Aquarius Sail Owners

I have a whaler era 1983 SC19 which used to belong to Dennis Banks (he now had and ARC 22). I have been out on the boat 5 times and it is a blast. The 4th time out we noticed the rig was really loose. The only thing I could figure is upper section of the forestay above the furler swivel is unwinding. I replaced it with a turnbuckle at approximately the length of the cable when tightened back up. The turnbuckle here works great and is pinned and cannot unwind. The side stays are in the lowest hole as recommended. The helm was almost perfect before and on the last sail it was really rough out for my skills and we seemed to have a lot of windward helm. We sailed a race and that 55 miles I was forced to helm with both hands and my shoulders are SORE. My crew for the race was pretty experienced I20 sailor and we ran the board about 1/2 way up. Another friend says with the supercats you need to run the boards all the way down due to the shared lift, and that is what is causing the weather helm. But some 19's don't have boards. If the rig is not too tight is that causing a bow in the mast and the helm issues? I really don't think it's the rudders as they were fine in the past.

I have read on here that the mast rake should be 5 deg fwd, is that correct, and how do I measure that as well as how do I measure or adjust the rudders.

Thanks,
Ernie

Ernie,

For starters I would replace the turn buckle with a proper pigtail. The pigtail provides some flexibility at the connection between the forestay and mast hounds, something that the turnbuckle cannot provide.

Weather helm can be caused by a variety of things, including mast rake. The 5 Degrees of mast rake is measured between the front of the mast and the deck of the boat just in front of the main crossbeam. This can be measured using a contractors angle meter, inexpensive ones can be found at your local building supply store. The mast rake is "back" not "forward" as you had mentioned, meaning that the mast leans towards the back of the boat.

Hope that helps.

Matt,
What are the design lenghts of the rigging on the SC19?
I will remove all of mine and check it, I am sure it have been replaced many times in the past and I would like to start with factory specs.

Especially the pigtail lenght, I know it was wrong when I bought the boat as the pin hole in it was too big.

Thanks,
Ernie

also the diamond wires and all tensions required

Thanks,
Ernie

Ernie,

I would suggest measuring all of your wires and then giving Tom a call at 651-462-SAIL. He can review the lengths with you and confirm if things are correct.

I am not sure but I think that the shared lift concept is "extremely limited", not implemented on any boats other than an ARC 21 or 2.

Eric Arbogast
ARC 2101