A little advice please!

[superdave]

I've bought a Coronado 23 MkII (shoal draft, 1'11"), and am getting ready to rig it (needs all new sheets and halyards). I'm in Colorado, and will only see lake sailing on this one. I've never sailed before, but plan on taking some classes first.
While I begin to rig it, I want to keep in mind two things: making it easy for friends with no knowledge to help out (color-coded sheets & halyards, etc), and doing the best I can to equip it for singlehanding it. It's a pretty basic boat, and I think I could even step the mast myself, with some smart ideas. I just want to try to rig it right the first time.
I was wondering if anybody had any advice about those subjects.

TIA, Dave

[cardiacpaul]

best pricing on rigging I've found is cajuntrading.ca

[Garett]

As for the mast raising, here is a suggestion: http://www.macgregorsailboats.com/mast_raising.html

This is obviously for a different boat design, but it could easily be fabricated on a boat with a hinged mast. Basically, you just put a winch on the bow, or if you have a trailerable boat use the existing winch, to crank the mast up. Make sure you either make a point of leverage for it to get started moving up, or just lift it up yourself and start cranking from there

[camaraderie]

Garret...FYI...in the absence of a winch you can use the mainsheet tackle as well....used to do this on a Catalina 22 so I know it would work on a smaller boat.

[svs3]

The biggest disadvantage I see to color coding your running rigging is that you won't be able to get a discount for the bulk purchase of line. If you can use all the same line (if that is possible given the size of your sheaves, blocks, cleats, winches, etc.), you may be able to purchase a spool of line at discount. Also, by having alot of extra line about enables you to experiment with different rigging arrangements at minimal cost as well having plenty on hand to replace running rigging as needed. OTOH, you may need so little line that the bulk purchase of it may not really be much of a consideration in the grand scheme of things.

Sam

[pigslo]

Always wanted to sail the lake in Dillon.

[sailaway21]

Rig as presently configured with all running rigging left long. After sailing it a number of times you will have a better idea as to how you wish to fairlead your lines for single handing. If you are going to install a mains'l reefing system, either single or double line, look at some schematics from Harken or others to see how this would be fairled so as not to foul your existing running rigging back to the cockpit.
Sail it first. Look at as many photos of deck layouts as you can for ideas. If you submit a photo of your deck and cockpit you will get much more input from this forum.
Sail it like you stole it.

[werebeagle]

Dave

Where in Colorado are you? I have some experience on a lot of different vessels, and could possibly give you a hand. I'm outside of Boulder. If you want, just PM me your contact info.

Charlie

[werebeagle]

Dave

I sent you my numbers, and after this white S*** melts off I'd gladly take a drive up there some weekend. Also, you might want to check out the Coronado sailboat forum at http://sailing.cnchost.com/board

Charlie

[superdave]

I appreciate the help, everyone. After some thought, I decided that I'll go ahead and rig in one color, and perhaps color-code the cleats instead... some colored vinyl should do the trick. As for single-handing, well, it's such a small boat that I think it will work out regardless (so many stories here have shown that single-handing isn't nearly as difficult as I first though). So I will probably just start sailing, and see what ideas develop.

Great to hear from you all, and I'm looking forward to more of the same!

-Dave