Aquarius Sail Owners

Looking for any decent mainsails and / or trampolines. Boat has had the Harken travellor added with the rear luff tube on forward side of aft beam. I understand the older "wrap" style tramps are no longer available so what other attach points does one need for new or replacement styles ? I'd be interested in any parts out there. Thanks guys !! davetrey@hotmail.com

Dave,
There is an upgrade kit available that adds a tramp track to the front beam just like the one you already have on your rear beam.
This upgrade kit should be all you need to upgrade to the newer net tramps.

Matt....without separating hulls, I assume the new forward track and old aft track are removed from beams, and slid onto mating tramp boltropes after the tramp has been threaded thru the 2 side tracks ?

I assume if you want to add the self tacking hardware to the older SC model, the tramp you speak of, will work.

Further, are you confident the early SC hull layups can take the added load from the asymmetrics w.o. a front cross member ?
Bill has told me the spar is not the problem here and that the hulls should drive great w.o. enhancing weather helm due to the inherent shared lift.
If the spinnaker is cut with an enlarged midgirth(seems appropriate), then does this added "lift" enhance or negatively impact helm ?-
Since the Arc is 8" wider at beam it obviously will more safely sail a "hotter" course under spinnaker. Was the 8" beam increase a consequence of making the Arc 17 a unirig "oneup" singlehander boat ? Just wondering ....as I'm curious if the boat is well balanced under main alone, or if the spar center has been altered to make it so ?

Also....I have the round tapered battens with the "spatula" shaped ends. Are these ends still available .....appears the luff end is about 1/4" od and leech end about 5/8"od on these.

I saw you had some older sails for other boats.....what's a new main cost and is there a difference with the Arc 17 product other than the flattop design ? If sq.ft is same I assume you removed some of the roach with the new flattop sail . The other obvious question is if the spars are same ? If not, will the old spar work well with the new larger sail area above , and will stiffer top battens be necessary for gust response ? Of course with new main I guess a new batten set will be necessary for sizing anyway.

Sorry if the questions seem mundane, but I want things to work "right" !! Besides, our iceboats are snowed in, so it's time to look forward....

Thanks everyone.....Matt, great forum !

Dave,
The tramp tracks are permanently attached to the forward and rear beams. The tramp comes as two pieces, the main net part and the mesh bags. When installing you install the main part onto the rear beam and then pull it forward into the tracks on the hulls. The Bag is installed in the track on the front beam and the main net part is laced to the bag. When the lacing is finished, the tramp bag covers the lacing. This tramp system was designed specifically to meet the requirements of the self-tacking jib systems that are used on the ARC-17, 21, 22, RC-27 & RC-30 and will work just fine when upgrading an older boat.

Bill is correct with regards to putting a spinnaker on the SC17 mast. The mast on your boat is the same as the mast used on the ARC17, but remember that on the ARC-17 we use a spinnaker bail to control the spinnaker halyard loading on the mast and help with rotation while flying the spinnaker. I would recommend that you put some sort of bail on your mast, it could be a cheap insurance policy.

If the spinnaker rig is done correctly the SC17 hulls should handle a spinnaker fine. That being said, I would still be cautious. The ARC-17 laminate was engineered to handle the added loads of the increased beam and spinnaker. The boat that you have is probably getting close to 20 or 25 years old. Over the past 25 years the laminates in the hulls have changed due to improved processes and materials, producing lighter and stronger results. Without seeing your boat or knowing its exact history it would be hard for anyone to state with 100% confidence that it is up to the task. Use common sense and keep an eye on the hulls until you know what they are capable of.

The ARC-17 had a beam increase of 6” compared to the original SC-17. This increase was result of a decision to increase righting moment in an effort to counter the increase in sail area, addition of a spinnaker and a desire to improve the overall performance of the boat. The ARC-17 has a larger mainsail then the original SC-17, this increase is due in part to the square-top along with a complete redesign of the sail plan.

The “Spatula” tip on your battens is no longer available. We still supply the Tubular Tapered battens with new sails and utilize a round plastic “shrink” cap to protect the end of the batten. If your interested in battens or pricing on new sails for your 17 you can contact our sales office at sales@aquarius-sail.com or 651-462-SAIL

i have complete set of rudders and castings

gold1530@bellsouth.net