We've been getting swamped (no pun intended) on our website Message Board with reports of Capri 14.2s turtling. I was puzzled by this rash of reports, as I’ve been racing these boats for 17 years in the largest fleet in the U.S., and I’ve never actually seen one happen to a Capri 14.2. Lots of capsizes, yes, but no turtling. But after thinking it through, I think I know why. Here in San Diego, the weather is mild and we seldom see winds over 15 knots. But in places like the Great Plains, the wind howls.
A fleet in Wichita, Kansas was concerned about this, as they routinely sail in winds of up to 25 knots. (Kids, don’t try this at home.) So they solved the problem by adapting streamlined Hobiecat floats to their mastheads. It provides 32 lbs. of lifting force. Problem solved. No more turtling. It costs $88.50 and it is part number 30115. Go to Hobiecat.com for the name, address and number of your nearest dealer. But it’s up to you to make an adapter for your Capri 14.2 mast.
But why does the boat turtle in very high wind and merely capsize in lighter wind? It seems the main cause of turtling is the wind pushing against the boat as it lies on its side. It’s a light boat, and the broad bottom acts like a sail, driving it right over.
A year ago we ran an article in the Mainsheet on turtling, and capsizing in general. We think parts of it are worth repeating:
First Steps - If you are all wearing lifejackets, as we highly recommend, it might help for one of you to swim out to the mast head and try to hold it up while the other one climbs out onto the centerboard. But if you can both get onto the C/B before it turtles, that’s even better.
The boat usually capsizes slow enough that a quick-witted sailor can usually slide down the side and be on the centerboard by the time the masthead hits the water. And it helps if that same quick-witted sailor pops the mainsheet loose as soon as he/she sees the boat going over. Getting the jib undone under that circumstance is harder, because it's hard to get upward leverage on the jibsheet as one is going over. But getting the sheets undone helps the recovery immensely, as the sails no longer act as giant sea anchors.
Of course, it's best not to capsize to begin with. One of the main causes of capsizes is having the slack jibsheet not run free when tacking. It can hang up on the jibcar adjusting knob, or simply fall back into the jam cleat. To prevent this, we remove the restraint strap that goes over the top of jam cleats--it's not needed for any reason. Be careful when taking out the machine screws that hold the cams in place, or you can lose the roller bearings. Have one person hold each cam in place while the screws are taken out and re-inserted.
Another problem is having the jibsheet wrap around the jibcar adjusting knob. What some (including myself) have done is to cut the knob off, grind the top of the post smooth, and cut a screwdriver slot in the top of the post. This requires removing the jib car from the track. To do this, remove the back three track machine screws and lift the back end of the track a half-inch or so.
Another contributor to turtling is the fact that most older Capri 14.2s don’t have a water-tight mast. Having a mast that floats is clearly better than one that doesn’t. The current boats use a foam plug at the masthead. Does yours have one? Just drop the mast and look. You can see it just under the main halyard sheave. Some people have made them by simply wadding up a sheet of bubble wrap. I think a more elegant approach is to fill the mast with the “foam in a can� sold at hardware stores for helping winterize houses by plugging airleaks.
The Following is from a post by Matt Schneider on the Capri 14 Comments board.
I found an alternative for the buoy method.
I took out the pulley at the top of my mast and peered down the length of it. I discovered the cause of my turtling problem. The plug that Catalina designed and installed into the mast of my 14.2 had nearly disintegrated, changing the mast from a buoy to a dead weight.
To solve this problem, I did my best to wrench out what remained of the old plug. Then I went to Home Depot and bought a can of water proof foam (>$5.00) that is used to hold windows in place. I sprayed this foam down the mast and let it expand to re-plug the whole (After spraying this foam as a liquid it expands to the size of your opening and then dries hard). This allows the air trapped in the mast to naturally keep the boat from turtling.
Being an engineer, I followed (actually proceeded) this procedure with some calculations. Trapping the air inside the mast changes the mast from a dead weight (that wants to sink) weighing 14.6 lb(f) to a buoy (that wants to float) with 18.3 lb(f) of buoyancy. That is net swing of almost 33 lb(f)! If the mast is 20 feet long, that changes the mast from being a proturtling torque of 146 ft-lb to a 183 ft-lb anti-turtling torque. A real help in keeping the boat from turtling!
A fleet in Wichita, Kansas was concerned about this, as they routinely sail in winds of up to 25 knots. (Kids, don’t try this at home.) So they solved the problem by adapting streamlined Hobiecat floats to their mastheads. It provides 32 lbs. of lifting force. Problem solved. No more turtling. It costs $88.50 and it is part number 30115. Go to Hobiecat.com for the name, address and number of your nearest dealer. But it’s up to you to make an adapter for your Capri 14.2 mast.
But why does the boat turtle in very high wind and merely capsize in lighter wind? It seems the main cause of turtling is the wind pushing against the boat as it lies on its side. It’s a light boat, and the broad bottom acts like a sail, driving it right over.
A year ago we ran an article in the Mainsheet on turtling, and capsizing in general. We think parts of it are worth repeating:
First Steps - If you are all wearing lifejackets, as we highly recommend, it might help for one of you to swim out to the mast head and try to hold it up while the other one climbs out onto the centerboard. But if you can both get onto the C/B before it turtles, that’s even better.
The boat usually capsizes slow enough that a quick-witted sailor can usually slide down the side and be on the centerboard by the time the masthead hits the water. And it helps if that same quick-witted sailor pops the mainsheet loose as soon as he/she sees the boat going over. Getting the jib undone under that circumstance is harder, because it's hard to get upward leverage on the jibsheet as one is going over. But getting the sheets undone helps the recovery immensely, as the sails no longer act as giant sea anchors.
Of course, it's best not to capsize to begin with. One of the main causes of capsizes is having the slack jibsheet not run free when tacking. It can hang up on the jibcar adjusting knob, or simply fall back into the jam cleat. To prevent this, we remove the restraint strap that goes over the top of jam cleats--it's not needed for any reason. Be careful when taking out the machine screws that hold the cams in place, or you can lose the roller bearings. Have one person hold each cam in place while the screws are taken out and re-inserted.
Another problem is having the jibsheet wrap around the jibcar adjusting knob. What some (including myself) have done is to cut the knob off, grind the top of the post smooth, and cut a screwdriver slot in the top of the post. This requires removing the jib car from the track. To do this, remove the back three track machine screws and lift the back end of the track a half-inch or so.
Another contributor to turtling is the fact that most older Capri 14.2s don’t have a water-tight mast. Having a mast that floats is clearly better than one that doesn’t. The current boats use a foam plug at the masthead. Does yours have one? Just drop the mast and look. You can see it just under the main halyard sheave. Some people have made them by simply wadding up a sheet of bubble wrap. I think a more elegant approach is to fill the mast with the “foam in a can� sold at hardware stores for helping winterize houses by plugging airleaks.
The Following is from a post by Matt Schneider on the Capri 14 Comments board.
I found an alternative for the buoy method.
I took out the pulley at the top of my mast and peered down the length of it. I discovered the cause of my turtling problem. The plug that Catalina designed and installed into the mast of my 14.2 had nearly disintegrated, changing the mast from a buoy to a dead weight.
To solve this problem, I did my best to wrench out what remained of the old plug. Then I went to Home Depot and bought a can of water proof foam (>$5.00) that is used to hold windows in place. I sprayed this foam down the mast and let it expand to re-plug the whole (After spraying this foam as a liquid it expands to the size of your opening and then dries hard). This allows the air trapped in the mast to naturally keep the boat from turtling.
Being an engineer, I followed (actually proceeded) this procedure with some calculations. Trapping the air inside the mast changes the mast from a dead weight (that wants to sink) weighing 14.6 lb(f) to a buoy (that wants to float) with 18.3 lb(f) of buoyancy. That is net swing of almost 33 lb(f)! If the mast is 20 feet long, that changes the mast from being a proturtling torque of 146 ft-lb to a 183 ft-lb anti-turtling torque. A real help in keeping the boat from turtling!