Mast rake


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Paul
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:21 pm

Mast rake

Post by Paul »

I have deen sailing a Dockrell 27 and the weather helm is very heavy even in low winds. The mast used to rack foward and that was worse. It is now vertical and still unmanageable. Can anyone advise me on corrective action.
Cheers
Paul
Bill W
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:23 pm

mast rake

Post by Bill W »

Paul,

Not familiar with this particular boat but I doubt that the mast should rake forward. It is sounds as though your head sail is too small, are you sure that it is full size and not a no2 jib. Try reefing the mainsail with the jib that you have, that should balance things up, if so I would suggest that to use the full main you need a genoa.

Bill W
roncornwell
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:05 pm

Mast Rake

Post by roncornwell »

I purchased a Dockrell 27 last year and I have the same problem with weather helm. I am interested to know if you have managed to resolve it. Somebody suggested to me that the mast was stepped too far back.
I spoke previous owners and was told to reef early. Sounds like there could be a design problem to me. Too late now I guess, just have to live with it.
roncornwell
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:05 pm

Dockrell same as Hurley

Post by roncornwell »

Hi Dave.


Thanks for the advice. Yes, they are similar boats above water but the splayed out keel of the Dockrell may well affect the handling I suspect. The idea of the splayed keel was to help the boat take the ground and to prevent leeway which is good but believe me the weaterhelm is bad. The only solution it seems is early reefing.

As you probably know Dockrell went bust after making this boat, I wonder why?

Ron C.
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