Annie,''

That is very encouraging thank you. I wonder if you have  any pictures or  drawings of the below deck arrangement of the tabernacle on China Moon so that I  can get an idea of  how  it was done?  I may go with  the biplane  arrangement if I don't  have to sacrifice  access to  the  forward cabins. 

Brian

Arne,

  Sorry, I noticed you asked  LOA and not LWL.  LOA is 34' 9".  Brian 

Brian,

do you have the exact LOA of that catamaran? That would allow me to import it into my QCAD program and play around a little with it.

The question is where it is possible to fit a mast. the mast step I will have to take quite some compression, even though the shroud angle will be quite wide.

One thought  is to make it a hybrid rig, with a hi-AR Junk mainsail and with a roller staysail. I guess the hybrid JR mast would reach up the where the forestay goes now. What you would get with that setup is the super-easy reefing of the junk mainsail.

Arne

I'm starting a new thread here regarding a question about Arne's excellent drawing of a stayed mast for a Pahi 42.  The original question is pasted below with pictures this time.

Brian

Arne Kverneland wrote:

Michael,

I had a go on sketching up a single JR with a stayed mast. Probably simpler and cheaper to build. More tomorrow, I am overdue for the bunk.

Arne

Hi Arne,

I'm a complete novice both in design  and sailing of junk rigs.  I want a junk rig because I will be single handing.  I'm  looking at  purchasing a  32' catamaran with a Bermuda rig and converting it to a split junk  rig.  I am intrigued by the idea of a biplane rig but it appears to me that for the  masts (preferably with tabernacles) would substantially block access to  two  of the three cabins on board as  the hulls are very fine near the waterline and narrow to  begin with.  I am wondering if it  would be possible to  mount  a single mast on the bridgedeck either as you show in  your illustration  above, or without stays.   The current  mast is mounted at the base of the bridgedeck and is touching the main transverse bulkhead and located between two sturdy looking fuel lockers, just aft of the tabernacle.  I believe this is the most reinforced area on the boat and the mast has nearly 48" of bury.  I want to  use  this  boat for island hopping around the Thai-Malaysian coasts.  I have been told that it is often the case while sailing around islands that catamarans are susceptible to capsize when the inattentive sailor is allows the  rig to be overpowered when rounding windbreaks. Would it not be better to use a flexible (bendy) fiberglass mast that would spill the air out of the top of the sail when hit with gusts?  I ask you this difficult scenario laden question because the alternative is to use  stays as depicted in your illustration and accept the danger of a mast that will resist lateral pressure.  If you have any thoughts  or  advice for the total novice that  I am, I  would be  indebted and buy the next round! 

The boat in question is a Latitude 8.

http://www.junkrigassociation.org/Sys/Profile/PhotoGallery/78427098?memberId=42069123

In addition  to commenting  on the  possibility of  an unstayed mast  on the bridge deck above, If you  could also  comment on whether having biplane masts positioned  to  the  side of  the keel to  allow access  to  the bunk in the last  photo is possible,  that would be great.   Thanks!

Brian