I set mine by the Goose Marine site they have a great tuning guide that explains why you do the settings on the boat. Highly recommended
Go to Goosemarine.com.au click on articles then search out Tuning guide Nacra 5.8
The recommended tension is that you cant make the diamond wires touch the mast 18 inches up from the adjuster. When you read the article it explains why and what adjustments.
Catsailor.net has a great photographic tuning guide go to forums, then Nacra, then Nacra 5.8 Tuning guide it explains what several top boats did in a race series with their diamond wires. If you find you can't point too well on one tack check your tension when mine was too loose it made me go off the course because the middle of the mast bent into the slot depowering it.
As for the hole, sorry really need to know how and where you put the hole in it and how big to work out how to repair it.

regards

"Blow Boater" is an admission that the person does not know squat about sailing. This kind of person is intimidated by the requirement of greater knowledge being applied. At fuel having gone for upwards to $4. a gallon... we will start to see less and less of the mindset.

If they had the chance to get on a fast cat, they almost always change their tune. Wind is FREEDOM!

The typical power boater always comes at you about no wind events. As if that was the norm. I respond with "dead batteries" "limited fuel" "Thousands for a motor"

I was talking to a sailor as I was sitting up my cat one day. He told me the power boat that he has sports a Honda motor... his first motor boat... but each time he takes it out, he worries because it can break down and he does not have a sail to get him home.

I am a proud Blowboater !!! Self taught.

MD, I patched up my daggerboard wells on my 5.2.
They had worn through at the back, lower end, probably from repeated beaching. I tipped the fully rigged boat on its side (can be done solo, but requires a leap of faith to grab the shrouds before the mast goes "Dong"), cut three layers of biaxial woven mat (45x45 degrees)to size (stepping up from lower layers with an inch of overlap to the damaged area to a top layer with two inches approx overlap. Cleaned the area out and sanded with paper on a stick. Then mixed some epoxy, saturated the three layers and the damaged area, draped the patch over a thin stick covered in duct-tape and applied to the "wound". The stick was actually two mixing sticks taped together. It can be used to put pressure on from inside. I then let it get an initial set and turned the boat over to repeat on the other side (which was also worn through and previously "fixed" with PU sealant (thank heavens not silicone!). Tip: do not place your cup of excess epoxy on the hull to cure, it will burn your gel coat!
NB: my daggerboard wells were otherwise structurally OK or I would have had to reinforce them from inside (bummer).

Good luck!

The port board wasn't in far enough and it hit a boat on a boat lift while launching. Punch a small hole in the middle of the well(front) and about a 6" crack upwards. It's only in the paper thin fiberglass so I'd say it's structurally sound still but it leaks, as we discovered about 10 minutes into our shake down run.

Lesson learned there. Why does it always have to be the hard way?

Anyway, some pics.

nasty

what about taking the hull off, leaning/tying it against a tree, getting on a ladder and dripping some thickened epoxy into the crack off a bit of dowel

if possible put some duct tape on the inside of the crack to prevent too much drip through by reaching through the port

could also use 5 minute araldite too prevent too much dripping through if you can't get backing tape on

depending on access and clearance after that you could clean up the set epoxy with sandpaper on sticks and then put a single layer of cloth on. (both sides???)

hmmm that looks nasty. If you use my method on that, be sure you have enough clearance to allow for the added thickness! Otherwise you'll never be able to get the boards down again, they will jam (esp. with sand from the beach in the dagger board well)!

I see from the picture that you have an access port on the back of the daggerboard well. Can you access the cracked area from there? If you can, you should patch the area from the inside of the hull. Just sand around it a little bit, wet a patch of fiberglass and stuck it there.

If you can successfully do that, you're done. If you're anal you can fix the cosmetic inside the well by putting some coarse sand paper around a broomstick, sand the area, and then finishing up by spraying gelcoat + wax additive.

Now if there is a bulkhead and you can't access the area from inside the hull it becomes far more difficult to do a good repair. Access from the inside of the well is too tight to do a good job.

I second "Pepin's" approach/fix to the crack in your daggerboard well. You may need to remover the complete hullport ... ring and all so that you can reach your arm in far enough. But while "Pepin's" suggestion will take a little work up front (removing the hullport) it will be a much "cleaner" fix ... trying to sand out epoxy drips/runs in a daggerboard well can be .... tedious. (I have that merit badge already)

Harry Murphey

If you cant get inside and it's not in need of structral repair.
The way I fixed the cracks at the back of daggerwells in the past was I got one of those old fluffy pink bedspreads your granny used, the ones that had a smooth section about 3 cm then a fluffy section about 2cm. Shape a stick a bit narrower than the width of the daggerwell then wrap a piece of the bedcloth around it a few times until it slides snuggly in the well. I mixed up a standard wesystem just to wet out the area, then made a stiff wesystem with heaps of mycrofibres in it. The cloth will carry a lot of the mix and as you rub it up and down it will force the mix into the hole. Re make your stick with fresh cloth and use it to keep smoothing out any drips and to clean up where you dont need resin. That will get you floating.
regards

I have a port on the back side of the dagger well but the crack is in the front. Too much of a reach there. I could always cut a new port in the front I suppose? Would that weaken the hull too much?

Since the stuff in there is so thin, would just like 3 layers of 12"x6" cloth w/ west epoxy be strong enough? I think I would weasel some into the well. I'm not concerned about looks, just need her water tight.

you are the guy on the spot and will know best what clearances you have etc

this is what i would do....

probably best to leave the cutting of another port as a last resort/winter job if a repair from inside the well doesn't fix the leak

until it gets some fiberglass cloth covering the area, either front or back, it is going to be weaker, so if you are only going to seal the leak, and not get cloth in there, you'll want to make sure that board is either in or out from now on

the next step will depend on how much space you have inside the well

i still think taking the hull off and putting it vertically against a tree or building is going to be your best bet, working with gravity is so much easier than trying to fight it. but if you do that you'll probably need to work from a high ladder and leaning on those can be dangerous...

to try and find out how much space you have between the sliding dagger and damaged area of the well what about trying to cut up and old sheet and sticking in some cotton patches with a water based glue. just as a trial run and to see how many you can get in before the dagger starts dragging them out. if you can get a few layers in, and the board still has clearance, you probably have enough space for a layer of glass cloth

if so, use some cheap long artist brushes to get the resin in there, to wet the area out, and drop a patch on top and then wet out the rest of the cloth

be as clean as possible and as suggested have some dowel with cotton cloth taped on the ends to wipe off any resin that drips where you don't want it. get rid of it before it sets as the last thing you want is a binding board that you have to hammer down and stress the repair

if you find you have no clearance for cloth just go for thickened epoxy CAREFULLY worked into the cracks with brushes and sticks

if you have some 80grit paper wrapped around a dowel you should be able to clean it up reasonably between when the resin kicks and before it goes rock hard

Ports are a definate last resort as they are literally a pain in the backside when your trying to get around on the deck or being carefull to watch where you place your feet instead of your course. If you have to cut a access hole cut it with a jigsaw on a 45 degree angle then when you've made your repair resin in a bit of closed cell foam underneath the deck then resin your bit that you cut out back level with the deck into the hole, dont fill to the top with resin leave a bit of room for gelcoat with wax on the surface and your good to go. Try and do the repair properly as you wont be able to get a patch out of your dagger well easily later.
This is a photo I posted on Beachcats of the deck repair on my Stingray. It started with a port hole cut in for a repair then as it delaminated the previous owner kept adding support underneath but it ended up as a wobbly weak deck.

I managed to wedge in 2 layers of cloth with West Epoxy and no cutting. It's all hardened up and ready to roll. Not sure if it's water tight but I'm sure I'll find out the hard way.

Thanks for the advice.