FreedomYachts.org

Looking for the Castaway article, I found an old series from YM on second hand boats. The Freedom section had the same text (even with the LOD/WL error), but different photos. Glad to see journalists like recycling! I'd include a copy, but can't upload the scanned file. John Oakley was the manager o...

Only ever seen one F30 (or 28 in its home country), but here's a couple of pictures of some lucky Swede running downwind whilst we were flogging the other way against a 1knot current. That mainsail looks shiny and new, and he was going much faster than us, with both sails set!

Some really sloppy proof reading here, too! Just look at the dimensions of the F33/35, with a waterline longer than the LOA; there must be a dimensional twist in there if it's true. Everyone seems to have a different value for the draught with centerboard lowered; I've seen everything from 1.8 to 2....

Michel, Not quite an answer to your question, but Castaway has an SSB antenna wire running from a gland on the gunwhale to an insulator tied to the mizzen masthead. The gland is abeam the mast, and the aerial is kept in tension by a mooring line bungee, which does not impede the mast from flexing. T...

The logical attachment would be that the plate held in place with the screw carries the pin to a blind socket within the boom, forming the axis of the sheave. In this case, the plate, with pin attached, ought just to slide out when pulled. One assumes this is not the case, but could it be threaded, ...

We had problems with water at the foot of the mizzen in our F35 (UK, = F33 US), over winter. The top of the mast had been sealed with foam, so it wasn't rain. Eventually found it was condensation, solved by putting a foam lined vinyl wrap around the mast in the saloon. The mast got very cold in the ...

Sometimes you can get "orange peel" effect from too thick coatings; water in the air supply is more likely to leave randomly spread 'holes' in the finish. We had that problem when the boat was spray painted last year, and it all had to be re-done. Try moving the spray gun faster to get a thinner coa...

Wilf, A very impressive piece of work! The outline of the rudder looks very similar to the one I have, but that is a flat aluminium plate with a tapered leading edge and square trailing edge; no suggestion of an aerofoil section. The aluminium is also quite heavy, especially noticeable when lifting ...

Michel, Theoretically, you would expect to get chlorine as gas released at one pole, and hydrogen gas at the other. Small amounts of chlorine are very irritant if breathed, thus very noticeable. Even in a catastrophic immersion, the hydrogen and chlorine would rapidly combine and re-dissolve, so the...

We also tie our leeches up with 4mm stuff; I inevitably found the odd one or two would come undone and fall out (I'm too puny to do the knots tightly enough – aaahh!). To avoid losing the tie, I found it expedient to put a third knot between the sail plies. This doesn't affect the set of the sail, a...