Arion II

  • 27 Jan 2025 13:17
    Message # 13455334

    I have been talking to my good friend, Arne Kverneland about junk rig options for my new boat, ARION II, a Khan Walker H 28, which I bought in Iluka, NSW, during the closing days of 2024, and sailed back north to Mooloolaba, which is as close to a home port as this old vagabond is likely to find. Not that I am planning on staying here forever. As Lee Marvin croaked (sang?) in PAINT YOUR WAGON, "Home is a place for coming from, or dreams of going to."

    One problem I face is that I have a beautiful interior, with an enclosed head in the forepeak (it even has a door!), unheard of sophistication for me, and frankly, I love it, so won't compromise this feature. Otherwise ARION II could have been a sloop, like the original ARION, with the mast coming down through the forehatch and displacing the toilet. I like single-masted junk rigs for small yachts. Also I an 72 and want to keep cruising this boat for the rest of my days, and think the smaller sails a worthwhile compromise.

    So, it either had to be a cat-ketch rig, retaining the bermudan mizzen mast, which would have worked, albeit being a rather strange hybrid (like the skipper, perhaps), but I recently woke up one morning in my beautiful cabin and realised that the forward end of the moulded-in galley/chart table area provided an almost complete ring frame to support a schooner's mainmast with minimal structural modifications needed. So I asked Arne, who had already drawn up the hybrid rig, and he has come up with a drawing that I really like.

    The yard angles need to be high on both sails, due to minimal balance or overlap in the sails, and I also like this feature when the sail is deeply reefed. The foresail is a slight modification of the clever and beautiful sail that Blondie Hasler and Jock McLeod drew for Yeong, as featured in the back pages of their book, Practical Junk Rig. I have long admired it.

    Unfortunately, it is going to be a year, or maybe even two, before I can afford to do the conversion, as I need to get out of the marina in a few months time and cruise around, lying on my anchor and saving my pension, in order to be able to take on the project financially. I am making some money from royalties on my books, but essentially it is my old age pension that keeps me afloat.

    In the meantime, I have this beautiful drawing to inspire me. Thanks, Arne!

    Click on the image to view in the folder, Arion II, and see other images of the boat.

       " ...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in junk-rigged boats" 
                                                               - the Chinese Water Rat

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