Annie Hill wrote:

Steve Koschella wrote:

I am at this moment siting in a luxurious lounge on board the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas in the Bay of Islands New Zealand. As great and relaxing as it is, I am itching to get home to start the refit of my little TS16 to the JR.

Keep your eyes wide open, Steve.  There are at least three junks up in the BOI at the moment!

What a bummer! I didn't go ashore at BOI as we have been there before. I didn't  see any Junks,they were either out of sight or out for the day. I would have made the effort to get a good look if I had known. I did read in the mag that you were in BOI at the time of printing but it looks like I missed out big time. Would have loved to meet with the JR community there but as a very new member I have to get to know the scene a bit more.

The "standard" rig most certainly exists, it is the one described by Hasler and McLeod in their excellent book. It has been in use for nearly half a century and many successful ocean voyages have been made under it. There is also the Norwegian standard rig, devised by Arne Kverneland. This is the one to use if you want fast and exciting sailing on all points of sail. Information here in his Public Domain files.

The Chinese also had standard rigs. There was the Hong Kong standard,  the Amoy standard, the Fuzhou standard, the Ningpo standard, the Fukien standard, etc etc.

I guess the thing about junks is that they tend not to be a mass produced, industrial product and that each owner has his own ideas as to what suits his own sailing area, the particular uses to which his vessel will be put and what seems to be fit and proper according to his respect for tradition and his aesthetic sensibilities.

Thanks Arne, again!

That is my thinking as well. One good feature of aluminium masts is that if they are over stressed they will bend, not break. This is a good safety feature. It might mean sailing is a bit more difficult, still possible. This happened to a mast on a boat I had previously, and that was because I was inexperienced, and didn't de-power the sail in the gusts. Also I couldn't reef that sail. Both of these will be far less of an issue with the JR on this boat. These days I am less interested in the thrill of trying to sail on the edge, and more interested in sailing as comfortably as possible in all conditions. I can see myself reefing before the boat is getting close to 30 deg. of heel.

At it was with that boat, all I did was to replace the mast with a heavier section and al was fine, which was also quite cheap to do. In this case I will go with the 90mm and test it out.

 

Just a question for anyone. To step my new unstayed mast for the JR on my TS16, I was thinking of using an aluminium tube. But at the large end, the biggest diameters readily available are 100mm and 150mm.

Can anyone tell me whether for a typical Junk Rig sail of about 180sq ft a mast of 90mm would be adequate? This will then be able to fit nicely into a 100mm tube with some filling out.

My take is that with a JR, unless I was caught suddenly in a massive gust, I would have time to reef if the wind was likely to cause undue stress on the mast. 90mm x 3mm is pretty strong.

Thoughts anyone?

Arne Kverneland wrote:

Steve,

have you sailed the TS16 with the original rig, yet? If it is not too much hassle, and if you don't have access to a sister boat, I suggest you get in some sailing with her present Bermuda rig. This gives you a reference, so that when you fit and go sailing with the JR, you will better know what the new rig does to the boat.

The test-sailing in original state will also sort out issues discussed here, such as ballast and leeboards. No need to fix what is good...

Arne

Yes Arne, I have been out twice with the current rig. First time it was a bit blowy and got a bit of a heel at the peak wind but not enough to cause concern. (I have no reefing points on my current sail, so I didn't have that option).I am actually quite impressed with the stability of the TS16 compared to my little open dinghy. I don't know why some consider it a tippy boat. Maybe people who race them try so hard to get them light and the sail area maximised that this is the downside. But I haven't been out in rough conditions where some extra ballast would help.

Perhaps the easy reefing benefit of the JR will reduce the need to worry about ballast?

I don't like the centreboard trunk taking up room at the entrance to the cabin though. My wife definitely would have trouble getting in there. That's why I was considering changing to a leeboard and a bit of ballast in the bottom to compensate for the steel centreboard.

I will give it time though as you suggest. I'm not intending to do anything until the end of the current summer season (down here!), and the Junk rig will be top priority. I might not even get to do anything else this year anyway.