Karl wrote:

Hi Scott,

I like reading your thread and the rigging of your boat interests me quite a bit. As I am in my 4th year sailing my litte boat I am thinking more of renewing my sail to a cambered one and also of having a new yard beam and battons. That is why I askred Arne about the padding of the yard. Thanks Arne and I will let you all know my progress in my own thread.

Karl

I am glad someone is reading! Sometimes I feel like I am talking to myself when no one responds to some of my rambling (or complaining). 

As long as the discussion is still about sailboats I, personally, do not mind if the conversation in 'my thread' gets off topic with other people discussing things.

I looked through the photos of your current boat and sail. Both look very well done. Do you have any videos of the boat making sail, sailing, and reefing?

Anonymous wrote:

David,

I am attempting to rig the sheets with an even more stingy method than the Ronstan Shocks. I bought a quantity of plastic rope thimbles. With some sanding and maybe some McLube Sailkote I hope to use this plastic eyes as 'blocks' to connect the mainsheet to the sheetlets.

It astounds me that you were able to build and rig an entire boat in much less time than my still unfinished conversion. How do you like your new boat. I think it is an ECO 55, is that right?

The little plastic thimbles could work. You would need to lash two together for each sheetlet, pointed ends in, as they need to be able to move on both the sheetlets and the main sheet. If the plastic is smooth and shiny you may not need any lubricant.

Actually it astounds me that I was able to build my boat so quickly! I don't know where I got all the energy from, but I think it was all about momentum, once the project got started and wound up I just wanted to get it finished, plus there was the added motivation of not having a boat for the upcoming summer.

My boat is the Eco 6. I am enjoying the boat a lot. It is a big step to go from 10 meter boats with all their comfort down to only 6 meters, But the Eco 6 has a huge interior for it's length. So far the boat is doing all the things I wanted: easy to handle and sail with good performance, shallow draft, able to put on the beach for maintenance, relatively low cost, great big cockpit. I have a big coastal cruise planned for next summer of some weeks duration. After that I will decide if I keep the boat, or go for something larger. The trouble is, that as Annie found, the only way to really get the boat you want is to build it, and I don't know if I can be bothered doing it again. But, I would still like a junk rig catamaran .........

David wrote:

[...] you can cobble together most of the running rigging requirements out if just about whatever comes to hand, at least on a temporary basis.. And you can save a lot of money by using alternatives to conventional blocks. For example on my little catamaran I have substituted many of the blocks for low friction rings, and sheaveless blocks produced by Ronstan which they call 'Shocks'. They seem to work very well, are inexpensive, and if I was doing a small junk rig I would use these for a lot of the applications. For example the Shocks seem a logical choice to use on the sheetlets/mainsheet connection.

David,

There has definitely been some cobbling happening on my boat. I am enjoying being at the stage where it is all finally just sticks and strings. Making the knots to hold it all together is fun. It would be more fun if the weather was a little warmer. Climbing around with cold fingers above 40 degree water is not something I want to do forever.

I am attempting to rig the sheets with an even more stingy method than the Ronstan Shocks. I bought a quantity of plastic rope thimbles. With some sanding and maybe some McLube Sailkote I hope to use these plastic eyes as 'blocks' to connect the mainsheet to the sheetlets.

It astounds me that you were able to build and rig an entire boat in much less time than my still unfinished conversion. How do you like your new boat. I think it is an ECO 55, is that right?

Hi Arne, I have read your mast and boom construction with great interest and because I have 2 long alu tubes left from which I want to make a yard and boom like you did I have one question: Why did you pad them with PVC , for appearance reason or has it any special function ?

Scott wrote:

Doing everything I can to get sailing again. Still need a better sling point attachment. And a luff hauling parrel. And sheets. And sheetlets. And ... 

Well, you are making good forward progress . The Halyard, (sling attachment), can just be a lashing around the yard with a substantial saddle on the underside of the yard to locate it and stop it slipping forward. Better though to have a split lashing to spread the load. Regarding your other control lines The good thing about a small junk rig yacht is that you can cobble together most of the running rigging requirements out if just about whatever comes to hand, at least on a temporary basis.. And you can save a lot of money by using alternatives to conventional blocks. For example on my little catamaran I have substituted many of the blocks for low friction rings, and sheaveless blocks produced by Ronstan which they call 'Shocks'. They seem to work very well, are inexpensive, and if I was doing a small junk rig I would use these for a lot of the applications. For example the Shocks seem a logical choice to use on the sheetlets/mainsheet connection.