I recall from my windsurfing days, that even the storm sail was better with a fair bit of curve, far more so than flattening a larger sail. The flat sail on the Coromandel pulls well when reefed, as there is some belly to the top panel.

Just a thought (in my limited experience), are you over sheeting?

The 3-panel top sections I have (had) on my last three boats have been given a round from this simple rule of thumb:
With 8% camber in the lower panels, I cut the top panel with ¼ or 1/5 of the round used in the lower panel. In the next panel, I double the round of that in the top panel. In panel no. 3 I either use 2/3 the round of the lower panels, or I calculate the round to give 6% camber. The last method is used in high-AR sails where panel 3 is close to the parallelogram shape. Note that I often use asymmetric round in panel 3, that is with less round at the upper edge and more in the lower edge. This is to make it fit better with its adjacent panels. On the two upper panels, I let the max-round point sit at the middle of the yard and battens. My experience when sailing only 3-up is that the sail is still remarkably powerful.

Jami, if your 3-panel top section feels quite lame in a breeze, it might be that it is at the flat side. However, from the YouTube clips, it looks ok.

Arne

Jami,  

Selling the sail means starting from scratch again with no guarantee that whatever you build will work either.

But as your sail is made of individual panels with, I presume, more camber in the lower panels, could you swap one of the lower (higher camber?) parallelogram panels to the top of the parallelogram to save you doing any more sewing for the moment and see if that helps .  

I know it's a fair bit of work to swap a couple of the panels around on the rig, but it's a lot less work (and cost) than removing all the panels, building a whole new sail and fitting them and still maybe not solving your problem.  

As the hull seems to be quite a good one and you like the boat, I think the above is at least worth a try. 

Dave D. 

Hi, Jami,

I knew I had a PBO (March 2008 Practical Boat Owner) test of a Galion 22 somewhere.  I'll try to send you on a copy of the report when I get more time.  

Quoting from the report;

"For our sail, we picked a day when it was gusting up to 20 knots, prompting Jim to drop a slab in the mainsail".

"He tends to reef if conditions are marginal on the basis that the helm can otherwise get heavy, but while the tiller had a firm feel, it only exerted any appreciable pull if we let the gunwale got close to the water".

"It would undoubtedly feel lighter if the tiller were a little longer.  It's on the short side at 0.7M/2ft 4in. to save some space in the cockpit."  

They concluded that overall, it was a great little yacht for its size.  

So it seems that heeling the gunwale into the water is going to introduce weather helm and you have shown yourself, that the Galion can be steered easily simply by heeling even slightly to one side or the other. (More heel, more weather helm) Also, that the boat went well to windward with just a scrap of bermudan genoa, (and no mainsail?) which wouldn't have created a huge heeling force. 

You talked of a lack of drive to windward with the Junk Rig when reefed. As it drove quite well with just the scrap of Genoa, maybe your sail needs  a little more camber in the upper panels  so when reefed down then, you would still have the power from fuller camber  while lowering the Centre of Effort and reducing the heeling effect which will help reduce the weather helm, keeping your rudder straighter and reducing drag from it as well.    

A bigger rudder and longer tiller (I'm not saying they're a bad idea) will physically help you to keep it straight while heeled and reduce the load on you, but what about the load on the boat?  . Physically overcoming forces with extra leverage might overload the rudder fittings.

Reducing heeling and more camber in your upper panels for more forward drive when reefed might be the answer.

PS;  I've wondered about this.  Reefing reduces sail area and lowers the C of E and in itself would reduce heeling.  Could you then get away with more camber in the upper panels to provide the drive you need as the sail reduction will of itself reduce heeling?

But with less camber in upper panels normally recommended to allow for different wind-speeds and direction at the top of the mast when under full sail, is it a case of having to compromise, with the Junk Rig, between correct camber under full sail and under reefed sail? 

Not sure the above is of any help at all.  

Dave D. 

Yes,

the rig is like you have drawn, although I have changed the "drop-off" panel from time to time to see the differences. Sometimes I have left the bottom panel away like in your diagram, sometimes the top panel (to get a lower yard angle and the possibility of more balance).

With the boat sailing to windward without much heel, the tiller force is not that high. We have to remember, though, that I have installed the aux-rudder, which has helped.

And no lee-helm in any situation, absolutely none - not even when I have pushed the balance to the extreme with the lower yard.

Considering the balance with BR, the heeling-induced weather helm was present, too. I have mentioned this in the early posts, and this was also one of the reasons for setting the mast this much forward in the first place.

With the CE at the same position with JR and BR, the vertical position is higher with JR, right? This should induce more heeling compared to the SA in use?

To me it seems more and more like a problem of drive vs heeling.