Be Free-- I've never really timed the filling. I launch the boat, tie it to the public dock (or a local rock if I'm in the boonies) and go park the truck. It is full when I get back, so maybe ten minutes or less. Emptying it is a pain, however. I open it before I put it on the trailer and it will st...

that is the ONLY fill valve on the 26D, and I assume on the 26S as well. No way to empty ballast without getting out of the water, or pressurizing the tank. Of course, also no way to get on plane no matter how much HP you hang on the back!

Regarding the extra bail; Im sure Rodger did not install a traveller, so I bet that aft bail went to the original main sheet (I don't know what it was) system. When someone added the traveler, they moved it forward with a new bail to make it more convenient. Looks like a fine place to hang a lantern...

Assuming you are talking about your "D", and assuming that neither of our boats is modified to badly, the top is 32 inches wide, the bottom is 22 1/4 inches wide and it is 17 1/2 inches high. That is the dimensions of the original fiberglass hatch board. The hole, of course is slightly sma...

I went electric last year about this time and I am sold on it. I ended up using the Cruise 3.0, which they claimed is 5 HP equivalent. My watt meter confirms that I'm actually using slightly more current at WOT. like you, my old 8 HP Mariner was getting impossible to trust, especially at low RPM, wh...

Almost all of my sailing is at Ridgway reservoir over here in western Colorado. It is only about 1000 acres when full, and it is seldom completely full. We still do day sailing and camping and have plenty of fun in my 26D. I admit that we rate a given day as good or bad depending on the number of &q...

Moving those spreader ends forward is going to change the forces on, and the routing of, your upper stays quite a bit. you might even have to move the attach points on the deck in order to support the mast adequately, or even use running backstays to keep things upright. I'm not the engineer who can...

I already got my booklet, Russ and am preparing to apply the preventative paint even though I only sail in Rocky Mountain lakes. Can't be to careful with something this dangerous!

On my D, if you mount the outboard in the well, you really cannot turn the motor for steering. I have owned three motors in the 9 or 10 HP range and none of them had enough room to steer with. The Mercury had such a large head that you could not even tip the propeller all the way out of the water. I...

On my D I find the boat very hard to keep from rounding up with just the main, especially if you have the stock rudder. I would drop the main and sail with just the jib rather than go the other way. BUT, I'm a very lazy sailor, so if you are getting to 20 or 25 knots wind as in your example, I'm pro...

My D, and I think all of the classics, has a tiller and a stern hung rudder. It seems as if mounting the backstay closer to the middle would restrict movement of the tiller. Making a "Y" shaped attachment might work if you don't run into the outboard motor well. That might be a comparably ...

I wound up doing just as you suggest, with a block and a cam cleat on the tiller. Prior to that, however, I went for years with about a 1 foot long piece of 5/8" shock cord attached into the downhaul line. A slack part of the line allowed about 5" of stretch before hitting the limit and be...

I'm pushing a 26D, so not quite apples to apples, but I installed a 5 HP electric last year. Using 740 Watts per HP I hit GPS speed of 7.3 Knots at (pretty much hull speed) 3 HP. The other 2 HP is for pushing against strong wind or or trying to get a displacement hull to plane. (it really does get s...

I have a D and would not agree with that. When I want to beach it I can pull the board up completely into the trunk and have a smooth bottom, so it probably is as easy to beach as an S. I have put it on the sand and let the tide go out from under it with no problem. I haven't been in an S, but I thi...

Don't know about the V-21, but on my V-25 the brake was automatic. You just started cranking the opposite direction and after about 1/2 a turn the cable started to extend. There was no catch to fiddle with.