sail etc.

i have a few ?'s, i raised my sails for the first time (in the backyard) and was wandering, the gooseneck was sitting down below the wide insert in mast and the top of the sail was about 6" to a foot below the top of the mast, it seemed right and tight, but the boom seemed to be at a downward angle to the cockpit, is this normal? also there is one stay type wire on the back of the mast top that only comes down about 3' short of the boom, i thought is was a stabilizer that i have read about to attach to the boom when not sailing? one more thing for now, i have seen in some video's that u can sail with the pop top up, is there a trick to this? thanks again for any info

The gooseneck should sit in the slide ABOVE the wide opening and your sail should raise all the way to the top of the mast.

It sounds like you are describing a topping lift for your boom and you are correct, it is to hold the boom up when you are not sailing.

There is no trick to sailing with the top up. I do it almost every time I sail. It makes anyone who is inside, feel like they are outside sailing with us.

so all the time the boom should be up high enough to raise the pop top? another while i;m on sails, the jib that i have, i don't think is the correct one, raises to about 2 to 3' short of the top of the mast, they put on a short length of cable to make up the difference and when pulled tight at the foot(?) it is about 6 to 8" past the mast, i don't see this being a problem but then again i am at this point as green as a greenhorn gets., any thoughts on problems i might encounter would be great. one more, are topping lifts usually attached to the back stay or are they a separate line like i have, thanks again

No problems with your current jib, I have a standard 100% jib and mine has the same length top to bottom. I do not have a line at the bottom to take the sail to the top. Most folks did that so they could see better but it shouldn't effect performance much either way. Your sail sail comes back just past the mast sounds like a 110% jib.

The boom should clear the pop top.

Some topping lifts attach to the backstay and are called pig tails. Mine came with that option when I bought it but I was not a fan as it is not adjustable and in strong, shifty winds I found it difficult when raising the main.
I installed a topping lift that attaches to the top of my mast that allows me to adjust the height and also allows me to swing it out when raising my main so it won't catch the wind and heel the boat over in a gust while I am up front.

ok , thanks a lot, i am hoping to maybe take her out next week and see if she likes her new owner! will keep u all posted and hopefully can get some pics going

I have two CM 26s. I bought the second to get the trailor. I have three main sails. The boat I'm sailing has a main with a long foot that comes within 5 inches of the length of the boom. So the outhaul does little to nothing. I have a fixed topping lift from the mast to the end of the boom, a few inches shorter than the sail leech, so when the sail is hoisted the topping lift becomes slack and hangs loose behind the sail. I also have a pigtail that I clip on to the boom after the sail is dropped, it prevents the boom from swinging.

My other two sails were crisper and had CM 26 in huge letters so I wanted to try one. First the foot was shorter, but that might be good for the outhaul. On hoisting I found the leech was a lot longer and the topping lift had to be unhooked. The luff also was longer, at full hoist I couldn't get the sail tight,and the boom angled down to the cockpit as your's did. I tried lowering the boom below the gate but then you could not open the poptop, but more troubling was the height of the boom over the cockpit. My old sail kept the boom high enough that if someone remained sitting they were safe from swinging booms. This new one conked me and my crew.

I had 6 folks coming out for a sail, so I put the first sail back on to prevent cracked skulls and potential lawsuits . The only solution I saw was having the sail shortened. Why isn't that gate lower on the mast?