rogeriom

I'm never quite sure about matching mast to sail. Brad's post above advises a straight or near staight mast but in his tuning notes he says bend the mast to suit the mainsail luff with a gentle curve. I allways thought that the luff curve was there to push some camber into the sail along with broad seams. If this is the case why take out the luff curve by bending the mast or is the luff curve there to accomodate the predicted mast bend similar to putting a concave curve in the jib to allow for forestay sag? I guess the obvious answer is to just tweek the rig until the sail looks nice with no folds or creases. Roger Threadingham

Hi John, Your question on whether to buy new or refurbish an older IOM design is a common one. I am a relatively newcomer to IOMs and I faced the same question. After asking around I was advised to start with an old affordable design so I bought a Gadget and refurbished it. There's nothing wrong with a Gadget except it may be a bit too beamy compared to modern designs. In my opinion if your good at reading the wind making good starts you can still win at club events with an old design but there is no substitute for the speed and VMG of a modern design to get you to the windward mark first and into clear air. Refurbishing an old IOM can cost quite a lot of money. With hindsight I realise I should have put that money towards the the best boat I could afford. I think that IOMs are now optimised and there are numerous modern designs to choose from all of which perform well. Having said that I also have a Lintel which is still incredibly fast even in lighter winds. My last two boats are Alternatives which I built myself because I knew the design was fast and I didn't want to wait for the right boat to come onto the market. I have tried to match professionally made boats by maximising the corrector weights, easier said than done. Roger Threadingham.

Hi Richard, You're more advanced with your Alternative than I am, I'm still fiddling around with the rigging. Regarding my mast ram problem of insufficient room between the mast and ram.The reason is because I positioned, by mistake, the fin/mast box 5 mm further forward than the plan so I hope this dosen't affect the balance too much. I notice your ram takes up less space but doesn't provide lateral support, this may be my only option. I also have the same problem as you with the kicker strut fouling the winch line. One reason is that the SAILSetc plastic compression strut has a very large knurled adjustment in line with the edge of the cockpit. Also initially I used the SAILSetc fixing point on the boom instead of Brad's position which is much closer to the mast so I shortened the wire and repositioned it, this gives more clearance however it didn't cure the problem completely so I have ordered a SAILSetc reverse strut which has the adjusting screw nearer the boom. Can you tell me what the final total weight of your boat was before correctors were added and does the boat feel balanced? Also how much rake have you set? Regards, Roger.

Hi Richard, I've just finished building my Alternative and I am in the process of rigging it. I have used a planked balsa wood contruction sheathed both sides in fibre glass mat using light weight epoxy resin. Weight of painted hull with winch, servo,pot, battery and receiver is 855 gm's. I wanted a total weight under 4 Kg. In a test tank the boat floats perfectly on her waterline. I am having a problem fitting a mast ram at the moment, there isn't enough room between the bulkhead and the mast. I have attached 3 photos but the resolution is greatly reduced in order to send them. Roger