New Laser daggerboard brake

Something I always find odd. I know they are heavily used by lots of people but if you put a novice in a boat with sail controls that don't work they won't be able to act on the advice you give them. It was also one of the suggested reasons people don't use their lasers - badly rigged and don't know how to improve them.

I used to be a member of the OU Sailing Club and used the shared laser they owned. Most of the membership were fairly new to sailing so I ended up rerigging the laser to get it to a fair spec but still easy to rig. I ended up covering anything that shouldn't be undone in electrical tape to ensure it was always in a good rigging state for the next user.

Case in point, was doing some instructor pre-assesment training at Grafham Water Centre on Sunday. Their Laser 2000's were hopeless. The kite halyard would not flow because it was tangled around the cunningham and kicker (where the line leads back to the thwart). The kicker ran out of travel before anywhere near enough was on and the cunninhamg had snapped at some point and the rope shortened so it was next to useless.

For the sake of about £10 worth of rope and about half an hour of time this could be easily sorted.

Anyway I digress.... You need to ask WebMuppet about the gelcoat damage, he was one of those who actually sailed, i gave it a miss because I didn't want to bugger my knee up for Sunday.
 
Hull 174241. New brake installed with screws in original position doesn't come close to aft edge of the board. So it's drill and patch for me as well. Annoying that the mfr didn't do enuff testing to uncover the problem and include appropriate instructions/warnings.

John Barrere
Fresno, CA
 
Where does it say it is legal to drill new holes??

Nowhere. But what's the alternative if you want to use the new daggerboard brake? There is none. So those of us with boats that won't work with the new brake are supposed to forego it b/c of manufacturing tolerance issues? Give me a break.
 
I think the question that people need to ask is whether they are checking it on the water or on land before they decide that the brake doesn't work. Just because it looks like it won't work on land doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't actually work on the water.

Because I let myself get sucked into the controversy without checking it on the water I redrilled the holes on my main boat. But when I tried it with the original holes on my other boat it actually worked fine. I have since set it in the original holes on my first boat. I've sail both boats in various conditions and the new brake works better than the old "W". It's not perfect but then I haven't fine-tuned the adjustment (and what is 100% perfect anyway?).

Keep in mind there are more forces at work on the daggerboard than just the brake. If you move the brake far enough forward so it holds the board firmly when on the dolly (or even sitting still at the dock) you could very well find that you will have trouble raising and lowering it when sailing.

My advice is to try it on the water in a variety of conditions before deciding you need to drill more holes or proclaiming that it doesn't work.
 
Sorosz, when they brak does not even contact the board when moved fully forward you can be pretty sure it is not going to work.

In answer to Fred, Clive Humphris (who is on the ILCA Technical Committee I believe). Advised to re-drill earlier in this thread. This is also the advice I got from the builder when i raised the issue with them.

If this is in fact not class legal then someone somewhere has some serious questions to answer!

As the part is class legal then I would say fitting it to the boat in an appropriate manner should not make you boat out of class (yes I know we are talking about the Laser here so who knows!).

As it is I have some more work planned for my boat soon now the weather is warming up so I will report back soon.

Cheers,

Paul
 
I've decided not to bother fitting my new style brake - will be fitting a new old style one this week as my existing one is worn out.

Having been to the Laser Q in Plymouth this weekend haven't heard anything positive about the new ones and chatting to some of the olympic squad girls they were going back to the old style as the new one was proving useless on the water.

My husband fitted his at the weekend but took it straight off as it was no where near the right place (and Aussie Hull 188xxx).
 
I think the question that people need to ask is whether they are checking it on the water or on land before they decide that the brake doesn't work. Just because it looks like it won't work on land doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't actually work on the water. SNIP

I sailed my boat several times with the new brake slid all the way forward secured by the original screws. Aside from the pretty blue plastic being more attractive than the black W, it was useless as there was absolutely no contact between the white insert of the brake and the daggerboard. So I'm allowing the marinetex filling to thoroughly cure before drilling new holes about 7mm further forward. Perhaps the engineers responsible for this design are ex-Toyota. ;-)
 
Where does it say it is legal to drill new holes??

I have checked with Jean-Luc Michon and he agrees that rule 26 (a) under REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE can be interpreted as allowing this. The key sentence (partial) is:- "Repairs to fixings may be carried out without violation of these rules provided such repairs are made in such a way that the essential shape, characteristics or function of the original are not affected".

Clive
 
I think the problem is that the bungee and the daggerboard brake are mutually exclusive. The bungee pulls the board away from the brake. I think the bungee is an afterthought and that Kirby/Bruce expected the brake to work by itself. Like everything else!
Next time out I'm going to try passing the bungee astern and under the hiking strap. I hope that will hold the board against the brake and keep it from rising that maddening few inches. Has anyone tried this?
 
I think the problem is that the bungee and the daggerboard brake are mutually exclusive. The bungee pulls the board away from the brake. I think the bungee is an afterthought and that Kirby/Bruce expected the brake to work by itself. Like everything else!
Next time out I'm going to try passing the bungee astern and under the hiking strap. I hope that will hold the board against the brake and keep it from rising that maddening few inches. Has anyone tried this?

Illegal.

http://www.laserinternational.org/rules/classrules/partthree/centreboard

6. A tie line or shock cord shall be attached to the small hole in the upper forward corner of the centreboard, and any of the bow eye, the cunningham fairlead, the “Builder Supplied” deck block fitting and the mast to prevent loss of the centreboard in event of a capsize. The tie line or shock cord may be looped around the bow, but shall not be attached to the gunwale. Attachment can be by knots or loops in the shock cord, and/or tie lines, shackles, clips, hooks or eyes.
 
I don't read the rule as prohibiting what I described as long as the required "safety line' is attached as the rule describes, but ....
 
Say, for example, passing the bungee under the hiking strap, back through the board eye, and then forward to one of the 'approved' locations? A single line forward, doubled going astern?
 
Re: New Laser daggerboard brake-worn trunk?

OK, so I fit the new brake, encountered the issue where the old holes don't seem to allow the brake to move forward far enough to be functional, and thus came to read this thread. I noticed that the forward edge of my centerboard trunk shows significant wear, and see several references to "lining" the front of the slot with something. Could someone elaborate on this? I think I aught to consider this before re-positioning the brake.

Thanks!
 
Re: New Laser daggerboard brake-worn trunk?

OK, so I fit the new brake, encountered the issue where the old holes don't seem to allow the brake to move forward far enough to be functional, and thus came to read this thread. I noticed that the forward edge of my centerboard trunk shows significant wear, and see several references to "lining" the front of the slot with something. Could someone elaborate on this? I think I aught to consider this before re-positioning the brake.

Thanks!

One layer of any material of maximum 2mm
thickness and of a maximum size of 30mm x
30mm may be applied at the top front corner of
the centreboard case.
 
Re: New Laser daggerboard brake-worn trunk?

One layer of any material of maximum 2mm
thickness and of a maximum size of 30mm x
30mm may be applied at the top front corner of
the centreboard case.


What are commonly used materials? I'm thinking about some black sheet rubber I have lying around, if I can glue it on successfully.
 

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