We tried to cover as much as possible in this video, but here are our thoughts in point form: (let us know your thoughts)... Furler Pros: 1. Simplicity and ease of setting sail 2. Sail stowage away from deck 3. No need to go forward Cons: 1. Furl to reef ends in very baggy sail - destroys proper sail shape 2. Difficult to douse and set smaller sail 3. Makes inspection of forward stay difficult 4. Difficult to furl in strong conditions 5. Many possible failures 6. Increased windage when furled 7. Extra weight at top of mast Hanks Pros: 1. Simplicity and reliability 2. Better sail shape 3. Sail options 4. Easy to inspect stays / rigging 5. Less windage Cons: 1. Time to hank and set 2. Time up forward 3. Dousing and stowage can get messy and requires going forward
Thanks for another great video! Really enjoying your series. I went through some similar deliberations for the head sail setup on a Lysander (17ft trailer sailer). The original jib hanked onto the forestay and, particularly when sailing single-handed, it was a bit of a hassle to go forward and manage. I also tried a setup with some Barton gear, furling around the sail's wire, set inside the forestay. It rarely furled easily, couldn't be reefed and had to be taken down every time I was away from the boat. Eventually I came across a firm called Aero Luff Spars in the UK who specialise in semi-flexible head sail furling systems for trailer sailers. The gear they supplied has made a big difference. The sail reefs smoothly when needed and in about two years of use in lots of different conditions, it has furled up neatly and easily almost every time. I keep the boat on a mooring for several months of the year and the sail furls so securely that I feel comfortable leaving it hoisted all the time, which makes sneaking out for a quick sail much easier. (No relationship with Aero Luff...they were just the only ones I found who seemed to really 'get' the particular needs of these little mini cruising boats. Everything else seemed to be either dinghy-orientated or intended for much bigger boats).
Hey Mat, really enjoying these shakedown sails, Ben’s a handy bloke to have on board. You’ve made a bloody good job of the internal refit. Jimmy does a great job of his sails. All in all a great vid, cheers.
It will be very helpful if you would put the technical details about the rig and rudder on a website. I’m sure there are many ComPac sailors who would like to use your setup. These are some of the best videos on sailing the small ComPac I’ve seen on TH-cam. Thank you for the sailing expertise and bring us along.
Wow. Great upgrades. Nice work. I have a Precision 18, similar to the Com-Pac 16, except it has a centerboard tucked in the stub keel. I'm really partial to my CDI furler. I do a lot of light air sailing and have a 135% and a 150% genoa. A few turns on the furler and it is sailing, or reefed, or doused completely. The shape is not bad when reefed. Not having to hank on a sail kneeling on my old knees in swell cancels out all the cons for me. As you well bring out, it is all a trade off each must weigh with their circumstances and preferences. Well covered.
Nicely done! Helm corrected. I have found that the center of mass is pretty close to the companionway opening. So, when crew sits there, the boat feels even better balanced. Sitting aft or when one goes forward, I can feel the difference. Not as much as a dinghy, of course. Anyway, she may feel even happier when crew is a bit forward in the cockpit. She is already sailing better after these upgrades. Well done!
Nice video as always. I currently sail a SCAMP and I really prefer the lug rig to the sloop on a small boat. I had a Montgomery 15 for years. Nice boat. But the problem is the exact one you are discussing here. The Montgomery will not point without a jib. But you can’t go out on the foredeck to replace the headsail, especially in a blow when you need to. And with no backstay the jib would bag when tacking and releasing the pressure on the main sheet letting the mast drift a bit forward. I sail in changeable winds, and found it just too much of a pain to deal with that. Now, my SCAMP is much simpler. The lug is so easy to tune, and can be reefed easily underway. In the same waters I find the SCAMP much easier to control, and am willing to go out in higher winds than I was willing to handle in the Montgomery. No doubt the Montgomery can handle it with the storm jib and reefed main. But getting the boat rigged that way under sail was just impossible.
My old cutter (21' on deck, Ed Monk Sr. built in 1935, had running backstays for keeping the jib luff taut. Also flew a Yankee jib from the bowsprit to the masthead. Every time I unfurled it, I could immediately feel the acceleration from that powerful sail. Learned the hard way not to furl while running downwind, as it wanted to wrap itself around the headstay, leading to more excitement than I had bargained for.
Thank you for making these videos they are very helpful to me! I'm 53 and bought a com-pac 16 and will be taking her out this week for my first sail ever. I know nothing about sailing or boats other than it is something I have always wanted to do and watching your videos helps me a lot.
Another great episode Mat a lot of good information and food for thought in this one. Like your modifications to the interior and the sails look real good. I'll keep Jimmy's sails and canvas in mind when the time comes to dress my Pathfinder. looking forward to meeting you guys sometime soon, hope the car's all fixed and running good.
I can't tell you how much I enjoy these videos! Been sailing a CP16 for years and these videos are solid advise any CP 16 sailor really needs to hear. Keep up the good work!
It wasn't really the ideal day to discuss technical stuff! I think any of the systems would work well on Sea Cat. But you just have to understand the risks of each system. Wire roller furler (non structural) Pro's :easy to drop, easy to furl, cheap, and you can change sails. Cons: Sometimes it doesn't furl in strong winds. Getting good luff tension can be a problem. Occasionally it will tangle with the fixed forestay. Foil type roller reefer. Pro's: You can reef the sail. Decent forestay tension. Furls well in any weather. Cons: hard to drop or change the sail at sea. Expensive. Heavy and high windage. Not many suitable small boat sustems. Vulnerable to damage when mast is down Structural wire furler with halyard. Pro's: good forestay tension. Easy to drop the sail. Can be used like a hank on sail. Con's: Expensive, still can't reef sail. Needs special soft hanks. Much more complex than hanks. Swivels are a loaded structural part of rhe rig. Hanks Pro's: Super simple, nothing much to go wrong, easy to remove sail. cheap. Best performance. No extra clutter on deck. Can be raised and lowered from aft with a downhaul. Cons: need to go to the foredeck to properly stow, remove or change the sail. There are many different ways to do it. For sea cat the hanked sails are a good option. They can easily be converted to a furling system if Matt decides to change it.
I can’t thank you two enough for your posts. I am literally about to purchase a 1987 CP 16 tomorrow and will be doing everything you just suggested: foiled rudder, new sails, new standing and running rigging. As one of the other commenters mentioned, it would be wonderful if you could post the technical details, particularly of your new main. Kudos on your cabin refit. You’re giving me so many ideas it’s like drinking out of a fire hose. Best regards, Tim
Another good informative vid boys. (The grin on your face Mat when you were fully powered up on your way in says it all) Nice interior refit job. Beautiful new sails, good job Jimmy. I need my wire luffed roller furler, not a useable foredeck on GYDA and I have the separate forestay, and the free flying blade jib for windy days. May need to look at rudder a bit more.... And news for Feb - waiting with baited breath...:-)
Nice work on the interior mods, so much better and space is def always needed! I was tempted to head out also a few times but decided against it cos we know what the channel is like!
Thanks for the videos guys. I should bribe you to come up to beautiful Lake Macquarie and help me set up my Explorer 16 like you have done with your Compact.
Just wondering if that removed foam was for buoyancy and not sound deadening. A couple of old pfds may not suffice if you’re taking on water. Great to see the new rudder and other improvements increasing the sea kindliness as well as performance.
It looks like you've gone a way forward since your last presentation. The new sail looks quite hot, as in stolen from a local board sailor. Just joking! But it does look quite powerful. Is it a little "on or off" and not too forgiving? The helm certainly looked a lot more manageable in this video. Has moving the centre of effort aft helped in balancing the boat? Anyway, thanks for the content. It looks like you're having a ball.
Great film. Please put a wind screen on your mike;) what watch model do you have that registers speed? What make and model of battery do you have? I have a CDI Indo not have the extended now. Thank you from down under. My wife was in New Orleans with a Legion Band and met a person from Australia. We are sending him my book of my adventure in a homebuilt sailboat and going down the Mississippi River. That was fun to do
I hope you see this comment and reply. I noticed your digital watch that gave your boat speed. What brand is it? I sail a Catalina 22 and hate trying to use my iPhone to get speed and position. I would like to get that information from a watch. Thanks in advance if you would be so kind as to share that information. Loved the video. I use a CDI furler.
Great video. If you had been solo sailing, and not in a place where you could tuck in to change headsails, would you have wanted to go forward and switch headsails? Also what king]d of smart watch was that? Thanks for the video. Wish I was closer so I could use your sailmaker.
We tried to cover as much as possible in this video, but here are our thoughts in point form: (let us know your thoughts)...
Furler
Pros:
1. Simplicity and ease of setting sail
2. Sail stowage away from deck
3. No need to go forward
Cons:
1. Furl to reef ends in very baggy sail - destroys proper sail shape
2. Difficult to douse and set smaller sail
3. Makes inspection of forward stay difficult
4. Difficult to furl in strong conditions
5. Many possible failures
6. Increased windage when furled
7. Extra weight at top of mast
Hanks
Pros:
1. Simplicity and reliability
2. Better sail shape
3. Sail options
4. Easy to inspect stays / rigging
5. Less windage
Cons:
1. Time to hank and set
2. Time up forward
3. Dousing and stowage can get messy and requires going forward
I think another con for the furler you mentioned is that without a separate forestay, you'll have big difficulties if the furler wire fails
@@PeterI-g3n True. We mentioned in the video, but not on the above list.
Looks like quite the ripper of an outing. Like what you’ve done with the interior too 👍🏻
Another great video! I love seeing what you did with the interior, amazing and very practical. Thanks for the great videos and inspiration!
Very nice design and appears to be well built!
It’s nice to see two guys sailing in strong weather and not getting uptight about it. 😊
Thanks for another great video! Really enjoying your series.
I went through some similar deliberations for the head sail setup on a Lysander (17ft trailer sailer). The original jib hanked onto the forestay and, particularly when sailing single-handed, it was a bit of a hassle to go forward and manage.
I also tried a setup with some Barton gear, furling around the sail's wire, set inside the forestay. It rarely furled easily, couldn't be reefed and had to be taken down every time I was away from the boat.
Eventually I came across a firm called Aero Luff Spars in the UK who specialise in semi-flexible head sail furling systems for trailer sailers. The gear they supplied has made a big difference. The sail reefs smoothly when needed and in about two years of use in lots of different conditions, it has furled up neatly and easily almost every time.
I keep the boat on a mooring for several months of the year and the sail furls so securely that I feel comfortable leaving it hoisted all the time, which makes sneaking out for a quick sail much easier.
(No relationship with Aero Luff...they were just the only ones I found who seemed to really 'get' the particular needs of these little mini cruising boats. Everything else seemed to be either dinghy-orientated or intended for much bigger boats).
Hey Mat, really enjoying these shakedown sails, Ben’s a handy bloke to have on board. You’ve made a bloody good job of the internal refit. Jimmy does a great job of his sails. All in all a great vid, cheers.
It will be very helpful if you would put the technical details about the rig and rudder on a website. I’m sure there are many ComPac sailors who would like to use your setup. These are some of the best videos on sailing the small ComPac I’ve seen on TH-cam. Thank you for the sailing expertise and bring us along.
Wow. Great upgrades. Nice work. I have a Precision 18, similar to the Com-Pac 16, except it has a centerboard tucked in the stub keel. I'm really partial to my CDI furler. I do a lot of light air sailing and have a 135% and a 150% genoa. A few turns on the furler and it is sailing, or reefed, or doused completely. The shape is not bad when reefed. Not having to hank on a sail kneeling on my old knees in swell cancels out all the cons for me. As you well bring out, it is all a trade off each must weigh with their circumstances and preferences. Well covered.
Nicely done! Helm corrected. I have found that the center of mass is pretty close to the companionway opening. So, when crew sits there, the boat feels even better balanced. Sitting aft or when one goes forward, I can feel the difference. Not as much as a dinghy, of course. Anyway, she may feel even happier when crew is a bit forward in the cockpit. She is already sailing better after these upgrades. Well done!
Nice video as always. I currently sail a SCAMP and I really prefer the lug rig to the sloop on a small boat. I had a Montgomery 15 for years. Nice boat. But the problem is the exact one you are discussing here. The Montgomery will not point without a jib. But you can’t go out on the foredeck to replace the headsail, especially in a blow when you need to. And with no backstay the jib would bag when tacking and releasing the pressure on the main sheet letting the mast drift a bit forward. I sail in changeable winds, and found it just too much of a pain to deal with that. Now, my SCAMP is much simpler. The lug is so easy to tune, and can be reefed easily underway. In the same waters I find the SCAMP much easier to control, and am willing to go out in higher winds than I was willing to handle in the Montgomery. No doubt the Montgomery can handle it with the storm jib and reefed main. But getting the boat rigged that way under sail was just impossible.
My old cutter (21' on deck, Ed Monk Sr. built in 1935, had running backstays for keeping the jib luff taut. Also flew a Yankee jib from the bowsprit to the masthead. Every time I unfurled it, I could immediately feel the acceleration from that powerful sail. Learned the hard way not to furl while running downwind, as it wanted to wrap itself around the headstay, leading to more excitement than I had bargained for.
Thank you for making these videos they are very helpful to me! I'm 53 and bought a com-pac 16 and will be taking her out this week for my first sail ever. I know nothing about sailing or boats other than it is something I have always wanted to do and watching your videos helps me a lot.
Thanks for all your tips and for taking the time to document the changes and especially the reasoning and sea trials behind the mods.
Another great episode Mat a lot of good information and food for thought in this one. Like your modifications to the interior and the sails look real good. I'll keep Jimmy's sails and canvas in mind when the time comes to dress my Pathfinder. looking forward to meeting you guys sometime soon, hope the car's all fixed and running good.
Thanks Jeff. Jimmy will look after you...he's a great guy. See you soon...
I can't tell you how much I enjoy these videos! Been sailing a CP16 for years and these videos are solid advise any CP 16 sailor really needs to hear. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Fred. Appreciate your positive feedback.
It wasn't really the ideal day to discuss technical stuff!
I think any of the systems would work well on Sea Cat. But you just have to understand the risks of each system.
Wire roller furler (non structural)
Pro's :easy to drop, easy to furl, cheap, and you can change sails.
Cons: Sometimes it doesn't furl in strong winds.
Getting good luff tension can be a problem.
Occasionally it will tangle with the fixed forestay.
Foil type roller reefer.
Pro's: You can reef the sail. Decent forestay tension. Furls well in any weather.
Cons: hard to drop or change the sail at sea. Expensive. Heavy and high windage. Not many suitable small boat sustems. Vulnerable to damage when mast is down
Structural wire furler with halyard.
Pro's: good forestay tension. Easy to drop the sail. Can be used like a hank on sail.
Con's: Expensive, still can't reef sail. Needs special soft hanks. Much more complex than hanks. Swivels are a loaded structural part of rhe rig.
Hanks
Pro's: Super simple, nothing much to go wrong, easy to remove sail. cheap. Best performance. No extra clutter on deck. Can be raised and lowered from aft with a downhaul.
Cons: need to go to the foredeck to properly stow, remove or change the sail.
There are many different ways to do it.
For sea cat the hanked sails are a good option. They can easily be converted to a furling system if Matt decides to change it.
Many thanks for all your wonderful videos especially the Welsford's boats ... fantastic
Details about the mainsheet traveler and boom vang might also be helpful! Thanks so much!
I second this! I'm looking at that mainsheet arrangement with curiosity and would like to understand what you did there to make a traveler.
A spinnaker! On a bath tub! Woohoo!
Loved the episode. That is the very question that I am debating with myself at the moment. 🙂
I can’t thank you two enough for your posts. I am literally about to purchase a 1987 CP 16 tomorrow and will be doing everything you just suggested: foiled rudder, new sails, new standing and running rigging. As one of the other commenters mentioned, it would be wonderful if you could post the technical details, particularly of your new main. Kudos on your cabin refit. You’re giving me so many ideas it’s like drinking out of a fire hose. Best regards, Tim
Another good informative vid boys. (The grin on your face Mat when you were fully powered up on your way in says it all) Nice interior refit job. Beautiful new sails, good job Jimmy. I need my wire luffed roller furler, not a useable foredeck on GYDA and I have the separate forestay, and the free flying blade jib for windy days. May need to look at rudder a bit more.... And news for Feb - waiting with baited breath...:-)
Thanks mate.
Nice work on the interior mods, so much better and space is def always needed! I was tempted to head out also a few times but decided against it cos we know what the channel is like!
love your work - much respect
Thanks for the videos guys. I should bribe you to come up to beautiful Lake Macquarie and help me set up my Explorer 16 like you have done with your Compact.
Can't wait to get down there mate. Enjoying all your videos btw.
Great vid! A really smart looking little boat.
Just wondering if that removed foam was for buoyancy and not sound deadening. A couple of old pfds may not suffice if you’re taking on water. Great to see the new rudder and other improvements increasing the sea kindliness as well as performance.
According to Com-Pac the foam was neither for buoyancy or structural; purely sound deadening. Thank you for your concern and comment.
Can you show us your dyneema rigging. Legend.
It looks like you've gone a way forward since your last presentation. The new sail looks quite hot, as in stolen from a local board sailor. Just joking! But it does look quite powerful. Is it a little "on or off" and not too forgiving? The helm certainly looked a lot more manageable in this video. Has moving the centre of effort aft helped in balancing the boat? Anyway, thanks for the content. It looks like you're having a ball.
Well that does it. I need to cough up the dough for the ruddercraft rudder for my compac 19. No more excuses.
I love the RudderCraft on my 19.
Great film. Please put a wind screen on your mike;) what watch model do you have that registers speed? What make and model of battery do you have? I have a CDI Indo not have the extended now. Thank you from down under. My wife was in New Orleans with a Legion Band and met a person from Australia. We are sending him my book of my adventure in a homebuilt sailboat and going down the Mississippi River. That was fun to do
The watch is an Apple Watch Ultra running the Waterspeed App. Link in description. Thanks for watching.
Who did your interior cushions, Mat?
Foam Land in Murray St, Hobart 👍🏾⚓️
Is Rudder Craft an Australian company?
No. Based in the USA.
I hope you see this comment and reply. I noticed your digital watch that gave your boat speed. What brand is it? I sail a Catalina 22 and hate trying to use my iPhone to get speed and position. I would like to get that information from a watch. Thanks in advance if you would be so kind as to share that information. Loved the video. I use a CDI furler.
Thanks mate! The watch is an Apple Watch Ultra running the Waterspeed App. Link in description.
@@SmallCraftTasmania-ms4sx thanks so much! Very good information.
Great video. If you had been solo sailing, and not in a place where you could tuck in to change headsails, would you have wanted to go forward and switch headsails? Also what king]d of smart watch was that? Thanks for the video. Wish I was closer so I could use your sailmaker.
Thanks mate. The watch is an Apple Watch Ultra running the Waterspeed App. Link in description.
Thanks, I plan to use my ipad for navigation, and it looks like the app will work on that. I need to jog around the block with it to verify.
Was Jimmy previously in Queensland?
Hi Petrea. Yes!
Is this now the world's fastest Compac 16?!😅
Furlers, you can't get rid of all that windage in a blow.
Ha, that about sums it up nicely!