Paul: I've tried to make Pango an easy to sail and operate boat and sometimes we spent a bit of money on the more modern options.

Understood. Actually, you have done a great job. Zane is in good hands.

What I wonder about when watching Pango sailing is the number of purchase on the sheet  -  six if I counted right. That must lead to quite some friction and an awful lot of spaghetti in the cockpit? I have tried as much as 5-part on the 48sqm sail of Johanna, but soon reduced to 3-part. I may need to swing the sheet winch (single speed) from time to time if we are sailing rail down (..or luff up a little to offload the sheet...), but on the other hand, the sail will swing out in the lightest breeze.

For Ingeborg's halyard I use 5-part purchase and high quality ball-bearing blocks from Seldén. The sail goes up and comes down just fine. All that rope is stuffed in a bag.

Pango’s sail surely looks great, and the contrasting colours are really educational...

Cheers, Arne

It's a 4 part sheet with strong anti twist and a small Dmin. Not my invention, the Vietnamese use it on their junks.

Rope clutches are effectively another hand when single handing and have their place. Especially when hauling on a loaded line like the halyard where the clutch will take  the load while you reach forward for the next bit of halyard. They are a bit of a luxury for the parrels but do earn their keep on the halyard and the sheet.

As for rope clutches, like every thing there are good quality ones and not so good quality ones. The Lewmar ones are the best in the business, better than Spinlock in my opinion. Lessor ones have more friction and can chew the line. Note that a clutch is not the same as a jammer. A clutch can release a line gradually while under load, A jammer must have the load taken off before you can free it.

I've used Garhauer ball bearing blocks extensively in the past and they are a good reasonably priced block. However you need to be careful where you use them as being all stainless steel, they have a tendency to beat up their surroundings. Nowadays I mostly spec Seldon or Rutgerson plain bearing blocks. They are really good and there is very little difference in friction between them and a ball bearing block.

While you can do junk rigs in a low cost manner, not all of us necessarily want to rig our boats in such a manner. Some of us like a few of the modern conveniences.... Pango is a well executed and thought out boat. However keeping down costs where there were better options available was not part of the spec.

I've tried to make Pango an easy to sail and operate boat and sometimes we spent a bit of money on the more modern options. So she has high quality Solbian solar panels, a carbon fibre mast, an electric anchor winch, decent blocks and dare we say it! Lewmar DB1 rope clutches...

Zane wrote:

As to moving onto the new project, David, well...I am just not so sure anymore.  It was a bit of an impulse buy was the Twister.  It certainly will be a more comfortable boat all round, and possibly a better sea boat -- but I am starting to wonder if I really want to go through it all again, both the refurbishment of the boat and the conversion to junk rig. As far as refitting boats - right now, I am mentally shot. I may feel different in the future. The time, energy, and finance needed to refit an old 70's plastic classic boat properly and convert it to junk rig is enormous.  If I have only so much money in the bank in five years, and it's a choice to work another five years on top of that to pay for the Twister refurbishment - then I may just say, stuff it, I will keep my money and go sailing in Pango full time.  I'm lucky that I can keep the Twister on hardstand for only the cost of the cradle rental per month, which is a nominal fee.  

For now, Pango certainly owes me some good sailing time.  

These are indeed important things to consider. You have put a lot of time and effort into Pango, and although smaller than what would be the the ideal cruising yacht for you, it seems that you have a very well equipped and strong boat with a good quality junk conversion, so probably time to enjoy her. This is a dilemma I have been mulling over recently. As you know I have been looking at boat options. There is a boat for sale which has tempted me for several years but at $130k way more money than I want to spend. Now the owners want it sold and the price has been very considerably reduced, so tempting! But that would take most of my spare ready cash and I don't want to touch my investments, and would also mean that I would be committed to working for at least several more years. Then I think about the fun we have had on the little catamaran this summer past, and all it has done for us for the very small amount of money invested, so I think is it worth all the effort to change to the dream boat when what we have got is a great little and well set up boat, and the work is done? I just need to enjoy her without all the additional financial burden of the bigger boat.

It must be human nature to want bigger and better. It the same think as the house situation and unaffordable housing. I look at the monstrous houses being built around Auckland and think - Do people really need such large houses with all the gizmos including big screen TVs. Surely better to go small, even to a tiny house and enjoy life. It should not be about quantity, but more about quality, and having fun in these short life spans we humans are given.

The only reason why I use a couple of rope clutches, is that the boat came with a few of them already. The former owner was preparing for leading (Bermudan rig) halyards and stuff back to the cockpit. I use them for the YHP and THP.

What I wonder about when watching Pango sailing is the number of purchase on the sheet  -  six if I counted right. That must lead to quite some friction and an awful lot of spaghetti in the cockpit? I have tried as much as 5-part on the 48sqm sail of Johanna, but soon reduced to 3-part. I may need to swing the sheet winch (single speed) from time to time if we are sailing rail down (..or luff up a little to offload the sheet...), but on the other hand, the sail will swing out in the lightest breeze.

For Ingeborg's halyard I use 5-part purchase and high quality ball-bearing blocks from Seldén. The sail goes up and comes down just fine. All that rope is stuffed in a bag.

Pango’s sail surely looks great, and the contrasting colours are really educational...

Cheers, Arne