Am a lightweight and have been rigging an "07 6.5m Stealth on a 100% r.d.m. 400 with a 30cm tip-extension (instead of the recomended 430). It works ok, tho a bit flat, and I like the idea of a bit of flex when a gust hits (also means only one mast for my 5.0, 5.5 and the 6.5 Stealths) To keep a fuller profile down low, I was thinking of having a carbon tube (piece of old carbon boom) bout 75cm long that I could slide neatly inside the mast to about the boom section (app 65% of it below the boom)which would stiffen-up the bottom section of the mastsail, but let the top twist off easily in gusts.... sort of like having a 430 bottom and a 400 top- 'stiffness-wise' that is. What do you knowledgable ones think? Has anyone done something similar?

...and you'd feel safe doing forty knots using this ramshackle arrangement?

You would be better of taking out the cam battens and modifying them by either reducing the carbon tube or sanding the batten ends,this will give the sail a fuller profile.Not sure what the batten setup of the stealth's is but you should be able to do it.

The worry would be, the point where the boom section stops suddenly is going to have a very high loading, greatly increasing the chance of snapping there. Unless you can taper the boom arm down some how, making a more gradual change in stiffness.

I might be tempted to add some carbon to the outside of the mast, but that's not an easy job either.


Playing with the battens can change where the draft is, but I don't see how that can give more draft.

I think it's a false economy to go with the sleeve idea and the sanding of battens. Bite the bullet and get yourself another mast, then mix and match the sections if needed. I've never used a stealth but from what i have seen of them they look soft at the top anyway.

Unless you hit the bullseye, cutting costs hardly ever works with speed sailing. One example that springs to mind is fins. Going for a cut price fin or going for the the more expensive fin. I've spent **** loads on cheap fins and wish i went went to the more expensive fin (techtonics).

Thanks for the input guys....am just trying to think outside the box.
If I try, will let you know of the success ....OR DAMAGE.

welcome down under Simon.... I noticed the gps-ss forum has sort of dried up lately.
By the way, where do you get those light weight batten for the Demon sails from? Or do you roll your own?

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mikey100 said...

Am a lightweight and have been rigging an "07 6.5m Stealth on a 100% r.d.m. 400 with a 30cm tip-extension (instead of the recomended 430). It works ok, tho a bit flat, and I like the idea of a bit of flex when a gust hits (also means only one mast for my 5.0, 5.5 and the 6.5 Stealths) To keep a fuller profile down low, I was thinking of having a carbon tube (piece of old carbon boom) bout 75cm long that I could slide neatly inside the mast to about the boom section (app 65% of it below the boom)which would stiffen-up the bottom section of the mastsail, but let the top twist off easily in gusts.... sort of like having a 430 bottom and a 400 top- 'stiffness-wise' that is. What do you knowledgable ones think? Has anyone done something similar?

Mate, at your size I would not worry too much about the 6.5. If you are going to go faster you need to focus your tuning on the 5m and 5.5m. Even if you get no more wind strength than what you had for your PB run you will go faster on a smaller sail on super flat water if you get it right. You have just got to be in the right place at the right time when the gust hits.......

Right place at the right time....soooooooo true.

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yoyo said...

welcome down under Simon.... I noticed the gps-ss forum has sort of dried up lately.
By the way, where do you get those light weight batten for the Demon sails from? Or do you roll your own?

Thanks yoyo. I think all the excitment from driven by wind and the trench has taken a little wind out of the sails a little lol. It will come back when the wind does.

Sean Cox and Matthew Burridge are the Demon sail guys so i know bugger all lol. I do know that the carbon tube that they use is very expensive. But to get the best sails you need the best kit. For sure they are the lightest sails.