My sailing club recently picked up a Nacra infusion second-hand, it's an awesome boat, I'm liking its downwind performance compared to the original Nacra F18s which I've previously sailed. Anyways, we've come across a bunch of little problems that need to be fixed, and I would appreciate a bit of advice on how to get things set up properly.

-The camcleat for the spinaker tackline that goes on the front crossbeam has torn out. I know where the replacement should go and how it should be oriented. How do I mount it? The Harken camcleats use screws to mount, and I can't get to the interior of the beam to put nuts in there. The aluminum seems quite thin and would likely be too soft to thread the screws directly to the beam. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to mount the camcleat?

-Our spinaker sheets seem to be a bit too short. The lazy sheets always seem to be under some tension. It's also pretty much improssible to get further back than approximately the rear crossbar when you're trimming the kite from the wire, because you run out of spin sheet. I've compared the length of the sheet on the infusion to the original Nacra's sheet, and the Infusion's are several feet shorter. Does anyone know what the proper length of the sheet should be? I'm wondering if the previous owner for some reason cut the sheets shorter, maybe he was running them differently from the standard set-up (he'd modified a bunch of other things). Currently I'm following the setup guides way of running the sheets.

Welcome to the fleet, Coaster!

The front beam will definitely support the replacement cleat. You have a few options - re-tap the original holes if they are not too damaged (you mentioned the original cleat "tore" out, but I'd bet there was some electrolysis action there, too); or you can drill and tap the original holes up to the next size bolt that fits through the cams; or you can drill and tap new holes adjacent to the original location. Make sure you use good machine screws - a touch of thread-lock or Duralac is a good idea.

There is nothing wrong with putting a new, longer spin sheet on the boat. Most F18s use spin sheets that are about 50-feet long. I prefer 8mm Robline Racing Sheet. Line is a very personal thing, however - consult with your crew and build that team approach to boat set-up.

Good luck and have fun!

Assuming the cleat is on a swivel, and the old holes are completely un-usable you could also rotate the base a bit so you're still covering the same spot, but have fresh material to drill into.

It is not on a swivel. I redrilled holes next to the ones that were there, about an inch away and remounted the cleat when mine pulled out. You will not be able to go to the next size up unless you want to put larger cleats on...you do not.

If you spinnaker sheets tie together on the trampoline you could add a piece to see what length you want before committing to it. I use a spectra line with double eye splice in it about 15 inches long and mount that to the half way point on the spinnaker sheet. The other end gets looped into the spinnaker clew and the sheet goes through it to lock it on. Spin sheet stays with the chute when you put it away. Run the lines through the blocks and tie together. This way you can add some line and it should not effect the way it works providing you do not have a knot going to the lazy block making it too short. Easy to experiment with though.

Later,
Dan

Before you throw money at new sheets, have you checked that they are rigged to run INside the tack of the sail and not the long way round the front?

They are indeed run inside of the tackline, so we end up doing inside gybes.

I've been looking at the rigging manual for the Infusion... On page 38 they go through the procedure for running the spin sheets.

Anyways, it looks like we don't have our tack/spinaker tension cord (as it's referred to in the manual) set up properly. Does anyone have any slightly clearer pictures of how the shock cord should be run than those in the Nacra manual?

Thanks!

Hi Westcoaster, welcome to the infussion world, a great place to be!

Just place the cleat 1 cm back, but makesure it in line with the blocks under the beam.

the shock cord set up is simple, the set up guide is it, its that simple. (I know I dint belive it at first)you must appreciate that the shock cord will not take all of the slack of the tack line as the tack line moves approx 1.8m into the shute and the sock cord is approx 1m. The trick to ensure that the tack is comes loos every time is to make sure the tack line release ring is in front of the cleat, this is on the tensioned side of the sheet when the spinnker is up. Then the only thing the shock cord on the end of the tack line is doing is slightly tensioning the end of the tack line, ive just come back from the NACRA Championship in Holland and 90% of the infussions where set up like this, a few have modified the system with a tensioning block/shock cord under the tramp (shck cord running to the back of the port hull, through a block and tied of on the front tramp stb side) that runs between the rear block on the beam and the block on the stb hull side stay, this stops the skipper/crew from sitting on the tack line during retrival whilst leaving the end of the tack line at the same position, allowing tack line hoist whilst out on trapeze.

Well in regard to the spinnaker lines, you will need to have enough line to be able to trapeze of the back on the hull, and I mean the back, this is one of the tricks of sailing the infussion fast down wind, in force 4-5 winds, what the guys do and you maybe able to do the same is add a smaller sheet to the spinnaker sheet that goes into the shute, this will give you the extra length and make the spinnaker retrival easier, most of the top teams have this mod! this is a win win, latest mod and no money spent, just a littl time with a sewing needle

Hope you come right!