DaySailer.org Forum

Howdy,

Newbie here, I bought a 1985 Rebel from an estate, which turned out to be a Spindrift DS1, H/N RRR11905C585. It was in bad shape with lichens growing everywhere and several holes in the hull, including a major crack just behind the centerboard recess. That has all been repaired, the boat has been painted and I am replacing all the rigging. Some of the rigging was still in place when I bought the boat, some was missing. To that end, I have several questions I hope you all can help me with.

1. I have what seems to be a boom vang, but no downhaul. The manual mentions a spring loaded shackle for the mainsail, which I also do not have as well as a ring on the gooseneck, which I also do not have. Could I see a photo of how the downhaul should be rigged for this boat?

2. I do not have a locking mechanism for the centerboard, instead a PO or the factory has put 3 holes in the top of the CB trunk with jam cleats for 3/16” lines to hold the CB down and also to hold it up. Is this factory and is it workable? Should it be pinned?

3. On the CB trunk, just aft of the CB hold up cleats is another, larger hole to mount something, any ideas what that would be?

4. On the upper deck behind the seats, on each side of the vessel are is a spring loaded sheave, what are they for? It appears this boat uses a fixed traveler block, so what would these be for? Is it rigged incorrectly?

5. On the outer end of the boom are two little eye straps, what are they for?

6. On the forward part of the mast are two rings, what are they for?

7. The manual mentions a tack pin. I do not have a hole to place a pin into on the boom.

8. On the port side and forward of the CB trunk was a rectangular recess in the deck. It had some fractures, so I repaired them and filled in the recess. What was that for, a bilge pump?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get it right the first time. Thanks for any help. The manual I got on line assumes I know more than I do and the pics are small and fuzzy.

I can try to answer some of your questions, although someone familiar with the Rebel produced boats would have better answers.

1. The boom down haul is a line attached just below the gooseneck of the boom to pull the boom down to tighten the luff of the sail. It may have been replaced by a Cunningham setup on this boat.

2. Your centerboard originally had a lever with a lock for raising and lowering the centerboard (see the 3 holes around the bolt to mount the lever). The lever was replaced by the more problematic line system of the Day Sailer II boats.


3. Not sure from your pictures what you are looking at.

4. Maybe part of spinnaker rigging as they are at center of the cockpit.

5. Maybe part of a jiffy reef system, not really sure.

6. Those rings are the pad eyes for attaching a whisker pole or a spinnaker pole.

7. Your Gooseneck casting is broken where the pin goes through. D&R Marine has a replacement casting. I just replaced one on my 1969 DS I. http://www.drmarine.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DR116A or the complete assembly http://www.drmarine.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DR116 (picture is upside down).

8. Maybe the forward flotation tank drainage.

Hope this helps some.

John

John, Thank you very much, that was very helpful. After I posted that I re-examined the gooseneck and did find the top of the fitting was broken off. Thanks again for the info on where to get a new one.

Not sure what happened to the pics I posted, they looked fine in the preview. I’ll make them smaller if I have post again.

I didn’t get a spinnaker pole with this boat so I will worry about that later. I will keep my eye open for a boat that is on the way out to see if I can score a ratchet CB control.

Bill

Viewing the photos: They're huge on the screen but if I left-click and drag the pointer (Windows laptop with a touchpad), I can pull a ghostly image of the subject out into middle of the photo. It looks, well, ghostly, but it works.

Having done that, it looks to me like you've the mainsheet installed where the boom vang should be and vice versa.

Bill,

D&R Marine is a good "go to" place for most parts for the Day Sailer. Cape Cod Shipbuilding (the current builder is as well). Here are the parts for the centerboard lever from D&R Marine (Cape Cod should have them as well): http://www.drmarine.com/products.asp?cat=119

John

Boom vang and main sheet are in the right places, the boom vang just appears to be set up odd.

John

On closer inspection, I think you're right, John.

it looks to me like the boom vang is rigged upside down, that is, the adjusting line should be on the bottom. Anyway, that's how Harken shows them:

http://www.harken.com/content.aspx?id=3897

I have mine mounted "upside down" as well.

With the setup as shown in the Harken literature, I can't easily uncleat the vang. With a setup similar to the one in the photo above, the vang is in better reach, esp. for single-handing.

A matter of preference.

I can see why you'd want the vang cleat at the boom if you're single-handing because it would be farther aft and easier to reach (at least I think so - I'm 0-for-2 on guesses so far).

Now I'm trying to figure out how this particular vang is cleated.

Mine is closest to the 8:1 cascaded fiddle setup, except the cam cleats at the one end are not 120 degrees, but only 90 degrees in relation to the direction of the vang and there's no way I could release them by pulling from a distance. Hence I mount them upside down.

The one in the picture above seems to have a V cleat.

Again, thanks for the replies. I did reverse the boom vang. Being a novice sailor I wanted to be able to have the jam cleat close at hand. The last time I sailed was as a Sea Scout, that was a ship’s lifeboat that had been donated and probably couldn’t be capsized it was so heavy, that was some 50 years ago. Have to find someone experienced around here to go out with me the first few times.

Where are you at? I'm sure somebody with a DS might be in the area.

John

I'm in Central Florida east coast, right by Cape Canaveral.

I used to be right up the road from you in Deland, but ChrisB is still down in Grant, and would probably be willing to help you out. Just PM him ...

Bill,

As Tim said, I live just south of Melbourne in Grant. I would be happy to help you any way I can. I have had a DS II for over 20 years. There are some differences in the way things are rigged, but I have sailed DS I's in the past also.

Chris Behnke