TOPIC:

I've just taken delivery of a lovely new Ovi/CS Boats Albacore. The mainsheet split tail is neat, but I keep getting the tails trapped under the transom deck corners, especially rounding the leeward mark. My previous Speed boat wasn't a problem, as I tied elastic between the tail and the buoyancy bag webbing.

Anyone got any tips which don't involve major boat surgery?

Stewart
A 8210

Easy this, though you need a drilled hole through the front knee under the deck. Put a loop in the ends of each tail after the stopknot, attach a piece of elastic (5/6mm is ok), take it forward through the hole inthe knee and tie a lock knot. You will have to experiment with tension to get it right. The only hitch might be getting the mainsheet tails to run freely through the decks. Paul at CS will advise anyway, I can't remember whether we just radiussed the corners or if we put cut down deck eyes under the decks. Do make sure you address this as running the tails round a sharp corner will wear them out.

Thanks-I thought this might be a possibility. Do you mean the front knee, or the aftermost one? I thought that using anything further forward of the aft knee would be a tangle risk. Also terrified of drilling holes in my lovely new boat!

Why not go to the Winsford flash open next Saturday, our old boat will be there for reference and We will help you sort it out, bring some elastic.

We just have a piece of elastic running loosely from one side to the other with the split tails and tied to same eyes and then we tape the split tails to it at intervals. Elastic is longer than width between eyes but short enough not to catch on corners and stretches betwen tape points which only go to about two thirds the way up the tails so it doesn't interfere with the boom blocks.
I nicked the method from a 9er so not original but effective and no drilling.