Arne wrote:

Btw, what sail area did you finally decide on for your boat, and what was the length and weight of the mast?

Jami,
now I found the CAD-drawings of your rig. The tallest, with AR=2.15 and SA=27.3sqm seems to have a mast height of 9.22m above wl. That is over half a metre taller than the Bermuda mast. The lower JR that I drew up, with AR=2.05, would give 25.8sqm sail area and the mast height of 8.82m,

The original Bermuda SA is given at 18.52sqm giving a SA/disp= 14.14

In case you run into this situation often that you have the choice between three or two panels, then your boat is probably over-rigged. I would then suggest a bold move, which I did to my first boat with JR, Malena:

Roll up the lowest panel permanently, and thus turn your sail into a 6-panel sail of 23.4sqm with AR=1.90 (SA/disp = 17.8). Then chop off as much as you can of the mast. One panel height, P=99cm. The reduction of weight and windage by removing that lump of mast 8-9m up, would be quite helpful. At least, that was my experience with Malena

I went for the AR 2.15 and 27.3 sqm. 

I had no equipment to measure the mast, but according to the seller, the 130x5x6000mm has a weight of 33kg. On top of this I have about for meters of 100x4mm (with 500-600mm bury, if I remember correctly).

Well, I haven't gone this far with my thoughts yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if I might eventually be. So far I haven't been in a situation in which the panel 7 would give me significant advantage over sailing with only 6. 

Should I end up doing this, in my case "cutting" the sail would be a piece of cake, since I made a hinged sail with separate panels.

On the other hand, there haven't been that many times when I would like to reef down to two panels, either. This happens only in wind strengths closing/exceeding 15 m/s.

Thanks, Arne. I have been thinking about adding more keel/skeg, too, instead of a new rudder. It,s very likely that this will happen next winter. Instead of plywood, I might use something sturdier, but with some kind of a bolt-on system that makes it possible to remove it even by diving :)

Time for a confession and to share some things learned.

The skipper is to blame for the most of the apparent weather helm issue. Too much sail and oversheeting plays a big part, which I now have learned after sailing in different wnd conditions. I suppose this is no news for many of you...

However, the Galion is directionally very unstable/lively (pick up one depending on your preference between cruising and daysailing/racing) despote the longish keel, and the hull shape affects the balance very easily when heeling. No one to blame here, this is a question of the character of the boat.

Setting aside the question of whether one (me) can live with the unstability or not, the boat sails very well. Yesterday I sailed behind an FE83 and later a J30 in moderate conditions, all tacking up in quite a narrow shiplane against the wind. It looked like we sailed just as high to the wind as the the bigger BR boats with one reef on their mainsals did. Our speed was about the same with the FE83. We of course "lost" to the J30, but with a lot less than I could dream of. I think I was the most impressed one of us all, but you should've seen the looks on the BR skippers' faces...

(I have no interest in racing or making other people feel bad. These kind of situations are just a way to test how the converted Galion sails.)

First of all, let me make it clear that I think the Gallion 22 is basically good, and I have no doubt that it can be put right, after a bit tweaking. If shifting the whole sail forward to 15-17% balance is not enough (it is...), then that new rudder will do the trick, just as it did for Karlis Kalnins when he gave his Otterbelly a new rudder in JRA Magazine 74, p26.

Boat tests:
I have read a few boat reviews in my life, and I have no doubt that the journalists are quite nice to the manufacturers. They put little weight on, for instance, the very serious handling and safety defects caused by unbalanced hull (wedge bow, barn-door transom), combined with directionally instability (lack of any skeg or similar). The fact that these craft let go the rudder and just round up if pressed to 20° heel, is more or less accepted, even for a boat with an ‘Offshore’  or ‘Ocean’ category CE certificate.

Btw, two mags, the PBO and Water Craft landed on my doormat recently. In both of them, the new Cornish Crabber 24, MkV, was tested. Now, that is what I call a boat! They have finally given the boat a freestanding, balanced, efficient rudder, some distance aft of a longish shallow fin (plus centreboard). All it needs to be perfect is a big, nice JR.
A Sib-Lim off the shelf!

Arne

Arne wrote:About magazine testimonials.

Boating journalists hardly ever butch a boat. Their magazines depend on advertising  -  and the rule is: 

“Don’t bite the hand which feeds you.”