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Ok, it's haul out time in the Pacific Northwest.
This is the year I had planned to take out the bronze thru hulls for the marine head that is no longer in the boat.
Should I?  Shouldn't I?  What do you all use for grounding the rig for lightning if you don't have the seacocks?
Any of you have seeping, leaking, or catastrophic failures in these through hulls?
Opinions please and thanks.
--Dave on Puget Sound.

Brent,
I've added the weight in addition to a full tank.
Like Theis, I sail in some potentially lumpy or heavy conditions -- Puget Sound, the San Juans, the Canadian Gulf Islands; and I don't race.  My benchmark for the tinkering I did with weight distribution was how the boat rode ferry wakes (artificial swells) and power boat chop near the marina.  The boat is more seakindly and it sails better.
But I would warn anyone against putting that kind of weight in their boat without a lot of experimentation.  My Ariel may be an aberation.

I know there's a lot of debate on this issue, but I side with Theis.  After a lot of experimentation, I've added about 175 pounds of lead in the forward end of the bilge under the maststep of my OB Ariel.  Seems like a lot of weight, but it took that much to make much of a difference.  The boat doesn't hobby horse -- on the contrary, the motion is more comfortable.  If anything the boat is slightly faster and seems more closewinded.  Sits nicely on her lines at the slip.  I'm very pleased.

One more place to look: I'm replacing bilge pumps and have been crawling under the cockpit through the seat lockers (go feet first).  The hull number was written on a piece of tape that was glassed over on the forward, port seat support.

Each of our boats have different amounts of ballast, and each of us have different amounts and placement of stuff in the boats from outboards to anchor chain -- significant variables.  So there's probably not a one-size-fits-all answer to reballasting.
In my case, there's no mystery about the value of 100-150 pounds of weight placed in the general area of the maststep.  At least in my boat's case, when I walk to the dock after it's rained, there is water puddled in the aft end of the cockpit -- even with the water tank full.  My boat also sits a little high in the water (based on the drawn water line).  Put about 125 pounds (my wife) at the vee berth bulkhead, and the boat levels, the water drains.  With two in the cockpit and one person at the bulkhead, the boat squats again, but it's tolerable.
I've done the same experiments under sail...moving the crew around.  There is not a dramatic increase in sail handling when I add weight forward, but I believe -- in my case -- that the boat "feels and sounds" better.  Still, I won't know for sure until I live with the weight forward for awhile.

I sail my Ariel with a friend who has a Bristol 27 - another Alberg design.  We both complain about the stern squat in these boats.  I am about to add weight into the upper bilge from the middle of the forepeak step to the forward end of the forward access hole in the sole.  I'll test the results before I glass in about 100# of lead (tire weights, sand, and epoxy slurry).
My theory is that getting the nose down even a bit will not only reduce the irritating slosh in the outboard well, but help the boat be a tiny bit more close winded.
I may be completely wrong.  I'll keep you posted on the results.

A cautionary tale.  I don't know if a product called Dri-Z-Air is available nationwide, but in case any of you are using it, let me offer a warning.  This product consists of white granules that are placed in an enclosing basket that sits above a plastic pan.  The granules absorb water from the air which then drips into the pan.  It does a fine job of absorbing significant amounts of water from the air in enclosed spaces like a boat.  However, if the water in the pan -- which contains the active chemical in solution -- spills, you may have a problem.  Unknown to us, this solution spilled out of the container in the v-berth of our Ariel and soaked a section of the cabin sole.  In warm or dry weather, the area that had gotten wet appears normal; in damp weather, the chemical absorbs water from the air and creates a wet spot.  This action will continue for eternity, in fact the wet spot will spread.  I called the folks at Dri-Z-Air asking if there was a chemical neutralizer.  Nope.  When the stuff soaks into wood the game's over.  So I'm ripping up the teak and holly sole and replacing it.  Don't let this happen to you.  The product's good - but if you use it, don't you dare spill it.

My vote -- since it's what I did -- is to fill the seam from the outside.  I was addressing the problem of leaks rather than trying to reinforce the joint, and may have accomplished both.  The leaks are gone.
  My Ariel has a teak caprail bolted through the toerail.  I simply removed, bent up and threw away the stainless rubrail; scraped and ground out the silicone goo and dry cloth in the joint; and pressed epoxy thickened with West Systems 406 into the joint and faired it out.  Will paint the hull next summer.
Since I can't see the joint from the inside, it may be that somebody already reinforced it - but it all looks original to me.
For what it's worth.
--Dave Gillespie

My experience is that riggers will want you to tune the rigging, tape the studs where they exit the turnbuckles, and then back the turnbuckles to remove the shroud or stay.
The rigger will then measure the whole unit set as marked and compensate for stretch when building the new one.
--Dave

Theis,
I fretted over the decision to buy a furler for several months.  I am something of a purist and like hanked on sails.
I got the furler for my Ariel because my wife wanted to keep me in the cockpit in nasty weather.
But I've been won over.  My response to your statements:
1) No question sail shape of a hanked jib or genoa is better than a partially furled sail.  But I opted for a high clewed 130 and it serves well most of the time.  Furled to foretriangle size I can still claw to windward.
3) The Ariel doesn't hold to windward anyway!  A furled up sail doesn't make much difference.  With the cutaway forefoot the boat has to be moving or it will fall off no matter what.
4) There is a low frequency flutter at the dock in high wind; that's why there has to be two way toggles top and bottom of the stay.
5,6,8) Furlers ARE far more reliable now.  The CDI has an internal halyard and no top swivel and it seems highly unlikely that it would jam in the up position.  And that's assuming I couldn't furl the sail.  Top swivels on other furlers can jam if they are poorly installed -- but properly installed they are very reliable.
9,10) Very little maintenance required.  Rinsing out bearings with hose now and again.
11) You want scary??  Try experiencing a big wave slewing the boat while you're on the foredeck with backed jib ripping control away from the autotiller, and said autotiller whinning away doing exactly the opposite (somehow) of what you want it to be doing and you screaming into the wind at the &*^&% machine.  At the same time, I'm in the cockpit quietly furling my sail and keeping my boat under control with my own hands.

I won't go back either.  BUT, I do understand the allure of hanked sails and if I were crossing oceans I wouldn't want a furler on my Bristol Channel Cutter.  But I don't have a BCC and I'm not crossing oceans.

--Dave Gillespie

David,
The CDI bearings are actually "torlon" which is -- I have no idea, nylon and teflon?  That's what they feel like.
I don't know if the bearings are necessary on the smaller headsail of your Typhoon, maybe not.  If you have a Typhoon, Sr. at, what, 22 feet, I might still encourage the bearing version.
Great boat by the way.
--Dave G

David Spaulding,
I got my CDI FF4 Furler through Sailrite last January.
At the time, they were within a few bucks of the best total cost including shipping -- since I was ordering sail making materials too, I went with them.
But the fact is, they order and ship directly through CDI, so you may as well skip the middleman; though I've found Sailrite products and service to be excellent.
I've used the CDI all summer and into the fall, and it has performed flawlessly even in strong winds.
Be sure to get the ball bearing version.
--Dave Gillespie

Batteries 1 and 2 are under the companionway steps.
Battery switch on inboard wall beneath sink.
--Dave G
Brigid #357

Ok.  Two questions:
Do you guys REALLY sail the boat with water flowing over the side decks?  I mean, I've dipped the rail under, but a steady 35 degree heel?
Regarding reefing the main on my Ariel: I have never used the roller boom set up, don't even know if it works and don't want to.  I have a ram's horn (hook) to hold the luff cringle and a line rove though the leech cringle round a turning block on the boom to a cleat halfway along the boom.
In order to hook the luff cringle to the ram's horn, I have to release a stop at the bottom of the mast track, drop out a few sail slides and close the stop.  This prevents me from setting up single line jiffy reefing.
What do you guys do to get the slides free of the track -- or do you just let them stack up and create a lump of sail cloth above the gooseneck?
Finally, I'm thinking of buying a loose-footed main.  You folks have any experience with them on these boats?  (I recall that you use one, Bob).
--Dave G  Ariel 357

Gosh, I didn't realize that putting the "sock" on was so difficult!  It takes the two of us about three minutes -- what're we doing wrong?
It's all tradeoffs and preferences.