Unpacking and preparing the boat

I launched a new boat on 14th September 2023 and sailed in my first TT event the following Sunday.  With the Tips from Richard Calas at Emsworth and Craig Richards from his facebook posts (copied onto this site), I was able to be competitive from the start.

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There is no point reinventing the wheel so rather than post ideas on setup, I start with Craig's wonderful series of articles on facebook on how to set your boat up and then I will add my own observations.

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The DF95 is a great one design boat and I have no regrets moving into the class.  It is a delight to sail and  the only way you will get more speed than someone else is by achieving a better setup or sailing better.  What more can you want.

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Starting with the build I was given some helpful advice:

• It is worth applying Epoxy all deck eyes. Unscrew, apply a tiny amount of epoxy and re-screw to seal all the deck fittings.

• Use epoxy when assembling the booms to give time to align the components.

• I upgraded to the newer brushless rudder servo as I thought the upgrade would be more reliable when centering the rudder. A lesson I learned on the IOM

• I bought 3 1000mAh life batteries from rc yachts as they were the cheapest supplier

• I chopped the top of the on/off switch as when I turned to port the electrics neatly switched off as the servo arm hit the on off switch.

• I bent the wire connector between the rudder servo and the tiller ever so slightly, so it did not catch on the deck hatch housing as this was straining the servo.

• I counter sunk the servo tray screws so the hatch sat neatly in its housing

• I threaded cord through the bung and added a restrainer to stop it coming out. This way I could empty the boat without ever losing the bung.

• I drilled a second hole on the A rig can for the mainsail fastening, 5 mm aft of the supplied hole

• Left the top sail tie loose on the A rig so sail flops nicely from side to side. I used fine cord to tie the sails to the mast.

• Every knot is secured with super glue.

• The assembly instructions are spot on although they only cover the A rig and could add a few comments about the B_D rigs.. Whilst the specs on the DF web site were good for the mast and boom. it took me a while to figure where do you attach the jib tacks and jib sheet eyes.

• Put a bigger knot on the topping lift inside boom.

• Be very careful with the jib wire terminals on the jibs. I have already had one ferrule that slipped. On my IOM, I terminate the wire by bending the wire using a Dupro tool. Might do that in the long term on the DF.

• Put thick lines on the sails so you can see if you are pointing to high or have a backwinding mainsail.

These are all simple tasks which I hope will improve the longevity of the boat or make it more efficient.

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With no boat speed advantage to be had it is all about the sailing, much of which I cover in racing an IOM. Whilst the tuning details are specific to the IOM, the rest applies to any class.  Maybe the heading should be Racing a radio controlled yacht.  

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Taking on board the advice I was given, led to a 2nd in the first TT event at Manor Park splitting John Tushingham and Craig Richards.  This is the only warm up prior to the nationals.  The blog tells the story and learnings from the event.