I got a sailboat

[JohnnyTarr]

Well for all of you that know me I got an early birthday present. I bought myself a 14' O'Day Javelin. I brought it home this morning and I turned around and headed out for family stuff. Now when I got back I cleaned it up and tomorrow I hope to set it up and see how it all goes together.

[Tartan Jack]

Sounds interesting!

Got a name and/or picts?

[silas thatcher]

sounds cool !! make sure you post some pics for us to drool over...

[JohnnyTarr]

I will get the pics once I have her rigged up. I think that she will look better that way.

[michaelsbagley]

Congrats man!!! I know this is something you've been tying to get for yourself for a few years now. Glad it has finally become a reality.

[JohnnyTarr]

Well I have learned how to rig my boat now all I have to do is get some time to put it in the water.

[Tartan Jack]

Any picts yet?

[Niko]

Well I have learned how to rig my boat now all I have to do is get some time to put it in the water.

You have to rig her?

I send my blessings to you mate...

[JohnnyTarr]

Update!!

Ok I knew how to step the mast and run the stays from the mast to the boat. I knew how to put the boom on and the sail. I have the manual for how to rig it but the manual is wrong for my boat. There is a line that controls just how far the boom travels and this is the line I have been having trouble with. Now I have figured out how to install that line correctly I thought I would take the boat out for a test run. Well that didn't go so well I found that the cable that keeps the centerboard up is snapped and I could not launch the boat. I could not launch the boat because the centerboard kept hitting the frame of the trailer. Now I need to fix that cable but to do that I need to figure out how to get access to the centerboard. So there she sits in drydock till I get it fixed.

[Joe Pyrat]

Congratulations on your new boat, welcome to the sailor's world.

Here's a website you might find of use: http://javelinsailor...linsailors.html

Presuming you are new to sailing, there are two types of rigging on a sailboat, standing rigging and running rigging. Standing rigging holds up the mast and running rigging controls the sails. Standing rigging consists of a fore or jibstay, a back stay (but not necessacarily on a small sailboat) and shrouds to port and starboard. Running rigging consists of halyards (Jib halyard and main halyard) which raise sails and sheets which contol sails (jib sheet and main sheet).

One way to jury rig your centerboard is to slip a line over the bow so it runs around the hull from port to starboard, let it slid aft until it is in contact with the centerboard then cinch it up until the centerboard is retracted into the hull. Had a friend who was test sailing a Pearson 35 (keel/centerboard design) who had to do this once.

I found Steve Colgate's Learn to Sail video helpful when I got my first boat. Welcome to a wonderful and exciting hobby.

Fair winds and following seas...

Edited July 24, 2009 by Joe Pyrat

[JohnnyTarr]

I have sailed a few time in the past but I am new to calling everything by their proper names. Lots of new ones to learn and wrong ones to forget. What really happened with all of this rigging problems is that I talked myself out of the right way of doing it because I got a "manual" that showed the traveler at the transom and not to the centerboard like it is on my boat.

[Joe Pyrat]

After looking up your sail plan it does not seem your boat had a traveler, in it's original configuration anyway, but the main sheet was attached to the top of the centerboard trunk. Note a traveler is a track that runs athourtship (across the hull at a 90 degree angle to the keel) and allows the main sheet attachment point to be moved to port or starboard in order to better adjust the trim of the main.

Example of a traveler installation on a different sailboat

Javelin Sail Plan

Edited July 25, 2009 by Joe Pyrat

[MarkG]

I have sailed a few time in the past but I am new to calling everything by their proper names. Lots of new ones to learn and wrong ones to forget. What really happened with all of this rigging problems is that I talked myself out of the right way of doing it because I got a "manual" that showed the traveler at the transom and not to the centerboard like it is on my boat.

My boat is a 19th century design with a custom sail and mast so I can only give general advice. On mine, the traveler is a line attached to either side of the transom and going over the tiller. A line goes from the end of the boom to the traveler, back to the boom and along it to the half-way point. It then goes to the top of the centerboard truck and is controlled from there.

When I was researching how to set this up I found that some boats simplify this setup and just run the line from the midpoint of the boom to the centerboard trunk.

Mark

[JohnnyTarr]

I have sailed a few time in the past but I am new to calling everything by their proper names. Lots of new ones to learn and wrong ones to forget. What really happened with all of this rigging problems is that I talked myself out of the right way of doing it because I got a "manual" that showed the traveler at the transom and not to the centerboard like it is on my boat.

My boat is a 19th century design with a custom sail and mast so I can only give general advice. On mine, the traveler is a line attached to either side of the transom and going over the tiller. A line goes from the end of the boom to the traveler, back to the boom and along it to the half-way point. It then goes to the top of the centerboard truck and is controlled from there.

When I was researching how to set this up I found that some boats simplify this setup and just run the line from the midpoint of the boom to the centerboard trunk.

Mark

Yep that is what mine does. It has a line that goes from the aft end of the boom to a pully half way up the boom, it then goes to a pully on the centerboard trunk, from there it goes back to the rudder for control. I just have to fix the centerboard and get it out on the water.

[Joe Pyrat]

Yep that is what mine does. It has a line that goes from the aft end of the boom to a pully half way up the boom, it then goes to a pully on the centerboard trunk, from there it goes back to the rudder for control. I just have to fix the centerboard and get it out on the water.

What you are describing is a main sheet, not a main sheet traveler. A traveler would allow the lower connection point of the main sheet to be shifted port or starboard. The pulley on the boom acts to reduce the effort required to haul in the main sheet but because it attaches to a fixed (non-movable) point on the deck, centerboard trunk in your case you are not using a traveler.

Some examples of main sheets.

The first example is of different amounts of purchase. The one on the left would effectively cut the effort to haul in the main in half which is the setup it sounds like you have. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th progressively reduce the effort and would be found on bigger boats which larger mains.

This second example, which is similar to that on a MacGregor 25, looks more complex but is still using fixed deck attachments so no traveler is in use. Also notice the purchase here would be the same as that in the second main sheet shown in the above diagram. Now if you imagine this example without the second swivel block (the one on the left) and mounted fore and aft, it would look similar to your description of the system on your boat.

This diagram is of a main sheet attached to a traveler. The boom can be adjusted to port or starboard without adjusting the main sheet along the track of the traveler by adjusting the position of the main sheet car (51) along the main sheet track (50) using its control lines (57 and a similar line located opposite the shown location). Also notice this system makes two deck connections just like yours, the car (51) and the main sheet cam cleat (55) before running aft to the sail trimmers position.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Joe Pyrat