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The final version of the Junk Rig Glossary is now available and can be found under the Junk Information menu, or directly here.  This Glossary lists all the terms related to the junk rig, its implementation and use.

We were formed in the UK, and although our 'office' address and banking remains in the UK we are run by an increasingly international Committee via the Internet. A number of posts become vacant every year, at the AGM, so if you choose to join you could also put your name forward to help run the 'club'. It doesn't run itself. Our membership is now more than   50% outside the UK. Click the chart for detail.

December 2018 - Great Pelican

This month’s Boat of the Month, is not a junk, but dying to be converted, although it now seems unlikely that it will be completed by the current owner.

This design is based on that of the nesting fishing dory carried on New England Grand Banks schooners. The dories were workboats intended to return to ship with a full load of fish for stability. So is the Great Pelican stabilized by lots of passengers or cargo. In the 12' Pelican on Richardson Bay (off Sausalito, north of SF Bay), I sailed with five others on my first bay sail. The boat was fast and easy. The Great Pelican is faster but impossible to keep on an even keel in 25-30 knots (typical SF Bay winter wind) without probably three large people hiking out. On the standard Pelican, I could manage the boat alone.

Well, my boat is cute, but not beautiful. It has rot under the paint in a 3x4" section of the interior hull, creating a slow leak. There's also rot on the bench coaming and the upper left corner of the cabin bulkhead. The rubrail has no rot but has been rubbed too hard for about 5" so needs some planing. Cockpit paint is well worn in general, but not everywhere.

None of this shows in the photo I have of the boat under sail. The rig is standing lug with full length battens and a flying jib on a fairly short (about three feet) bowsprit. The kickup rudder blade is, if I recall, about 8" shorter than the plans specify, and about 3" less wide than specified. I would use an aluminum rudder blade about two feet longer than the current board to give absolute directional control when healed regardless of wind conditions. The boat has heavy weather helm when heeled without the jib.

If I had my druthers, I would have the entire cockpit blasted with soft media, possibly walnut shells, and then round all the corners of the bench support structure so paint adheres. Then fix the dry rot and have the cockpit sprayed with epoxy paint to provide sufficient protection for 10 years. More coats might work for longer. No reason to skimp on this aspect of repair.

I would move the last mainsheet cam jam block to the centerboard trunk, and swap the 7-10 mm steel plate centerboard for, ideally but expensively, a copper-nickel 3 cm board. Yes, there's room for it in the trunk. This would enable the boat to be sailed singlehanded. Unlike the 12' SF Pelican, the Great Pelican, 16' LOD and of the same exact proportions, is so massive that even with three people providing about 400-450 pounds of ballast (on the benches, not hiked out) the boat heals too much for good control in 20 knots.

Sadly, I haven't had the time and money to deal with the repairs, so I just now decided that my Great Pelican is therefore and hereby for sale. It comes with a heavy duty trailer.

Our Boat of the Month Archive is here.