Arne Kverneland wrote:
Stavanger, Saturday
Chris
I think you are asking for a lot when you want that hull with its tall superstructure to tack - with any rig. Maybe it would be better to redefine your boat as a motor vessel with an aux. rig? There is nothing wrong with that; I think that is an interesting and much over-looked concept. After all, most "full-blooded" sailboats are motored to windward unless they are racing. If the sail on your boat can be made to do the job in the 180° zone from beam reach to beam reach, and in a pinch even close-reach 60° from the wind, then the rig may save lots of fuel and also get you out of trouble if the engine quits.
Here are some details I would have looked at and maybe modified (cheapest jobs first)
Make sure that the sail balance is right. If you have lee helm when close-reaching or fully close-hauled, then shorten the tack parrel and haul in on the luff hauling parrel(s) to move the sail aft.
Improve the (undersize?) rudder by fitting an end plate to its lower end, like here. Looks trivial, but it really improves steering.
I bet your propeller is a big, fixed 3-blade one. This both robs speed under sail and also impairs the waterflow over the rudder. If you replace it with a feathering blade Kiwi propeller, it will improve both sailing speed and steering, and I hear that boats also backs better with the Kiwi prop.
It appears that your sail is flat. Apart from generally producing less drive, the flat sail’s biggest handicap is that it makes tacking difficult. My first junk sail was flat and even though it was very big and fitted to a real sailboat, I still had to take care when tacking to make it. If your boat were mine, I would give her a sail optimised for reaching with a camber/chord ratio of 10 – 12% to get maximum drive out of the moderate sail area. I recently drew an aux. JR for a friend’s motor-skøyte (with a big one-lunger engine). Unfortunately his family council refused to put it on the 2012 budget, but maybe next year..
Anyway, good luck!
Arne
PS: If someone in your family can use a sewing machine, you can easily make a cambered panel sail yourself at a much lower cost than that Kiwi propeller. You will only need floor space to loft one panel at a time, so you don't have to rent a dance hall to do it. I could give you a hand in sketching up the sail to get the camber needed.
Hi Arne,
I agree aboyt the motor sailor approach... its what I aimed for in the 1st place!! I have ysed tapered inserts on the battens to indyce a aerofoil camber... seem OK ...I am very interested in the comments regards the rydder byt the link did'nt work... any chance to email it ?