I'm trying to find the best mast rake and rudder rake for a Prindle 16. "Cataman Racing for the 90s" has a good general discussion of the tradeoffs and gives guidelines for the Hobie 16, but I hear that the Prindle 16 is different, and does not require as much rake. Is that true?

The one site I can find with guidelines for rake on the Prindle 16 [1] gives a suggested forestay length from the mast hound hole, without further justification.

For now, I gave the mast a very slight rake (less than 5 degrees) and raked the rudders forward 3/8", and I'll see what it feels like tomorrow. But as a beginner, I have less of a feel for this than many of you.

What's the best way to find the proper rake?

Jonathan

Heres the trick with mast rake:

You want to rake it back until the weather helm causes the center of the crossbar to be about 2 inches or so windward of the center of the boat. meaning that you're actually fighting the boards to keep the boat off the wind(pulling the tiller towards you). The amount of pull on the tiller is dependent on the forward rake of the rudders.

I hope some of that made sense...