I know this is premature, But, I was wondering what recommendations people would have for storing a boat. Currently I keep up the mast and sails with slack in the outhauls and backstay. Lately though I have noticed over time my wood mast has started to warp.
So I was curious how everybody else was storing their equipment and masts and if there was any suggestions to a good stoarage method(s)?
I just took out my Marblehead swing rigs after being in a storage box for 7-8 years and found that I had left the spars tensioned up with the back stay keeping the carbon spars bent to match the luff curves (typical sailing configuration). After appropriate feelings of foolishness, I found that neither the spars nor the rigs suffered any untoward circumstances and they sailed just like new. I guess carbon spars are pretty tough and do not “set” so I see no compelling reason to slack them off for storage.
I store it apart from the boat, I take the sails away…as for now I only have aluminium masts, so I dont know how wood and/or carbon “works”…but my guess, would be that if theres no tension, it should be fine.
The sails are also stored in a “box” away from UV and humidity…
After sailing, I usually let the rig on the boat, just all without tension…fin, rudders are also taken away.
When you store your sails in a box are they rolled or folded? I am afraid to roll my dacron sails out of fear that they will take that shape after a few months and never come back again.
Now with that said I know on “life size” boats we usually roll the sails and they seem to keep pretty well.
I roll them…and before using them, I just hang them for a few days…I dont roll them tight.
shouldn’t fold dacron, it streaches/shrinks it, & also it creates high/low spots in your sail, which inturn helps to kill the laminar flow of the air past the sail.
rigs shouldn’t be stored with tension on if the sails are still attached, this wrecks the sails by strechin/shrinkin the sail.
ohh & i’d store my sails on my rig so they don’t change shape to much, i would hang them vertically by the mast, or if i was to store them off the rig, i would store them in an air tight container that was uv proof & didn’t let sunlight into it, i would have them laying flat so that it doesn’t get unwanted creases (?) in it.
Using a ridged golf club travel case with wheels and foam (the type used to pack electronics), I made a storage and travel system for my r/c boat. I cut the foam to fit both side of the case, a top and bottom. I then cut out area to match the shape of the hull, keel, rudder, mast, radio equipment and an extra area for tools and other small parts. I used a very sharp long knife to cut the foam box to fix both halves of the hard case. I used a very sharp 12 inch knife to cut the area to fit the components. I then lined the cut out area with felt, held in with spray adhesive. Since the keel fin and rudder uses thin slits, instead of lining these thin slits in the foam with felt, I made felt bag to side over the keel fin, and a felt bag to place the rudder. I cut a long slot to hold the mast and boom. I cut another long slot to hold a piece of 3 inch PVC tubing. I roll the sails onto a 1 inch PVC tubing which I slide inside the 3 inch PVC tubing. I melted the end of the PVC tubing smooth to prevent rips and snags in the sail. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to reassemble and get the boat ready for sailing. I find that the felt lined foam area does not harm the boat finish. I do not like to roll the sail, but my sail are flat panel rip stop nylon and I find the rolling them around the 1 inch PVC tubing and in setting them in side the larger tubing. I been thinking about making a thin slit the length of the larger PVC tubing to make the removing the sails easier.
I have a wooden (homemade) case in which the hull rests on keel bulb and is also supported by two shaped hull “bunks” that are padded. Velcro holds hull in place on bunks during travel. Enough room to store the radio, some tools, battery packs, and also the lake-side storage stand which folds up. The mast (wood), is stored in a plastic rain gutter case (two halves that clamshell) and the diamond wire tension is maintained. Because I use a metal jack line down the rear of the mast, I simply unhook the main sail (bra hooks) and roll it up over the main boom. Jib gets rolled up in similar fashion over the jib boom. Both are rolled large diametger, light and loose method. Sails are coated nylon ripstop and other set is dacron, and have no problems with retained curl.
My Mylar sails, on the other hand, want to take curl so badly, I often have to leave in back window of car to “warm up” and lay flat. Only problems I worry about is heat softening the adhesive on the panel tape.
Some people call me anal. . . but heres what I do.
I built all my rigs to have detachable cranes, such that all the sails can be easily removed. Here is a picture of my A rig mast complete. My B rig mast complete (but crane not painted) and then my C rig mast complete, with the crane removed.
http://www.ourwalden.net/mmyc/art/cranes.jpg
This allows me to string and unstring my sails in under 2 minutes. each day I sail, I string on the sails (A masthead, A fractional, B fractional, of C fractional) I want to use on the mast (stiffness) I want to use and go sail. when I return, the sails are taken of the mast, and hung on the back of a closet door. This leaves the sails in GREAT condition with little wear, and no loads (other than their own weight):
http://www.ourwalden.net/mmyc/art/sails.jpg
as for the hulls. . . im lucky enough to have a cubby that holds 4 boat on stands. I build my stands to have to weight of the boat supported by the keel and only kept from tipping over by the stand. This keeps the hull in great shape with no soft spots. Here you can see my IOM on a stand, my US one meter in the corner. An US one meter under construction on the ground, and my us one meter plug on the far left. Masts are kept laid flat as to avoid any kind of set along the front edge of this cubby.
http://www.ourwalden.net/mmyc/art/hulls.jpg
couldnt find a way to just include the pictures in the post quickly. . .or even the link. Maybe I will figure that out later.
~tb