Preparing the boat

Boat Preparation

The DF 65 comes in a box with the hull fully fitted but before you put it on the water there are things you meed to do.

Waterproofing.

I put a little 5 minute epoxy around all the screw eyes on the deck to make sure they are completely sealed. You can also fit a sticky back plastic sheet on the bottom of the hull around the fin box. I am not sure if this has any impact on performance but as I found on my last DF95. when the fin box started cracking at the base it prevented any leaks.

Rigging

When building the rigs, all your knots should have a dab of super glue to lock them in place. After glueing I squeeze the knot with my fingers to remove the excess. Do not touch the boat after doing this other wise you will have permanent finger marks on it.

Set the sheet horse loose so you don’t tighten the main leech when you fully sheet the main in. Tight leaches are a killer on this boat.

Super glue the fairleads on boom so sail goes out equally on either side. Double check the sheet eyes are central before the glue sets. If you ever need to move the fairlead you can knock it with a pair of pliers and it will come loose.

For the Topping lift, I use 18lb fishing line which whistles in the wind but does not seem to slow the boat down.  For the rest of the rigging I use a 60 -80lb fishing line.

The main haliard is just tied in the hole at the top of the mast crane. Us a single strand of cor so the sail rotates freely from one side to the other

I use Sail ties (18lb fishing line) rather than the metal one supplied. I have seen the topping lift hook into the metal sail tie when changing rigs in a hurry.

The lines on my deck are just there as a reference to make sure my boom settings are consistant.

Thread line for the jib tie down.  Superglue the end for a cm or more so the cord is stiff for panic threading in wet weather

.

Gooseneck – oil and replace bearings with commercial ones which don’t rust. Use angling reel oil which is very thin and gets into the bearing.

Spares

I carry a spare winch, rudder servo, cord, tape, a spare transmitter, super glue, epoxy and tools. I have not got into spare rigs yets.