Hi there, new to cat sailing and new to the forum. I'll update my profile another time, I just need to get a couple of answers ASAP.

Been having the time of my life sailing an '06 Nacra 500 that I bought from a guy back in March here in Vancouver, BC. My wife and I took our CANSAIL 1 course, and we've been loving this boat since.

A couple of questions

1.) The shock cord for the traps is worn and needs replacing. I'm a heavy guy (240lbs), and I'm wondering if I need to get a beefy diameter replacement? What diameter is ideal? Also, about how much length would I need for each trap wire?

2.) Last weekend I had my wife put the battens in the mainsail. She didn't push them in far enough, or tighten them enough and so they weren't sitting all the way in the pocket when we went out. When we took the main down, 3 of the battens had punched through the sail right beside the pocket (the wind had put too much pressure on them). Should I take that to a sailmaker for repair? Can those types of sails be repaired? Any idea on a ballpark cost to fix? They're just three small holes on one side of the sail at each batten, and I'll make damn sure that those battens are pushed all the way in from now on. To a rookie, it looks like some tuck tape over the holes would be fine...but something inside me tells me that's pretty stupid.

Any help and direction you can give me is very much appreciated.

Thanks!

1. Your weight would not require heavier duty shock cord, I use 3/16" cord for that application. The length required depends on your set-up, I would plan on 10-12' of cord. Its not a bad idea to have a couple spools of shock cord around, for me it wears out quickly and everything works SO MUCH better with good cord on it.

2. You can purchase sail cloth repair tapes that would be much better than duct tape for these repairs. A sail repair shop could sell you some patches, or you could purchase a roll online for a few bucks. This would be a permanent repair whereas duct tape will fall off after a short time and leave you with a mess of adhesive.

http://www.sailrite.com/Insignia#!Insignia

1. Consider a modification on the shock cord configuration: put two small blocks, for example under the front beam, close to each hull. Instead of going side to side under the tramp, go to the block on the opposite corner, then to the other block and then to the grommet at the other side. This way you have more than 3 times the original length. This way, when you go out on the trap, the shock cord will extend by a much lower percentage of its full length. So the tension will be much more constant and you avoid having the traps loose when unused and too tight when you are aft and out on the trap. For the front trap, you can do the same with small blocks inside the from beam.
2. Ditto

^^ spot on

Not sure the N500 is has an open side lacing to attach the blocks to. You can put the blocks at the dolphin striker and rear beam and achieve the same advantage. !/4" shock cord works well also.

I have a Nacra 5.0, similar boat. I put little blocks on the rear beam lacing under the tramp on the corners. Shock cord runs down through tramp, diagonal back to rear beam block, across along rear beam to the other block, then diagonal across and up through grommet to the other trap line. It takes 22 feet of 1/4" shock cord.

This long length has 2 practical results. First, when the top two feet of bungie gets rotten in the sun you can cut off the 2 feet above the tramp by pulling some of the long length and reattaching it. You'll never notice the change in stretchable length. Second, and most important, when you take that inevitable trip on the wire out to visit the bows the bungie won't break. Don't ask me how I know.