Finally sailed the 192 for the first time today...

[eMKay]

Initial impression during the 20 minutes the wind was above 5kts was very good for the sailing qualities, very bad for the location and function of all the deck hardware. The boat is much stiffer, more comfortable, and tracks so much better than the Siren, all of this was expected of course since it's a much heavier boat with an actual keel, I could actually let go of the tiller in this boat. The 130% genoa really pulls well, but the main is a little baggy, it's actually in worse shape than the 13 year older sail I had on the Siren so that needs to be relaced, and I need to change the location of the cleats for the halyards (Alex already told me where to put those, just haven't gotten around to it yet), and get a real furler, the luff wire furler is totally useless (even more than the one on my Siren was). Also I think I need a different prop for the outboard, it idles at 5mph! full throttle gets 7 or as fast as possible really. I would rather idle at like 2.

So all good when you take into account all the bad can easily be fixed, tomorrow promised much better wind, and my wife gave me a birthday present early! It's a hand held wind gauge. (Kestrel 1000). Sorry about the lack of pics, but her camera is 12 feet under our slip and I have yet to replace my wonderful Canon A95 I destroyed taking pictures of the storm we had this winter. That camera took over 4000 pictures, I'm replacing it with an S5 as soon as the budget allows...And I get my wife a new one, maybe an SD1100.

[craigtoo]

Way to go eMKay!

Re-doing the running rigging myself....I think you're about to feel my pain.

heh

craig

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by eMKay

Initial impression during the 20 minutes the wind was above 5kts was very good for the sailing qualities, very bad for the location and function of all the deck hardware. The boat is much stiffer, more comfortable, and tracks so much better than the Siren, all of this was expected of course since it's a much heavier boat with an actual keel, I could actually let go of the tiller in this boat. The 130% genoa really pulls well, but the main is a little baggy, it's actually in worse shape than the 13 year older sail I had on the Siren so that needs to be relaced, and I need to change the location of the cleats for the halyards (Alex already told me where to put those, just haven't gotten around to it yet), and get a real furler, the luff wire furler is totally useless (even more than the one on my Siren was). Also I think I need a different prop for the outboard, it idles at 5mph! full throttle gets 7 or as fast as possible really. I would rather idle at like 2.

SLACKER... Get a tachometer for the outboard, like this one:



Without a tachometer, it is almost impossible to figure out what size/pitch prop you need. You want the prop to be doing basically "hull-speed" for your boat when at WOT and the WOT should be in the middle of the manufacturer's suggested range.

So all good when you take into account all the bad can easily be fixed, tomorrow promised much better wind, and my wife gave me a birthday present early! It's a hand held wind gauge. (Kestrel 1000). Sorry about the lack of pics, but her camera is 12 feet under our slip and I have yet to replace my wonderful Canon A95 I destroyed taking pictures of the storm we had this winter. That camera took over 4000 pictures, I'm replacing it with an S5 as soon as the budget allows...And I get my wife a new one, maybe an SD1100.

If you want a nice 10 MP camera. The Olypmus Stylus 1030SW is pretty good for a boater, since it is both shock and water resistant.



About $340 or so.

[eMKay]

We went out for a morning sail today, it was just us, a few sport fishermen, and one other sailboat. The day started with a good 15kt breeze (now I have exact numbers thanks to my present ) wind whistling a bit in the rigging. The forecast was for 10-20kt winds from the south to southwest with rain showers after 12 and thunderstorms late, so we went out under main alone and she sure sails nice, again comparing to my old boat which had horrible weather helm under main alone, the 192 tracked straight and true. we sailed out past the breakwall and the waves out there were a good 2-4 feet, 4 second intervals. Sailing upwind lots of fun, sailing downwind ugh. Not so much, but we got a little surfing in, then the wind died down a bit as there was a small thunderstorm just to the north of us moving east-west, it sucked the wind right out and when we came back into the breakwall it died completely. I mean nothing.

So we motored toward the marina, and I could see the windmills still spinning the same speed they were this morning, and see the wind returning on the water, so I shut of the motor, raised the sails (both this time) and was greeted with perfect 10-15kt winds, nice sailing, and the coast guard went zipping by with a news crew on board, their camera pointed straight at us, so maybe I'll be on the news Then I saw the as predicted weather coming ands we went back.

[eMKay]

Damn, we should have stayed out. There is no rain, no T-storms, just a nice breeze from the southwest. Maybe we'll go for an evening sail. Sure is nice having a slip and living 4 miles from it.