Beautiful boat and great videos! I have the same setup on my Southern Cross 28. I’m doing a full refit and will take inspiration from the great work you have done.
Very informative video. I have a 28’ cutter here in NZ (not nearly as nice as yours) and tacking in light to moderate winds single handed is a pain. Yesterday in 15-20 it actually did clear the inner stay each time. I am going to look into the quick release option. Cheers
Another really great video! I came to this same conclusion early on with my Voyager 26 cutter. I took the stays’l boom off the boat completely and attached that inner stay ( when rarely needed) with a quick release. My Morris Frances 26 ( while not the cutter version) also has an inner stay ( presumably for a storm jib) and I once again fitted it with the same quick release as you have. It is generally pulled to the side and secured to a shroud and out of the way. How do you keep your exterior teak ( cap rails etc) so clean? Currently I use Semco, which is easy…but I was tempted to just keep caprails etc bare. I was just never sure how to safely clean and protect it. I’m in fresh water which, I’m sure, is different when it comes to teak. Thanks for any insights…and as always for sharing Starwhite. I love her!
We've tried many different treatments on our teak over the years and found most just didn't seem to be worth the hassle. So, we've settled on bare wood for our caprail and rubrail. I use a fine scotch bright pad and a bucket of saltwater to lightly scrub them every 3 or 4 months. I try to scrub them after it has been raining for a couple days (common here in the PNW) which seems to loosen the surface dirt. I scrub across the grain to limit raising the grain. We are currently using Cetol on the Boom Gallows, Mainhatch Seahood and Rudder Cheeks. I'm not fond of the Cetol color, but I felt like we needed a little Bling and it is easy to use! I have always kept the tiller varnished...
I prefer a loose footed Staysail so I removed the Staysail Boom and installed Staysail Tracks on the cabintop. I mention this in the last minute of this video. The Staysail is small enough that I normally don't need a winch to pull it in, but on the rare occasion when it may be under a heavier load, I just luff up for a moment to ease the load as I pull it in. Westsail originally equipped their boats with cleats that have a jam feature on one of the ears so winches are not usually needed for the Staysail. The Self Tailing winch on our cabintop was used when I had the Mainsheet lead forward to the gooseneck, down to the deck and then aft on the cabintop. The Mainsheet is now terminating at the Traveller on the Bridgedeck. Again it's a matter of preference, I prefer the Mainsheet on the Bridgedeck within easy reach from the helm. When the Mainsheet was terminating on the cabintop it was difficult to reach while holding the tiller.
Right, 2 tracks and jam cleats. I hate my staysail boom, climbing over it and what not. I have #2 so no boomkin or traveler. Just two blocks and rear stay attached to the aft pulpit, similar to my Flicka 20.
@@tonyrusso9397 Removing the Staysail Boom is easy and only takes a few minutes. You can still fly your staysail without the boom using your existing single sheet. Just put a shackle on the sail clew so you can disconnect the sheet from the clew when you're not using it.
i would fit a stronger bobstay mayby ss chain .as thats all thats holding the mast up when slogging to windward without the inner stay . i have sailed cutters most of my life and would not trust ss wire that would be continually under water. westsails are beautiful boats
Failure of a Bobstay on most boats would indeed be a major issue. 1x19 - #316 Stainless wire is generally considered the best choice for Standing Rigging including Bobstays. Our Bobstay is oversized with 3/8" 1x19 #316 Stainless wire. It has roll swaged fittings on each end. The weakest part of a swaged #316 wire Bobstay is the swages of which there are only two. A Chain Bobstay does give a certain Salty look to a vessel ! The weakest part of any length of chain is the weld on each individual link. A 6 foot 3/8" Chain Bobstay would have more than 40 links/welds.
Enjoyed that info walk thru, terrific boat. I've only seen the Westsail 32, not the 28.
Yes, this is tHe best sailboat in my opinion and tour westsail 28 is Very besutyfull. Congratulations.
Had the same arrangement on a Tayana 37, it worked very well.
Beautiful boat and great videos! I have the same setup on my Southern Cross 28. I’m doing a full refit and will take inspiration from the great work you have done.
We sailed a Gilmer 32 (aka Southern Cross 31) to the South Pacific and back in the late 80's, Great boats!!
Love your videos. thanks
Thank you for watching and the kind comment.
Very informative video. I have a 28’ cutter here in NZ (not nearly as nice as yours) and tacking in light to moderate winds single handed is a pain. Yesterday in 15-20 it actually did clear the inner stay each time. I am going to look into the quick release option. Cheers
It will make a BIG difference on those days when you're tacking a lot.
Lovely, rugged little yachts. Not many in Australia unfortunately ...
Thanks !
Another really great video! I came to this same conclusion early on with my Voyager 26 cutter. I took the stays’l boom off the boat completely and attached that inner stay ( when rarely needed) with a quick release. My Morris Frances 26 ( while not the cutter version) also has an inner stay ( presumably for a storm jib) and I once again fitted it with the same quick release as you have. It is generally pulled to the side and secured to a shroud and out of the way. How do you keep your exterior teak ( cap rails etc) so clean? Currently I use Semco, which is easy…but I was tempted to just keep caprails etc bare. I was just never sure how to safely clean and protect it. I’m in fresh water which, I’m sure, is different when it comes to teak. Thanks for any insights…and as always for sharing Starwhite. I love her!
We've tried many different treatments on our teak over the years and found most just didn't seem to be worth the hassle. So, we've settled on bare wood for our caprail and rubrail. I use a fine scotch bright pad and a bucket of saltwater to lightly scrub them every 3 or 4 months. I try to scrub them after it has been raining for a couple days (common here in the PNW) which seems to loosen the surface dirt. I scrub across the grain to limit raising the grain. We are currently using Cetol on the Boom Gallows, Mainhatch Seahood and Rudder Cheeks. I'm not fond of the Cetol color, but I felt like we needed a little Bling and it is easy to use! I have always kept the tiller varnished...
@@Westsail28 That is incredibly helpful and I sincerely appreciate you taking the time for this reply…Thanks! Jay
How do you use the staysail without the boom and only one winch?
I prefer a loose footed Staysail so I removed the Staysail Boom and installed Staysail Tracks on the cabintop. I mention this in the last minute of this video. The Staysail is small enough that I normally don't need a winch to pull it in, but on the rare occasion when it may be under a heavier load, I just luff up for a moment to ease the load as I pull it in. Westsail originally equipped their boats with cleats that have a jam feature on one of the ears so winches are not usually needed for the Staysail.
The Self Tailing winch on our cabintop was used when I had the Mainsheet lead forward to the gooseneck, down to the deck and then aft on the cabintop. The Mainsheet is now terminating at the Traveller on the Bridgedeck. Again it's a matter of preference, I prefer the Mainsheet on the Bridgedeck within easy reach from the helm. When the Mainsheet was terminating on the cabintop it was difficult to reach while holding the tiller.
Right, 2 tracks and jam cleats. I hate my staysail boom, climbing over it and what not. I have #2 so no boomkin or traveler. Just two blocks and rear stay attached to the aft pulpit, similar to my Flicka 20.
@@tonyrusso9397 Removing the Staysail Boom is easy and only takes a few minutes. You can still fly your staysail without the boom using your existing single sheet. Just put a shackle on the sail clew so you can disconnect the sheet from the clew when you're not using it.
i would fit a stronger bobstay mayby ss chain .as thats all thats holding the mast up when slogging to windward without the inner stay . i have sailed cutters most of my life and would not trust ss wire that would be continually under water. westsails are beautiful boats
Failure of a Bobstay on most boats would indeed be a major issue.
1x19 - #316 Stainless wire is generally considered the best choice for Standing Rigging including Bobstays. Our Bobstay is oversized with 3/8" 1x19 #316 Stainless wire. It has roll swaged fittings on each end. The weakest part of a swaged #316 wire Bobstay is the swages of which there are only two.
A Chain Bobstay does give a certain Salty look to a vessel ! The weakest part of any length of chain is the weld on each individual link. A 6 foot 3/8" Chain Bobstay would have more than 40 links/welds.