FLAT?

For some reason, over the years, this ‘truth’ has established itself that flat junksails are better suited for offshore or long distance sailing than those with cambered panels. Somehow they are being regarded as more robust. I don’t by this truth.

My very first, professionally made junksail, was flat. Although it was big, at 32sqm on a 1400kg boat, that sail turned my Malena into a lame duck at any winds before the beam.

Moreover, several panels tended to flutter at the leech and ‘buckle’ at the luff of a couple of panels. This fluttering is no good in the long run if one plans for sailing into the blue.

(One quick fix could be to stitch on a stout boltrope along the luff and leech, made from rope or webbing).

Over to the sails with cambered panels:

Apart from the big improvement in performance, these sails have also proved to be very quiet. The luff and leech stand taut and almost never flutter. This is most visible on the lightly cambered top panels. These panels set beautifully with no hint of fluttering leech. Even the slack, baggy panels behave themselves when the sail is being luffed, as on this little clip.

IF Ingeborg

The only real drawback with the cambered panel sail is that it takes a bit brainwork to figure out how to shape each batten panel to achieve the desired camber.

Sooo, next time, Dara…

Anyway,

Good luck!

Arne

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just out of curiosity: are (or will be) the sails cambered?

I'd say they were flat-cut.  Given the displacement of the boat and the relatively small sail area (It feels weird to say that about an 80 sq m mainsail, but it is a very big vessel!), I think it will need to motorsail to windward in winds under 15-20 knots, so the flat-cut sails won't be too much of a disadvantage, and will be quite adequate from a close reach to a broad reach.  I look forward to seeing and hearing more about this boat's sailing trials.  It looks like a comfortable ocean cruiser!

Graham, you are spot on. The battens are made from fibreglass and stretch out the sail. It was designed as a flat cut sail. 

We will have to see how she performs in a few weeks when we do the first sea trial. On the one hand, this boat is primarily made and being refitted for long distance cruising rather than racing. Due to the size and weight it will never catch enough air with this Sq m of sail to gain impressive speeds, and we will likely need to use the engine if sailing close to windward or in light breezes. 

On the other hand, the total sail area is the same as the original Bermudan rig with the main and genoa as far as I understand so it may perform better than expected. Harvest is an interesting underwater shape with a good balance between performance and comfort. On the motor, it feels like handling a boat much smaller in size. 

Anonymous wrote:

Just out of curiosity: are (or will be) the sails cambered?

I'd say they were flat-cut.  Given the displacement of the boat and the relatively small sail area (It feels weird to say that about an 80 sq m mainsail, but it is a very big vessel!), I think it will need to motorsail to windward in winds under 15-20 knots, so the flat-cut sails won't be too much of a disadvantage, and will be quite adequate from a close reach to a broad reach.  I look forward to seeing and hearing more about this boat's sailing trials.  It looks like a comfortable ocean cruiser!

Hello all,  

I have taken over the conversion of a Junk Rig from a previous owner. There have been a few posts on the technical forum about certain items such as the masts. Over time we will post updates to the rigging work for members to junk watch, critique, discuss, advise, or simply to enjoy. 

This is the first time we were able to fully raise the sails. Each weighs rough 200-300 Kg. Main sail is 80 sq m. Foresail is 50 sq m. So far we need to reposition the halyards which are currently soft tied to the aluminium yards.  We also need to convert the 2 part main halyard to a 3 part.