If you can’t find a stock size sheave, try Zephyrwerks. Monty15Mike
On Jun 21, 2021, at 11:40 AM, Andrei Caldararu via montgomery_boats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
Hello fellow Monty sailors, my 1987 Montgomery 17 "Seaweed" needs some refurbishing done. The three main things are: -- new halyards-- new sail(s)-- solve an issue with the rudder I already sent an email about the halyards, whether I should use 1/4" or 5/16" line. I hope some of you will reply to that. My sails are the original McKibbin ones that came with the boat almost 35 years ago. I have a main sail (with rope that slides through the boom, so it is not loose-footed), a jib and a 155 genoa. The genoa is in good shape; the jib is ok, though I have had to use sail tape to fix it in a couple of places. The main is the worst; though it has no tears, it is quite baggy so my upwind performance suffers. I will certainly need to replace the main, and possibly the jib too. My question is, who have people used for ordering new sails? And roughly how much would a main and jib cost? I have heard that there are some places in China that do a good job at a lower price, is that an option, or does the quality difference not justify the difference in price? Final question. This summer I decided to moor my boat on Lake Michigan. The place where I've put down the mooring has about 5 feet of water, which usually is plenty for the boat even with the rudder down. My boat has the original one-piece wood rudder, supported on a three-foot-long bronze bar that goes through three pintles. The first few times I left the boat by itself it was without a rudder. But two weeks ago I left the rudder on, lowered, thinking that it had plenty of room. I was wrong: a south wind came while I was away, bringing with it big waves, the boat hobby-horsed and hit the rudder on the rocky bottom. Luckily the rudder itself appears mostly undamaged (it needs a few small fiberglass repairs that I can do). The bronze bar bent, so I'll need a new one, but I think I have found a source for it. The bigger question is what I will do after I fix everything. Putting the rudder in/out every time I sail is not an option -- it is too complicated to do with the boat on the water. Leaving the boat with the rudder in the up position is not ideal either -- the rope holding the rudder up rubs constantly against the rudder (from the wave action) and will probably chafe and break. A kick up rudder from RudderCraft is $700, which I find ridiculously expensive. But I may have to bite the bullet if nothing better comes along. Do people have a good experience with the kick-up rudder? Or are there good ways of holding the rudder up in a way that won't constantly squeak? Any other ideas? Thanks,Andrei.