached to the mast … this small line is attached on either side of the mast through holes drilled into the luff track or you could install small pad-eyes also instead … this allows the spinnacker hoist block to move from side to side as the mast rotates.
6) I have never completed the last phase … the spinnacker is still “Bag-Launched” …. someday I have to install a “Snuffer “system. As some A-Cat sailors said as they looked at my P19MX when their where at my yacht club for a race recently …. looks fast but definitely “old school”

Please note that because of the bowfoil , the spinpole is carried low …. Resulting in very limited visibility to leeward w/ the chute up …. So because of that and the lack of a “snuffer system” I only use this set-up to do distance races/runs. But she is SWEET looking and SWEETER sailing.

Sail Safe, Sail Flat, Sail Fast
HarryMurphey
P19MX w/spin, #86/CRAC
H18mag, #9458/ Fleet54,Div11

I GOT IT TO WORK !!!!!!

type your posts in Word (or notepad); copy, paste, post.

1. save your pics to your desktop
2. reply to a post (or start another)
3. enter text in the text box called "Post"
4. click continue (make sure you have "I want to preview my post and/or attach a file" checked before you hit continue)
5. click on the "Browse" button
6. browse to your desktop and double click on an image
7. click on the "Ok, submit" button

And repeat for each image.

OR... find any 10 year old and have them do it for you

<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />