Tiki 38 headsail

[Brett Parker]

Been wondering whether it is better to have the tack of the sail down as low as poss or as high as poss. I think it is better to keep it low to give more of a" slot" between the foremain and headsail or have I got this wrong. I like the idea of bringing a little more sail area forward too to help with sail balance for windvane selfsteering....thoughts?

cheers Brett

[dave tomlinson]

Mine is higher which helps to see where you are going, if the difference is only  a few feet either way then I doubt you will notice much difference, what would help with balance would be another sail set forward on a prod, the way Slocum did on Spray, at one stage he had a long bamboo pole out the front with a jib ahead of the bow and the boat would hold its course for days at a time with a locked rudder. Even a small boats jib out there would change the balance a lot, and may be worth experimenting with.  I am planning to put a bigger light wind sail in front of my genoa on a furler for light winds.

[Brett Parker]

Hi Dave

I think the head sail as per plan is a working sail. Yes wouldn't be hard to rig up a little jib further out. I notice on a few of the t 38, they have an alloy beam right forward and this has the headsail attached to it. This takes the luff forward and would make a difference too.  It also gives somehting  for the front net to attach to. Definitely think it would be nice to get more sail area forward. I have a large soft sail and I can run this on the traveller arrangement that runs between  the tops of the stem posts, but this sail is no good for going to windward.

After sailing on your boat ,  and thinking later, I was wondering if your mainsail halyard had a block on the top of the sail or just at the top of the mast?? thanks Dave - Brett

[dave tomlinson]

Hi Brett, my main just has a single purchase halyard which makes it a little heavy to raise but a much shorter halyard, I think ballbearing cars on the main luff would make a big difference, although using the winch to get the main up is not such a big deal. Would probably fit a spare main halyard as a back up before a big trip.  I would also fit a front beam to take the tramp and any extra sails forward, maybe a sealed section of 125mm round alloy , I have something similiar as the rear beam but maybe 150mm.

Been looking at a couple of bridgedeck cats so there is a possibility my Tiki may be up for sale before long. Took a bit of weight out of it the other day which raised the waterline a few inches, and went back to that anchorage bay near Omaha at the end of Feb which was nice.

[Brett Parker]

yeah the rear beam is 150mm. Let me know if you get another boat. Might know someone who could be interested in yours. Got my boat parked alongside the yard in the harbour so I can use their power. Just painting the pod at the moment and replacing all the clears.

cheers Brett

[dave tomlinson]

Going to look at another cat tomorrow, so will let you know if anything definate happens , it needs to have offshore potential otherwise I will keep the T38 , Wharrams seem to be the best value offshore cats around but may be tempted by something with more liveaboard space.