Hello,
I have aquired a nacra 5.2 and am a former h16 sailor. I have no idea how to rig this boat as it has no manual and the nacra manual you get from the website is for a '91 5.8 or something. If anyone has pics they could send me on the boom, jib setup and anything else that i probably wouldn't know since i came from an h16, that would be terrific. I'm also in need of daggerboards if anyone out there as some they are willing to sell. Any help would be very very appreciated!!! Thanks All!! ~Reid

Go to

http://www.performancecat.com/

and download the owners manuals--although they are for the newer nacras, many of the systems are nearly identical. If there's no dealer near you, you can also email Performance Catamarans through the web site if you have specific questions. When I had a nacra they were very responsive to my questions.

I had a 5.2 I adored. Check this post for some detail. Ask me specific questions and I'll see what photos or detail I can provide. You're right, the manual blew my mind too for about a month - it is a combination of photos from a 5.5 and a 5.8 I think...some boomless, some with, etc...very confusing.

Previous Catsailor Post

Hello Reid,

I have learned a couple things about my Nacra 5.2 the hard way.

1) Do not store it on the trailer over winter. It seems like a good way to protect the hulls from blistering, but the trailer pad punched through my port hull in a snow storm last winter. It was fixable - but took about a month of evenings.

2) Tension the rig before sailing - especially in light wind. The shroud adjusters get stress corrosion cracking and low cycle fatigue problems if subject to shock loading.

3)There is a roller inside the rudder casting that the down line must pass over. If you miss this roller the down line will stretch and the rudder will not cleat fully down.

4)Make sure the bearing tangs on the beams are against the plates riveted to the hulls before tightening the beam straps. This sounds easy but if you have a tramp that has lacing in the rear only you will need a couple (really big) friends to help stretch it when assembling the boat. Let the tramp sit in the sun for a while before trying to spread the hulls. This is the toughest part of assembly

5) The traveler car bearings are loose! If you take the car off the track you will have a handfull of steel balls and 2 or 3 in the grass.

6)Check the hulls for water often the first time out. The blind rivets (not fond of blind rivets for this application)let water into the hull on windy days and when you have extra weight aboard. The daggerboard cases and inspection ports can leak too.

7)Tighten the rudder pivot bolts so the rudders have no play in the castings.

8)Check the cotter pins on the rudder pintle rod. These can get snagged by the rudder up/down lines. If this happens the rod will slowly work it's way out while you are sailing. Sailing home without the rudders is tricky - especially down wind. Stop laughing.

Did I happen to mention I love the boat? When everything is working right it is just a joy to sail. These boats aquire sentimental value quickly.

Have fun with it!
colin pitts

Colin, you made some great (and funny) points! However, one should probably point out that if you have hull fitting cradles on your trailer, on-trailer storage should not be a problem. The early 5.2's (pre 84 I think) have a relatively thin 'glass-only' hull construction and are not quite as strong as the post 84 foam core construction (but they are lighter).

I also wouldn't say the 5.2 suffers from standing rigging problems either. Most cats like to have some rig tension off the beach but the leeward shroud will always dangle loosely no matter how much you crank down on everything. It does help prevent ~some~ of the 'bonging' in light air though.

You might want to use split rings on your rudder pins instead of cotter pins. The split ring is a little tougher to install but a lot less likely to catch on anything and leave you with half a steering system.

Wow Thanks guys for all the help!! I am slowly getting this figured out. Ok, so let me get this straight and correct me if i'm wrong. The jib block slides up and down the cable that runs down the tramp. There are either two shorter lines or one continuous line that runs along the rear xbar through a cleat and out to the jib block. But i still haven't figured out what the rope is that runs along the front xbar. From the attatchment of a previous post, it runs through a cleat out to a cheek block near end of the xbar and then connects to a ring on the jib rope. I guess i can see that acting as a jib position adjustment like on the h16. But then what does the rope on the back do? Also, i talked with a guy at the nacra factory and he said you can get rid of the bar in the middle by simply installing four or five pop rivets in the u clamps that go over the xbar. These rivets will keep the bar from rotating in the clamp. I guess the center bar only provides torsional stability. Has anyone done this? I like clean tramps, so i kind of like the idea of under tramp cables. Has anyone done this and what limitations will it provide. Thankyou all so much for you insight. I'm totally stoked to get this out on the water next summer. Hope to hear from you all soon!! ~Reid

First: the rope (yellow) running along the front cross beam is my addition as a barber hauler to outhaul the jib when sailing downwind. You don't have to have it unless you want to race - then it's a must. Later models had a barberhauler that ran inside the main beam - made for a very clean installation. There are a variety of ways to run that line and in this case it was two individual lines each running to opposite sides of the boat through their own cleat. When sailing downwind, this adjustment lets you pull the clew of the jib out to the edge of the boat for proper shape in conjunction with the mainsail.

The line in the back is a continuous line going though two v-jam cleats with rollers and to each jib block. Previously the jib block position was dictated by a fixed line that was tied at the back eye where the cable terminates and at the jib block. I wanted the ability to change this on the fly so I installed this system. It allowed me to move the jib cars forward and aft. It worked very well.

I'm surprised the guy at the factory told you about the rivet idea...it probably works fine but it scared me to much to do it myself when someone told me that. I quickly got used to the bar and, believe it or not, actually missed having it when I got my 6.0. While it can be a bit rough on the knees at first, it comes in handy when you get hit with a puff and slip or loose your grip on the windward hull.

I have 2 5.2 daggerboards (really 4) and a boom / mast / crossbeams / tramp / main sail (old) / block

email me mreiter@pdq.net

How in the heck to 5.2 pilots sail their boats with the jib wires above the tramp I will never understand. The first thing I did with mine was rip those things off and re-rivet the support wires on the x-bars under the tramp.

My tramp now has to slots on each side so that I can slide the jib block back and foreward about 14 inches but keep the wire under the deck.

I also kept my center bar because I like it. I always thought it looked painful coming from the Hobie camp, but I love it. It adds a lot of stability to the boat in bad weather.

A few things I did to mine that really helped:

1. Got rid of the shock cord rudder system and installed Pivomatics and a static rudder pull-up line for each rudder.

2. Put the jib wires under the deck and had the tramp re-sewn to accomadate it.

3. Put the Hobie 20 rudder connection kit on the tiller bar.

4. Harken Black Magic 8:1 mainsheet system.

5. Carpeted the daggerboard slots (no need for bungie on the boards.

Ok so with everyones help i finally figured out the rigging. Now i need to figure out how the boom is rigged. I have a traveler on the top with a cheek block on the back, a cleat half way down on the side with an eye loop right above it, and a cleat near the mast on the top with a hanger right in front of it. There is a bungi on the car going forward to an eye loop. It looks like it is soppose to put pressure so the car returns forward for downwind sailing? Also, where do the double trap wires run to? Do they run under the tramp or through the crossbars? I also notices in the above picture that there is a small block on the side of the hull. Is this for a spinnaker? And then is the main traveler setup just like a newer h16 where the main sheet controls the traveler as well? Thankyou so much again all!! ~Reid

I can't remember exactly how the boom was rigged but I can tell you that the forward cleat is part of the mast rotation limiter. A line should be tied to the boom, then through the rotation arm on the mast (mine had a small pulley on it - but it's not necessary), then back to the cleat on the boom. The length of this line dictates how much the mast is allowed to rotate. The bunji inside the boom is for the mainsail outhaul but I can't remember exactly how that is run. However, pulling the ouhual line should take the sail out to the end of the boom. If you release it, the bunji helps pull the sail forward (toward the goosneck) - yep, for downwind to make the sail fuller.

The small block on the side of my hull is for the skipper's trapeze bunji. Normally this bunji would run straight accross the boat under the trampoline through grommets in the trampoline. However, when I got the replacement trampoline, it was missing these grommets. I ran the bunji through the main beam instead (that's what you see in that picture). The crew's trapeze bunji should simply run through the main beam. I installed small hooks on the ends of these bunjies so I could connect and disconnect them at will.

Yes, main traveler should also function as main sheet ... i.e. continuous line.

I will try to explain the boom in words, but I bet it becomes pretty confusing.

1. One the end with the outhaul car there should be a cheek block on one side and an eyestrap/fairlead on the other.

2. On the outhaul car there should be pulley sleeves under the main sail connection point. The axel of these sleeves should be vertical.

3. Half way down the boom on the side that has the cheek block, you should find a cleat, normally a "Camcleat" brand cleat. Just above the cleat should be another fairlead / eye strap.

What ends up happening is a cascading 4:1 outhaul system. You will need the following items:

1 - Harken air block.
2 - 3/16" by 3' pieces of rope.

Directions:

1. Take both pieces of 3' x 3/16" rope and tie a knot at the end of each.

2. Take one piece of the rope and run it through the eyestrap at the end of the boom on the opposite side of the cheek block.

3. Continue to run this piece through the sleaves on the outhaul car below the mainsail attachment point.

4. Continue to run this line through the cheek block on end of the boom on the opposite side of the eyestrap.

5. Now tie the Harken airblock to the end of this rope. If you pull on this rope you will see that your outhaul car will move toward the end of the boom. If this is true, you have done the first 5 steps correctly.

6. Take your second piece of 3/16" x 3' piece of rope and run it through the eyestrap above the camcleat in the middle of the boom on the side of the cheek block and your new Harken air block.

7. Continue to thread this line through the new Harken air block tied to the end of your first line.

8. Continue to thread this rope through the "Camcleat" under the eyestrap in the middle of the boom on the side of your air block and cheek block.

Now you should be able to cleat in this line to hold the outhaul car in whatever position you like. One thing you might also be missing is a piece of bungie that pulls the outhaul car forward. Let me know.

Sweet!! Finally this thing is starting to make sense!! Ok, few last things. Downhaul, not a freakin clue. Same with the jib halyard. Is it like power downhaul in the murrays catalog? I got this boat not complete so i might be missing parts. Oh and the gooseneck. I have a u shaped thing sticking out of the end of the boom. Thats it. Is there something to go on the end? Ok thats it for now....progress is good!! Thanks all!! ~Reid

sounds like you might be missing part of the gooseneck. In the center of the "U" should be a welded Stainless Steel 'box' (old style) with a hole at one end. It should also have a hole 90 degrees to the first one for a pin for the corresponding "U" on the mast. A simple piece of Stainless square tubing will suffice (new style). If you need a piece of this, I'm sure I can get plenty from our scrap bin at work. If you can supply me the dimension of that U I'll see what I can do. See the photo below.

I've seen a ton of variations of downhauls. You can clearly see the gooseneck and a little of the downhaul in this picture. I had two 'headbanger' sheaves and cleats on either side of the mast. A continuous line ran through one, to a triple pulley (micro) on the sail, to a sheave on the mast (see photo), back to the triple pulley, to the sheave on the other side of the mast, back to the triple pulley, and finally down through the other headbanger. 6:1. Be warned, the 8:1 in the Murray's catalog is not 8:1...they'll probably tell you that if you order it - it was a mistake (that we discovered right here!). I really liked my downhaul but the attachment to the sail was a little tricky because of limited space. I think I had a twisted U shackle that I used to directly attach the triple pulley. I had plenty of downhaul but there was not a whole lot of room left over between the pulley and the gooseneck. I've also seen some guys rig a Hobie 20 style downhaul that extended the mast pulleys below the boom...see the murray's catalog for more detail on that one.

For a good while, I ran my jib halyard straight down to the v-jam cleat on the port side of the boat. However, my cable halyard had a small pulley on it and eventually I began running a rope tail tied to the eye on the end of the cable, through another sheave on the mast, back through the pulley on the end of the cable halyard, and then to the V-jam cleat. This gave it a 3:1 purchase. I never felt that I really needed the purchase but it made it easier to adjust while under way.

Oh yeah! note the green bunji running through the diamond wires out to the beams. The purple jib sheets should actually be on top of this instead of how they are shown here. The green bunji helps keep the jib sheet from fouling on all the crap at the base of the mast as you tack.

Is a headbanger the same as a pivoting exit block? I'm guessing yes so you have a headbanger on each side and a cheak block on each side with a triple micro from the sail? This sounds like it would work good. I'm learning alot from you and i really appreciate the pictures. We have an excellent machine shop at the airbase that is going to hook me up with a gooseneck. Thanks so much for the idea. Hopefully i can figure the rest out from here. I appreciate all your knowledge and keep up the good posts!! ~Reid

yes - headbanger = my slang for a pivoting exit block. Glad we could help!

I also just made up my own 6:1 downhaul system. There is a very limited amount of space, so you might have to get creative.

For the "headbanger" I highly recommend a Spinlock pivot cleat. That is just so much easier to use under high loads.