DRAGONFLY Trimarans User Forum

Paul

I had a similar problem a few years ago, the weld holding the large bolt to the underdeck s/s frame failed and the bolt came loose. The solution is to replace the whole s/s frame. This happened on both amas at different times, the first time I removed the ama and worked on it upside down to remove t...

Paul

I just found a nice video on Youtube showing how to remove the amas (link is on this forum by Mika Harku).

cheers,

paul

Paul

Christine, if you have the swing wing Df800 it is pretty simple, you will need a couple of people to carry and move the amas after removal though. I used two open ended spanners, one to hold the bottom nut and one to loosen the locking nut, suitably sized ring spanners will also do. You will need to...

Paul

Yes the forward outer end is the problem. Maybe use the spinnaker halyard and the genoa halyard -- if you have one? On my cat the lazy jacks ran through blocks on the spreaders then to a ring on the front of the mast then a single line ran to a cleat on the front of the mast allowing the lazy jacks ...

Paul

Hi Christian, I havn't made a shade tent for my DF but did make one for my previous 10 meter catamaran. You need to be able to loosen the lazy jacks so that the tent can be draped over the boom (or run a line under the boom which the tent can be draped over, but on top of the boom works best) Basica...

Paul

My speed log died also, I now just use SOG from the gps on my plotter. My A50 Raymarine plotter acts as a log.

Paul

JUST READ YOUR POST, YES YOU ARE RIGHT, THE PIN SHOULD BE USED ONLY FOR RAISING/LOWERING THE MAST THEN THE MAST BASE MOVED AFT AND THE PIN RE-INSERTED.

Paul

I measured up today, the running back stays are attached to a U bolt on the inside (i.e.. closest to the main hull) of each aka, 200 mm measured from the rear of the aka. Two double blocks, one with becket, are required plus approx 10 metres of 8mm line (racing braid will do fine) for each side. My ...

Paul

Hi Allan, No problem, I'm travelling at present but will be back mid next week and will make the measurements for you. I can send a tape measure up the mast on the spinnaker halyard to gauge the height of the mast, I suspect it is the longer "racing" mast. I wouldn't dare fly the kite with...

Paul

Hin Allan, the previous owner of my DF lost the original mast - he blamed a broken shackle as the culprit, anyway he replaced the mast and I believe he had the riggers add the extra backstays then. He was a very keen racing sailor. The boat is a regular swing wing version, not racing, and as far as ...

Paul

At the rear of the boom there should be two sheaves, one for each reefing line to pass through, then the lines go up through the cringles on the leach of the mainsail and back to an eye bolt on the boom.

Hope this makes sense to you.

Paul

I am not in Europe nor do I sail a fixed beam DF 800, but have replaced the tramps on my swing wing DF 800. You may find that they need to be custom made by a sailmaker or business specialising in making biminis, shade covers etc. Make sure they use good quality mesh (mine is called Ferrari Mesh) an...

Paul

Another short video of my DF 800 this time shot from the boat in 10 knots of breeze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz70qMGd ... er&list=UL

Paul

Hi Ken, My bowsprit is a stainless tube, about 60mm in diameter and approx 2mm wall thickness. It's 1200 mm long attached to a large stainless plate bolted to the deck. The downhaul is a stainless steel wire strop attached to a heavy eye about 100 mm above the water line. In a previous post I sugges...

Paul

Very difficult I would imagine, if I were sailing the boat and knew I would need to jibe the kite I would remove the code O, but on this occasion I knew we would not need to jibe, so left it on. It was just a bit tricky getting it down and into it's bag with just the two of us, I ended up putting th...

Paul

Just came across your post. What do you need to know? I have a DF 800 in Cairns, if you need assistance with where fittings go etc let me know via the forum.

cheers,

Paul

Paul

Apologies for the quality of parts of this video, it was shot from a Bavaria 44 during our clubs monthly fun race in Cairns Australia. We started 20 minutes after the fleet of monohull yachts in 15 - 20 knots, I thought I had brought my 3/4 spinnaker but when my crew hoisted it, realised it was the ...

Paul

Ken, my bowsprit is secured by a large eye about 100 mm above the water line, probably is original equipment as there is no sign of screws or fasteners on the out side, so assume it is through bolted with nuts and washers on the inside. Have you thought of through bolting two fittings, one on each s...

Paul

I chose a Honda 8hp 4 stroke long shaft for my Df 800 and am happy with it. It is heavier than a 2 stroke but more powerful, no fuel/oil mixing, charges the battery and lifts clear of the water when tilted. Hope this helps you.

Paul

Paul

Good timing Oscar, hope Irene did not cause you too much grief. We have solved the problem, we removed the offending bolt and stainless box section to find the welds on the bolt which passes through the box had both failed. A good stainless engineer welded up a new box section and bolt using a large...

Paul

We took the table top off and were able to fix the problem of the frayed downhall, tight but doable. As to tacking in a chop, we just sailed 70 miles in 15 - 20 knots on the nose and did many tacks, (before the pivot bolt on the forward port ama let go, see my post under DF 800 hull issues dated Sat...

Paul

Yesterday I was sailing with a friend on a trip to attend a regatta next week at Magnetic Island. 50 miles into our journey in 15 - 20 knots we were beating toward an island where we had decided to take a break before continuing. I happened to be watching the port side front aka and to my horror saw...

Paul

My pleasure, glad it made sense. The carabiner would be the best option I think, they are very strong and safe, shackles, you never know if the pin may undo. Good luck with the approaching hurricane, I live in Far North Queensland--- cyclone country so know what you are going through.

Paul

Paul

I went up the mast and found my camera battery dead! However I will attempt to describe the setup, and send to Boa pic from a site I googled which shows a similar setup, only using a shackle instead of a carabiner fitting. The stainless steel hound is riveted to the front of the mast and has a tang ...

Paul

I'm going up the mast next week to change the headsail halyard pulley, will take a photo of the set up for forestay and side stays whilst up there and post it on the forum.

Paul

Paul

Hi Andy, I am planning on taking the table top off this week and trying to reach the downhaul rope that way, your boat's previous owner must have added the perspex window as it is not an original piece of equipment. The resident croc is active at present so do not want to get in the water at the mar...

Paul

I usually keep my DF 800 on it's trailer, but in August will be sailing her 400 kilometres to compete in a race week, necessitating keeping her in the water for about a month, so will need to antifoul her bottom. I can paint about 70% of her main hull and 100% of the floats on the trailer, but getti...

Paul

The photos appear to show the perspex inspection window about 4 inches back from the compression post Andy, and about 10 inches long? Would that be about right? Guess you removed the table top to cut the access hole, if so why not just remove the table top to replace the downhaul rope every 6 or so ...

Paul

Thanks Andy, Bo will advise you how to do it. Look forward to seeing what you did.

cheers,

Paul

[I've added the photos to Andy's post, see above; Bo]

Paul

Thanks Andy, do you have a picture of the perspex hatch on your boat, can you do simple drawing of the way the two ropes are attached to the board with some measurements? If I can arrange a system like yours to access the ropes I will do it, much easier than dropping the mast and paying a crane to l...

Paul

The downhaul line on my centreboard is badly worn through to the inner core where it is tensioned on the rope jammer. Is the only way to replace the downhaul line for the centreboard, to crane the boat? Is it possible to have a diver remove the board in a couple of metres of water, replace the downh...

Paul

Yes there is a downhaul, you can't see it in the photo but it's a s/s wire attached to a pad eye on the bow, the yellow rope is the outhaul for the spinnaker tack, the kite can be set up on the tramp then the tack hauled to the end of the prodder from the cockpit and hoisted. Not sure what you mean ...

Paul

I have posted photos of my bowsprit with the forum administrator, it is stainless steel, 1200 mm long, around 2/12" or 65 mm in diameter and the wall thickness is probably 3 mm. Hope this is of some help to you. paul http://www.dragonfly-trimarans.org/images800/prod1.jpg http://www.dragonfly-tr...

Paul

The extra halyard was on the boat when I bought it, it is a two to one system and works well. Previous owner was a keen racer and had the spinnaker set up ready to launch as well as the code O hoisted, hence the two halyards. Will get down to the boat tomorrow and take some pics and measurements and...

Paul

Allan, I have an 800 in Cairns, Queensland rigged with prodder and Code zero. If it helps I will post a photograph and measurements of the setup on the forum via Bo next week. The prodder is a stainless steel tube which can be folded sideways out of the way when trailering. It has a stainless downha...

Paul

If you get a chance to stop off in Cairns give me a call on 40 930188. Agree with your comments on trailering the boat south, banging into southeasterlies for weeks at a time is no fun. The Corsairs, Farriers and the DF's are all quite capable of coastal cruising with proper preparation, the DF800 h...

Paul

Ken, shame there aren't more DF 800 's about as the swing wing system solves the problem of trailering, and they are a lot cheaper than a new F22. I race against a Corsair 750 here, both our boats are on trailers and we both launch at the same time. The time to prepare the boats is the same from lau...

Paul

I have sent a photo to Bo to add to this, as you can see, both side stays are in front of the beam and attached on the out side of the aka. My rig was replaced by the previous owner and he has added a dedicated backstay (the blue line) which allows for mast bend adjustment. Hope this is useful, and ...

Paul

Hello Christian, your backstay does not look right, it shouldn't be touching the beam at all. On my DF the backstays are on the OUTBOARD side of the floats, not the inside, and attached to the padeye U bolt about 200 mm to the rear of the beams.
I can post a foto of my backstay set up if that helps.

Paul

David I concur with the previous post, I have a DF 800 in Cairns, fitted with a bow sprit from which I can fly a screecher or spinnaker. Our wind strength here is generally around the 15 - 20 knot mark and I rarely use the screecher as it is just too much trouble above 10 knots-- same goes for the s...

Paul

I don't know why one "stretched", it's about 15mm longer than the others, new ones being made of 8mm Dyform stainless wire with Ronstan open body turnbuckles at the main hull end. Went for open body because you can see the inside of the fitting and it makes it easier to hose them after sai...

Paul

I removed the water stays today and they are fixed, not adjustable. I have taken them to my rigger and he will make up 4 new ones with an adjustable fitting at the main hull end. The front and rear stays are slightly different lengths as pointed out by 920 owner gminkovsky. Thanks everyone for your ...

Paul

Thanks DH, I didn't know that the waterstays are adjustable on the ama end, is there much force required to adjust them? I'm assuming you screw them clockwise to tighten? Will adjust them before using the boat again. Why is something this important NOT mentioned in the owners manual?? Thank heavens ...

Paul

The front starboard waterstay on my DF is not tight like the other three, there is no provision for adjusting the length of the waterstay and there is quite a bit of movement of the starboard float until the waterstay tightens and restricts movement. I'm guessing that it is about 15mm too long. Why ...

Paul

Congratulations Oscar, they look fantastic. Get that bottom finished so you can put it back together and get on the water!

cheers, Paul

Paul

I can now answer my own question, the replacement rivets need to be 3/4 inch (approx 25mm ) in length, my drill holes were 6.5 mm and that is the guage I used for the replacements. I hired a rivet tool with a nozzle large enough to take the shank of the rivet, which measured 4 mm. There is a thin ba...

Paul

The stainless steel mounts on the forward beams -- the mounts to which the water stays attach-- are pop riveted to the rear of the fibreglass beams. The rivets on my DF are badly corroded, some have completely disappeared and I am anxious to replace them. Does any one know what size rivets, both len...

Paul

Thanks for the input from Mika and Dragonfly88. Mika, I am assuming the set up on your 1000 for raising /lowering the headsail is the custom one you built? The previous owner of my boat broke the mast 18 months ago so the system is not as it was when it left the factory. I will have to take a trip u...

Paul

thanks MJF, I will check the bolts as you suggested.

Cheers,

Paul

Paul

Mika thanks for the very fast response. I understand the raising of the headsail using the spinnaker halyard but does that mean someone has to go up the mast to retrieve the halyard and secure the spring loaded hook? The same question when lowering the sail, do you have to go up the mast to release ...

DRAGONFLY Trimarans User Forum

Search found 93 matches

DF 800 Sailing on a beautiful day

Short video of DF 800 under spinnaker

catastrophe avoided -pivot bolt on front port side ama loose

centreboard downhaul lines frayed

DF 800 prodder and screecher set up

a question on water stays

Replacing rivets in akas

What size rivets in stainless steel plates on beams