A junk rig for Weaverbird

  • 12 Aug 2016 20:22
    Reply # 4187448 on 3858224
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Ouchh, It sounds as if Weaverbird could use a couple of inflatable  sausages, and a compressor... or a set of big wheels...

    Anyway, it appears we can thank the British Isles for the modest tides here. I read somewhere that the tidal wave coming up the English Channel and the one which rounds Scotland  cancel each other  at the coast of southern Norway. Many thanks!

    Arne

  • 12 Aug 2016 19:37
    Reply # 4187078 on 3858224

    Ooops! All is not well! You can tell I'm out of practice at sailing out of Ravenglass.

    It's neaps , and she didn't rise and swing on this evening's tide (6.3m), so she won't float tomorrow morning either (6.2m). By Monday, she will float, at the very top of a 6.8m tide. Next weekend, the HW peaks at 9m, so no difficulty about floating. However, it's considered wise to enter during the last two hours of flood and leave near HW, as it gets rough on the entrance bar with an onshore wind, and the bottom is stony. 

    I had my mooring right up high while I was working, so that she spent much of the time high and dry. I'd moved my anchors down the slope a bit, but obviously not enough. It's true that antifouling is almost optional, if you only sail locally and come in to moor or anchor in the drying harbours, but as soon as I leave the Irish Sea, it will be necessary, for sure.

    All of which is a very different scenario to that which pertains in Stavanger!

  • 12 Aug 2016 14:29
    Reply # 4186642 on 3858224
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The scene of Weaverbird drysailing on the (semi-)hard is quite surreal to me. I have often congratulated myself with the luck of living in an almost non-tidal zone (around 0.5m). However, I can see some advantages with your half-tide moorings, being able to scrub the bottom being one of them. In addition it must be fine to be able to inspect the mooring chain whenever you like. For us, that means diving. Do you actually need to use anti-fouling at all?

    Anyway, good luck with tomorrow’s first sail. I notice you have given the sail a generous lead. I hope she balances well with that.

    Arne.

    PS: How wide is the time slot when you can sail to and from your mooring?

     

  • 12 Aug 2016 11:29
    Reply # 4186100 on 3858224

    The first sail will be tomorrow, all being well. A forecast of west F4, and HW in the  morning and evening, so I'll be out all day. 

    I'll set the sail a little lower on the mast, Steve, as there's almost too much visibility!

    You might be able to see in the photos that there's no luff/throat hauling parrel, as was also the case with Tystie's tall mainsail. I have to pay for this with more friction on the short batten parrels, though.

  • 12 Aug 2016 02:23
    Reply # 4185557 on 3858224
    Deleted user

    Seems like you'll have great visibility beneath the sail. Well crafted.

  • 11 Aug 2016 22:27
    Reply # 4185318 on 3858224
    Looking good, David, apart from that wee twist lower down.  It's a great advantage to be able to walk all around the boat, while she's absolutely motionless, dried out.  It's usually so difficult to get away and see how the sail is setting.  Bet you can't wait to try it out in earnest!
  • 10 Aug 2016 14:46
    Reply # 4182235 on 3858224

    Now I've got to the fun part, at last. I spent the morning rigging the sail, and everything went well. There are a few adjustments to make on the topping lifts, but most things look OK. 

    First photos here.

  • 10 Aug 2016 08:58
    Reply # 4181795 on 3858224

    It's a calm morning in sunny Ravenglass, and I've just trussed up the sail bundle, ready to put it on my shoulder and walk it out to Weaverbird at low water. Just for interest, I weighed it: 29kg, including battens and yard. Quite a lot, but of course I used the Clipper Canvas, which weighs 8.8oz/sq yd, where the PJR recommendation for regular sailcloth would have been 5.5oz/sq yd.

  • 15 Jun 2016 10:59
    Reply # 4076532 on 3858224

    To help prospective sailmakers with estimating:

    I ordered 30 linear metres of cloth with a usable width of 1.65 metres, to make a sail with a projected area of 22 square metres. I have 8 linear metres of full-width cloth left over, with a pile of offcuts and wastage that amounts to 1 - 3 square metres. Making the assumption that 30 linear metres of cloth were actually supplied, 22 linear metres at 1.65 metres wide were needed to make a sail of 22 metres projected area - 65% extra! But that turns out to be a false assumption. Adding up the lengths of all the panels, I must have used at least 25 linear metres, with the tablings as part of the panels, and the pockets cut from the offcuts from the panels. I must have been supplied with 33 linear metres.

    Adding up the areas of all the panels, including the seams and tablings but excluding the batten pockets, it comes to 27.2 square metres. The batten pockets amount to 4.8 square metres. So 32 square metres of cloth have been built into the sail, for a finished projected area of 22 square metres.* The seams, tablings, batten pockets, yard sleeve and the rounded edges on the top and bottom edges on the panels have added on something in the order of 10 square metres of cloth. 

    I suppose the general point I'm making is this: make no assumptions, make no guesses. Draw out all the components of the sail you're going to need, and lay them out onto a drawing of the cloth, and add everything up.

    * I remember doing a similar exercise for Tystie's fantail sail. Projected area of sail 54 square metres, actual area of finished sail including the roundings on top and bottom edges of the panels 71 square metres!

  • 13 Jun 2016 15:02
    Reply # 4072574 on 3858224

    You don't need to pour the mix all at once. I've made a big mould by pouring a small mix, waiting until it's nearly cured, then pouring another small mix. I've failed to get a good release with thin vaseline. Liberal vaseline might work, but I now prefer liberal release wax followed by PVA mould release coating. 

    You could try making a thin wedge (or two) from 5mm plastic sheet, so as to form a gap in the polyurethane that would allow you to spring it open a little to slide it off the mast. You need something to hold the mast central while you pour, anyway.

       " ...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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