dad suprised me with a laser. got some ?'s

K

kounterclokwise

New Member
so i took small boat sailing -meritbadge- at boyscout camp, and sailed a laser. i really enjoyed it, told my dad that i was looking at getting a boat sometime, maybe a hobiecat, but i didnt have the money. 2 weeks later i went to a paintball tournament out of town, came back and theres a laser in the yard!!

so i have no knowledge of sailboats other than the extreme basics of sailing. i can tack, and sail downwind. i can right the boat if i flip it.

i have it cleaned up and i got new lines for it, some of the gear looks pretty crappy, the rachet thing that you pull the main line through is busted. the sail looks in good condition, the centerboard and rudder look fine. my dad says i can fix the 2 softspots on the deck.

i dont know what kind of laser i have though... the 4.7, radial or the regular... which is better and how do you tell them apart?

as for how old it acutally is... im guessing early 90's.. it has a wooden tiller, and wood handle type things on the "cockpit?"(where you're feet go)

also, there is a mast base, a longer top peice that fits the sail perfect when you slip the sail over both the base and the top piece... also there is another pole that is shorter.. with some rigging stuff on the end.. what is it for?

can you put jib sails on these boats?

sorry for so many questions, i despise threads like these on my paintball forum, but i am a "newb" about boats.

thanks in advance.

also, i live in north alabama, so im in light wind conditions on lakes unless its a storm...
 
Welcome to the world of Laser sailing Scott.

Looks like you have an older boat, but it should be fine once you fix a few things up. what is the number printed on the hull? You can find out the exact age by going to www.lasersailing.com with this number.

I'd imagine you have a "standard" - the difference is the rig size and cut of the sail. Standard is the largest sail. Anything is fine if you just take it out in light winds to begin with.

The Laser mast is two piece as you describe. The third "spar" would be the boom. Attach one end to the mast "gooseneck". The other use the rope to tie the "clew" of the sail and feed it back along the boom to the cleat.

No jibs on your Laser.

Good luck, and stay in touch.
 
Scott,

Congratulations on getting a Laser, and welcome!

My Standard lower mast section is about the same length as the boom. The Radial is a couple of feet shorter, the 4.7 shorter still, with a bend in it. Here's couple of websites to get you started.

http://www.laserforum.org/view.php?pg=fredsrig
This has the 15:1 vang, which you don't need to get started. Anybody out there got a picture of how to rig an old vang for Scott?

Annapolis Performance Sailing sells parts and has pictures of all of them:
http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d3000/e920.asp

Vanguard makes the boat now and has pictures, but their website wasn't working this morning. Try it now and follow the Laser links for rigging and sailing ideas. www.teamvanguard.com

The HELP section on this forum has a few good articles and also the SEARCH feature is very good. You can find old threads that tell you just how to fix those soft spots, then come back with your own questions.

Good luck,
Janet/Merrily
 
Welcome Scott,

Congrats for your new boat. For rigging instructions, and lots of other other info you will need, check these links:

http://www.lasersailboat.com/
http://www.laserinternational.org/
http://www.roostersailing.com/
http://www.laser.org
http://grotr4.tripod.com/
http://www.lasersailing.com

There used to be a great web callled Dr. Laser, it's not working anymore, but you'll find some of its contents here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030621140523/www.drlaser.org/index3.html

Enjoy sailing!!
 
Congratulations, and welcome to the sport of laser sailing!

kounterclokwise said:
i dont know what kind of laser i have though... the 4.7, radial or the regular... which is better and how do you tell them apart?
Click to expand...

The full rig is the biggest sail. Ideal competitive weight is supposedly around 170 lbs. If you're much smaller, enter the radial: everything exactly the same, but smaller sail and shorter lower mast section. If you're smaller still, enter the 4.7. Again, everything exactly the same, but smaller sail and the lower mast section is shorter and bent (to move the center of the sail further aft, to keep the balance of the boat similar to what it is with the larger sails.)

The idea is that one boat can be sailed by different sized people, and, for kids, as you grow larger you can graduate to the larger sail sizes and everything else still pretty much stays and feels the same.

If you have very light winds it doesn't matter what sail size you have.

Right now, only fix the things that are really broken, or so weak that they are about to fail, and then get out there on the water and sail and have some fun.

As the wind starts to get stronger (in the fall?) the boat will reward every mistake by dumping you in the water. Do not lose heart -- that is part of why these are such fantastic boats for learning to sail well.
 
thanks for all the replies and links everyone.

i got the boat and it came with 4 poles... 2 peices for the mast, one boom and.....??

i set it up in my yard and got all the rigging figured out, now i just have to get the trailer roadworthy and the softspots in the fiberglass fixed.

when i was at camp, i figured out how to flip the boat back over without getting wet.. it was fun.

thanks again for all the help.
 
Does the 4th spar ("Pole") look like a duplicate of one of the others? If it's a lower section (but a little shorter), you may have been lucky enough to get a radial rig, so that you have that option. Or maybe it's just a spare. (Which can be a good thing too) And if it doesn't look like a duplicate to anything, then whoever sold your Dad the boat was a bit dim!
 
i suppose the guy was a bit dim then, because its not a lower mast section, its not big enough around. it has an eyelet and a cleat on one end.
 
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