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[ianb]

I have built a Canterbury J from the hull and parts supplied by a club member in New Zealand.

Today was the first trial sail and she sailed just beautifully. Very responsive to rudder, but controllable with 65% exponential which sort of makes up for my big thumbs. The winch is an RMG with a self tensioning drum operating in a continuous loop below the deck. Power is from a 2S1700 LiPo battery which saved me over 220 gm. of unneeded weight compared to a NiMh or NiCd battery. The overall weight came in at 6.6 kg., 6.5 kg. is the class minimum.

Attached are a couple of photos. I have lots more starting from the day I unpacked the big box. If anyone is really interested I can post them as well as how she all went together.

One thing I noticed in today's test was that the J accelerated very quickly and seemed very fast even with the light winds. This is only my second sailboat and I haven't had any opportunity to see other class boats sailing, so you experts may consider this normal.

Building the "kit" was not overly difficult but took me quite a while, I'm not a fast builder by any stretch.

Ian

[kiwimodeller]

Very nice job Ian. I also have built one but decided to stick to wooden mast and booms and brass fittings to give her an old fashioned look. I had not had a yacht in many years but have picked up sailing again very easily with the J. We have two others in our group at the local pond and everyone loves sailing them. I have found that the "A" sails are a bit much in anything stronger than a very moderate breeze so might need to invest in a smaller set but for the moment she is very good in light airs. I would be interested to see a photo of your winch and pulley setup. I built mine alog the lings shown in a Classic Sail article in MMI mag a few years ago but I have had the odd problem with the line coming off the winch although it seems to have been fine lately after some fine tuning of tension etc. Cheers, Ian V

[ianb]

Thank you Ian.

Here are some pictures of my winch set-up. I hope that it proves reliable over use and time.

Very interested in your comments about the 'A' set of sails. Now I will be prepared for the time when I try to sail with a stronger wind. Maybe I'll have to consider buying a smaller suit to use on those days.

I'm really happy that I went with the RMG winch. The extensive set-up options seem to cover all the bases I'm likely to need. Speed seems to be just right and the power is amazing. The extra jib adjustment servo is just to experiment with, maybe it is not necessary and if so can be easily removed.

Ian

[kiwimodeller]

Thanks for that, very professional looking. I have a similar setup in a simpler form, just the Hi Tech winch mounted on a wooden platform and a wooden batten with the pulley at the fore end. It took a little sorting to position the jib in relation to the main and also to make sure the winch did not travel too far and run the O ring tensioner into the pulley but once sorted with help from some more experienced sailors it seems to work well now. Cheers, Ian V