New Cherub Owner

[Nick in Bristol]

Afternoon all,

Just bought my first Cherub (2654) and currently stripping back the slightly messy paintjob, overhauling the foils and replacing a few bits and bobs.  Going to use it to teach the Mrs to sail and then hopefully doing some very amateur racing in between ear bashings about it being too wet / too cold  :)

My sailing background is mostly Scorpions, Fireball's and 505's, so the Cherub will be completely new to me but looking forward to the challenge.

[roland_trim]

Fantastic - a trifle in Bristol.
Nick I 've emailed you my phone number/contacts. If you need anything please shout.

[roland_trim]

forgot to add -

KEVLAR ALERT
Be careful about sanding. The kevlar will respond to being hit by sandpaper sand by forming furring into a "teddy bear" skin, more sanding makes it worse....

[Nick in Bristol]

Cheers for the contact details, I'll reply direct soon - I'm in and out a lot today, one of the perils of self-employment is always being on call.  But it does mean I get to work on the boat during the quiet spells :)

Thanks for the kevlar tip too, I've been careful with the sanding so far! More tips most welcome.  Fortunately (?!) the red paint job is very thick so easy to see the depth I am sanding to.  I'm not taking it back to being bare, just to take out the thick brush strokes and even it out prior to repainting a slightly more tasteful white decking and blue hull. 

I've had to fill a few dings, especially a 4cm chunk out of the spinnaker chute lip, but overall it looks pretty sound, just a bit rough around the edges. 

[Banshee Ambulance]

More South West Cherubs! Fantastic! I'm off for my maiden voyage at Chew today. 

[Nick in Bristol]

Looks a nice day for it too :)

Chew is one of the places that I'm considering sailing mine at in the longer term.  In the short term, is it possible to just turn up and sail on the lake without being a club member? Obviously not using club facilities as that wouldn't be right but just a public launch site. 

[roland_trim]

We are a member at Chew and yes we can happily arrange to be there to sign you in as a guest when launch date approaches. Chew is a reservoir, so club access only. Report from last week is that currently the level/weed make sailing a cherub there a bit more of a challenge than normal and so we are currently using Thornbury (excellent club, steady wind, mild tide issue). We would strongly recommend trying the Chew winter series as a great way to try the club (this usually includes a parking space, Sunday racing and Saturday for "training").

Hayley and I had a storming session at Thornbury today - we had a "one capsize and home" rule in place as I'm currently working all hours and a bit tired / grumpy. Those who know us will be surprised to hear that  with a force 3+ we were out for a long sail. Came back grinning form ear to ear after binning a gybe in a race (yes we took Born Slippy out).

[phil_kirk]

Hi Nick,

I also live near Bristol and sail at Thornbury.  Hopefully by the time your ready for a maiden voyage chew will have a bit more water. Otherwise Thornbury is worth considering when the forcast is light to medium as the wind can pick up. 

Again as Born Slippy if you need any tips or want to get together for some more complicated bits give us a shout.

[Hayley_Trim]

Fortunately (?!) the red paint job is very thick so easy to see the depth I am sanding to.  I'm not taking it back to being bare, just to take out the thick brush strokes and even it out prior to repainting a slightly more tasteful white decking and blue hull. 

Trifle's aren't exactly renowned for their tasteful paint jobs! The tiger/finding nemo effect was a personal favourite... I suppose it set something of a precedent for us. The (now Holland-based) Flying Trifle was our first cherub and we have very fond memories of her. Also some 'non-memories' - moments of alien abduction where you would find yourself in the water and not know how you got there!

Sailing at Thornbury yesterday was great. I always wonder when we sail Born Slippy in a breeze why we ever sail anything else, but then the E5 seduces us back. It's a good job we had a good sail though, the trip home courtesy of the RAC van could have been really depressing otherwise. Dead turbo 

[Nick in Bristol]

I'm going to have to rethink the paintjob if tasteful is a social faux pas in Cherub circles :) Maybe it's time to use the tin of tartan paint that I waited so long for at the stores as a sprog. . .

Thornbury SC is only a 20odd minute drive away from home as I'm up in north Bristol, but isn't the sailing say quite short there due to the tides? Reading the thread about the Sheppey round the island race reminded me how easy I had it learning to sail as that was my home club for several years.  Moving to Burghfield after wasn't exactly a hardship either. 

One technical ish question: what dimension rudder blades are people using? The one currently on the boat seems, well a trifle short at about 30inches (76cm). 

[roland_trim]

One technical ish question: what dimension rudder blades are people using? The one currently on the boat seems, well a trifle short at about 30inches (76cm). 

Sounds about right, we sail Born Slippy with about a foot in the water. What is the chord and approximate thickness?

[phil_kirk]

The size of rudder depends partly on the shape of the hull and partly on your sailing ability. 

The overal length of our rudder is 95cm with probably 50-60cm in the water.  Cords range from 23cm at the large end to 17cm at the very skinny end.  The narrow cord rudders can be longer than the dimension i gave above.  A rudder without a t foil will need a little more area than a rudder with a foil.

The rudder on our old boat which didn't have a foil was about 95cm long with a cord of 20cm tapering to 15cm at the bottom. The section was a naca 0010. It worked very well. you could go a little shorter but with less than 40cm in the water you have less margin for error.  If you have a dagger blade style stock you can also sail with the foil lifted a few cms if you want less drag. 

[simon_jones]

Tasteful paintjobs aren't always a faux pas, Born Slippy is looking superb these days. However if you do drag out the tartan paint you could rename her the" flying haggis "

[Will_Lee]

Can you send a picture? Less than 60cm in the water is v little. I wonder if your rudder once was longer but broke and was refashioned into a smaller one?

[Nick in Bristol]

I've just been out to take a few photos.     It's hard to get an exact measurement but I'd say there was no more than a foot in the water, assuming the hull was flat in the water.     Secondly there is no (vertical) taper on the blade at all, just a flat cut so the broken blade idea sounds good so far.     Hopefully the images will come out ok.    .    .   

Hmmm no images - is there a restriction on the forum software for newbies to post links?

The blade and flimsy (now broken) rudder stock

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http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/nickbristol_2008/IMG-20110906-00113.jpg
Approx waterline when hull is flat in the water

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http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/nickbristol_2008/IMG-20110906-00112.jpg
Anyone got a longer blade and stock for sale?