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Last year I installed a bimini on my tall rig and in order to sail with it up I slid the boom up about a foot on the mast and just put a loose reef on the main.
My question is, how about having a foot taken off the top of the main sail by my sailmaker? I see lots of other boats out there with "flat top" mains. I think I would rather loose a square foot or less of sail off the top rather than loosing 10 sq ft off the bottom.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Kennyg 1985 C25 TR/FK AHOY VEY! - Hull # 4952 Out of Bayside, Queens,NY
It wouldn't work for the reason Alex said, but there are a number of ways that it has been done.
You could buy a new or used Capri 25 mainsail, which is one foot shorter than a C25 tall rig mainsail.
You could have a sailmaker shorten your mainsail by one foot.
You could have a sailmaker add a short reef one foot above the foot of the sail. I favor this approach, because you wouldn't alter your mainsail in a way that would prevent you from using it as originally designed, if you chose to do so. It's nice to have that extra sail area on those light air days. That's when the extra sail area makes the most difference.
Any of these methods would require that you raise the boom one foot. I'm not sure when Catalina started producing the C25 with an attached boom. I think the 1985 boat still had a sliding boom. If the boom is attached, then you would have to modify it to allow it to slide up.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Kennyge</i> <br />I thought of that but when I look up there, it seems like there might be enough room if I just had 1 foot cut off. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
The sail on my C25 tall rig without a huge roach still caught on the backstay. I don't think you could cut a foot off the top and not have it catch.
However you can check by measuring down one foot along the luff and getting the distance to the leech. Make a temporary "batten" out of cardboard in that length and tape it to the sail at the head. See if it catches.
The fellow I sold my TR to switched to a Capri 25 main and likes it a lot. Allows for a bit taller bimini. I actually prefer the 1 ft high extra reef point option. Like Steve said, that way you still have the full sail available.
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.