There is no doubt that moving the mast forward changed the center (or centre) of gravity of my boat. The new mast, bare, was about the same or maybe a little lighter than the original due to it being a larger diameter but about four feet shorter. After adding the tabernacle and rig the new assembly is absolutely heavier than the original.

Over the years I have trimmed a few ounces (or grams) here and there. I replaced the large chain at the end of the battens with a very small stainless screw and nut. I trimmed all standing parrels as short as possible and replaced large diameter rope with the smallest I thought would work.

At the end of summer 2025 I would squint at my boat from the shore and convince myself that the bow wasn't floating too much lower than the others at the marina.

One afternoon I received a voicemail from the marina. This always makes my heart skip a beat since I immediately imagine that my boat sank or came loose and damaged a large yacht worth more more than all the money I will ever see in my life.

The voicemail informed me that someone reported my boat was 'not floating right' and that I should check on it. Continuing to imagine the worst I pictured my boat swamped with the deck at water level.

When I arrived at the marina my boat looked the same as it always does.

All of this is to say that, maybe, I should try to get some weight out of the bow.

I am considering modifying the tabernacle to be a Holey Tabernacle by removing the material inside the red circles shown in the attached images. I would do the same to both the port and starboard side and maybe to side facing aft as well.

Does anyone care to share their opinion on this idea? If anyone can say, "Don't do that, it will break!", or, "That looks like good idea, I think the tabernacle will still be very strong", it would be very helpful.

Scott

I made one rig-related update this year.

I imagine this is obvious to most of you, but line bags are a huge improvement to the overall experience of sailing. I added three bags this spring. The YHP, THP and Halyard now have and place to live and no longer get tangled together. It was so easy to make these bags using materials I already had. I should have done it much sooner. I have one more bag for the sheet, but I didn't get around to installing it in the boat, yet.

Scott.

Summary: Start on top and work your way downwards...

Arne

I really should have written an update at the end of last summer. I feel like I did a lot of work on my boat but now I can only remember three changes to the rig. So, I only have a very small list of updates.

Everything takes so much longer than I expect. It is hard to believe how many years I have been messing around with the same rig. Boats, right?

1. I replaced the fiberglass yard with an aluminum tube.

Under full sail the fiberglass yard would sometimes bend enough to concern me. After dropping even one panel it would pretty much look straight, so, while I felt it was a problem, I was pretty sure it was not not an immediate problem. I put this off for almost a year after I bought the replacement tube since I remember getting the original yard rigged was very difficult. This is one of the few things that actually was easier than I expected. It seems that most of the difficulty was learning how to rig the yard, not doing the actual work. I was able to rig the new spar in something like half the time I expected. I now have the same size tube in place for my yard, all battens and the boom. I hope this means my battens are oversized and not that my yard is undersized. So far I like the new yard. It is easier to hoist the sail because it is lighter, but it is actually slightly more work to drop the sail completely. The new yard is not heavy enough to allow the top panel to fall all the way to the top of the sail bundle. This has not been a serious problem. I can still get the sail all the way down without leaving the cockpit.

2. I replaced my 'rope only' mast lift with a webbing mast lift. The rig seems to rotate more easily or, at least, with less noise from the rope rubbing on the mast. I also rigged this mast lift using a snap shackle so it is less work to rig and de-rig the boat each year.

I have one photo that shows the mast lift and part of the new yard.

3. I trimmed the lines that attach the sail to the boom. This was one of many things that look untidy. It bothered me. I am happy with the improvement.

David wrote:

[...] it seemed to me that the middle of those upper 3 sheeted battens was being pulled more than the battens above and below, which would suggest that the sheetlets are incorrectly set up, and to me, too short. [...]

After trying to convince myself otherwise for a few years now, I finally understand that my upper sheet spans are not long enough. I recently reworked the sheets to use Pilmer style sheeting. With this setup I can now clearly see the thimble on the upper-most sheet span getting jammed into the thimble on the next lowest sheet span.

Unfortunately I cannot make the top span longer. There is not enough boat to mount a block farther back.

So it looks like building a bumkin or an arch or something will be top of the list for the upcoming off-season work.

Right now I think a bumkin is the way for me to go. I am wondering if anyone can suggest an appropriate size, for strength. I do not see any specifics in PJR.

I am thinking about using 2x4 dimensional lumber (Pine / Spruce / Fir) tapered to be about 1" x 1" at the far aft end of the bumkin, and 10% of the bumkin buried into the transom of the boat. Held in place with epoxy and glass, I think this should be strong enough. 

Would anyone like to share their opinion about my plan? It is too big, to small?