C&C 27 Association – About Our Site & Forum

How many times have you flailed about for information about your C&C 27? Tried to find out how to order a replacement part, or track down the acceptable length of a spinnaker pole? Or find reasonable ways of removing paint from the bottom? Since 2000, this site has enabled C&C 27 owners to share information you need for hassle-free ownership of these boats.

The site comprises two main channels of information. Both can be searched using the Google search on the Home page; you are strongly encouraged to use this, or the search capabilities built into our Forum software (of which more a few lines down):

  • The 'permanent' pages – which is to say, everything save the Forum. If a topic is of enduring interest, it probably has been turned into a page or section in the main body of the site. This includes basic information about the boats in the first four sections, 'how-to' information in Black Arts and a miscellany in the following sections.
  • The Forum. This has been going since 2000, so it contains a tremendous amount of information and experience from other C&C 27 owners. Before you rush to post a question that has been burning your brain, please read Using the Forum, following.

Using the Forum

We want the Forum to be a durable resource, which is to say that if you have an interesting question and someone out there has a thoughtful answer, we want them on the site so that others can read it, today and for as long as this site lasts. Therefore, Rule Number One (the one and only rule on the Forum) is:

  • You will not ask people to send answers to your e-mail address. That's no use to the other people who use and contribute to the site, and who might someday have need of that information, so we want the question and the answer in the Forum. Therefore e-mail addresses will be promptly deleted. The only time addresses are acceptable is when you're trying to buy or sell a boat or gear.
  • The corollary to the prohibition on private answers is that you will not write to the Association with questions about your boat; you will be directed to re-read this material. Check the site (particularly Black Arts), then search the Forum, using the Search tool listed at the top of the page.
  • Don't be too precise when using the Forum's Search; a more general search will give a greater number of less relevant results but a higher potential for finding what you want – if it's there. For instance, searching "anchor locker" won't find "anchor well"; just search "anchor" and you'll find everything we have about anchors, anchor wells and anchoring. Search under the "Message" category for the broadest results, under "Subject" for a slightly narrower focus. Since few of us stay precisely on topic, searching "Message" will give you everything we have, at the price of having to read through a few more items that are less relevant.
  • Use Google. Many of the questions on the Forum ask for help in finding replacement parts; that's okay with us, but if you know what you want – a part for a pump that's no longer made, but for which you have a name, for instance – you may find what you want more quickly searching with Google. On the other hand, if you want some thoughts on whether to rebuild that pump or replace it, you'll do better in our Forum.
  • If none of these options does the job, then post a question in the Forum.
  • You'll get more and better responses if you include a concise, descriptive title. Read the Forum for inspiration. If you want to sell or buy something, your results may be improved by adding "For sale – ..." or "Wanted – ..." to your title.
  • For the sake of your own sanity, you should write your address (when permitted, as in selling or buying items) as "name [at] address.whatever", to reduce the harvesting of your address by spammers. True, it won't be a clickable 'mailto' link, but people who are really interested will translate it; anyone who is incapable of substituting the @ symbol should probably stick to boats that fit in his or her bathtub.

These are not rules but observing them is in your interest...

Familiarize yourself with the contents of the site, particularly Black Arts, which functions as a "how-do-I..." FAQ. If you have a specific question you need to ask, use the Search function in the Forum to see if people have already answered your questions. There are many long, thoughtful answers in our Forum, ready for you to read at your convenience; don't expect people to repeat themselves for you. Moreover, if the Forum is dominated by discussions of traveller replacement for two weeks, then you roll in a week later and post a new query about choosing a traveller, you're going to have a hard time regaining a reputation for intelligent participation.

You can read the Forum as a guest, but registering has been made mandatory for those who want to post because of persistent spamming. Look for the word 'Register' just under the row of boats. Submitting a profile (first and last name at a minimum) for the Forum is now mandatory as a means of separating real from spurious registrations. Location information may help others answer your questions. If you have registered and signed in (it's automatic after the first time if you make it so):

  • you get to go back and edit your posts if you like;
  • you are automatically notified when someone answers your post (original post or answer);
  • you can add an automatic signature line with information about yourself, your boat or your club; and;
  • perhaps most importantly in terms of community we have created here, you are letting people know where you sail, so they can tailor their answers to your location;
  • the only downside is that you will get one (1) e-mail a year encouraging you to join the Association – we absolutely promise your info will never be sold, traded away or otherwise exposed to the view of spammers. (And let's be reasonable here – who would want the names of people who own 30-year-old boats? Rolex? Aston Martin? Only if your other boat is a Swan 80.)

Readable posts get read and answered. Therefore, you ought to...

  • Proof-read your submissions. Asking – as someone recently did – if anyone has a "used mail" to sell (in the subject line and in the text) will not advance your cause. Mis-spellings of key words, expecially in the subject line, may make it impossible for someone to locate a worthwhile discussion at a later date. One of the corollaries to our desire to create a resource of long-term value is a preference for descriptive titles on your posts; pose your question under a title that will help people know what you're talking about.
  • Write like an adult writing to other adults. Telegraphese, 133t and Blackberry Basic may have their uses, but we prefer that you use a keyboard that does not rely exclusively on the use of your thumbs. Posts written in all-caps may be deleted (this is not a rule, but the Admin is capricious, like one of those tropical gods who run volcanoes; if you don't know how to use a shift key, write all lower-case – it's easier to read).
  • Don't get cute with your posts. The people who design Wired may groove on yellow text on a lime-green background, but readability surveys say black text on a light background is readable and gets read. Isn't that what you want?

Using photos in your posts

Many of us now have digital cameras and many users of this forum have questions, answers or ideas that can best be explained with a photo, so there are often requests to "post it in Black Arts". However, this site is definitely Web 1.0, rather than Web 2.0, so you can't post to Black Arts; only the Admin can, and it's sufficiently time-consuming that items of longer-term, broader-spectrum interest are preferred (there is also concern that Black Arts is developing a case of middle-age spread; it may be put on a diet of gruel and water, with vigorous bouts of redemptive exercise).

And our Forum software, being rather old, doesn't allow you to add photos to your posts, at least not directly. There is a workaround (something sailors are good at), using something you already pay for, but probably don't use.

Here's how it works: Most internet service providers (ISP's) give you a certain amount of web space when you sign up. They are generous with it because they are almost certain you won't use it. Here's your chance to get your money's worth.

First, size your photo appropriately. Not all readers are on high-speed lines, so a photo or page in excess of 50Kb is a pain to download (that's why this site uses fast-loading thumbnails). Post your picture on your web space (I'm not going to explain this because the details differ from ISP to ISP – it's fiddly but not hard if you follow your ISP's directions). Double-check that the photo is where you think it is on the web by navigating your browser to it.

The other option is to post your photo on Flickr, Snapfish, Picasa or one of the other photo-sharing sites and copy the URL.

You then have two options. You can simply copy the URL from your browser and paste it in a post, as in

"Here's a picture of my backstay:
http://www.cc27association.com/photos/backstay.jpg
blah, blah, blah."

Note that in the Forum, this would become a live link that users can click on to make your photo appear where the Forum was. Alternatively, you can get fancy, using the mini-editor that pops up when you create a post. Select the word you want to make into a link-word and click on the chain symbol. A little dialogue named 'Insert/edit link' opens. Paste your photo URL in the 'Link URL' box and under 'Target' select 'Open in new window'. (You can do much the same by clicking the tree symbol, which is specifically for photos, but it adds complexity without returning much additional functionality.) Click 'Insert' and you've got something like,

"Here's a picture of my backstay. Blah, blah, blah."

When you compose a post in our forum, you have the opportunity to preview your post; don't forget to test the link then. Remember also that if you change ISP's or change the location of the photo, you'll break the link. Since you can go back and modify posts, you'll be able to repair the link.

Viewing This Site

One of the first principles of the Web is that it should not matter what sort of computer or monitor you have. So, you will not find a "Best viewed in..." statement on this site. No matter what you're using to browse this site, everything should be available to you. To achieve that, every page on this site has been subjected to the validators provided by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Unfortunately, the address of our Forum contains characters that generate errors, and that address appears on every page, so we can't claim this site is fully compliant. The Cascading Style Sheet (of which more below) passes, so we get to show this image on the page:

validCSS

In addition to recognizing the universality intended for the Web, we recognize that not everyone has high-speed access, so images over about 26kb are always preceded by thumbnails so you can decide whether you want to look at them or not. There are no animations or movies.

There is, as usual, a catch to our embrace of universality. The World Wide Web is changing. This iteration of the Association site, the third since it was launched, is driven by an evolving world standard called Cascading Style Sheets or CSS. CSS promises more consistent pages on the site, smaller files, hence faster load times and of paramount importance, less work for the person who builds and maintains the site.

The catch is your browser. Some older browsers simply hadn't heard of CSS when they were released, some relatively recent browsers are patchy in their implementation. All other browsers have bugs in their implementation of CSS, usually in such low-impact features as their ability to render pixel-perfect margins. Internet Explorer has some really annoying weirdnesses, particularly its refusal to let users (that's you) resize type that is specified by one standards-compliant method.

Building a site that serves every browser equally can be done, but it requires expertise beyond the level thus far achieved by the present author. For browsers with version numbers of five and above, the limitations are, in practical terms, minor. Some browsers will not register a "hover" (for instance, the navigation buttons at left should change when your cursor is over them) and there may be irregularities, such as "Sea Change – MkV" being two lines instead of the intended one or there may be a box around this text. All in all, the oddities should be minor and should not interfere with the exchange of information, which is the real point of the site.

If you want to see this site as it was intended to be viewed, as well as be prepared for the change that is gathering momentum on the Web, download a standards-compliant browser. Your current choices for the PC include:

Current choices for the Mac include:

There is no point in listing resources for Unix or Linux because if you use one of these platforms, you are probably either a friend of at least one of the authors or conducting an on-line feud with them on some doctrinal issue.

The remaining issue is that you may encounter problems if your type size is extremely large. As shipped and installed, most PC browsers display type at a size used by newspapers to announce the outbreak of war – far too large for normal viewing. Large text will also do funny things to the page layouts. Pull down the View menu, drag to Font Size and select smaller. Reading overly large text is more tiring than reading a normal size, so you may want to keep the smaller setting.

If you run into problems or see what appears to be a blunder or omission on my part, .

 

Mk I