I bought an old bombardier invitation sailboat for pretty cheap. Apparently the design is similar to the laser which is why I'm asking here.
The boat needs some work. I don't expect it to be high performance, just good enough to learn on for casual sailing.
I have some questions about the main problems with the boat:
1. The mast is bent at a roughly 15 degree angle just below the top of the mast step. The previous owner said it was done to make the boat faster but have some doubts about this. The main problem is that this makes the mast difficult to rotate because the bend is inside the mast step. As a solution we were thinking of is to insert a one inch wooden block inside the step to raise the bend just above the deck. How reasonable is this?
2. When we placed the boat on the dolly, we noticed that the left side is flexing slightly. It also seems heavier than the right. Does this mean that the foam on that side is waterlogged? Would drying it out help? I plan to cut 2 inspection ports to dry the hull out over the winter.
I hope someone can help out with these issues.
The boat needs some work. I don't expect it to be high performance, just good enough to learn on for casual sailing.
I have some questions about the main problems with the boat:
1. The mast is bent at a roughly 15 degree angle just below the top of the mast step. The previous owner said it was done to make the boat faster but have some doubts about this. The main problem is that this makes the mast difficult to rotate because the bend is inside the mast step. As a solution we were thinking of is to insert a one inch wooden block inside the step to raise the bend just above the deck. How reasonable is this?
2. When we placed the boat on the dolly, we noticed that the left side is flexing slightly. It also seems heavier than the right. Does this mean that the foam on that side is waterlogged? Would drying it out help? I plan to cut 2 inspection ports to dry the hull out over the winter.
I hope someone can help out with these issues.