Olson 40 questions

[ConchyDug]

A local veterans support group got their hands on an Olson 40 that's in decent shape. They reached out to local racers who could help them get it rolling again.

I have some questions for anyone that's sailed/raced one before.

What modern optimizations have you done on the boat that were worthwhile? Like I noticed it has wire check stays those need to be changed to dyneema and the blocks swapped to rings.

With the sym kite is it worthwhile to swap to end for end instead of dip pole? Something like a Farr 40, the pole is carbon.

Anybody have tuning numbers on this dinosaur?

Dump the sym kite and put a prod on it and run an A-kite?

Are the masts normally spliced below the boom gooseneck fitting? I was wondering if maybe it's sleeved there for stiffness? Or maybe it snapped it's mast years ago?

 

[Slick470]

Not sure you'll get much on the Olson 40 here. Anything is possible though. The 40 was built by Pacific Boats and was never built by Ericson unlike the Olson 25, Olson 911, and Olson 34. Not sure I've ever heard where the molds for the 29, 30, or 40 went or if any were built after PB went out of business.

May have better luck asking on Sailing Anarchy. I know of one owner on there who did a major refit/upgrade on a 40 within the past few years.

 

[Prairie Schooner]

A local veterans support group got their hands on an Olson 40 that's in decent shape. They reached out to local racers who could help them get it rolling again.
. . .
With the sym kite is it worthwhile to swap to end for end instead of dip pole? Something like a Farr 40, the pole is carbon.
. . .
Dump the sym kite and put a prod on it and run an A-kite?

Are the masts normally spliced below the boom gooseneck fitting? I was wondering if maybe it's sleeved there for stiffness? Or maybe it snapped it's mast years ago?

Spinnaker: Keep the sym, especially if your local courses include a lot of windward/leeward races. "Never mind manoeuvres, go straight at 'em". You can beat the asymm boats on VMG. And if it's a group boat, with the symmetrical there will be more to do for a (hopefully) larger crew. Spend the money on other things to make the boat more competitive or safe. - On that big of boat, I'd stay with dip pole gybes. That's a long pole to have swinging free. Even if it is carbon (he said jealously). On a smaller boat end-for-end makes more sense.

I've read here that masts sometimes were shipped in two pieces, engineered in a way to have full strength when assembled. That might be the case here.

barely worth,
Jeff

 

[Christian Williams]

Nice looking design.

The Transpacific Yacht Club welcomes Dwight Rowe's Olson 40, Buena Vista, the first entry in the 2019 Transpac Race: