Hi all. Looking in to buying a preowned Nacra 20. and have a small lsit of questions. Hoping some of ya'all can helm me out>

1) What is the differecne between an I20 and Nacra 20?
2) What are the benfits/cons to end pole or midpole snuffer system?
3) What does a new main or jib or spin cost?
4) How is the boat righted after capsize?
5) What should I be looking for in apreowned boat?
6) What should be a warning sign in a bad boat?
7) What are the set up and derig approx times?
8) Ideal combined crew weights?
9) Are there tuning guides availiable for the boat?

Currently own a Nacra 6.0, thsi was my first cat, and purchased it to learn how to sail beach cats. Afer the great time at Spring Fever, it got into my mind to move up to a one-design class to learn more. Now that the Nacra 20 NACs are in my home town this October, the purchase decision jsut stepped up a whole lot on my priorities list. Thanks for your help.

Craig
8)

1) What is the differecne between an I20 and Nacra 20?
The Nacra 20 is just the new name for the I20. Same boat.

2) What are the benfits/cons to end pole or midpole snuffer system?
End pole has a lot of windage where it doesn't need to be. People say its easier to snuff, but the consensus on the race course is that the midpole is a better solution. It also allows a better tackline solution.

3) What does a new main or jib or spin cost?
I believe a new main is $1500, Jib about $500, Spin about $1400. These are of course always subject to change.

4) How is the boat righted after capsize?
Same way any other catamaran is righted. You get the righting line out and you pull it over.

5) What should I be looking for in apreowned boat?
These boats are solid. There aren't really many problem areas on them that I can think of. Just make sure that it looks like it's been well-cared for. Make sure the tramp doesn't look old. The slot-fit tramp system can be a PITA to get right but the latest solution from EP that I have on my tramp has worked wonders for it.

6) What should be a warning sign in a bad boat?
See above.

7) What are the set up and derig approx times?
1 person can take up to an hour. 2 People can get it done in as little as 20 minutes if both know what they are doing and are motivated to get on the water.

8) Ideal combined crew weights?
360lbs up to 400lbs. The N20 handles weight really well.

9) Are there tuning guides availiable for the boat?
http://home.comcast.net/~smalldog266/N20_tuning.htm
http://www.nacraeurope.com/news_details.php?id=23

These are pretty dated however - but they'll get you started.

1) What is the differecne between an I20 and Nacra 20?

I think that the rename came about because the original i20 in Europe had a smaller mainsail to fit the Formula 20 rules. When formula 20 fizzled out, the boat was given the US sized rig to become a one design
2) What are the benfits/cons to end pole or midpole snuffer system?

Mid pole goes faster - too much windage on the end pole one
3) What does a new main or jib or spin cost?


4) How is the boat righted after capsize?

Carbon mast makes it pretty straight foward if there are 2 on the boat
5) What should I be looking for in apreowned boat?

Fussy owner.
6) What should be a warning sign in a bad boat?

Nothing special, they are fairly tough
being foam sandwich, they can get covered in dents which are usually too much agro to repair
7) What are the set up and derig approx times?

same as any other cat
can be done on your own if the front-monkey is late, as the mast is nice and light to get up
8) Ideal combined crew weights?

Within class rules,

9) Are there tuning guides availiable for the boat?

Yes visit Nacara europe.com


The boat does not cut through the water like a 6.0, but is an all round nicer boat to sail.

The boat was designed to cary a spinnaker, and at that time, the biggest problem with spinnakers was pitchpoling, so they made the bows very tall and fat, and you really can drive it very hard before you will pitch it, unlike most other boats.

YEah, that is right. My express has the pole going straight forward, so in chop and waves the pole goes in the water, along with the support strut. Broke one pole last year going through waves upwind, broke the other at Sping Fever upwind that was funny as hell. So diggin the setup of the N20.

Undecided got it all pretty much right. Sail prices are a little higher. Jib 600, Main 1850, Spin I forget but I think 1500.

Great boat. And I'm not just saying that.

Things to look for on used.

Bottom screwed up from beaching.
Back of daggerboard well leaking. PITA to fix.
Mast dings or wear.
Mast ball lock mechanizm at bottom of mast broken.
Wavy or misscolored patches. Sign of damage repair.
Soft spot in front of the back beam on the top of the hull. Pretty easy fix though.

Biggest issue I've seen in older I20's is the back beam separation. But I've never seen one before they actually separate so I'm not sure how to check. I would inspect the back beams where they attach to the hull very closely.

Obviously if you can find a freshwater boat they usually are in better shape.

Mike,
Your old N20 had a rear beam separation in the 07 Great Texas. Not sure what causes it but I took mine apart to inspect and bed the beams. We figured that boat is possibly the only one that's done the Worrell, Tybee and Great Texas. It's been fixed and still running strong.

Sorry to hear that about my old boat. I'm glad to hear it's fixed and still being sailed though. I'm glad I didn't have it separate during my Tybee 500 run.

It seems like it's impact related and as soon as you notice it starting to go it comes apart pretty quick.

I really should bed my beams on my current boat. I just have never taken the time. What meathod did you use? I've heard just wax the beam and put it down on 5200. I'm not the biggest fan of 5200 but this might be a good application for it.

I thought the whole point of bedding the beams was to promote a stiffer platform, by using super glue (5200) to glue the beams to the hulls, in addition to the two bolts. If you put wax on the beam aren't you defeating that?

I would like to glue my beams to my hulls too, but unsure of what is the best glue to bond aluminum beams to fiberglass hulls. They were already done with 5200 I think, but it looks to be dry, cracked and not doing such a good job now.

My beams are round, which I think only makes it more difficult for the glue to do it's job.

I'm no expert at this, but I thought the idea behind bedding something is to get a better 'fit' between the two parts. I don't think the idea is to 'glue' them together, but rather to get two parts that mate together with very tight tolerance all the way around, which in turn improves the strength of the joint.

Yeah, well, maybe, but why do the A cat guys glue their carbon beams to their carbon hulls instead of bedding them?

Well if the beams are bedded in glue it will no doubt be a solid connection, but it will also be a real mess if someone ever wants or needs to disassemble it. By using wax on the beams, the shape is held so the connection is better, but it can also be disassembled as well.

pls do not glue the beams in with 5200!

OK, I believe you, but if I want to do the wax the beam thing, when I want to replace the bedding compound, how hard is it to chip out the old 5200 off the beam landings, to replace it?

there is a 5200 removal chemical. Its still a bitch to get out.

I sprayed the beams with McLube and used 5200. This way, the beam is still removable. 5200 is somewhat spongy but I wanted this over using an epoxy filler. Plus the benifit of making a water tight fit. My boat leaks like a siv.

Hey Timbo, are you referring to gluing the beams and hulls together on the f16? Because we aren't allowed to.

1.2.4 The hulls, beams and trampoline shall not be permanently fixed to one-another. the Formula 16 Class authority may demand that these items be disassembled, but only at a time when doing so does not directly affect the fairness of racing.

I guess I won't be doing that then! Funny, the A cat guys glue them in, but nobody else does. I've already had to change out hulls for crash damage, so I guess it's just as well they were not glued together. Here's the funny part, the -new- hull leaks 3x more than the old hull! I don't know from where, I'm going to to soap it up and blow air into it to see if I can find it.

Spot on..

For what it's worth, I bedded the beams on my old N20 with epoxy and microballons.

The thinking is that it gets more contact (square inches) between the beam and the hull, reducing the point loading on the beam bolts and beams. If you look the beam and hull have slight imperfections that don't allow even contact along their mating surface.


Taped off hull sides and beam bolt holes, waxed beam (to facilitate future removal), mixed epoxy/balloons to peanut-butter consistency and applied to beam (keeping away from beam bolts. Seated beams and tightened to 80% of "full tight". Once epoxy kicked, continued tightening. Cleaned up excess.

It seemed to make the hulls flex a bit less, especially when dolphin striker is tensioned correctly.