Hi! I've pulled the downhaul as the specs say but the cambers don't pop in place when kindly pressed onto with hands (as all the "rig this monster in 3 minutes videos" show). It is my first time with this old lad... what should I do? Add downhaul until it just makes space to pop the cambers in place?

Thanks!

I don't have a ton of experience with cammed sails but I need to have the boom on usually to add outhaul, with a little less than full downhaul, then add full downhaul after I have the cams popped on.

Helps to have an adjustable outhaul in that situation but if not then you may want a little more outhaul than spec on the sail to get the cams on.

Yes exactly.
Loosen 5-10 cm on the downhaul. Put the boom on. Pull some tension on the outhaul. Press down on the cambers to put them on the mast. With all cambers in place pull downhaul to specs

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Robertos said..
Yes exactly.
Loosen 5-10 cm on the downhaul. Put the boom on. Pull some tension on the outhaul. Press down on the cambers to put them on the mast. With all cambers in place pull downhaul to specs

Thank you all! I've managed to pop them in place but now I see one batten is out of the camber (the first with cam from the top) so I will use your advice next at the beach. Practice worked! Let's see if works for real. Thanks! JP

I had 2 Arrows sails - the cambered sail was a nightmare to set up - one of the worst big sails I ever owned!!!!!!

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AusMoz said..
I had 2 Arrows sails - the cambered sail was a nightmare to set up - one of the worst big sails I ever owned!!!!!!

This one is old and cheap but in good condition. I will see if I can get it working with no much effort. The last time I really tensioned it down and with the boom setup, the cams entered their position "rather" easily. Tomorrow I will check it at the sea. Thanks!

you give it almost the full specs downhaul, then put the boom on and pull the outhaul tight, then release the downhaul about 10cm or as needed to get the cams lose enough to be popped in (if you release too much the cams will not stay and pop out), then you apply full downhaul as for specs , then retension the outhaul if needed. If you have the wrong mast all this will be a lot harder and give you a bad shape.

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powersloshin said..
you give it almost the full specs downhaul, then put the boom on and pull the outhaul tight, then release the downhaul about 10cm or as needed to get the cams lose enough to be popped in (if you release too much the cams will not stay and pop out), then you apply full downhaul as for specs , then retension the outhaul if needed. If you have the wrong mast all this will be a lot harder and give you a bad shape.

Thanks! From what I suspected, aren't the cams towards the inner side (farther from the mast) as more downhaul is applied? I've done it as you say and works but, once you set up the boom and tension it, releasing downhaul will not make the cams closer (and harder) to the mast? Just curious about the effects. In my case I did something similar to what you and other members say, and it worked! They don't feel "easy" or "soft" in any case :-)

The arrow sail you got would work better on a Lance carbon mast.That was a good sail if you rigged it right . l think Ant Baker used them in Perth back in the day. By memory they liked a lot of Downhaul. Gee did the Leech flutter in strong winds. Good luck tuning your sail

Different sails require different methods. Some you dont even need to add outhaul to put the cams on if you have the correct downhaul. Most you need the boom on with full outhaul. The amount of downhaul required to get the cams on varies from very little to a lot.

You just need to find out what works best for your Arrows. I used to have Arrows cammed race sails, I cant remember them being difficult to rig.
The Pryde V8 4 cam sail I had was the worst.

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gavnwend said..
The arrow sail you got would work better on a Lance carbon mast.That was a good sail if you rigged it right . l think Ant Baker used them in Perth back in the day. By memory they liked a lot of Downhaul. Gee did the Leech flutter in strong winds. Good luck tuning your sail

It is the single big sail I have that needs a 490 mast so I will use the single "about correct" mast I have for it. I hope it works OK on the water. The leech is already fluttering when my dog runs circles around it, so I expect more when sailing. Anyway, the shape feels powerful. I expect to enjoy it. Thanks!

Yes more downhaul pulls the cams away from the mast but also puts heaps of tension down the sail and tightens the luff pocket.
With loose downhaul, you can push the cams away from the mast by applying pressure to the batten.
The mast needs to be on top of the battens, so you can press the battens away.
With my sails I need full outhaul, and hardly any downhaul, just enough so the luff sleeve isn't folded over.

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decrepit said..
Yes more downhaul pulls the cams away from the mast but also puts heaps of tension down the sail and tightens the luff pocket.
With loose downhaul, you can push the cams away from the mast by applying pressure to the batten.
The mast needs to be on top of the battens, so you can press the battens away.
With my sails I need full outhaul, and hardly any downhaul, just enough so the luff sleeve isn't folded over.

My boom is just the bare minimum length (230) so the outhaul is low at max. I finally set it resorting to walking over the batten in mast's direction, pressing with my full weight there and pushing the cam with both hands. I've been 2 hours windsurfing: 1 mounting the sail and the rest in the water. I snapped a cord, a pulley. in any moment the mast will fly in two parts. Massive tension down. But it blasts into lunch hour breeze! Thanks!

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JPBARNA said..

powersloshin said..
you give it almost the full specs downhaul, then put the boom on and pull the outhaul tight, then release the downhaul about 10cm or as needed to get the cams lose enough to be popped in (if you release too much the cams will not stay and pop out), then you apply full downhaul as for specs , then retension the outhaul if needed. If you have the wrong mast all this will be a lot harder and give you a bad shape.

Thanks! From what I suspected, aren't the cams towards the inner side (farther from the mast) as more downhaul is applied? I've done it as you say and works but, once you set up the boom and tension it, releasing downhaul will not make the cams closer (and harder) to the mast? Just curious about the effects. In my case I did something similar to what you and other members say, and it worked! They don't feel "easy" or "soft" in any case :-)

If you have issues with the cams being too tight you can remove spacers or add if the cam is too loose but you need the mast to suit the sail.

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sboardcrazy said..

JPBARNA said..

powersloshin said..
you give it almost the full specs downhaul, then put the boom on and pull the outhaul tight, then release the downhaul about 10cm or as needed to get the cams lose enough to be popped in (if you release too much the cams will not stay and pop out), then you apply full downhaul as for specs , then retension the outhaul if needed. If you have the wrong mast all this will be a lot harder and give you a bad shape.

Thanks! From what I suspected, aren't the cams towards the inner side (farther from the mast) as more downhaul is applied? I've done it as you say and works but, once you set up the boom and tension it, releasing downhaul will not make the cams closer (and harder) to the mast? Just curious about the effects. In my case I did something similar to what you and other members say, and it worked! They don't feel "easy" or "soft" in any case :-)

If you have issues with the cams being too tight you can remove spacers or add if the cam is too loose but you need the mast to suit the sail.

My mast is definitely not the correct one. I will try to get a proper one. Besides that, how do you add the spacers? I guess you have to send the sail to a repair shop. Don't you?

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JPBARNA said..

sboardcrazy said..

JPBARNA said..

powersloshin said..
you give it almost the full specs downhaul, then put the boom on and pull the outhaul tight, then release the downhaul about 10cm or as needed to get the cams lose enough to be popped in (if you release too much the cams will not stay and pop out), then you apply full downhaul as for specs , then retension the outhaul if needed. If you have the wrong mast all this will be a lot harder and give you a bad shape.

Thanks! From what I suspected, aren't the cams towards the inner side (farther from the mast) as more downhaul is applied? I've done it as you say and works but, once you set up the boom and tension it, releasing downhaul will not make the cams closer (and harder) to the mast? Just curious about the effects. In my case I did something similar to what you and other members say, and it worked! They don't feel "easy" or "soft" in any case :-)

If you have issues with the cams being too tight you can remove spacers or add if the cam is too loose but you need the mast to suit the sail.

My mast is definitely not the correct one. I will try to get a proper one. Besides that, how do you add the spacers? I guess you have to send the sail to a repair shop. Don't you?

It depends on whether the seller had spacers in it or gave you some.
My new Severnes came with spacers in them. I like my cams to rotate easily so I used to take the spacer out of each cam.
The later models rotated ok straight out of the bag.
A shop should be able to mail you some although if it's an old sail it might be harder to find suitable ones.
What year is the sail? Is it a popular brand?
Other brand's spacers might work but you'd have to try them..?

I used to have an Arrows WB racing (some 20 years ago) and they were much harder to rig than modern sails. Mast goes in the right place on the cam from the beginning and use the boom to pull on the outhaul to keep the cambers on. I would leave the boom clamp open (line attached) in order to slide the boom along the mast while inserting the mast. The quickest rigging was to keep one hand on each camber while inserting the mast (requires at least one more person)...

The are no replaceable camber spacings on these, and no zips to access the cambers, but you can access two cambers through the boom cut-out (if needed).

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SurferKris said..
I used to have an Arrows WB racing (some 20 years ago) and they were much harder to rig than modern sails. Mast goes in the right place on the cam from the beginning and use the boom to pull on the outhaul to keep the cambers on. I would leave the boom clamp open (line attached) in order to slide the boom along the mast while inserting the mast. The quickest rigging was to keep one hand on each camber while inserting the mast (requires at least one more person)...

The are no replaceable camber spacings on these, and no zips to access the cambers, but you can access two cambers through the boom cut-out (if needed).

Maybe this sail is about that age or a little younger but not so much. I will try your method and get help from my son as "windsurfing education".
Do you remember what type of mast was needed? I'm using one that follows the sail specs but a little shorter with a massive extension (50 cm), but is not in any way an expensive or top one. Anyway, once I manage to rig it up and walk it into the water, it felt powerful and fast in my old Mistral Conpetition. Thanks!

I had the recommended mast by Arrows, it might have been called "Lance" but it has been quite some time since I sold the sail together with the mast. I had other sails too from Arrows, the Dragster was a very nice twin camber free-race sail with excellent camber rotation.

From memory the Arrows mast seemed stiffer in the mid section compared to Severne and Gaastra masts.

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SurferKris said..
I had the recommended mast by Arrows, it might have been called "Lance" but it has been quite some time since I sold the sail together with the mast. I had other sails too from Arrows, the Dragster was a very nice twin camber free-race sail with excellent camber rotation.

From memory the Arrows mast seemed stiffer in the mid section compared to Severne and Gaastra masts.

I broke a pulley and a downhaul while setting it up yesterday so I'm sure the mast I have is hard :-) I will try the "sliding boom in place" and being helped by my son next time because I really liked the power in the water.