Hello, my old RWO R220 furling drum was very hard to turn. I managed to free it with immersing it in 70C water. I hope it will stay free. There is a glue line in the middle of the drum. I suppose that someone in the past tried to make it watertight or to take it apart for maintenance. Is there a pic...

Thank you very much Brian for all your comments, I drilled a 3mm hole 25cm up from the bottom of the mast. I measured the distance between the hole and the top of the plug with a piece of wire and found it to be about 5cm. By weighing before and after I drained 2.3l of water accumulated over a perio...

Thanks Bob,

my question is not so much the depth of the heel casting which is I believe about 1" inserted into the mast but the thickness of the plug located on top of the said casting. I just would like to avoid drilling through the wall of the mast into the plug.

Cheers, Thierry

Hello, I have had my lower mast turned upside down for quite a few days and it drains very slowly. I would probably have to wait for a few months to drain it dry. That makes sense as the leak is very small. I have decided against drilling just above the top plug of the lower mast as it seems to me t...

Brian thank you very much for the detailed reply, unfortunately on my mast the sleeve is mounted on the top part of the mast making the bottom part a receptacle for seeping rain water. If you drill through this plug with a small hole you will entre the sealed section... I guess the sealing plug woul...

Hi Bob, I think I'll first try the last idea you describe of installing a gasket between the two parts of the mast. I might try teflon tape. If it fails to keep it watertight I'll go and drill a small hole at the base of the mast above the mast heel casting. Do you know how far the casting goes into...

Thanks for the tip Liam. I already ordered 5 so I will only have a couple of spares left of the middle one but they were easy to order and easy to remove from the beam.

I just found the article Leaky masts by Bob Carter. Thank you Bob!

Hello, yesterday I broke 3 sliders. My trampoline has unfortunately been built the wrong way making it impossible to get tension across the boat. I replaced the original dacron lacing line with dyneema but wasn't too satisfied with the tension. I then replaced the lacing through individual dyneema t...

Hello, over time a bit of rainwater accumulates in the lower mast. Either I take the mast down and occasionally drain it or I drill a small hole at the bottom of the mast and plug it before going sailing. The last solution is a bit rough but fast and efficient. Do you also have this problem and what...

Thanks Liam,

always reactive! Today it went on the hook first try. I probably need to crack the nut myself.

Cheers, Thierry

Hello, sometimes I hook the mainsail up first try, most of the times not. Yesterday I was trying for 10 minutes in all possible positions, bow down or up, wind from different directions. Is there a trick? Should I turn the figure-of-eight knot in a particular position? In the end I got it hooked up ...

Thanks Brian for the detailed method, I found the origin of the leak for the starboard hull. I got the boat with foot holds placed about 6" behind the big hatches. Someone used it as a handle to lift the hull. The deck got separated from the hull and there is a small crack. I will start fixing ...

Hello, do you have any trick to stop the main sheet from being washed away at the back of the trampoline? My hulls leak a bit. I sponge about half a liter out in the most affected one after a couple of hours sail. How are the deck to beam socket build? Should I reef out the gel coat at the joints an...

Thanks for the answer. My question was more related to the differences between the 2 shapes of sails and why would you use one or the other apart from the fact that the square top is not class legal. The sail area is roughly the same. I am not going to race. My plan is to cruise around my patch of w...