Shemaya Laurel made a very successful junk rig for her Portland Pudgy, Marigold.  You can read about it here

Jan Cz.: “… look at this video at minute 5:12. Isn't this Pugwash?”

It does look like a Portland Pudgy, Jan, though it is not Pugwash.

Braddock: ”I am wondering what sail material would be recommended for a small dinghy? “

I’m not qualified to advise, but no-one else has, so here is what I did. A sail I made for a small boat some years ago, was made from cloth taken from an old nylon spinnaker which I am guessing was about 65 – 70 gsm. It was not stretchy, but lovely and soft, and I did not realise at the time how good it was. I wish I knew where I could get more of that stuff. Since then, I made a couple of 5-panel Johanna dinghy sails using Maxilite 150 which is about 70 gsm. It seems to be some kind of polyester, I am not sure what it is, a bit stiff and crinkly, but fairly light and any amount strong enough for a dinghy, I think. [edit: turns out it's impregnated nylon]  Although you could make a small junk sail out of almost anything, I think it is a shame to invest time and care into stuff like polytarp when a few metres of something decent is not really costly.

“I have a Bernina sewing machine, so ideally the material would be light enough so that I can still sew the webbing”. My sewing machine is a little bit “heavy duty” and has no problem sewing webbing, but I was unable to go out and buy any at the time so I used a strip of folded-double, heavier dacron sail cloth to make a kind of tabling for the luff and leech. It was just what I had available. I thought it would be strong and non-stretch enough for a small sail which will not see heavy duty use or heavy weather – or lengthy exposure to sunlight. Here is a trial sample I did. This one was folded 1/3 - 2/3. 

If you feel that webbing will be difficult to sew or perhaps more than needed for a tiny sail, you can make your own dacron doubled tape. It is easy, with a hot-knife and a 1m steel rule, to cut some heavier dacron or other non-stretch cloth into strips, fold it longitudinally in half, and make the crease by stroking heavily with the back edge of a pair of steel scissors, or ruler, or something similar. I thought this would be good enough for the luff, leech, head and foot of a sail for a small dinghy. Your little pudgy sail won’t carry heavy loads or see a lot of heavy-duty use. You will need some narrow webbing for tabs and loops and you can get light stuff from a sewing materials shop, but I think your luff and leech ought to be non-stretchable. Whether this doubled heavier sail cloth proves to be a suitable substitute for webbing on a tiny sail I do not know yet, but I can’t see why not, and I am supposing it would be a little bit easier for a light-duty sewing machine, if sewing webbing is a concern to you.

There is not really a lot of advantage in a junk sail for such a small boat, in my opinion, but it is an excellent project, and making a complete miniature junk sail can give a great deal of satisfaction and learning. If you closely follow Arne’s method and order of procedure, you will find the whole process quite quick and enjoyable – and the result will be very good, as many other people have already found.

Anonymous wrote:

I never actually saw Pugwash sailing

Hi Graeme ! look at this video at minute 5:12. Isn't this Pugwash?

(Edit 19,02,2024 Sorry, my mistake. Not Pugwash, but still Pudgy...)

(Edit2: these names sound similar to me: Pudgy, Pugwash)

Best wishes - Jan

Hi Braddock.  Marcus does not usually follow the forum, but most of us who are members of JRA can make contact with each other if necessary via the Membership Directory which is in the Members’ Section of this web site.

There was an article on Pugwash in the JRA magazine Issue 68 (June 2015) which you can download from the website, (JRA Magazines, then page 2 of the box "JRA Magazine issue 63 to 68" - not easy to navigate, but it's there if you persevere). 

I never actually saw Pugwash sailing but I do know that some years ago she went to another owner and the sail went to Marcus’ next little cruiser where it continued to be used until it eventually succumbed to UV degradation.

On a little boat the size of the Pudgy I think the only real specifics are to keep things as simple as possible, and the sail area limited to around 50 square feet, say about 4.7 sqm. As for the rig and other modifications of the Pudgy I doubt if there is anything specific, it was a combination of ingenuity and what was to hand at the time. I believe the original sail was made by Paul.

There are some dimensional drawings for the Pudgy here which may be helpful if someone likes to propose a little junk sail like the one Pugwash had, or perhaps Marcus or Paul have original drawings.

Does your Pudgy have it’s bilge boards and rudder?

Edit: If you look at the Boat of the Month on the website, at the bottom there is a link to the BOTM archive. If you go there, and look for year 2014, scroll down to June 2014 Pugwash is featured that month.