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RACING A F-25

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 5:20 pm
by bjohnson66
Just finishing up my first season racing my 84 F-25 round mast inboard and have been very disappointed in her performance. I have seen a number of posts praising the performance of the F-25.

Any suggestions on setup, sails, or tactics would be appreciated. At this point I am ready to sell and go back to a tradional sloop. Prior to the Freedom I had a San Juan 7.7 and did quite well with it racing.

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 10:56 am
by hxschiller
Unfortunately, the round mast version of the F25 is somewhat of a dog when compared with the wing-mast version in spite of increased sail area of the round-mast version. You can get an understanding of this when a Hobie 14 or an F25 mast not rotating because the vang is too tight.
When this happens these Una-rig boats simply do not move! Note that the Freedom 24 has a wing-shaped mast.

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 12:46 pm
by Kraken
Comparing to the San Juan, I bet your disappointed in up-wind performance. In this case the larger round mast will be slightly slower up-wind. Like yourself, I have heard the F25 is a pretty quick boat. I am sure you tried the obvious like clean bottom (the boat that is), trim and re-trim different sail settings,,, Or it could be getting the right someone to give you the 'goods'. Like the C22 is a serious tail dragger and a little weight in the bow makes a difference. Also, if your racing in open class, check handicaps of other boats to see if your speed is in the right ball park. May also have a different handicap for round vs wing mast. Racing the San Juan 21, I found different production hull numbers made a difference and also an adjustable back stay, good vang control (constant adjusting),,, ah.. the joys of racing...

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 2:47 pm
by yarrow
I have not raced my F25, which is a winged mass version with inboard but have a few friends who do race theres. the up wind speed is not going to compete with pointing or speed with a sloop. the speed is downwind when you hoist the mast head kite in 1minute and pass everyone down wind gybing solo with a beer in your hand, as a side note I have done 9kts via GPS in mine reaching with out the kite ;).
There are a number of upgrades one can do as well:
1. remove weight, and move left over weight forward were possible 'stern should not sit in water when at rest' with orig rudder my stern is 3" out of the water.
2. check rudder, original tend to get water logged and can get very heavy. I made a new Carbon rudder which is a much better shape and weighs less then 20lbs with tiller which should help raise stern and help boat perform better.
3. update blocks and line to simpler designs
4. update main to square top main, with back stays which allows you to keep mast straight or bent to wind ;)
5. with inboard, check folding prop is working properly and locks flat when put in reverse will save you up to a knot of speed
6. batten tension, vang, and outhaul all are very different compare to traditional sloop designs
7.

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:42 am
by bjohnson66
Thanks Yarrow for the advise. All of which is very helpful. Where did you get your carbon fibre rudder? I am pretty sure mine is water logged. I plan on moving the batteries to under the V-berth and fix my fuel guage so I don't have to keep as much fuel in the tank in the hopes of getting weight out of the stern. The fleet I am currently racing in is JAM only so I am not able to use my kite.

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 6:34 pm
by Teke's Pride
How old is your main? If it is more than 10 years old it is probably blown out of shape and a new sail will decrease heal and increase speed both on and off the wind.

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:18 pm
by yarrow
Rudder weight:
I had my rudder custom made, if you look through the forums there is a nice thread talking about water logged F25 rudders with a few people posting weight.
forum link:
http://freedomyachts.org/viewtopic.php? ... f25+rudder
I think the proper weight should be around 60lbs 'with out orig rudder', I've heard of some over 80lbs. If it's water logged you can remove the old balsa core and replace new lighter foam core which almost anybody can do as seen in the link above.

Weight moving forward:
I upgraded my lights to LED's and upgraded my batteries to smaller lighter versions and moved them to to bulk head behind holding tanks, I also removed my fresh water holding tank and installed a 5gal under my sink/stove, this still allows me to use a cooler under sink.

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 3:41 pm
by bjohnson66
Can you tell me where you got the carbon fibre rudder made?

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 5:22 pm
by yarrow
I had a friend make my rudder, I plan to test it and see if people are interested in a limited run. I can make in composite which will still be light but not as expensive as carbon and maintain a better updated profile.

Re: RACING A F-25

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:09 pm
by yarrow
I have 2 spare rudders, and was thinking of updating them to include a foam core, and saving weight. If anybody is interested in this idea please reply to this post or send me an email to: yarrow@theavenueconcept.com