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BOAT STAND You will need a boat stand so you can store the boat or make adjustments with the boat upright. I saw a lot of home made folding stands with wooden ends that look like an X when setup, with sling straps for the boat like a luggage rack, and those are great if you have the talent. I went looking at K-Mart for something cheap that I could modify. What I found was a small canvas folding table with a metal frame that costs about ten bucks. With a hot knife slice, (I did it with my soldering iron), my boat sits on the "table" (which acts like a canvas sling), with the keel hanging through the slice. There is even a nice pocket for your cold drink or your tools. Click on the photo for a closer look. You will see all sorts of fancy stands that pivot your boat and face it into the wind, but nothing so inexpensive and portable as this fold up aluminum frame, canvas table. SCALE In order for the boats in your group to comply with IOM class specifications, one of you will need a measuring tape in millimeters, and a scale calibrated in grams. I got a CS-5000 made by Ohaus. It will weigh up to 5000 grams with an increment of 2 grams. The scale came from Mettler Toledo in Orlando, Florida, the owners of Ohaus, and cost $79 plus tax and $10 freight. You can look at the specifications at the Ohaus web site. We have weighed all the local boats and done some measurements so we are all fairly even on the race course. We had to make a cradle of Styrofoam to hold the boat atop the scale, and with that in place the scale can be zeroed with the touch of a button. You may think measuring is too serious a step to take for just casual racing, but what you are trying to achieve is equal boats so that skill is what determines the outcome of your races. And you might as well have a boat that qualifies, in case your destiny is class champion! WIND VANES Now for those days when you cannot tell where the wind is coming from, you need a wind vane and I know of three that are readily available. The first is a new addition made by Dick Carver in Southern California. It is big enough to see all the way across the pond but still only weighs about 5 or 6 grams. The vane stem screws into the small lug on the Bantock mast top. It is available through Great Basin Model Yachting for $12.50 plus shipping. The second is a tiny, 2 gram number made by Mike Zellanack in St. Petersburg, Florida. He doesn't have a web site but Mike does have email and will send you a parts list, it is mainly for the EC12s, but the wind vane can be modified to fit an IOM. I drilled a small hole in my mast head fitting, and then after partially straightening out the wire shaft for the vane, I pushed it down into the mast about 3 inches. By leaving the bends partially there it binds inside the mast to make a tight fit. It costs $15 plus shipping. Another vane, albeit a little more expensive, is available from SAILSetc, or from Great Basin Model Yachting. It comes in two bearing types, PTFE bearing for about $22 or the ball bearing model for $32 plus shipping. For ball bearings you may have to go directly to SAILSetc. These "Burgees" weigh a little more, about 11 grams or so, but they are considerably larger, and may be easier to see. Again some imagination is required to fit it, but the hole in the mast head fitting might work, or use the small loop in the SAILSetc mast head fitting. TENSIONOMETER Now you are trying to set your rig just right and you would like to know the tension on the shrouds and backstay. Again, Mike Zellanack to the rescue. He has a great tensionometer that works like a charm. Again, you can reach him on email and the cost is $35 plus shipping. You might as well get the wind vane and the tensionometer at the same time and the $5 shipping and handling will cover both. |
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01/09/2006 |
