50' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

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matthewaris

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50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

I'm converting a 50ft wooden fishng boat to a gaff rig. Where do I put a single mast and what length/constuction for it
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

Welcome to the forum!

Think you will have to provide much more information about the boat to get any meaningful responses.

Suggest the first thing to do is Google Gaff Rig and you will find plenty of soutrces of information such as the Old Gaffers Association and published sources such as John Leather's standard work on design aand use of these rigs. Another good source is specialist sailmakers and suppliers such as James Lawrence and Classic Marine who have experience in rigging gaff boats.

Hope this helps
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

50 ft is rather large for a single-masted rig. I would recommend one of the two-masted rigs, which one might depend on where deckhouses are. This would give you much more flexibility in your sailing. You are about to spend a frightening amount of money, so it is well worth while to do an awful lot of study, and even engage the services of a yacht designer in order to get it right. The cost of getting it wrong and then having to turn around and do what you should have done in the first place to get it right just doesn't bear thinking about.
Peter.
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

Whats the boat called out of interest??

spent a year researching these beasties as part of the redesign of ours, give me the name (and any number she might have had) and I might be able to tell you who built it and what the hull might be like, which will get you in the right direction to start with.


in the meantime, google the fifie's swan, reaper and isabella fortuna, 3 old fishing boats that were restored and re-rigged

not a cheap process though, ball park figure quoted for the main mast and rigging (no sails) for ours was £15k
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

made a mast for a 40 foot gaffer,about 12 inches in diametre.Basically lenghts of solid wood with well staggered scarfes all glued toether with epxxy.Then rounding round .About 25% of wood goes in waste! Mast still okafter ten years.I used pine columbian pine.On a sial plan get a designer to do it,well worth the cost.Look forward tolots of work ,but I know of one such projectthat circumnavigated .
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

I've also seen a lot of telegraph poles that have been re-profiled to provide masts on old fishing boats. the masts on both these 2 were made from telegraph poles

NEMT_046.JPG


NEMT_082.JPG
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

Thank yu for the responces. I'm in a blackout in Bangladesch as I rely! Yes, I've loked into the areas of research you suggest but it's not rocket sience and the daily wge is 4usd ! they can build boats to fish in the Bay of Bengal ll year round I need pictures for them to follow.
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

thank you for rely. Is your mast hollow? can you give mr picyures of cinsruction?
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

No the mast was solid,I made it with wood available so it consisted of about twelve pieces scarfed together making sure thescarfes wherewell staggared and I ended up with a square bualk of timber which was made round.
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

[ QUOTE ]

in the meantime, google the fifie's swan, reaper and isabella fortuna, 3 old fishing boats that were restored and re-rigged


[/ QUOTE ]

Do note though that Reaper and Isabella Fortuna are dipping lug rigs (both with standing lug mizzens) so mast position and rake will not be the same as for a Gaff Rig.
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

A single masted rig for 50ft is just fine if it is set up properly with the proper purchases etc.

I am 52ft, 34 tonnes with a single mast. ca 180m^2 of sail to windward - 210m^2 with the jack yard top sail.

Jolie Brise has a single mast and is bigger, heavier and has more sail area.

The usual place for the mast on a gaff rigged cutter is reckoned to be about 1/3 of the length of the boat into the boat.

I would expect a fishing boat to have a flat level keel for the full length of the boat - in which case the mast will need to be nearer the bow.

It also depends on the length of bow sprit you want.

However, you really need an expert to do the rig calculations to get the mast position and all the dimensions right for the shape of of your hull.

--
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

thats the thing about knowing a bit about its history, depending on who built it and what for, the keel could be a lot shorter than the boat, to give it more maneuverability in port
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

Perhaps it partly depends on whether you intend making a big investment in spars and sails right from the start, so obviously it will pay to get it right.
But if you intend experimenting before buying proper sails, then only the mast position is a fixed reference, so you could take a chance by using the 1/3 rule plus a lot of looking at similar boats. Then you can mess around with different lengths bowsprit, boom, etc by begging or borrowing old sails just for a trial.
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

[ QUOTE ]
50 ft is rather large for a single-masted rig. . . .
Peter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you sure?


The one in the pictures below is 60'0" on deck and 78'0" overall.


classic_boat_sm.jpg


KateinSXM.jpg


/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
KatefullSt-Maarten-day2-DSCF1238.jpg
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

I would respectully beg to differ; I think the mast for a cutter should be 2/5 of the waterline length abaft the fore end of the waterline. This is the figure given by Claud Worth and it does seem to work well. 1/3 would be right for a sloop.
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

Thanks for the relys. I have ben loking at similar boats and rigs and I got to the 1/3 rule but as the boat has aflat bottom I would consider the 2/5 option. The boat does come with a 165hp motor so am willing to scale down the rig at this time and experiment. If I started with a 35ft hollow/solid wooden mast? would this be the way to go? The carpenters here have never made one of these by the way.Iwish I could post a picture but don't know how to do it! As a thought, please don't laugh, but hollow steel telegragh poles tapered from a 12" dia. base and a 50' length are as cheap as chips here....I'm considering just motorng down to Thailand and getting it fixed u there, avoiding pirates : 15 fisherman killed in the past 6 months within local waters!
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

For a single pole masted cutter (as opposed to having a lower mast and a topmast you can raise/lower), you will want the mast to be at least the length of the boat. Go for one of those metal telegraph poles.
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

No big heresy about tin poles, Brittania had one as did others of it's day. Bit of waxoil might help tho'...
A
 
Re: 50\' wooden boat gaff rig; where to put mast and mast constuction

Just remembered, in Portimão there is a charter gaffer that does tourist trips. Happened to look at her mast from a bridge and noticed it was steel tube with FABLON wood effect wrapped around to look authentic........ At the top, instead of trimming it, they just stuffed the rest down inside.

Not suggesting the idea..........
A
 
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