New 6m

[tiggy_cat]

Earlier this week, I took delivery of my first 6 metre boat. It is an older design ( a Tern) in fibreglass with a couple of suits of Bantock sails. It needs a new mast and a set of rigging. At present the hull is basically complete with a rudder servo, Whirlwind Olympic winch and a 3rd servo with an arm in the front of the hull.

The lines from this 3rd servo run forward to the bow, out onto the deck through twin fairleads back to a pulley block each side and towards the rear of the jib boom then forward of the swivel point of the jib where they join together at a metal ring. As not all of the fittings are in place on the jib, it is not clear to what the ring connected. I have been trying to work out what function this rig has and presume that it is either 1) some separate trim function for the jib boom or 2) a form of jib twitcher.

My question is do current users of 6m's think that there is any great advantage in either of these functions as , at present, I am minded to simplify the rigging by deleting the servo and tidying up the deck, or at least not bothering to connect it up .

The boat in question has been out of commission for a while and has been with a club mate for a while after he bought it , I believe , from an estate sale. It was registered as K924 at one time but I have no certificate or measuring papers for it so presumably will have to get it remeasured. From a sticker inside, I believe that it was originally built in the general Gosport area, or spent some time there

[Val Provoost]

Sounds as if you have a jib twitcher on this boat which allows you to fine adjust the sheeting of the jib only, while the boat is sailing. Quite useful in light and shifty stuff but not essential. I also have a Tern, sitting in the queue and mine had the old heavy fibreglass deck removed and replaced with a sapele ply one so she will certainly need remeasuring also. Get it sailing and go enjoy it. you can fit the twitcher up later if necessary. I have another boat with a twitcher so if photos would help, just ask.

[tiggy_cat]

Hi Val,

Thanks for that. Looking purely at the geometry of what is there, I had pretty much concluded that it was a twitcher rather than a fine trim set up. I am off to the USA tomorrow on holiday, but when I get back I shall be ordering a new mast and the necessary fittings to re-rig the boat. I think that once I am able to rig it, I may be able to work out how the thing was meant to work! Presumably the idea is to flick the jib out to catch the wind in light airs rather than adjust the jib to mainsail relationship ?

I haven't actually tried to see if the Whirlwind winch works yet, if not then I do have a new Tornado winch that I bought for a Marblehead that I have to renovate so that might end up in the 6m instead. Given the current internal rigging, looks like it might be fun to set up! The chap that sold me the boat actually had a spare deck moulding which he offered to me if I wanted it but given how nice the boat looks at present, I think that I will resist the temptation of ripping the current deck off as I doubt that it would improve anything on what I have.

Once again thanks for the help.

[Mike Ewart]

Hi Ian

definitely a jib twitcher they are useful I always used to have one fitted on my older boats, but do not at present, as Val says useful in the light airs but not essential more controls often means more fiddling and less speed, she is a pretty boat and as you surmise probably not measured but not a problem there , the more we can get on the water the better it is

[tiggy_cat]

I have finally got my act into gear and have received the new groovy mast material and fittings to get the Tern back into sailing condition.

I took the opportunity to contact the class Registrar who tells me that he has the boat still registered and will transfer it to me , sending any details that he holds. Looks like the 6 metre is pushing its way to the front of the "get sailing again" queue ahead of the A Class Dambuster and a couple of older Marbleheads. Think

we are going to be busy.

[Mike Ewart]

great to hear you are getting her back on the water, keep an eye on the 6 metre website for details of open events, one of the advantages of the six is that older designs still remain competitive if well set up and well sailed