I love this boat! Trapeze question.

[jeff_santacruz]

I absolutely love this boat! I bought a used 1988 in great shape about 6 months ago to teach my sons to sail, and we are having a blast. It is amazingly agile and responsive to tuning and adjustments. Very stable with two people hiking out. As a kid I trained on a moth and a catalina 27. We have taken our capri out in the ocean and sailed extensively on a large lagoon in winds up to maybe 20 kts. Capsized twice with my son at the helm (ahem) and figured out that it's challenging to get back in after righting it. We may get a ladder, but in meantime we have tied a rope loop to drape over the stern as a foot step to get over the transome.

We are looking into setting up a trapeze so that we don't spill so much wind and for more excitement. I've read the posts and everyone seems to be saying it's OK. I'm concerned about the vertical load (150# + live load) on the mast foot. Can anyone give me the green light or suggest reinforcements?

Thanks and happy sailing.

 

[fan]

The boat really wasn't designed with wire trapping in mind, so you might just avoid that. Look for a used 470 or 505 if you want to trap in 20ish knots of wind. There's nothing like trimming the kite from the wire while planing along, unless you're on a foiling Moth.

Or get a reef in the main of you're current boat.

 

[jeff_santacruz]

speed

Fan, Thanks for the advice. The structure looks to me like it would need reinforcement for supporting a trapeze. We got our Capri to plane on a broad reach a few times and the speed was exhilarating! BTW, the moth I trained on was not a hydrofoil. That WOULD be fun.
Cheers,
-J