[quote=Wolfman]They didn't start using bias cut tramps until the mid to late 80s. Prior to that you had the lacing at the rear beam and a line of laces that went down the middle of the tramp or down one side to the the tramp tight in both directions. The current bias cut tramps just tighten at the rear and the diagonally oriented fabric automatically tightens rearward and sideways. The older tramps had more room for give in them.
If the tramp is old and stiff with some messy stitching it may not last long. If there are no tears in it and the fabric is still serviceable you may be able to get a sail loft or tarp maker to just restitch the seams. YOu won't know till you put the boat together and sit on it a bit. If you start causing the tramp to tear then you will need to think about replacing it. I limped my old 5.7 tramp through a season with patches and spot repairs but it isn't fun.
The exact width isn't overly important (give or take a few centimeters is normal). LIkely your beams should be between 8' 5" and 8' 6". There is about 1" of adjustment in the boats with the internal mean castings (you can see it in the elongated hole that has about .5" or so of play on each side). As long as the tramp fits and you can get the boat square it will work. Loot at the old manuals in the technical help gallery to get exactly how you should align the boat. Basically the distance between the hulls should be equal front and rear and the diagonal distance between the beams inside the hulls should be equal.
As far as rigging goes, that all depends on whether the current boat was ever put together properly or if it is just a mess of parts. That being said, there is a fair amount of adjustment in the 10 hole adjusters. If your rig is a little too short you can connect 2 adjusters end to end to artificially lengthen it. This is a trick the H16 guys use to get more rake in their masts and I have used it myself because I misspecced my forestay on my 5.2. Any sailing shop can shorten rigging for you easily enough, but you will lose a minimum of 6" to put on a new swage fitting. If you need to lengthen the rig you might be able to get away with just replacing the 2 forestays, thats not overly pricey. In any case, once you get it together and if you find the rig to be not fit right, try an figure out what you need and post it here. I have a pile of older rigging that is in good condition and quite a few others do also. Its normally not a good idea to reuse old rigging and many people on here will encourage you to get all new rigging (including me), but it probably doesn't make sense to get new rigging until you figure out what will work for you. A lot of use will send you some serviceable stays for the price of shipping. And once you figure it out you can order some new ones.
We always strongly recommend getting new wires for any old boat that you purchase, its not that expensive and is way safer. Original wires may be fine, but you don't know what they have experienced and how they were treated. Old overstressed wire may not show any signs of wear but still be weak from a crash, corrosion or kinking or some other misuse.
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