things to do to your new boat...

L-P Gauhtier

New Member
Well I'm getting my new boat in like 2 weeks & I'm wondering what should I change & tweak before I go sailing...I read somewere that is was good to stand down the metal traveller eyes ... what else is important to do ? I never had a new boat before... and I don't wanna screw up with her... so any advice on rigging or thing to do are welcome ... thanks alot in advance
 
In all seriousness, you don't need to do much. This covers the Pro model as sold in NA.
The things that I like to do are:
1. VERY LIGHTLY sand all covered lines with 600 or 800 grit. Do not sand uncovered lines like the traveller and vang primary.
2. Clean hull and blades, then polish with Star-Brite Teflon. Probably could use a million other different products, this just helps keep the stuff clean.
3. Tape over the hiking stick u-joint. This is more of a daily maintenance thing than anything else. I use a stock hiking stick but I do have a Black Diamond tiller that I like.
4. Sand the eyes - two passes with some rolled up 150 grit is fine.
5. RETIE EVERY KNOT ON THE BOAT, ESPECIALLY THE HIKING STRAP!!! If you have sanded your lines this means you have taken them off, so you have to do this anyway. Do not trust any knot that comes from the factory. Knots have a bad history of staying in new lines, and the guys who tie them are boatbuilders, not knot tie-ers.
6. Rig an adjustable hiking strap line.
7. Add a daggerboard handle.
8. Tape upper section collar.
9. McLube end of boom. Elmer's Dry-Slide seems to work just as well and is cheaper by far. Available at and ACE Hardware store.
All told, you're looking at an hour and a half with the hull polishing, an hour or more of which is the polishing.
 
Telltales on sail as nec.
Wear strip on aluminum tiller where traveller crosses
Tape up the traveller blocks so they standup
Add shockcord to the hiking strap (wrapped around the trav cleat) so it holds strap up and taut when not hiking. (I had extra cord from the supplied daggerboard shockcord)
Daggerboard "stickshift" or handle for pulling up daggerboard
mainsheet cleats (user pref - some use, some don't)
Adjust daggerboard brake (little piece of rubber at aft secion of trunk) so it grabs the back of the daggerboard

The following is assuming you are buying the upgraded vang/cunningham/outhaul rigging (std on Pro model)
Sail with the default purchases (15-1 vang, 10-1 Cunningham and 6-1 Outhaul) for at least a week to get an idea if the amount of purchase in each control is good for you. Many people change, but it's a user preference issue, so I wouldn't change for the sake of changing.

If you are a competitive racer, the following.
Fill in the screw hole on the autobailer
Change the clew tie down to something that slides better (Spectra web strap, thinner 12 stand spectra or tube/ball system as shown on drLaser site) and/or McLube the end of the boom where the tie down sits
Tape the end of the upper section that sits INSIDE the lower section (the plug and the lower section of the upper mast collar) so it is a snug fit in the lower mast section.
Shockcord system to pull clew of sail towards tack when outhaul is eased
Longer tiller extension.
 
Good adds, the taping of the blocks especially. I like shrink wrapping them because I am a dork and it looks very neat.
New boats come with a shockcord for the hiking strap and a 48" hiking stick, which is the length that most people seem to be using these days.
The tie downs from stock are 3mm spectra. They slide better after a couple of uses. There is some residual mung on the rope from the manufacturing process that goes away quickly.
And telltales, definitely telltales. Good catch there.
 
3. Tape over the hiking stick u-joint.

What do you mean? Tape the universal joint? I'm getting a Fatso JR & I ussally spray the universal joint with TEFLON or SILICON spray so it doesn't dry out...

Fill in the screw hole on the autobailer

Humm... fill the hole with what? silicon?

(...) the taping of the blocks especially. I like shrink wrapping (...)
What do you mean by shrink wrapping... ?

Ok thanks alot... I'm making my list so I'm ready when I get my new baby... I've done almost all of these on my old boat so should be a problem... I'l add another point that you guys forgot... glue the little ends of your battens :) it can be very anoying
 
Tape over the connection so that the hiking stick cannot become inadvertantly disconnected from the tiller.
Fill the bailer screw hole with silicon.
Slide a piece of shrink wrap tubing onto the brummel hook connection between the two traveller blocks. You will only be able to slide it over the bottom (smaller) block, then heat it to shrink it. It's sort of hard to find the right size shrink wrap, I think 1.5" is the diameter you need. Vinyl tape works just as well.

The batten ends are glued on when assembled, but getting a batten end stuck in your sail sucks so an ounce of prevention is good here.
 
About the adjustable hicking strap, how do you rig that? I have look at Ben Ainslie's book but I do not understant the picture. Can anyone help?

Thanks

François Sylvestre
 
I have yet to find a worthwhile hiking strap adustment. The main reason for needing one is because you need an upwind and an offwind setting. The upwind setting is too long to be hiking on when you're aft in the cockpit.

THe thing I can't figure out is, how can you expect a rope-system with no cleats to hold your ass when you are screaming on a planing reach at the top of a wave or you have a big puff on? I personally hike my ass off reaching in heavy air, and I don't really have time to worry about my hiking strap slipping like three inches! Furthermore, chances are you would tighten the strap at the top of the first reach, right when you are dealing with all your new buddies that you rounded the weather mark with. Whoever finds the first burst of speed right when the boat begins to plane gets clear air. Fiddling with the strap just never worked for me.

I think that a really beefy shockcord works really well coupled with good ass-sliding techniqe and knowing when not to get your butt caught in the water!
 
Man.. it's a NEW LASER, my dream. My suggestion; appreciate it, i'll probably never get to sail a new one. Just sail it and enjoy the privelege of knowing that nothing is gonna brake. (Something that I never get to experience)
 
Lol, yeah that's true. I've got a new top section myself, it's kind of annoying because the wind has been so strong lately, and i can't power on as hard as i'd like to. :(
 
You can get it through Annapolis Performance Sailing at www.apsltd.com. Go to "One Design Boat Parts" at the top of the home page and scroll down until you see the Laser parts. I believe it is in the section labeled "Traveler and original vang." I just bought the stuff myself for my new boat. I believe it is $1.75 and gives you enough to do two boats.

Here's a link right ot the page: http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d3000/e1230.asp
 
So about taping the top section.... Are we talking about duct tape over the whole (Blue) collar and across its bottom? Everywhere it contacts the lower section?
Thanks.
 
Clear packing tape on both the blue collars that go inside the lower mast. It works great. All you are trying to do is get a nice tight fit between the two spars.
 
fsylvestre said:
About the adjustable hicking strap, how do you rig that?
MScott said:
I have yet to find a worthwhile hiking strap adustment. [...] The thing I can't figure out is, how can you expect a rope-system with no cleats to hold your ass when you are screaming on a planing reach at the top of a wave or you have a big puff on?

I've been using the system Dave Olsen describes in the appendix to Dick Tillman's "Laser Sailing for the 1990's" (p. 157, I only have my old copy of the book handy).

I'm solidly in the "100 kilo club", and I've never had the adjuster slip when I've been hiking off the wind. The jamming effect between the double figure-eight knot, the eye-strap and the tail-end of the line seems to be more than adequate. In fact, sometimes when it gets twisted up I can't eaisly release it.

When I'm reaching, I really like having the hiking-strap taut so I can lever myself around using my legs and feet. When it's loose, I don't feel as secure and able to slide around the boat as aggressively.

I just replaced the line in my adjuster yesterday (hopefully the nice, shiny new line won't be too slippery - it felt OK in the "tug test" on land). I took a couple of photos for my records and attached one here.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 

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hi there is another way yo set up your hiking strap that doesn't have as many moving parts. :)
 

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On another note, when you get a new boat make sure you tighten the rudder head pin so that when you kick the rudder blade up, it will stay there!

I just got a new boat and have used it only three times. The very first time I used it I had a great day of sailing but when coming into the launching ramp I tried to kick up the ruddder but it would just fall back down again. Seeing this as a problem, I had to take the entire rudder out of the gudgeons and I tucked it (with the tiller still attached) under the traveler line to hold it. I didn't want to rock or pump the boat into the ramp for fear that the rudder and tiller might fall off and sink, so instead I took out the daggerboard and paddled the boat from the bow. It was about the time that I had just layed down and started to doggy paddle when a gust of wind came and flipped the boat over and with it, my rudder and tiller went straight to the bottom (yes they doi sink!)

So long story short, tighten the bolt on the rudder head and it'll save you loads of launching and hauling problems. (This story does have a good ending though as the next day I brought my snorkling gear and dove some 20+ feet down in the frigig Marblehead waters to find it by luck in perfect condition.)
 
macwas16 said:
...my rudder and tiller went straight to the bottom...
I always use a saftey line tied between the rudder-head and the traveler line as a backup for failure of the rudder-lock tab.

Glad to hear you were able to find the miscreant rudder/tiller.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
GeoffS said:
I've been using the system Dave Olsen describes in the appendix to Dick Tillman's "Laser Sailing for the 1990's" (p. 157, I only have my old copy of the book handy).

I'm solidly in the "100 kilo club", and I've never had the adjuster slip when I've been hiking off the wind. The jamming effect between the double figure-eight knot, the eye-strap and the tail-end of the line seems to be more than adequate. In fact, sometimes when it gets twisted up I can't eaisly release it.

Cheers,

Geoff S.

I'd like to tie an adjustable line onto my hiking strap. The set up in the picture that you attached to the original thread looks like it would work and I'd like to try it, but I don't know how. Is that one piece of line or two? Can you give a verbal description of tying it? I guess the key is the double figure-eight, but I don't know how to do that. Help!

Merrily
 
Another place to get the electrical heat shrink tubing is Radio Shack.... You can use a longer piece that holds the traveler blocks tighter/straighter by rolling the tubing over it self (like peeling off a sock). Then after you get the brummel hooks hooked, unroll it and then apply heat to shrink the tubing. you can get it to go from block to block this way.
Another cheap way to make telltales is to use the excess bits off of your old sail numbers cut small circles out of them and use either cassette tape or vcr tape as the tail.

Regards,
Fishingmickey
150087/181157
 
Merrily said:
I'd like to tie an adjustable line onto my hiking strap. The set up in the picture that you attached to the original thread looks like it would work and I'd like to try it, but I don't know how. Is that one piece of line or two? Can you give a verbal description of tying it? I guess the key is the double figure-eight, but I don't know how to do that. Help!

Merrily

It's one line, use 3/16" dia (thinner line doesn't bind up enough in the eyes and slips to easily and thicker line doesn't seem to release easy enough)

Start with the knot at the end (I don't think it's a double eight, at least in tech terms, it's a figure 9 knot - see http://www.massey.ac.nz/~sglasgow/nzss/knots.htm for more info - ignore the fact that they are showing the figure 8 and 9 with the line doubled)

Then follow the diagram, tie in the bowline after you have gone thru the hiking strap, take the tail from the bowline and continue on thru the second eye, back to the bowline eye and out thru the starting eye.
 
49208 said:
It's one line, use 3/16" dia (thinner line doesn't bind up enough in the eyes and slips to easily and thicker line doesn't seem to release easy enough)

Start with the knot at the end (I don't think it's a double eight, at least in tech terms, it's a figure 9 knot - see http://www.massey.ac.nz/~sglasgow/nzss/knots.htm for more info - ignore the fact that they are showing the figure 8 and 9 with the line doubled)

Then follow the diagram, tie in the bowline after you have gone thru the hiking strap, take the tail from the bowline and continue on thru the second eye, back to the bowline eye and out thru the starting eye.

Thanks for the verbal description. With that and the picture I was able to tie a practice set up. I'll see how it works later today!

Merrily
 

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