Telltales on the Tanzer 16

Telltales on the Tanzer 16  -- March 14, 2014 -- A rare day off, so got the work bench and surrounding areas cleaned to make room for attaching telltales to the sails.  I think I once knew a lot about telltales*, but now all I can remember is "ease the sails till the windward tales flutter then gently sheet it, and keep all the yarn on the leech flying."  Even a cursory reading shows that there is a lot more information about sail shape that can be gathered by these simple pieces of yarn.  Bottom line seems to be, keep them all flying; it will be a long time before managing sail twist is second nature.  Most of our race legs aren't long enough for lots of experimenting.

This might be the original main and genoa--wonder how much a new main would cost?

 (*Of course 30 years ago, I thought I knew a lot more about everything.)

Many good articles online about correct placement of the yarn.

Tanzer 16 snubbing winch installed on pedestal

Tanzer 16 snubbing winch installed on pedestal  -- March 8, 2014 -- This morning the winch was mounted to the pedestal and the pedestal installed in the boat.  Drilling the stainless was really tough.  I did the first two with a hand held drill--slow speed lots of pressure--lots of oil--took about 5 minutes per hole. Then shifted to the drill press--about a minute per hole with the same bit.  If you do this with a hand-held drill, get a very sharp bit, go slow, and use lots of oil.

The holes were all drilled a little oversize, which turned out to be a good idea.  One of them was off a fat 1/32 and wouldn't have fit with 1/4 inch holes.  Secured everything with 1/4 stainless locking nuts.  Looks like it will work!  We'll see come May.  (Total price for this little enhancement about $160.00 -- a bargain for your hobby.)

The open base leaves plenty of room for the centerboard downhaul and the snubbing 

shock cord that will be added to keep the centerboard down.  The race area here is very

shallow and you don't want to lock the board down too tight in case you hit a 

mudbar that has shifted in the last few weeks.

Details, Tanzer 16 hiking stick clip

Details, Tanzer 16 hiking stick clip -- March 7, 2014 -- Finally found a clip for the hiking stick; came from Layline in NY--couldn't find one in Olympia or Seattle--dang that internet thing is helpful.  Since I generally race with a crew, and the wind is generally light, we don't use the stick all that much, but we needed something a little more handy than the rubber band tie down that the last owner used.  (Once did a complete round-up trying to get the darn thing unhooked.)  Because of the tiller curve, a little spacer block was needed.  Still waiting on the snubbing winch.  Now I need to really clean the garage floor and put new tell tales on the sails.

Tanzer 16 snubbing winch pedestal C.

Tanzer 16  snubbing winch pedestal part C  -- March 2, 2014 -- The sheet metal pedestal for the snubbing winch came back from the sheet metal shop.  They made it out of 12 gauge stainless, and it's pretty darn stout.  I drilled the mounting holes because there is a fairly heavy duty drill press in the shop.  I should have let them do.  Labor was .5 hour @ $105 per hour so--52 bucks, and the four pounds of steel cost $16.00.  They thanked me for the full-size, dimensioned drawings, and they did soften the edges and round the corners.  Ordered the winch from Layline; they said it was back ordered--then they said it was shipped. We'll find out next week.