I have a question on the mast partners... I have hull #4 and by the looks of things, the partners were changed at some point between my hull and more recent hulls. My partners are very large and I have layered plywood carved out in the shape of the mast in place of wedges.
If you haven't seen it, there's literally 2" forward and aft and probably an inch on either side. I've been trying to tune the rig to reduce some of the wicked weather helm, but "block the mast as far aft as possible in the partners" is a useless statement. I have the mast nearly centered in the larger, rectangular partners.
I have the step plate set around 1" aft of the vertical in the head, making the mast closer to 2" aft. If anything, moving the foot of the mast further aft, thus moving the head of the mast forward, would reduce weather helm right?
I have a roller furling on the boat, but the headstay without the sail is snug, but not real tight. The backstay is tight when the turnbuckles are almost all the way down, and cap shrouds are around 45, lowers around 44.
I will take some measurements, but the mast is raked probably 2" with maybe 1-2" of pre-bend.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
Kyle
