Three sailing queries

[Ian Allen]

Thanks Bert, David and Dennis,
Worthwhile information to chew on there. A new boat is always a learning curve and it is really nice to have opinions and experiences of others with the same craft.
Actually there were just two of us sailing the boat on both occasions, so not much weight in the cockpit. I have taken heed regarding your correlation between angle of heel and water ingress, because especially the last time I sailed I did press the wee boat a bit to weather and that could be a factor. It doesn't explain water whilst motoring though - but the specific short choppe sea conditions could be a factor.
Dudley mentioned that Nick had made a stiff neoprene cover glued across the well with a split down the centre, and maybe that would be the way to prevent slop. Interestingly, though, you folk have not found much of a problem in this area, so perhaps there are some specifics relating to my case and I'll need to experiment a bit more...and buy some Crocs - more comfortable I think than wetsuit booties!

Regarding the inner forestay for the staysail, I have found that taking up on the bobstay tackle does give me some slack to attach the inner stay, but that I still seem to need to tweak it up a little more to get it tight enough. The sailmaker says he did cut the sail to compensate to some degree for a bit of sag, and it seems to set nicely enough.

Cheers,
Ian
Tiptoe