Need upgrade advice (I know, I know!)

D

drumbeater

New Member
I'm sure this has been asked a thousand times and answered a thousand times, but I still want to ask for myself.

I have a 1991 Laser that I bought a couple of years ago. I am only a recreational user and don't race (or haven't yet). The laser has all of the old style rigging. Do I really need to upgrade all of that stuff, or just keep the old rigging. I need to buy some new lines, and while I'm spending the money couldn't decide whether or not to go all out.

Thanks for the advice.

DB
 
Depends on what you want to spend. It'll cost you at least $375.00 for the full upgrade, vang, outhaul, cunningham, (unless you have several micro block laying around). Or you can spend about $80.00 on all new line for the old style. If you are not racing you don't NEED it. I'm not sure what it does for resale value.
 
I don't plan on selling the boat. I stole the boat for $500. It had only been used a 1/2 dozen times. I don't think I could find another deal like that for a while.
 
APS (www.apsltd.com) has a nice refit kit for $88 for old lasers. It replaces all the old lines with new and gives you additional lengths to allow for some creative re-rigging of the outhaul, vang, etc. Although I didn't buy the kit, I have been slowly rerigging my old boat in this way. I'm really glad I did. It's made a big difference in my sailing and my racing (hey, I still lose, but not by nearly so much).
 
One thing to consider is a halfway upgrade. For example, add some blocks in place of the loops in a "Laser Sailing for the 90s" style vang rigging (ex. http://www.laserinternational.org/rules/rulchovw.htm). You can also rig the cunningham with some blocks like the new style, but keep the old deck fairlead and cleat.

BTW, I highly recommend the APS-suggested line types (esp. the Swiftcord for all control-lines that run to your hand).

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
One of the main advantages of the upgrade kit is that it makes alterations to rig settings a lot faster while rounding marks etc. After, or while you're rounding the marks you can easily pull on or let off the tension with ease.
The old system's outhaul is the most time consuming of all of the settings, it's in an awkward position to make a quick alteration, and if there's a strong breeze you wouldn't have much success trying to make a difference with it. The cunningham and the vang are really easy to make alterations to, the link that Geoff posted has some nice diagrams. I'm still battling with the old rigging, but i'm young and strong and it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference, i wouldn't mind rigging up a way of having the outhaul's cleat on the deck though. Just to make it faster for racing.
So, for recreational sailing the upgrade isn't absolutely vital, some changes to your existing rig could be useful though, just to make it a bit easier.. Or if you've got a lot of spare cash, the upgrade would make things a hell of a lot easier.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I decided to start with the new lines from APS. I got some good rigging ideas from the link posted by GeoffS. We'll play around with it this weekend and see what I can come up with.

Thanks again,

DB
 
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