Mark Hazel wrote:
Graham Cox wrote:
Positioning the mast is easy. First draw your sail plan, then superimpose it over a drawing of the bermudian sail plan so that the centre of effort of both is the same, or the junk's CE is slightly further forward perhaps. The mast position should be about 10 to 15% abaft the luff of the junk sail. I'd recommend reading PJR before making any firm decisions, to build up some theoretical knowledge.
Graham,
Thanks for this. I will try to find a copy of the PJR to get some more info. I am not sure, however, that I will be able to design my own sails and place the mast, etc. did you do the design and build of Arion's rig? If so, can you share about how long it took to gain the knowledge and confidence it took to cut a hole in the deck of Arion? If you made the design and rig and sails, etc yourself, can you tell me about how long from conception to completion it took?
I apologize for the number of questions, but I am beginning to realize how much of a "Do It Yourself" project converting to a JR would be. I am starting to feel a bit like Alice down the rabbit hole!
Thanks!
I was fortunate to have a sistership, Minke, that had already been junk rigged and to have sailed aboard. I had a copy of Minke's sail plan, but having sailed aboard Minke, I knew that Arion, under bermudian rig, had better helm balance. I superimposed the junk sail plan over my bermudian sail plan and discovered that my CE was 300mm further forward than Minke's. Because I needed to place the partners in the same place as Minke, I raked the mast forward by three degrees, which achieved this effect. Of course that means the CE moves aft when reefing, but one would have to be deeply reefed for it to be an issue, and when the wind is blowing hard, I find I can ease the sheet more, almost feathering the sail, and still have heaps of drive to windward. Off the wind I just keep reefing until the weatherhelm eases sufficiently for the self-steering to work. It takes very little sail area to drive the boat downwind.
It took about two days to cut and weld the new partners and mast step in place and another week to paint. Without looking at the structure of your boat I cannot say what needs doing, but working with plywood, epoxy and glass is relatively straightforward. I bought an alloy mast, yard and battens and spent a couple of days riveting saddles to them etc, and had a mast cap manufactured by an engineering shop. I had a sail made for me. You can make you own sail if you have a floor big enough to spread it out on, as so many in the JRA have successfully done. Given the dramas with getting sailmakers to make junk sails to the right specifications, it makes sense.
Time frames are hard to pin down, it depends on how quickly you work and how much time you have available (weekends or full time?). I estimate I spent about two months full time on the project. Annie's estimate of 50 hours to build a sail matches the experience of others I have spoken to.