Arne Kverneland wrote:

Good to see that you are having fun, Steve.

Your report about tacking under just two panels fits in well with my experience with my Frøken Sørensen.

As for your engine; when I bought my Malena in ’81, she came with a Johnson 6 SeaHorse, probably from 1972. I guess this 2-cylinder engine was very similar to yours. Its only problem was that the exhaust was blown out right aft of the propeller so the reverse power was not good enough for that 1.4 ton boat. I then found a sheet of thin aluminium, which I cut out, and origami-wrapped into an alternative exhaust pipe. This directed the exhaust upwards and the reverse thrust was thus much improved.

Arne

Yes I will submit an article to the magazine when I get back from my next cruise. I'm off tomorrow on another trip after cutting the earlier one short. This one will be solo. 

Hi Steve. Well done.  I second the request for an article for the magazine.  You can email it to the JRA editor, Lynda Chiddell, with photos attached, which makes it really easy. 1-2000 words and half a dozen photos would make a great article, covering the design of the rig by Arne, your conversion and your early sailing trials.  You've already written most of it here, in this forum.  And of course, as time goes by and the miles slip under the keel, you can write some more! 

Hi all. I just wanted to post a brief report on my first "serious" trip in my newly junked Hartley TS16 "Cool Change".

A mate and me had planned a 6 day cruise from Wirrina Cove in South Australia, over to Kangaroo Island, cruising along the coast to Stokes Bay, then back again.

Unfortulately due to a what we thought might be a semi-serious leak appearing after the crossing to KI in rough weather, we decided to pull the plug early and head back home while the weather was calmer. (As it turned out, the leak was a localised crack in the rear transom, and has been repaired today with little problem).

For anyone who knows South Australian waters, the crossiing to Kangaroo Island is always treacherous, and can deal cruelly with even experienced sailers, so for me in my newly re-rigged Junk it was a bit of a test of both my nerve and the rig itself.

As it turned out there were two stand-out features of my boat that impressed me. The first was the Junk rig. Battling rough seas shortly after embarking from Wirrina, we had to beat our way against 25+ winds which worsened every kilometer. We were grateful for the ease of reefing the JR and the fact that even my light polytarp sail stood the conditions without any damage at all. Sailing with 2 panels still allowed us to tack at about 45 deg. which was impressive. And on the return journey, with full sail on a beam reach, we managed to average 5.5 knots in about 10kts wind. I'm looking forward to more of that in future trips.

The other stand-out was my 43 year old Evinrude 6 o/b motor. This motor came with the boat when I bought it, and at first I wasn't sure if it would even run. But after some servicing and tuning, it now runs like a brand new motor, and didn't miss a beat the whole trip. We motor-sailed when the return journey winds dropped off, just to maintain boat speed. And even in the rough conditions, when sailing eventually became impractical, it pushed us through that 25+ head wind at about 4 knots, which allowed us to make safe harbour in good time.

I will post some pics when I return from my next trip, just a few days down on the Murray river and lakes (to make up for this one cut short!).

Arne, thanks again for a brilliant design to suit my TS16!