Cape Dory 270 - Sails

We use chainplate castings with substantial base areas so that when
installed and caulked the resulting seal is impervious to water
penetration.
Every Cape Dory chainplate design has been subjected to structural
evaluation including destructive pull tests assuring that they meet our
structural requirements. All bolts are tightened to specific tolerances
using a torque wrench.
The rigging was designed using a safety factor of 3 while the
chainplates were designed to meet a minimum safety factor of 4.
Please refer to the drawing for further details.
The Cape Dory 270 differs from other boats in the Cape Dory line in that
the shrouds are inboard on the side deck rather than outboard along the
sheer.
New systems of attaching them and transferring the loads were required
due to this arrangement.
Cape Dory designed its own bulkhead mounted bracket for attaching the
chainplates down to the deck. A detail of this arrangement, used on the
upper and forward lower shrouds, is included in the drawings section at
the back of this manual. The aft lowers connect via a Navtec tie rod
system to a fiberglass chainplate reinforcement glassed to the side of
the hull. This chainplate reinforcement has been tested beyond the
breaking strength of the 3/16" shroud wire without any damage to the tie
bar or glass part. The tie bar is tensioned with an adjustable wrench
placed on the flats along the tie rod. Silicone is used to prevent
movement of the alu.minum crossnut within the chainplate reinforcement.
An illustration of this arrangement also appears in the back of this
manual.
SAILS
Each Cape Dory 270 comes with a sail package containing mainsail and
jib.
Each mainsail is set up with reef points, reinforcing patches, batten
pockets, and battens.
The varying wind and sea conditions encountered on various points of
sail require a range of adjustments to your mainsail to get the best
performance from your boat.
As the wind speed increases, the shape of mainsail should be changed
from being full with the draft centered and the traveller set to
windward of centerline to being fairly flat with the draft forward and
the traveller set to leeward. Generally this is referred to as
depowering the mainsail. With proper mainsheet, halyard, and outhaul
adjustments, your mainsail can be used to control heeling and the speed
of your boat.
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