Our new spray hood has arrived from C&J marine and it looks a great quality bit of kit. It looks easy to fit as they have provided all fitting instructions and fixing hole measurements. We will see….!!!. They have also made us some spray dodgers with the boat name on. They have used much LARGER letters than I was expecting. No one will miss us now. Just waiting for the new sails to arrive from Hydes … [:)]

John Williams

275/60 CRYSTAL

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John,

John,

I shall be interested to see how you get on fixing the new sprayhood. I have one on order from Suffolk sails. I have increased the height by about 100mm to provide more headroom and shoulder room when using the companionway hatch--not a problem as I now have boom-end sheeting, and intend to abolish the centre track for the main.

Have you stuck with the "original" dimensions?

Not a fan of dodgers. IMHO a decent sprayhood should do, and normally does, the trick.

My new Hydes seem nicely put together, although apparently very lightweight compared to the cloth I was used to on a 38 footer! Did you stick to the crosscut dacron route or fancy laminates?

I have a Marblehead crosscut main, a crosscut dacron blade with leech battens, and a laminate tri-radial genoa with foam luff and UV cover.

275/30 "Cascada"

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Hi John

I'm not a fan of spray hoods but after last years battle up the French coast in June/July I have reluctantly bought one. I used to race all the time but don't any more. I now enjoy cruising. I have never had a spray hood before so this will be a new experience for me. I'm hoping it will lay flat most of the time when we are sailing. Dodgers are good for me as they are easily removed and put back on plus they offer quite good privacy in the marinas. Headroom of the sprayhood was an issue for me too but C&J assured me their design is good. I hope they are right....!!! The parts I have at home do look good. The frame looks quite high but its hard to tell when its not on the boat.

I've ordered a fully battened dacron crosscut main for ease of use, a tri-radial dacron No.1 with foam luff and UV strip and crosscut dacron No.3. with vertical battens also with foam luff and UV strip.

Your main will most probably be a backstay hitter. Very "racey" mine is more "cruisey" so is cut to clear the back stay with ease.

I have boom end main sheeting with no track. A very simple strong system with enough control for what we do.

Is your boat at Woodbridge?

John Williams

275/60 CRYSTAL

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Hi John,

My main is Dacron. The marblehead is a description of the cloth type-modelled on the Hood soft densely woven material.

I hope it will not clout the backstay. Charles and I spent some time judiciously scanning the geometry through the pouring rain!

My end-boom sheeting is(to my mind) a great success. Nice roller-bearing Ronstan blocks means it runs smoothly in all but the very lightest conditions. I intend to unbolt and store the centre track while the boat is out of the water and I have the saloon headlining down to sort the thru'-deck electrical connections and other minor gripes.

Yes- "Cascada" is in the TideMill for the winter. She will be hauled at the end of March. The original idea was for a couple of weeks out of the water, but in view of my current medical scenario I guess that will run into 2 or 3 months!

I used to keep my boat at Burnham in the early '90s, but find more flexibility "up North"! I am fortunate enough to have a mooring at Ramsholt in mid-river just off the hard.

Hope to see you around later in the season.

275/30 "Cascada"

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I have just launched. Crystal is in the marina at Burnham this year. I will be there this weekend sprayhood in hand. You are on one of my favourite rivers, Woodbridge and Ramsholt are very pretty places. I probably will see you around as I am up and down the east coast all summer long and a trip up the Deben is always good. Now I have CRYSTAL in huge letters on the spray dodgers I won't go unseen. I don't know the name of the sail cloth I'm getting but it will a good spec and have the sailman 3500 batten system which should be better than I have at present. It should stack neat and flat on the boom. I was going to go tri-radial on the main but Charles did not reckon the gain would be worth the extra expense. Hope you are not out too long.

John Williams

275/60 CRYSTAL

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