What could be most likely reason that cams don't want to turn.
I just bought s.h. 8 m2 RAM NS sail with three cams and did first trial today in relatively weak wind.
Is that ( ?):
-not enough down haul ?
-not enough out haul?
-battens too long?
-wrong mast - too thick?
I had to use my feet after each gybe to push that stubborn cams to other side as ordinary shaking and pumping did nothing.

Mark _australia said...

Could be any of the above.
Firstly are you using the correct mast?

Recommended set-up seems to be quite strange for me.
Mast 460 plus 45 extension ( not 490 + 15 you may think)
I guess that mast is quite thick that's low and by looking at angle that rolls are installed on cams I am afraid that housing may be touching that mast not rolls.

the right mast doesn't necessarily mean the sail will rotate well
arn't the north RAM's ment to be 3 cam ?
anyway a couple of things you can do
1. more down haul (outhaul doesn't really have a big effect but you can go for less which can help with getting the final click)
2. less cam spacers
3. a mast with a softer bottom section, or is it a stiffer bottom section
not sure can't hurt to try both, pretty sure it's softer

there's not much else that has a huge effect on rotation other than making new battens with a different taper but thats getting a bit complicated, i normally try not to resort to that until i am very sure of exactly where the problem is and how i want to improve it

Agree with fanatic02.

First of all, do not underestimate the mast!! Although problem might be already solved to replace just 1 cam from another sail. You might be better off with another (reed correct) mast. Just take out the cam and see how they do on the mast on the place where it should be as the sail is rigged. You immediately can see if the cam is too small. I had a similar problem with an NP RS sail. Used another mast in it at first as recommended. Replaced just one cam (the one above the boom) from a loft blade and problem was solved. Now I have put the original cam back and using an X9 mast and works fine.

Having some more wind might be helpful too.

If you have got two cams rotating, ….the third one will follow.

Hi, i find with my (older) formula sails that if i put too much downhaul it kills rotation.
Backing off the downhaul a little fixes it.
kicking the bottom cam once in awhile is normal for me.

Hi Macroscien

The answer is "simple". Your mast is to thick and restrict the camber to rotate and in the same time the distance is less from where the camber push on the mast to where it sits on the leading edge. (from the thicker mast pushing it back)

The North Mast made for those sails was a lot more tapered / drop shape.

Best suggestion if you keep your current mast might be from Fanatic02, that used the heat gun to "open them up a bit more" and if you can sand a bit of the back of the cambers,,