Listen to Seth on the sails issue.
I have an Ericson 32-2, vintage 1970, with sails that looked as old as the boat. 90 percent of her use is racing so good sails were important. Seth seems to know everyone in the sailing industry. He pointed me to several different people to talk to at various sail lofts. I ended up going with Ullman, who are a little more expensive, but their customer service is outstanding.
I got a kevlar 155 genoa, mylar full-batten #3 jib, Max-size 1/2 oz symmetrical spinnaker. We have a dacron main which still has life in it, but I'm looking to change it before february.
We also have other sails in the inventory, but the new ones are the ones we use racing.
When rigging the boat for a symmetrical spinnaker, you have to have several things:
1 Track on the forward part of the mast. We just run a manual stop static ring to clip the pole into, with enough track to accomodate high clews and low ones.
2. Reaching Strut. We found when reaching hard, the pressure from the afterguy on the stanchions was incredible. That we didn't bend or break several of them is still a wonder. We ended up making a reaching strut out of a whisker pole. We put short pieces of 1 inch track on the lower part of each side of the mast, and ran a manual stop static ring to that.
3. Tweeners. These aren't difficult to make and can be used instead of the reaching strut. We used extra lines and put a block on the rail at the beam. Then we used snatch blocks (actually purchased a couple from REI) and we clip them onto the spin sheets. We feed them through cam cleats placed just outside the cockpit near the rail. We can close down or open up the leeches on the chute with these.
4. Spin pole topping lift. Midway up the mast, enough line to be able to keep it rigged to the pole but out of the way when you're beating.
5. Turning block on the foredeck for foreguy (spin pole downhaul). We run this back to the cockpit through a new cam cleat.
6. Spin blocks. We have ours attached at the very stern of the boat on each rail, but the suggestion is to move them forward a bit to get them outboard another 6 inches (our stern is kinda pinched). We have designated spin winches (harken #32), but on a smaller boat I don't think they're absolutely necessary.
7. Spin halyard. We used sta set 3/8" for our spin halyard. There's not as much concern about the line stretching with the spinnaker up. Who cares if theres a little bounce in it, really? We have our run through a sheave at the top of the mast that is forward and above the jib halyard.
Can't think of anything else right now but I'm sure there's more
Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 Hull #134