I recently picked up a centaur in the US. They don't come available often and I was lucky enough to grab it the first chance the seller had to show it. I've never seen or sailed on one in person before but the bilge keels had always intrigued me. So I bought it while owning another boat and figured if I didn't like it, I could resell it and only lose a month or two of marina fees. But I loved it and sold my other boat. Its what people say about them: spacious, comfortable, and a flat, dry sailor. It is slower than my last boat but I'm not a racer and if I wanted to go fast I'd buy a power boat. I want to get from A to B comfortably, safely, and quietly.
I am currently out cruising the boat and have been on the water for 6 weeks with two more weeks ahead before my vacation ends. 8 weeks of living and cruising has given me plenty of time to get a feel for the boat and see what updates and changes I wanted to start making.
The reason for looking to switch to a JR is many. They have always interested me, first and foremost. Like I said earlier, I just want a safe, enjoyable, comfortable sail, I think a JR covers those basis. I am always single handed and now have a puppy with me. So I don't want to be jumping around the cockpit while tacking or heeling 20 degrees to push it harder to windward. On the other side, the boat is older and requires some updates that would cost probably more than a conversion will cost. The furler is breaking and the drum likes to jam when opening the sail, it closes(furls) fine but half the time I have to run in deck and hand spin the drum to unstick it. That alone is a thousand+ dollar update. Also the rigging probably needs replaced if I am being prudent. One of the turnbuckles is bent, not sure how that happened but it probably put a lot of stress on the rig. So that's more money. Also, the bottom needs painting, and where i am you have to pay someone to do that at the yard to limit water pollution, so yard fees and paying a business to paint and sand for me. If i am going to re rig and get a new furler, why not put that money towards a JR instead.
I have a back storage building at my work I just cleaned out before this trip, so I can put the boat in there and work in an indoor, heated, lighted space over the fall and winter. It wont cost me anything in storage or yard fees. The beauty of the bilge keeler, is that I can buy a deck over trailer and haul it myself and keep it on the trailer to work, no need to specialty trailers and movers. I will have to find a trailer first because I think renting one for a few months would be too expensive, but I should be able to turn around and sell the trailer for the same amount I paid in 6 months so that's more of a deposit than a cost. Unless a crane to unload it on the ground is affordable, in which case I know a driver that would haul it for a small fee and I could avoid buying the trailer.
I have read the practical junk rig once a long time ago and recently re-read it. I think it require another two or three read throughs to fully grasp everything. But I started doing to basic sail math already and think I understand the basics, its really the smaller things like which type of lashings, parrells, downhauls and other lines I would prefer that I have to dig into more. I've also read the chinese sailing rig by Derek van loan, and Annie hills books, so I trust that I can put it all together. I've built smaller sail boats, dinghys, and a skin on frame kayak, so I have enough skill to do the work and have experience with glass and epoxy.
I am currently leaning towards a hollow spar mast of Douglas fir, with a tabernacle high enough above deck to clear a dodger and solar arch. I would do a light pole or flag pole but the cost seems excessive. I've built a birds mouth mast before and it's pretty easy and cheap(the mast I built was only 18ft but I don't think its any harder to make a larger one, just need bigger pieces) I have a table saw and planer, so good lumber is all thats needed. The foot of the mast will go through the old forward hatch location which is right up against a bulk head and won't interfere too much except cut into the top of the v berth a few inches and some strengthening up of the bulkhead around the partner and the base. As a solo sailor that shouldn't cause much problems as I will sleep on the other side of the v berth. It may make the bathroom door handle hard to reach, but I'll deal with that in due time... I think the sail will be around 400ftsq which is slightly larger than the boat currently carries in main and Genoa. Mast height will be about the same above water but longer when accounting for the bury. I am leaning towards a small amount of camber, from what I've read it helps with windward and it seems 8° is the recommended amount for cruises.
The questions I still have and will have to read more to understand is:
how much forward rake on the mast is preferred to keep the sails wanting to roll outwards?
For a slower, boat that sails flat does a higher AR make more sense to try to get a little more power or should I just stay around 2.0 since it seems most land around there?
We have a lot of light and variable winds in the summer, does it make sense to add another panel or increase panel size with the expectation that it will be reefed early when the winds start to get up? Or just stay within the normal boundaries from practical junk rig and just make it 10% bigger than the current sail suite?
In a quick search it seems like maybe a few other centaurs have been converted but i can't find any info outside of their names. Does anyone know anything about them or have pictures? I'm still learning the site so maybe I just missed them.
Any other advice, ideas, or suggestions are welcome as I have not locked anything in or started the build. I am still very much in the research and ideas phase.
Outside of that I am excited for the project and hope to get started end of Sept - mid Oct, depending on when I find a trailer. I will try to update the project as it comes along and show the final product.