__Seader Cadet______________________

As the name implies, this can be considered as your training model, it's the most basic design of our riggs, introduced in our kits. Just a single roached sail with battens. All our model kits are introduced rigged this way.
If you just started with a new kit, here are a few experiments you can try that shifts the sail plans centre of effort and the lateral resistance of the hull. Both effect the boats helm balance. Understanding helm balance is a fundamental on how to adjust your model, and design your own for best results.

When boats have a tendency to turn off in the direction the wind is blowing, they have a lee helm. A weather helm is when the boat tends to turn into the wind. (into the weather)

A sails approximate centre of effort can be found by finding the centre of the sail, a quick way to find this is to find the point where you can balance a cardboard copy of the sail on a fingertip.

Centre of lateral resistance can be found by setting the model in still water and touching the side of the hull, where you touch the boats side and it moves sideways without turning is the hulls centre of lateral resistance.

Once the boat begins to heel as it moves, it will develop a weather helm. This is caused by the hull setting deeper in the water on one side. Once the hull loses its symmetry, there is more surface area sweeping through the water on the lee side of the bow, turning the boat into the wind. To counteract this, sailboats are designed with the centre of effort slightly ahead (leading) the centre of resistance. This gives the boat a slight lee helm that helps to ballance the helm. But, the more she heels, the more weather helm the hull generates, and thus, it is difficult to maintain a perfectly ballanced helm at all times. (Note: The MkIII when rigged as a trimaran, hardly heels at all.)

You may find having a slight weather helm is desirable, as it gives you a better 'feel' for the control line, also the model will turn into the wind when it suddenly encounters a strong puff of wind. Which is better than being knocked down.

Being a single sail design, it is easy to experiment with the effects of moving the rig forward to the first mast step and then back to the second step. Shifting the sail plans centre of effort slightly forward or aft, in relation to the boats centre of lateral resistance.

Tip-> water will swell wood, and this may cause the mast to stick down into the step, rubbing the 'heel' or bottom area of the mast with some candle wax will stop it from sticking.

One of the simplest ways to get used to the line control method is to not use the rudder. This forces you to exaggerate the line control methods used to hold your boat on a steady course. With the rudder removed, the boat lacks the same lateral resistance aft that the rudder provides.

Note- not all sailboats are designed with a rudder that sets apart from the keel,(aka. spade rudders) some are designed with a rudder that is part of the keel built into its trailing edge. These are found on mostly older design sailboats, that are obviously not center boarders.

With the rudder removed you can experiment with positioning the centerboard to achieve a balanced helm. You'll find the boat will sail best when the board is further aft in the well, compared to positioned forward. After replacing the rudder, and shifting the center board forward, you will notice how much easier it is to hold your model on a steady course.

Once you make a rudder in the first place, why not make another of a different size, it only takes a minute.

By switching to a larger, or smaller, size you can study the different effects it has on helm balance. The larger rudder will keep you on a straight course, but at the expense of not being able to manouevre as well.

If your rudder design mounts under the hull, there is a simple way you can study the effects of shifting the rudder forward. The rudder is normally screwed onto the boats hull with the screw at the forward end of the rudder. If you simply swing the rudder around from back to front, you will shift the aft lateral resistance with it.

Tip-> The rudder may also be used to correct helm balance by turning it very slightly, no more than a degree or two. Turning it more than five degrees will create drag that slows a boat down. (not to mention sail in circles.   :^)
Regarding the size of your rudder, as a rule of thumb, make them about one quarter to a third the exposed size of the center board. Or about one tenth the size of your sail area. (see sail crafting) If you find that the rudder is too big, and it is difficult to make your model turn, you can always just snip a little bit off at a time, until it feels right.

If your just starting, your probably impatient about getting out into the water, that's OK. You can begin right away, if you don't yet have some light weight fishing line, you can use your rigging line until you do, even dental floss   :^D

The mast and hull have been treated, and you can use it now, but you should paint the hull eventually for more protection and better results.

There is something to learn every time you take your model out for a sail, the line control method is a simple concept, and easy to get a handle on the basics, but even after years of practice I come across some refinements to the method that keep it interesting. Once you begin working on designs of your own, the real fun starts, for there are not just the variables of sailing conditions, but coming up with a successful design to meet the challenge.

The different model boats presented in Fairlead always have a brief rating at the end, describing its speed, windward abilities etc. these ratings are for the most part, in comparison to the 'Seader Cadet' that I rate as only 'fair' on all counts except one, ease of construction, and that being very good.

__White Cap_______________________________

This model introduces the use of the cabin attachment. The mast on this model sets close to the centre of the boat, right over the well, letting you use a large jib.

'White caps' are another name for those foaming crests you see out on the water on wind generated waves. Usually when white caps appear all over the surface the conditions are a little too much for sailing one of our models.

If you only see a few, then give it a try, adding some ballast, and/or reducing sail area will help you take on the challenge. White caps were out on the water the first time I launched this one, and I was surprised, also annoyed, that it handled the conditions so well, for I had added ballast and reduced sail at the start and didn't need to.

Because the cabin sits right over the well, the centerboard concept is replaced with that of more like a fin keel, yet it is still adjustable for and aft. I left the keel full stock width, but shortened it to have the same draft (depth) as the rudder, the main reason being so that it could sail over very shallow water. This also probably gave the model the unexpected amount of stability it has.

In contrast to the stock hull, this model has the most rounded hull I ever made. (at the time) To give it its shape, I used a bench mounted belt sander, braced the bow against its fence, and carefully 'rocked the boat' back and forth, while holding the model at a slight angle. I then did the same with the stern where an arc was drawn on the transom and each side of the hull was then ground away to meet the line.

The midships area was rounded too, but not nearly as much, just enough to blend into the fore and aft curves. The shaping could be done with a rasp, or a block plane, then smoothed by sanding, it would just take longer.

A sailboat with a round bottom hull is often found to be "tender", and a flat bottom hull is described as "stiff". What this is referring to is the boats initial stability or its resistance to heeling.

A wide flat bottom boat will set flat on the water surface . Water surfaces are not always flat, there are waves and swells that pitch the surface, and the boat, at different angles.

The round bottom hull (forget the keel or centreboard for a moment) will remain more stable because it has less of a "grip" spread over the water surface. Even more so, when you add a bit of ballast. Think of how ice remains steady in glass of water when you turn the glass around.

So, the round 'tender' hull may heel more quickly, but stay level being more independent of the surface water.
A deep centre board would have reduced this characteristic, so making this model with a shallow board turned out to be a good idea.
The jib and mainsails length at the foot are equal, to rig the two to work in tandem, I rigged the main, and attached a second line to the mainsheet using an overhand knot. This makes the basic "Y" control line. One branch of the line to the mainsail the other to the jib. The lines were joined together about a foot behind the stern.

Note how the jib is designed to reach over the top of the cabin. There is a fairlead mounted on the cabin just in front of the mast that the jibs sheet runs through.

To reduce sail area of the jib, I made two 'reefing clips' from flexible plastic. Holes the same size dia. of the boom were drilled into a piece of plastic first, then I cut around the holes to shape the clips (make a few extra in case you loose one)
To reduce the jib, I bunch the foot of the sail to the boom and clip it in place. This raises the boom in one end, and you may need to adjust the length of the mail sheet to make both lines even.
To further reduce sail, I loosen the line from the head stay, and use two clips, one fore and one aft along the boom. Note how the hank at the centre of the sail holds the sail to the head stay.

The deck was given a few coats of clear finish. The cabin and hull were painted white with a few cabin windows painted in black.
This boat sails well, although it makes a little more leeway than I would prefer.
The rigging wasn't hard at all, shaping the hull was a bit difficult to get symmetrical as most curves tend to be.

Performance Rating:

Stability (no ballast)...Good
Windward Ability...Fair
Swiftness...Good
Manoeuvrability...Very Good
Lateral Resistance...Fair
Sail Adjustability...Good
Ease of Construction...Acceptable

-for more on the cabin, and how to make your own, visit model crafting
-scan through hundreds of posters and prints in our Sailing Art poster shop.
-confused by boat terminology? Use our sailing glossary
-need some help with rigging your model? see our animated knots page.