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• Sailboat Reviews

A fast boat targeted at a variety of sailors, the 7.9 makes a good racer, but not a cruiser.

After Leon Slikkers sold Slickcraft, his powerboat company, in the early 1970’s, he built a sailboat factory the way a sailboat factory should be built. The result was S2 yachts and a factory quite in contrast to the normal dingy warehouse with blobbed polyester resin hardened on rough concrete floors.

Originally known for cruising designs, S2 Yachts opened their second decade in business by entering the high performance field, building first a trailerable racer/cruiser, the S2 7.9. The 7.9 stands for meters, which translates into American as 25′ 11″. The boat stayed in production up until S2 shut down its sailboat operations in 1986.

Designed by the Chicago-based naval architects Scott Graham and Eric Schlageter, the 7.9 was the first in a series of competitive production boats. The series was originally called “Grand Slam,” but the company later dropped the designation. With over 400 built between the boat’s introduction in 1982 and 1986, the 7.9 was relatively successful during a time when few boats in its size range were selling.

The 7.9 was a pricey boat for her size. Equipped with sail handling gear, four sails (main, jib, genoa, and spinnaker), outboard motor, speedo, and compass, her 1985 price was about $27,000. For comparison, a comparably equipped J/24 of the time would run you around $21,000, an Olson 25 about $22,000. Add an inboard engine, a trailer, and miscellaneous gear and you could easily have dropped $36,000 on the 7.9—a hefty tab for a 26′ boat.

Construction

The hull and deck of the 7.9 are hand-laid fiberglass, cored with end-grain balsa. S2 bragged about its glasswork, and the company had a high reputation in the industry for both its gelcoat and its hand layup.

Beginning somewhere around hull number 400, S2 switched from conventional polyester resin to a modified epoxy resin—AME 4000. The company claimed the epoxy resin is stronger, lighter, and less subject to blistering.

The hull is fair with no bumps or hard spots evident—probably the result of the company’s practice of installing most of the interior before removing the hull from its mold. The gelcoat appears to be thicker than is usual in production boats—a good

feature since minor scratches and dings can be “rubbed out” without penetrating to the laminate.

For their standard hull-to-deck joint, S2 used an inward turning flange onto which the deck molding is set—a desirable design, especially when bedded in flexible adhesive (such as 3M 5200) and through bolted at close intervals. However on the 7.9, rather than being through bolted, the deck is mechanically fastened to the hull only with screws through the slotted aluminum toerail, a detail that indicates the boat is not intended for heavy-duty offshore work.

The boat came with a one-design package of good quality deck hardware. All hardware is through bolted, with stainless backing plates on the lifeline stanchions but with only washers and nuts on all other hardware. This would seem to be problematic with the balsa core, but we have heard no reports of problems so far.

Although the company offered the boat in a fixed keel version, the vast majority of boats have a lead ballasted daggerboard.

The advantages of a daggerboard are, first, that it retracts to be flush with the bottom of the hull to make the boat trailer launchable, second, that you can float the boat in a mere 13″ of water (though she will have no directional control with the board totally up—you’ll need at least a foot of board showing for control under sail or power), and, third, with the board totally down, the boat has a 5′ deep hydrodynamically efficient keel, a depth that would be extreme on a fixed-keel boat this size.

The disadvantage of the daggerboard will come in a hard grounding. Whereas a centerboard would kick out of the way, the board is likely to bash around a bit in its trunk. A nice detail by S2 is that the bottom opening of the trunk is surrounded by a strong weldment which will mitigate the potential damage to the hull from a grounding. Another potential disadvantage is that, on many boats, the daggerboard trunk messes up the interior, but the designers have done a good job on the 7.9, incorporating the daggerboard into a centerline bulkhead.

Nearly a third of the 1,750 pounds ballast is in the board, with the remaining two-thirds glassed to the interior of the hull. When the board is fully lowered, it fits snugly in a V-Shaped crotch—a good design detail—but when it’s raised out of the V using the three-part tackle and winch, it will bang about loosely in the daggerboard trunk. There is no way to pin the board down—an obvious potential problem in severe conditions.

The boat, however, has passed the MORC self-righting test with the daggerboard in the fully raised position. In the test, the mast-head is hove down to the water, the bagged mainsail and genoa are tied to the masthead, and the whole shebang released. This is not a test of ultimate stability, since other boats which passed the test have turtled and sunk, but it is reassuring. However, the design is clearly dependent mostly on its beamy hull form for righting and not on its ballast—another indication the boat is intended for close-to-shore sailing.

The transom-hung rudder—pivoted for trailering—is of foam-cored fiberglass (the foam gives it neutral bouyancy in water). We like the idea of a transomhung rudder: it’s accessible for inspection and service, it lessens the potential damage to the hull that can occur when a rudder smashes into something, and it gets the rudder farther away from the keel to give the tiller a more responsive feel.

The fractional rig—with mast and boom made by Offshore Spars—is dinghy-like, having swept-back spreaders which make the upper shrouds function as backstays. The actual backstay does virtually nothing to support the rig; instead, its primary function is to bend the mast to control mainsail performance. Although the mast is easily bendable, it’s a surprisingly heavy section for a modern racing rig—it’s also untapered. Everything is internal in the mast and boom, with all lines eventually coming back to the cockpit in typical modern racing style.

Upper and lower shrouds attach to inboard chainplates. The starboard chainplate is attached to a well bonded plywood bulkhead, but the port chainplate is longer, attached to the fiberglass structure which forms the front edge of the galley. Since there is a 2′ “free span” of unsupported chainplate between the galley and deck, the chainplate in the highly-loaded rig works a lot, and one of the most common owner complaints about the boat is the leaking port chainplate that results.

A fiberglass floorpan makes up the berths, floor, and galley area. Instead of a ceiling, S2 uses carpeting for interior covering of the hull. One good detail about the carpeting is that Velcro will stick to it—you can hang anything anywhere—but we have to wonder how the carpet will stand up to salt accumulation. There is virtually no bilge, so water inside will turn everything soggy.

Generally, the boat is well constructed, with good detail work and hardware. While we believe that every “racer-cruiser” should be designed and built to handle extreme conditions offshore, the hull shape, the daggerboard design, and the hull-to-deck joint show us that S2 did not intend for this boat to be involved in those extremes.

Handling Under Power

The standard 7.9 is be outboard powered. The option was a BMW 7.5 hp one-lung diesel with the shockingly high price tag of $5400 new. When BMW got out of the marine business, S2 offered the boat with the 7.5 hp Yanmar.

The little diesel handles the boat well, though owners report that it will not punch through a heavy headsea. This is probably more the result of the folding Martec prop which comes as part of the inboard package rather than any lack of power in the engine.

The inboard installation is well done. The ply-wood stringers glassed to the hull support vibration-damping mounts for the engine. Standard installation includes a stainless steel eight gallon fuel tank, properly grounded, a heavy duty Purolator filter/water-separator, a waterlift muffler, and single-lever shift/throttle controls.

Both the fuel shut off and the fuel filter are difficult to get to—through an inspection port in the port quarterberth—but access to the engine is otherwise good, with hinged companionway steps opening out of the way so dipstick, decompression switch, engine controls, water pump are easy to get at. For more serious work on the engine, the quarterberth panels are removable for virtually total access. One good feature of the BMW is that it is the one engine we’ve ever seen that is actually easy to start by hand cranking. It made S2’s one-battery installation workable. With the Yanmar, owners may want to look for a place to stow a second battery; offhand, there’s no obviously good location.

As you might expect on a 4400 pound boat, the outboard is minimally adequate except for backing up and except in any wind or sea conditions. We would normally recommend the inboard for the 7.9, but there is a problem—the underwater drag of the shaft, strut, and propeller—an important consideration for the racer.

Our conclusion is that the serious racer should probably look for the outboard model and just suffer the poor performance under power. If you will be primarily daysailing, weekending, and cruising, we recommend the inboard.

If you’re planning a combination of racing and cruising, you’ll just have to make a judgment which aspect you want to emphasize.

Handling Under Sail

The 7.9 is a proven performer under sail, being not only a fast boat for her size but also competitive in handicap racing under MORC and PHRF. Her PHRF rating of 168 says that she’s about the same speed as the J/24, Merit 25, and similar current racing boats, and about the same speed as such older racer-cruisers as the Pearson 30, Cal 34, Catalina 30 tall rig, or Irwin 30.

With her narrow entry forward, a big fat rear end, and a fractional rig with most of the power in the mainsail, she will be better behaved than her high-performance cousins designed to the IOR rule. Owners report that her one bad habit is to wipe out in heavy puffs when beating.

Her dinghy-shaped hull means she’ll have to be sailed flat for best performance, which in turn means lots of lard on the rail when the wind pipes up. Five people, the heavier the better, is de rigueur for heavy air racing.

For daysailing and cruising, she’s got plenty of reefable sail area, and she should perform well with the four standard class sails: main, 155% genoa, 105% jib, and spinnaker.

Peak performance will take lots of tweaking and fiddling with the rig. This will be no problem for the high-performance dinghy sailor graduating to a cruising boat, but it will take a lot of learning about mastbend and sail shape for the newcomer. Nonetheless, even when not tuned to perfection, she should perform well enough to be a pleasant daysailer for the weekend hacker.

Deck Layout

The 7.9’s inboard shrouds, wide decks, and big cockpit will make for pleasant moving about on deck. The nonskid is good—among the best we’ve seen in a production boat. It will remove skin from bare knuckles.

The boat will be sailed from the cockpit, and she’s well laid out for sail handling. The primary winches are, if anything, oversize—a true rarity these days—and the secondary winches on the cabin top are adequate for halyard and spinnaker work. (Note, though, that the lead daggerboard is raised and lowered using the starboard secondary winch. One of our readers reports blowing up the winch; another says, “The #16 winch is inadequate for a woman or small man to handle the board.”)

Like the J/24 and other performance boats, the helmsman and crew will sit on the deck rather than in the cockpit when racing. However, unlike the J/24, the 7.9 does have a true cockpit, and it’s comfortable. The seat bottoms are slightly concave, the seat backs are nearly a foot high and contoured to support the small of the back, and seat-to-sole distance gives comfortable leg room. The mainsheet traveler is smack in the middle of the cockpit and will prove a shin ravager until you get used to it. But, the cockpit will comfortably daysail six and drink eight at dockside and is definitely a strong point for the boat.

There are two substantial cockpit lockers for stowage. Several owners report that the lockers leak—a nuisance in what appears to be an otherwise dry boat.

As one owner puts it, “The interior does the best it can.” With about 5′ 4″ headroom, the cabin will require stooping for most people. Still, we admire S2’s restraint—they could have easily added 6″ to the doghouse to get “standing” headroom. And to get a boat that would be as ugly as some of their early cruising models.

S2 was not suckered by the how-many-does-shesleep syndrome for this model. Both quarterberths are long and wide, and the forward V-berth is truly sleepable with the boat dockside or at anchor. The only drawback to the arrangements is that the space between berth and side decks is so short that sitting upright will be uncomfortable for anyone over 6′.

The galley (or, more accurately, the galley area) is absolutely minimal, with a shallow sink and small icebox. There’s a tiny counter area—either for counterspace or for a one-burner alcohol stove—but anyone wanting to weekend or cruise with more than PB&J’s will have to revamp the galley.

The daggerboard trunk is well disguised, forming one wall of the head. The head itself is cramped, to say the least—you can sit on the Porta Potti, but your knees will stick out through the privacy curtain. Still, the head location is preferable to the all-too common position under the V-berth.

Ventilation below is nonexistent. Opening ports were available as options. A small quarterberth opening port or a forepeak vent would be desirable. Compared to a larger boat’s “yacht” finish or even to a 25′ cruising boat, the 7.9’s interior will seem plain and functional.

On the other hand, it’s luxurious compared to a J/24, J/27, Merit 25, or Evelyn 26. The boat can be weekended in comfort. If you can stand camping out, the boat can even be cruised.

Trailerability

With a 9′ beam, the 7.9 is not legally trailerable in any state without special wide-load permits. Yet most of the boats have been sold with trailers, and the company boasts of its trailerability and easy launchability. How is this possible?

The consensus is that, with the daggerboard retracted, the boat sits so low on the trailer that it doesn’t look that wide. A keelboat on a trailer—a Merit 25, for example—looks much bigger and a bored cop is more likely to stop and measure a keelboat than a 7.9. At any rate, 7.9s are trailered, and we know of none ever being ticketed or, for that matter, even questioned.

Conclusions

S2 did a good job of aiming the boat at a variety of sailors: racers, daysailors, and weekenders.

For racers interested in a one-design boat, the class is not strong outside the Great Lakes. But for the sailor into handicap racing, the boat seems a good possibility. It’s definitely competitive in MORC and PHRF fleets. And unlike other high-performance boats its size—the Olson 25, J/24, Merit 25, Evelyn 26, or Capri 25—the 7.9 is a boat you could stand sleeping aboard or taking on a rainy overnight race.

For the sailor primarily interested in daysailing and weekending, the 7.9 will also be worth serious consideration. She is definitely on the pricey side for 26′ boats, but her quality construction and equipment are what you get for the extra money. She may be a little on the high-performance side for the real novice, but her four-sail class package should be fairly easy to handle even for the newcomer.

We really could not recommend her as a cruiser. Well, maybe as a pocket cruiser. S2 clearly didn’t intend her for cruising or offshore sailing; still, she’s well made, a fast boat, and maybe if our seamanship were good enough…but no, if it’s a fast cruiser we’d like at 25′ to 26′, we’ll keep looking.

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• Sailboat Guide

S2 7.9 is a 25 ′ 11 ″ / 7.9 m monohull sailboat designed by Graham & Schlageter and built by S2 Yachts starting in 1981.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

A few (17) were delivered with a fixed keel and masthead rig. (See S2 7.9FK for specs.) Inboard power available as an option… BMW 7.5 hp diesel.

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One-Design Showcase

About the S2 7.9m

Class regulates one-design rules, provides specific hardware including masts, sponsors a national championship as well as regional regattas, maintains an active web site and promulgates class communications and serves to link boat owners, all of which has supported reasonable and stable resale values for this easily trailerable, eminently sailable family cruiser-racer.

Class Information:

Class Contact:  Cary Diehl (Secretary/Treasurer)  

Class Contact Email:   [email protected]

Class Contact Phone:  734-674-7882

Location:  Grosse Ile, MI 48138

Class Website:   s279.org  

Class Specs

LOA:  25 ft 11 in 

LWL:  21 ft 8 in 

Beam:  9 ft 

Draft:  5 ft 

Weight:  4,250 lbs 

The Utiltarian Design of the S2 7.9 Remains Sought After Three-Decades Later

Good times roll with one-design racing fleets

The Rumble Rolls into Detroit

A trio of teams in the S2 7.9 class has followed the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD series from Florida to Maryland to Michigan.

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S2 7.9 Used Boat Review

Posted April 5, 2017

Although quite tame by today’s "sport boat" standards, the S-2 7.9 was designed as a high-performance model intended to compete, in the marketplace at least, with other boats of its era such as the J-24, Olson 25, and Evelyn 26. Like her competition, the S2 7.9 provides exhilarating sailing performance and has the added benefit of sufficient accommodations to make occasional weekend cruises or overnight races tolerable at least. 

The 7.9 was designed for S2 Yachts by Scott Graham and Eric Schlageter. The 1982 model year was introduced in late 1981 and was originally marketed as the "Grand Slam," although that designator was later dropped, and the model was simply known as the S2 7.9. It remained in production until S2 ceased production of all its models in 1986. By special arrangement with Tiara Yachts, the parent corporation of S2 Yachts, a limited production of the 7.9 was made available in 1990 and again in 1994 with a total of 545 hulls built over these production periods. 

The model name 7.9 is actually a measurement of overall length in meters, which translates to 25’11" not including the outboard rudder. The waterline length is 21’8". Maximum draft is 5-feet which, with a retractable keel, reduces to just slightly over 1-foot with the keel raised. Maximum beam is 9-feet, and displacement is 4,250 pounds. A limited number of 7.9s was produced with a fixed keel rather than the retractable keel/dagger board. The keel weight was increased and internal ballast eliminated resulting in a slightly lower displacement of 4,050 pounds.  The shallow draft of the 7.9 would seem to make her ideally suited to trailering; however, the nine-foot beam exceeds all state load width requirements (without special permit) and is therefore not "street legal." Nonetheless, many, if not most, models were sold with trailers and are commonly transported over the road by owners who choose to disregard the few extra inches. I have never known of an owner being ticketed for this violation.

Both the hull and deck of the 7.9 are constructed of hand-laid fiberglass with balsa wood core material throughout. Construction details and craftsmanship are generally excellent. The deck and hull are joined on an inward flange and secured with stainless steel screws through an extruded aluminum toe rail. This method of joining the deck and hull is inferior to nuts and bolts, is prone to leaking, and will need attention from time to time. Deck hardware is attached with stainless steel nuts, bolts and washers, and backing plates are used at lifeline stanchions. The balsa cored decks and cabin top are also subject to leaks at hardware attachment points particularly on boats that have been raced extensively. Fittings should be carefully maintained to prevent water from penetrating and deteriorating the balsa wood core material.

There are always going to be restrictions and deck hazards on any 26-footer, but inboard shrouds, wide side decks and a moderately sized foredeck make getting about the 7.9 quite easy. There are good-sized primary winches on each side of the cockpit for handling jib and genoa sheets and adequately sized secondary winches on the cabin top port and starboard of the companionway for halyards and spinnaker sheets. The cockpit is nearly eight-feet long with a tiller steered outboard rudder and mainsheet traveler just forward of the tiller for easy handling by the helmsman. 

There are 26’ cruisers with standing headroom and better accommodations than the S2 7.9, but accommodations on this model are a far cry better than many performance oriented boats in this size range. There is a V-berth forward, which is actually suitable for two average-sized adults. Along the port side and adjacent to the dagger board trunk, there is a barely useable galley area, and to the starboard side is a combination head/hanging locker with porta-potti and no ventilation. There are large port and starboard quarter berths aft and 5’5" headroom in the cabin just forward of the companionway. 

Original buyers were offered optional 7.5 hp BMW or Yanmar inboard diesel engines at an extra cost of over $5,000. Most buyers were inclined to opt for outboard power at a cost well under $2,000. An 8 hp outboard is the minimum required for acceptable all around performance.

The 7.9 is a stable and stiff fractionally rigged sloop that is a proven competitor in MORC, PHRF, and one-design fleets nationwide. She is also a very able daysailer and small weekend cruiser. The displacement/length ratio of 186 and sail area/displacement ratio of 19.83 are again moderate by today’s standards but sufficient for lively performance without white-knuckle excitement. Like most boats of this type, with narrow entries forward and broad stern, the 7.9 is best sailed as flat as possible and will tend to round up when overpowered but is otherwise well mannered. 

Originally the S2 7.9 was intended as a MORC and handicap club racer for which she still enjoys considerable popularity. However, the design became so popular that an active one-design class has developed with more than 20 fleets around the country. Still many owners choose not to race their boats at all. No matter what your cup of tea, day sailing, weekend cruising, competitive sailing, or a combination of all the above, the S2 7.9 has a lot to offer. 

Reviewed in the November 2001 issue of SpinSheet by Jack Hornor

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S2 7.9 Sailboat Sails and Parts

Image: Karen Banks.

S2 7.9 after complete deck restoration, new standing and running rigging and new sails.

Unbridled Sailing has been active in the 7.9 fleet for years. The boats are a great mix of portability, interior space, and sailing performance. For this reason the over 30 year old design is still popular with sailors of all levels. The Tiara factory in Holand, MI pumped out 545 of these boats in 2 runs. Since thier numbers are limited, owners are always finding old hulls and rebuilding them. Unbridled Sailing recently completed a complete restoration of #497. The deck was soft and everything needed to be replaced from sitting outside in NJ winters for 10 years. The story of that project can be found here.

MXL Mainsail Black Technora or Gold Kevlar $

We reccomend a flicker with this main, as it is built to class max.

(2 full battens, 2 tapered partial battens, roll bag, Numbers, Insignia)

MXL Genoa Black Technora or Gold Kevlar with numbers and deck bag $

MXL Jib (black or gold) with 3 horizontal battens, deck bag. $

Backstay setup complete

Epoxy powedercoated backstay flicker (Stiff and coated for long life)

All prices include shipping to anywhere in the continental US.

If there are other parts you need, Unbridled Sailing is a Harken and Lewmar Dealer, and we know the S2 7.9in and out.

© 2008 - 2015 Unbridled Sailing

Photos © Marc Crutcher

S2 7.9 Fleet #1

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spec's on a 26 foot S2

• Thread starter yomoma
• Start date Feb 8, 2010
• Brand-Specific Forums

Two 26 foot boats in 82 There is a 7.9, which is a racing design and an 8.0, which is a cruising design.  

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Re: Two 26 foot boats in 82 S2 YACHTS SAIL BOAT MODEL LINEUP CRUISING / DAY SAILING MODELS All S2 cruising sailboats featured a solid fiberglass hull, and a balsa cored deck, except for the 35C that had a balsa cored hull and deck. BOAT LOA PRODUCTION # BUILT 6.8 EXCITER 22'4" 80-80 150 7.0 23 23'0" 75-75 140 7.3 METER 23'10" 78-87 404 8.0 METER A 26'0" 75-75 40 8.0 METER B 26'0" 76-83 426 8.0 CENTER COCKPIT 26'0" 75-75 210 27 PERFORMANCE CRSR 26'7" 85-87 85 8.5 METER 28'0" 80-83 103 8.6 METER 28'0" 84-85 150 9.2 AFT COCKPIT 29'11" 77-87 520 9.2 CENTER COCKPIT 29'11 " 77-87 426 11.0 AFT COCKPIT 36'0" 77-87 156 11.0 CENTER COCKPIT 36'0" 80-87 66 35 CENTER COCKPIT(1)35'2" 86-87 35 RACING /ONE DESIGNS All the S2 Racing boats featured balsa cored hulls and decks. 5.5 GRAND SLAM 18'0" 82-83 70 6.7 GRAND SLAM(3) 22'0" 80-83 160 6.9 GRAND SLAM(3) 22'0" 83-86 174 22 WING KEEL(1) 22'0" 87-87 20 7.9 GRAND SLAM(2) 25'11" 82-87,90,94 545 9.1 METER(1) 29'10" 83-87 127 10.3 METER(1) 33'9" 82-87 45 (1) These boats featured bolt on external keels. (2) The 7.9 was also offered in a fixed keel version (17 boats), the rest had vertically retracting keel. (3) Only offered with vertically retracting keel.  

Re: Two 26 foot boats in 82 http://www.sailingsource.com/s279/pages/miscpgs/SPECS.HTM has specs for the 7.9  

Re: Two 26 foot boats in 82 Most rigging shops will know the dimensions you need. Be aware that sometimes boats, like the 8.0, came in an optional tall rig version. The easiest way to tell what you have is to run a tape measure up the main halyard. There is a lot of information available using the search function on the site too. http://www.mauriprosailing.com/techinfo/boatspecs/Rig S.htm lists most.  

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LOA .................................... 25' 11"

DWL.................................... 21' 8"

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Max. Draft ............................ 5' 0"

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Displacement ........................ 4250 lbs.

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Ballast.Board ........................ 600 lbs.

Sail Area .............................. 329 sq. ft.

Headroom ............................ 5' 5"

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"P" Dimension ....................... 29.42'

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Newbie ?s for Racing 7.9s

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Post by DougH » Mon Jan 03, 2022 5:28 pm

Re: Newbie ?s for Racing 7.9s

Post by BarryE » Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:58 pm

Post by DougH » Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:01 am

Post by BarryE » Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:36 am

Post by BarryE » Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:49 am

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Need help,mast for S2 7.9

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I am trying to find a mast for my ,new to me S2 7.9, it is 10 m ( 33 ft) long,5 x3.5" ,deck stepped, aluminum,fractional rig,,,, I have had a lot feelers out but not finding the right one,if I was in the east or even near a mast n rig shop of sorts I could have one custom built I think...but no such shop in Alberta,have phoned some yards but no callbacks..??would like to find in lower mainland B.C./Washington area as I know friends that do regular runs with flat decks to our part of country,got the boat for a reasonable price and it seems to be in very good shape,very dry,new sails,good motor and trailer( I got those separate from the boat they cost more than the boat)although the main has a little rip from the mast going over,...these 7.9 are supposed to be excellent sailing crafts so I am very excited to get her in the water sometime,seems like a good next step for me,.....also get oplnions on fixing mast,.?i have had a shop look at it and we would have to cur about 1-2 ft out in the middle,or right around the spreaders actually and ten add to the bottom..?the upper piece has a bit of a bow to it ...one of the upper shrouds let go under sail,when a pin came out,..would setting up the rigging properly take this bow out??or would fixing be good money after bad....I will try to add pictures but don't want to lose this so next time I hope  

I don't know Alberta too well, but you shouldn't need an exact match on the mast. There must be a marina in Alberta with some abandoned/derelict boats with masts about the right size. It should theoretically be possible for you to get a mast that is close to what you need. Then you get a rivet gun and start fabricating in your drive way. If you can find a 34' or 36' mast you could either cut it down or even leave it a little long- it should work. You may not get optimal performance or win races, but the boat should sail fine, provided you can get everything in close to the right place. People have even been known to use wood for masts, although, it would definitely look out of place on your boat. Maybe not the solution you're looking for, but might get you out on the water.  

check with the class association s279.org they have blanks for members (membership is like $30 a year)... at a huge discount. Sounds like fixing the existing mast isn't really a good idea. I can confirm the 7.9 is a robustly built boat, and mast.  

i have talked to the outfit in florida that makes the extrusions for the 7.9, helpfull enough...but... they wern't that excited about shipping all the way up here,with the chance of it getting bent somehow ,they thought a boat hauler bringing up a hunter or similar might be the ticket....,but that said ,i havn't been able to contact anyone from the S2 7.9 Assoc.to join and then be allowed to buy it...(if anyone from the assoc. reads this please contact me)and unless i get all my hardware down to the manufacturer its gonna be pretty expensive by the time it gets up here,+-$ 6000..so i was hoping to find a usable one from a wore out or wrecked one,i would even buy a complete boat for the right price lots of parts to use (i have a whole field of old & wrecked cars n trucks so didnt think it would be so difficult....guess 7.9's are just too sturdy and don't run into rocks,,course in my search I am figuring out which boats get scrapped more,course that could be a matter of numbers too,. ,anyway someone must know where a unused 7.9 is rotting away ?????(with a good mast),just gotta find it... thanks .....Ralph tow hyphen guy at hotmail dot com  

Sounds like a good opportunity to get creative to me. Prototype Junk rigged schooner S2 7.9? I have an acquaintance who did just that with a Siren 17. If you have a garage and some hands on skills you could surely come up with something, at least until you can find your missing parts. We lost our boom on the highway for our P16 in the spring and used a 10 foot length of PVC sewer piper for the first several sails of the season (making double digit boat speeds). Then we managed to scrounge up a boom off a Quazar of all boats and added the necessary hardware to make it into a P16 boom, which we still haven't cut down to size. Plus we're using an O'Day 17 jib while our sail maker uses our old battened jib for a pattern for a new sail, last training run we were broad reaching just shy of 15 knots with our Quazar boom and O'Day Jib. A Pic of my P16 with Quazar boom and O'day jib, ugly, but works.  

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There are local boat parts for sale and boat parts wanted sights on the lower mainland and Vancouver Island...the sights are well used. Go to www usedvancouver.com or used Victoria.com.  

Yes I have been trolling thru as much of these sites as I can figure,and phoning boatyards,there is a huge sailboat wrecking yard in Wash. state not to far south of chiliwakthat keeps promising to search the yard for me but.....guess I will have to go down myself..Found a mast ,boom and sails from a Haida 26 on kijjiji this morning...has possibilities l hopecant tell if it is a stepped mast,see if I can get my son to look at it it's at comox or one of to islands just south I think.....Ralph  

Okay,I have talked to the guy with the Haida 26 mast...it comes with boom,rigging,4 sails....is a stepped mast ( like mine), but is 3' shorter,mine is 10 meters( 33') they are both fractional...any thoughts?? From the picture the Haida mast doesn't look as sturdy but is shorter,maybe to play around it will work ,just kinda reefed a bit already.....Ralph  

Maybe. I wouldn't spend too much money on an experiment like this, since it's hopefully a temporary fix to get yourself sailing. If you can make all the parts fit together it should make the boat sail, not as well as the original. I wouldn't rush into it unless it's really cheap.  

I picked up a card at the Annapolis boat show this year. This guy salvages boats and sells the parts he may have what you are looking for. I have no connection with him, never did business with them. www.nandjmarine.com This your boat? 27 S2 - www.nandjmarine.com  

Thanks skipper but that is a S2 27 lots different than a S27.9 mine is deck stepped and I believe the 27 is keel stepped...although maybe it could be adapted,also the 27 is masthead,but I will probAly contact them anyway never know what they might have a line on,course they are probAly in the east somewhere....Ralph  

All good posts. Also, contact your insurance carrier as they may have condemned such a boat and then 'parted it out' (selling off the hardware, etc. in order to recover some of their casualty loss, etc.). They usually do this through salvage/parts brokers, and may have an idea of the final location(s).  

Yes that's a good idea too I have been watching the site sale lists,that is how I got this boat in the 1 st place,I get lists regular as I do used car,truck and rv parts on the side, got lots of feelers out....just was hoping someone nearby would know of a scrap or cheaper 7.9, you can never ask too many people ,if you need something and all suggestions help the thought process....Ralph  

If you're putting serious consideration to buying that other boat to salvage the mast I would look up the measurements on sailboatdata or similar first. Odds are the standing rigging will need to be changed (what are the chances it would reach your chainplates perfectly and tension up). If it has a roller furler on it that adds to the complexity unless removed entirely and replaced with a plain forestay. You may have considered this already, but just my thoughts.  

I am kinda on the fence about using the mast from the Haida 26, as it is shorter by three feet and not as stout but it comes with boom,sails and standing rigging,,although ..don't know what kind of shape it's all in....ah well busy haying right now so.....oh ya,,got a message from the sailboat wrecking yard Washington state today ,maybe some progress,they wanted my specs again with more detail......Ralph  

The last time I was at the sailboat wrecking yard in Bellingham (I think this is the one that you mean), they had a large pile of masts and booms. A lot of the boats they had were on the smaller side so they might well have one about like what you need.  

Yes at Lynden. I think that is close to Bellingham,...unfortunately it looks like at 33ft. My mast is longer than most smaller boats with a stepped mast....Ralph  

IIRC the mast on a standard rig Catalina 27 is 33 feet. Should be lots of those around.  

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