Hi Danelle, Slugs on the main are the way to go. They stack when the main is down, and they go upo the slot easily when you are hoisting the main. I never had a problem with them on my M15 solo sailing.
Glad to hear that you had such a great sail. It just gets better and better as you become more familiar with your M17. CB banging about in a seaway is pretty normal. If you are hard on the wind, side loading of the CB should keep it quiet, but on a broad reach - with some clearance of the board in the CB slot, it does have room to move sideways. When it does, it creates noise. Many years ago I had a centerboard racing sloop on a lake in Germany. The boat's name was Bear, and in the right sailing conditions, the CB would set up a noise, and we just laughed and said the Bear is growling.... as we ate up our competitors in a race. Connie Danelle Landis wrote: > Today, with my husband offering to take the kids to the movie, I was faced > with the first sunny day in over a week, a perfect brisk wind, but no family > to sail with me. I decided I was ready to get out on my own in "Ceto", my > M17. > The good news is, due to the boltrope system on the main, I am finally ready > to publish my "Alaskan Profanity Encyclopedia"! Ha ha. With no one to keep > the boat pointed into the wind, I had a *really* annoying time trying to get > that sail up! The $60 pre-feeder we bought awhile ago was a total failure. > The sail got mashed up in it worse than it gets fouled up in the mast slot. > I think it was designed for a stiffer sail. > On the bright side, I was able to try out the 150% genoa, without kids to > scream "MOM! We're at 30 DEGREES!!!!" (My 11 year old daughter has taken to > monitoring the inclinometer as though it were a heart monitor.) I had a 10 k > or so breeze for the first hour of beating my way through a narrow passage, > then broke out into this huge space where I had tons of room to do anything. > That was good, because I had that big genoa out, and the wind picked up to > about 25 k, so I could really test the close hauled abilities of the boat. > I was heeled about 25 degrees for about 45 minutes straight, and one question > I have for you guys is, how typical is it, for the centerboard to bang around > while close hauled? We got used to it banging when we'd run downwind (then > we'd reel it up), but is it normal for it to bang around while beating into > the wind? How much stress can the pins and cb slot handle? I did have a > wild current pushing against the wind, and some crazy washtub like wave > action, so with the strong heeling, I was thinking the waves must have been > pushing the cb around more than normal? > This was such an amazingly fun sail, even if I was alone. The genoa dragging > into the bright, sharp waves, the sunshine, the slice of the hull against the > saltwater...aaaahhh. It was awesome! > Danelle > "Ceto" M17 #378 > Ketchikan, AK > > > > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > > _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
