DN NA Class

I am now officially KC 5449 :)

Who are you, KC 5449?

Sorry,aka MMadge.Question in Soft water sailing we can use the Country code CAN.Is that allowed with DN's or do I have to go with the traditional KC?

Hi Mike
The International DN Ice Yacht Racing Association has never officially approved or established national letter designators for sails and hulls.  DN Europe has done so but the official international organization has never established that protocol.  Consequently you may go w/o national letters on hulls or sails or you may display any country code letters you choose.    I think CAN would be "cool" and certainly more up-to-date than KC.   KC has, however, been the more popular choice of Canadian DN sailors who choose to display national letters.   

I personally do not display national letters because I feel I am a member of the international DN community.  Other sailors prefer to be more nationalistic. 

But be sure to display your sail numbers.

...Jane Pegel
TC Chair

Thanks Jane,that is the other problem is getting the old sail #'s off.

A bit of a challenge, but it can be done.  You need a flat smooth surface to work on, MEK (Methyl ethyl keytone) as a solvent for the glue, a plastic drywall putty knife (I used one that was 4" wide (10cm)) and lots of paper toweling.  It is also important to work in a well ventilated area, a box fan is a very good idea.

You can peal most of the old numbers off by picking at a corner with your fingernail and then pulling across the number at about a 45 degree angle.

Use the MEK to partially disolve the old glue.  You can scrape up the residue with the plastic putty knife and mop up the pile with the paper towel.  This may take several applications to get rid of all of the old glue.

The last thing to remember is actually the first thing you should do, that is measure where the old numbers are on the sail so you can place the new numbers appropriately.  A carpenters square and some light pencil marks are kind of handy there.

I got my new numbers from JIM GLUEK: 262-227-6686 / jim@melges.com at NORTH SAILS in ZENDA.

Ayes

The advice about MEK is just fine.  However, important to do the job out of doors with a nice breeze blowing.  Lacquer thinner works too.

Numbers are available from sailmakers everywhere.

When applying new numbers, scribe pencil line on sail along top edge of digit and intermittently along the edges of the digit.   Peel back a little portion of the backing along the top edge and then as you apply the number to the sail, peel off backing as you go along.  Definitely, do not remove all backing from the digit and hope to then stick the digit onto the sail or you'll have a huge wad of sticky back dacron that cannot be smoothed out.

I'm a big fan of starting with acetone and only moving to MEK or lacquer thinner if necessary.

I removed some really stubborn numbers last summer.  The number-fabric peeled of cleanly, leaving all the glue on the sail as a hard residue.  I found that soaking a shop-rag (heavy paper towel) in acetone and laying it on an area of glue for 30 seconds to a minute softened the residue so that it cleanly came off with the plastic scraper (buy a new one for the project).

OTOH, one of my earlier second-hand sails had numbers that just peeled off cleanly and all the glue remained on the number.

Cheers,

Geoff S.

Goo Gone.

Not toxic.

It loosens teh glue and it kind of rolls into a gummy glob, then it comes off easily.