too much lee helm?

[John Cullimore]

We have a Macwester 26 with a bowsprit and a cut down main sail . This was done apparently to reduce weather helm. However our experience is that theres now too much lee helm ,and were thinking of getting a larger main. Has anyone else encountered this? Grateful for any replies

[Rob Wombwell]

Hi John

Thank you for breaking the ice by being the first poster with a technical problem on this forum.
We have a ketch rigged wight 32 so not too familiar with the 26 but my simple observation as follows.
We know that from what you have said, a previous owner was experiencing what they considered to be a serious weather helm problem, hence the reduced mainsail and added bowsprit. There must have been something severely amiss to call for such extreme measures which couldn’t be resolved in a simpler fashion. Assuming that as a first measure they cut down the size of the mainsail which didn’t cure the problem and then as a further measure added a bowsprit which then cured the problem. This being the case, for you to experience Lee helm something must else be coming into play. It could be that they carried extra weight in the bow (loads of anchor chain, extra water tank etc) or perhaps were extra light in the stern.
Adding a bow sprit has changed the centre of effort CE, in relation to the centre of lateral resistance CLR, this does seem a bit extreme.
Without completely reverse engineering, maybe reducing the jib or adding a little weight to the bow or reducing the weight in the stern or a combination of all three both might resolve the problem. It would be the simplest and cheapest option to try and experiment with. If successful, chances are that by increasing the size of the main alone you will solve the problem.
In my imperfect world..!! whatever you do will be a compromise, if she wasn’t designed to carry a bowsprit, she shouldn’t need one.
(as she’s now halfway there, you could always turn her into a Yawl by fitting a small Mizzen ..!!!!)

Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful, perhaps a Mac 26 owner could shed some light on the subject, it’s early days on this new forum but I’m sure you will get some responses.

Regards
David

[Andrew Freese]

Dear John

I bought my Mac 26 two years ago and found it had secondhand sails from some other boat and also suffered lee helm. Having read info. supplied by The Association I do know that some 26’s have an added bowsprit to overcome excessive weather helm. My 26 does not have a bowsprit and I was very nervous when ordering my new sails about introducing too much weather helm. It seemed difficult to establish the recommended sizes. In the end I ordered a Jib with a luff of 27′ and foot of 11′-8″ and a Main with a luff of 25′ and a foot of 9′-6″. A had found the Genoa that I had inherited rather too large to handle on my own and therefore the jib is deliberately a little small. Once on the boat I found that in both cases the luffs could have been 6″ longer.

I had the mast stepped with a slight lean aft. The result is well balanced and the weather helm is not excessive even in a force 5 gusting 6.

I am sure that adding a larger Main would cure your problem but we seem to be in a very windy period of time (needing a smaller sail area) and initially I would sail with some of the foresail unfurled to see if you can establish the perfect ratio of sail sizes to achieve the desired balance. You may decide the cheapest and most satisfactory solution is to have your existing foresail cut down.

I hope this is of some help.

Kind regards

Andrew Freese

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