Arne, it’s an excellent question. Honestly, for me it is to allow a better understanding of how things work. Starting at the beginning gives me a better knowledge of a subject. After reading Practical Junk Right I built a flat sail. I could better visualize the explanations offered. Now I have a year of experience sailing a flat sail and following your and others instruction will now experiment with camber. I hope to really see the difference but it does bring a new series of questions and challenges - more for me to learn and explore by doing. It’s not really to reinvent but to experience it first hand for myself. I like to build and try to understand what I build. I’ve never been very original as far as coming up with new things but l like to try new things to me. Sorry if this became a bit philosophical but I do enjoy learning by doing! I hope when I make the last version of a junk rig sail for my boat I will have a fuller appreciation for all that the junk rig has to offer. For now, I may stumble in the darkness a bit and seek clarification on the bits I don’t comprehend. I look forward to your advice, if you are available, on a Broremann type camber rig on my Peep Hen over the winter. Maybe it will be the last one! Again your writings are concise and full of information. Thank you. 

Cordially,

Curtis

Eric, the camber was introduced by a dart sewn into the middle of the panel. Luff to leech 35%, 5% , 60%. With an attempted camber of 5 to 8 percent of the 108 inch panel length. The tarp doesn’t smooth out as nice as fabric does so the darts will produce small “ peaks” in the transition areas. I’ll try and get a photo if I can get an extra pair of hands to help hold the sail. 

Arne, it’s good to know I may be worrying too much. I  added a webbing tape around the perimeter of the sail to help take the load. I was using a standing tack  parrel to shift the sail in the flat version but the idea of a Throat hauling parrel allowing the sail to hang better vertically is appealing. I am not sure whether my dart method will add enough effective camber to the sail. I am currently adding tell tails to the leech of the sail and I hope to reinstall the battens tomorrow and hang the sail Thursday,wind and weather allowing. I will post a photo of the result.Your cambered sail writings have been both inspirational and instructive- thank you.

Asmat, I will need to hang the sail to see the full effect. I, like you, will have minimum camber on this experimental flat to camber sail. I already have one year of use on this sail ( 176 hours) so the camber experiment is in preparation for my next sail build this winter. I’ll keep an eye on my yard! 

Curtis

Frankly, I found that the THP offloaded my battens  -  but then this was a cambered panel sail with HK-parrels needed for diagonal stability.

Arne

Hello Asmat,

Yes, the flat sail has served well for the last year. It is time for more experimentation. I am sewing camber in the sail and the load will shift from the sailcloth to the battens. I have wooden battens and don’t know how much it is customary to increase batten size. My current yard is 3”x 1 1/2” and the battens are 1”x 3/4”. Since I am sewing the darts to produce the camber today I was wondering if I need to increase the batten size now or if it would be reasonable to try it with my existing battens. Thanks for the thoughts. Any ideas?

Curtis

Should the Yard and number 2 batten be strengthened ( when compared to the other battens) when installing a throat hauling parrell?

Thank you,

Curtis