I recently sailed my 1988 Nacra 5.5 uni in low wind, and have a few questions...

1) Would it be possible to install an after-market jib sail on this catamaran? If so, where would I go, and how would I hoist it?

2) One of the hulls has a slow leak. I suspect it is where the fibreglass hull meets a non-fibreglass material on which the rudder is mounted. The fibreglass portions of the hulls generally look good, with no soft spots. How would I find and patch that?

Thanks!

Here's a picture of a 5.5 uni with a jib found this over at
cathouse1.com

Ted

Thank Ted - great pic.

What I'm wondering is, would the rigging for the jib interfere with the front stays that normally anchor the mast? Or would the jib rigging replace those outright?

That looks identical to my boat... except cleaner

Performance Catamaran built the 5.5 both uni and sloop rigged - a PC dealer should be able to help you with a jib kit for the boat. Any sailmaker should be able to make you a jib too although you'll probably find the price comparable to the dealer's price. If you have the long stays in front, you will probably have to install a new bridle and forestay as well.

With regards to the leak, there are several threads on here about locating leaks. However, in a nut shell, hook the output of a shopvac to the hulls so that it blows air into the hulls to slightly presurize them. Let the outlet leak - it's not that important to seal it tightly. Spray soapy water around all the fittings and the hull deck caps until something starts bubbling. If it is the gudgeons on the stern, you'll need to remove them, clean them, and reinstall them with some new sealant (3M 5200 or 4200 is great for this). Also be sure to spray on the inside of the daggerboard wells where the deck meets the daggerboard trunk because this is a common place to leak too.

Thank you Jake. Any purchasing I do will likely have to be over the net and repairs/modifications done personally. I can count on the fingers of my hand the number of sailboats (let alone cats) I've seen in Utah so far... what a disgusting powerboat culture we have here, with so many good places to sail, too!

Repairing the leak does sound difficult for a newbie. I'm almost positive the leak is on the gudgeon. How would I remove it? (I'm assuming it's currently glued on with some sealant)

Out of curiosity, how long does it take to hoist a jib? Boat setup time is definitely a factor in whether I'll want to add the jib.

Leak repair really isn't that hard. The gudgeons are secured to the rear of the hull through two bolts on each one. There will be two nuts and a piece of aluminum plate (used like a big washer) under each nut inside the hull. You will need to use a ratchet and reach through the access port on the stern to hold the nuts while you loosen the bolts with your other hand from the outside of the hull. It really is quite easy to do. The stainless steel brackets will probably fall right off the hull once you have removed the hardware. HOWEVER!!! Mark the position of the gudgeon on the hull with a pencil prior to loosening because one of them (I believe it's the lower one) is slotted to move side to side to allow alignment of the rudder vertically with the hull. If you mark it in place, it should be easy to put it back in the same position. Reinstallation is simply the reverse - put a bit of the sealant (5200 is not very removable in the future but 4200 is) around the bolts and the back of the gudgeon prior to reassembly. While still uncured, You can clean up and get a really nice finish on these 3M sealants using a rag soaked with mineral spirits. All these items can usually be found at Walmart (although I've had trouble finding Mineral Spirits there lately! - check the automotive section).

It's pretty rare that the gudgeons are the source of a significant hull leak. Also take a close look at the drainplug hardware too.

I sail a 5.5 Uni with a snuffer and spinnaker. I would suggest that configuration rather then a jib. The Uni is pretty quick upwind without the jib, add a spinnaker and you have a pretty quick downwind boat too.

Keep your forestays and just add poll, snuffer, spin, blocks and line.

Craig

Where do you sail in Utah--I sail at Bear Lake every summer for a few weeks. There are a bunch of cat sailors up there, and you can get some amazing sailing conditions of all types. Also, the water color make you feel like you're in the Carribean. I've also sailed Deer Creek, Great Salt Lake, and a few other spots. Yes, lots of power boats--much more than sail. But that is true everywhere in the country.

Unless you sail with crew a lot, consider a spinnaker/snuffer set up instead of adding a jib. You'll end up being faster up and downwind through a broader range of conditions. I often sail in that configuration. Having said that, a jib would be fairly inexpensive to set up.

Try SidSports in Salt Lake and see if they can help you with the rigging, supplies, repairs you need. I think they were a Hobie dealer last time I was there, but I'm sure they could help out with a sweet boat like the N5.5.

Check around your daggerboard wells under the boat for leaks also. Older NACRA's used to develop leaks there as well due to the trailing edge of the daggerboards hitting the back of the well under load. Hobie 20's also used to do this.
Good Luck

Thanks for the tip - would you happen to have any pictures of the spinnaker? You're right - going downwind is my chief goal here. The 5.5 uni turns amazingly well with just its mainsail. How would I hoist a spinnaker?

I usually sail Great Salt Lake and East Canyon reservoir. East Canyon is (as far as I can tell) the least offensive/crowded of the powerboat spots - Jordanelle and Deer Creek are crazy! Great Salt Lake is nice but wind is freaky out there.

I really need to take a weekend and go up to Bear Lake sometime - any recommendations on where to stay so that I can set up the cat once and leave it on the beach?

I had a dog and his name was BINGO! this is probably not the cleanest spin installation ever but it might give you some ideas.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ragenpl/nacra/nacra_spinnaker_1.htm

I'll send you a personal message to get you're email so I can mail you photos of my spinnaker set up. Or, you could come up to Bear Lake at the end of this month and I'll take you out.

That does look nice! Quite a bit of sail area, too. Some possibly dumb questions:

1) How do you remove/lower it when you're going upwind? (I'm guessing just roll it up against the pole.
2) Is it easy to install and remove, and does it fit easily in a cat trailer storage bin?
3) Does it swing along a boom, or pivot like a jib?
4) What is a snuffer system?

Thanks. Forgive my ignorance... I just recently upgraded from a Sunfish and have a grand total of 1 book (+instruction manual) on catamaran sailing.

The spinnaker itself is a very lightweight, easy flowing, fabric and the whole thing will easily fit in a bag 1/2 the size of a typical sleeping bag bag (storage is no problem). Snuffers are a system devised to aid in launching and retrieval of spinnakers and come in several different variations. Basically, however, they consist of a hoop and a long sock that are mounted out on the spinnaker pole. A line (the "dousing" line) goes through the back of the "sock", through the sock, out the mouth of the hoop, and through a series of grommets in the center of the spinnaker. To douse the spinnaker, you simply pull on thedousing line which gathers the spinnaker from the middle and pulls it into the sock. The process takes a matter of seconds. To launch the spinnaker, you pull a tack line to pull the tack of the spinnaker to the end of the pole, and then pull the halyard to hoist it up the mast. Again, this take a matter of seconds. Some more information can be found here:

http://www.cathouse1.com/snuffer.htm

Thanks Jake - that all makes sense.

It seems like a spinnaker would be an expensive upgrade, though?

I can't complain. Even with a mainsail that pivots only 90%, the 5.5uni is faster downwind than my previous boat (ancient sunfish) that pivoted 270. But going faster downwind would be nice.

The spinnaker certainly would be more expensive to install but you will receive supercharging equal to the extra money! :-). I real rough 'ballpark' breakdown of pricing would be as follows and assumes that you will be doing the upgrading work with new hardware. Particularly with the range on the spin pole / snuffer system it depends on how much you build yourself or if you are buying a system 'out of the box'.

Oh and BTW, you should really take Eric up on that offer for a ride! He's got a great boat.


Jib:
jib: ~$550
Bridles / Forestay: $100
Halyard and hardware: $40
Jib sheet and blocks: $120

Spinnaker system:
Spinnaker: $700-800
cordage: (halyard, tack line, sheets): $160
Pole / Snuffer: $150 - $800
Misc Hardware: $60