The Starting Point and references
My plan for the boat was to sort the rigging and sails so that I have a reliable package which I can put on the water and race with confidence. The boat was only sailed a few times times by the previous 2 owners since 2016 so there is a lot of work to do. Here is a starting jobs list.
Fair top of rudder so it fits flush to the hull.
Fit Futaba Servo and new 1000mA Lifo battery
Check all the electrics are working smoothly and calibrate winch
Replace endless sheet cord and adjust lead approach to drum so there is a direct line with no friction
Replace all sheets
Replace backstay and jib leech topping lift with wire.
Check weigh boat
Calibrate sheeting angles
Check all mainsail heads are set to just below top band.
One or two of the fittings may need replacing as they look a bit dodgy
Tune all rigs and calibrate and log settings
Test sail and check boat is waterproof
Buy more deck patches.
The jobs were straight forward and I had loads of spares so no additional cost.
If the hull is competitive which I believe it should be then I think an order for new sails will be on the cards as well as a lightweight swing rig and maybe a gismo to control leech tension upwind. For now I will work with what I have and assess whether the investment will be worth while.
Looking around on the web I found the following references
Marblehead section on the MYA Web site. This provides links to all the relevant Marblehead web sites
Pimp my Marblehead by BG on the MYA web site
Great information on how to pimp up older designs.
More from the man himself on pimping. Here is the web link but have put extracts of the text below because it adds to the jigsaw. Its well worth reading the full article HERE
Originally Posted by Brad Gibson on RC Groups.com
Weight
- Anything with a designed displacement upwards of 5 kg ready to race will struggle in light winds. The current competitive parameters for an all round design live between 4.4 - 4.8 kg with the most recent winning designs sitting in the 4.7- 4.8 range.
- Any hull weight with radio and rudder installed ready to sail, less rig and fin/ballast, should not be more that 900 - 950 grams. The better boats live within the 780 - 840g region.
- Beam Waterline should be no greater than 160mm. Current designs are as low as 130 -150mm
Hull weight is 840 grams, less rig and keel. Overall designed displacement is 4.9kg.
- With a newer thin profile stiff fin we go a fraction deeper on the fin and shave 100 grams off the lead. Lighter boat, similar righting moment with less drag. Win win!
- The original Bantock rigs are stiff as hell for their weight so very little to do there other than modernise the sail plans to modern ratios if you desire, and replace sails accordingly. The original rigs were set some 85mm off the deck to the lower mast bands, so we follow what works on our IOM's and modern M's in cutting down the goosenecks to get things as low as we can. These last points are more fine tuning but give us a little more from the boat across the wind range.
Sailsetc/Bantock swing rig plan
How to program an RMG Smartwinch