San Juan 21 - Frequently Asked Questions
This section is being generously added by Sam Trickey of Gainesville, Florida, to assist all San Juan 21 sailors who, either because they are new to the San Juan 21, or just have questions periodically about various characteristics of the boat or its performance.
We intend to update this information as we receive additional information and/or questions. We'd appreciate your feedback on how we can improve the content by modifying existing information or adding other answers to questions that might be asked by Harbor visitors.
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FAQ'sLast updated: 8 Jan. 2003
Sam Trickey, 723 NW 19 Street, Gainesville FL 32603
"El Gato" SJ21 sail number 1294Disclaimer: I provide this information as a courtesy to others based on my enjoyment of the San Juan 21. To the best of my knowledge the information is correct but anyone who uses this information takes full and sole responsibility for doing so.
CLASS ASSOCIATION:The bi-monthly newsmagazine "Jibsheet" is a gold
mine of information and help for only $20 a year.Class secretary: Janice and Ken Gurganus
janicegurganus@sprintmail.com
252/355-6974
211 Gloria St., Greenville NC 27858-8627The Gurganus' handle memberships (includes a class handbook);
dues are $20 per year.
URLs:Class Association - http://sanjuan21.net/national/
Discussion and queries, run by Jim Hubbard - http://www.sanjuan21.net/
Layout diagrams and pictures on Midwest regional site -
http://www.sanjuan21midwest.orgAndy Lay (andy_lay2@webzone.net) has Mk I and Mk II manuals at
http://www.sanjuan21.net/national/
in .pdf format (831K and 2 M respectively) as of 01iv99Owner's manual also online at http//www.geocities.com/yosemite/trails/2625
Brian Larson keeps a directory of SJ21s at
http://members.home.net/sj1732/SJIndexMain.htmlJim Cross (jcross@mts.net) has a nice unofficial web page:
http://www.mts.net/~jcross/sanjuan/index.html;as of May 2001 the Links seem to be dead but SBT's overview is at
http://www.mts.net/~jcross/sanjuan/overviea.htmAnother one is http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/Ramp/2222/sj21page2.html
RIGGING:Here are some comments which may help.
(1a) Spreaders are covered under item (2d) below.
(1b) The rest of the standing rigging is straightforward. So far as I know, the stock backstay was adjustable only via turnbuckle; some turnbuckles had a kind of handle. Many boats have been converted to an adjustable backstay. My change is typical: a split backstay, an assembly of 3 blocks riding on the split and a 4x tackle pulling down to the transom.
(1c) The original mainsheet rig was the so-called "Crosby" pattern (I have no idea where that name originates). This has a block on each coaming aft, a double block that fastens to the boom end and a turning block and cam cleat both on a pivot in the cockpit floor aft. The mainsheet starts at one coaming block, goes up to the boom block, down to the other coaming, back up to the boom block, down to the block on the first coaming, back up to the boom block, down to the pivoting turning block and through the cleat.
In terms of boat upgrades, here there is a choice, to install a traveler or not. Travelers where approved by the class roughly 10 years ago. I didn't add one, because the combination with a transom-hung rudder and a traveler on a trailerable boat makes rigging awkward. [Aug. 14, 2001: I've changed my mind and will add one.] Anyway, the class decided to allow sheeting substantially inward from the boom end, but true mid-boom sheeting is not allowed.
If the boat doesn't have a traveler, then there are two very common mods which may have been done. One is to move the pivoting cleat+block up to a thwart installed between the cockpit seats. (I did this to my boat and it is a big help. Wherever you put the pivoting cleat, get a new one; the stock ones are undersized and bend under load.) The other likely change is to install a "head-knocker" block mid-boom so that the main sheet can be led back up to the boom, thence forward for easy use by the helms-being.
(1d) Jib tracks - Lots of variation here. My impression is that my boat is typical of the older boats. There are no class rules on jib track location modification that I recall. Anyway, there is a pair of tracks on the cabin top inside the shrouds for the 100% jib. Then there is a pair of tracks on the side of the hull running aft from about even with the back wall of the cabin. In front of those tracks is a clip to hold a jib sheet down. This set of tracks was intended for the glass genoa (135%). Many boats have a third set of tracks on the coaming tops. Mine appear to have been factory installed, presumably as part of the spinnaker package. Other boats have this set installed as a modification. I do NOT use the cabin-side tracks and have never seen them used; I run both the 135 and the 155 jibs (latter not legal in class but allowed in PHRF) plus the spinnaker off the coaming-top tracks,
(1e) Halyards and spinnaker gear - the routing of halyards, spinnaker topping lift, spinnaker downhaul, cunningham, etc., over the cabin top has been changed on so many of these boats that I can only guess by looking at old sales brochures what the stock form was. If your boat has been modifed at all that won't be a help.
GENERAL CONDITION and "HIDDEN GOTCHAS":
This list of critical areas isn't guaranteed to be complete but it covers what I've run into plus what I've heard from others.
(2a) The deck is balsa-cored. If water has gotten into the core and rotted the balsa, it is a tough job (and an expensive one if somebody does it for you) to rebuild the deck. Obvious places for water to penetrate are any fitting bolted through the deck, so look for spongy or mushy feel to the deck around the bow pulpit attachments, hand rail attachment, mast step, and, especially, any winches or other fitments that have been added by previous owners to the cabin top. Unless the rest of the boat is in really fine shape and you have time to do a lot of work or the rot is very localized (so that you can clean it out and fill up the bad spot with epoxy/microballons), I wouldn't take a boat with deck rot for any price. Reasonable folk differ however... and there is a substantial literature in the Jibsheet and on the Web related to such rebuilds.
(2b) The chain plates on many boats are fastened to two wooden bulkheads, p&s, after passing through the deck via small slots which have metal liners. (There are several different cabin interiors but the bulkheads as far as I know are common to all except the early Mark I boats.) It is common for there to be leaks through those slots (particularly for boats stored uncovered) and associated rotting of the bulkheads. This is a relatively easy problem to detect (poke gently at the top of each bulkhead with a pocketknife or ice pick) and, if need be, fix but I wouldn't sail an old, unrestored SJ21 without checking that first. My boat, a 1975, had the problem on one side only. If redoing the boat, after the bulkheads are sound, keep those slots around the chain plates sealed.
(2c) It is not uncommon for the keel pivot bolt to be bent as a result of groundings. The symptom is a keel that does not lower smoothly but goes down bump-bump-bump. The same symptom also comes with worn-out keel cable sheaves, which is a much easier problem to fix than the bent keel bolt. (Much more rarely the same symptom, in the case of a clutched winch, means that the clutch is sticky.) Several people have contibuted articles to the Jibsheet about replacing bad keel bolts. I had it done on my boat and paid for the work because it was too big a task to fit into the time I have. Much less common is a cracked or sheared keel head; Jim Cross had that problem (he told me via email) and repaired it himself. I'm fairly handy but wouldn't want to do that job.
(2d) It is fairly common, particularly on early boats, for the spreaders to be cracked at the inboard end. The problem is that the spreaders on early boats were not raked aft but were exactly transverse, so the shrouds put an aft-directed load on them. Raking is legal (see class handbook) for class racing and the repair is relatively trivial. Again, it is more a warning; don't sail an old SJ21 without checking this first. The Midwestern region web site (see URL at top) has the spreader repair posted.
(2e) Rudder - It is better to have the kickup rudder. Replacement of tillers is simple woodworking. The rudder blade is more demanding; it is not unheard of for them to be cracked and, while replacements are available, they are a bit pricey. Port Gardner Sailboats (Gene Adams) had listed them in the Jibsheet for $320 for the "assembly" about two years ago. I don't remember what a blade alone costs. Fred Rehm, 1900 North Lane,Camden SC, 29020; 803/432-4301, also has them. I don't remember his prices. He and Gene, by the way, are both extremely knowledgable and helpful about the boat.
BUILDER DATA:
Finally I am slowly trying to build a data bank on SJ 21s. Please, send me your boat's (a) sail number, (b) serial number, (c) year built. You can get the sail number off the main, of course, and the serial number should be molded into the transom on the starboard side, high almost at the corner or sometimes (early boats) stamped into either the backstay tang or the hardware for the companionway cover latch. The number typically will begin with "CLK" and include the year built.
HULL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER/SERIAL NUMBER:
There are two numbers associated with each boat. One is its legal "serial number", called properly the Hull Identification Number. It is the number on the title of the boat. The HIN is located on the transom, starboard, high up at the corner.
The other is the sail number (SN for short). There are two places to find a SN on the hull that I know of. If anybody knows of another, by all means speak up. On the very early boats, below about SN 450 or so, the SN is stamped into the metal fitting in the companion way cover through which the companion way board tang fits. Above abut SN 450, the SN is stamped into the metal plate that covers the opening where the backstay tang comes up through the transom.
For the later boats, after about SN 1700, there is a simple relationship between the SN and HIN. Before that it is not always obvious.
The general rules for decoding HINs are given on the web at http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm. Supposedly these apply to all boats built after Nov. 1, 1972 but most of the 1972 SJ21 numbers that I've accumulated don't seem to fit.
The approximate rules that I have deduced over the years are these:
a) Early, west coast built boats have HINs in the form CLK215330474. This is the actual HIN for SN 0701. (Leading zero stuck in for clarity.) NOTE that the SN does NOT appear in the HIN. The trailing 4 digits are the month and year of construction, April 1974. "CLK" obviously is Clark and 21 is obvious also. The rest is apparently a factory serial number.
b) Beginning somewhere in 12974-75, the numbering pattern shifted. i. East coast built boats continued with the CLK21 + serial number + month + date. Thus my boat, SN 1294, has HIN CLK217070575 ii. West coast built boats have either CLKC or CLKE + SN + month + year For example SN 1150 is HIN CLKC11500675 and SN 1217 is CLKE12170375. iii. But there are exceptions. SN 1324 for example is CLKE12220375 which should have been SN 1222.
c) By 1979, the HINs had shifted again. All of them read CLKC or CLKE + SN + letter M + yr + month-letter, where month letter is A=August, B=Sept., C=Oct. D=Nov., E=Dec., F=Jan., G=Feb., H=Mar. I=Apr. J=May, K=June, L=July. Examples: SN 2037 is HIN CLKC2037M78D, SN 2059 is HIN CLKE2059M78F. After 1978 they all seem to use CLKE.
d) The legal requirements for HINs changed on August 1, 1984 but I do not have any SJ21 HINs after that date in my file.
To EVERYBODY who owns an SJ21; please send me the SN, HIN, Mark (I, II, III) , and plant-where-built for your boat. Sooner or later we're going to run into two boats racing under the same S.N. if we don't get this sorted out.
******
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