Any gaffers out there?

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tomdmx

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Hi All,
I'm a new owner of a 24(lod) foot gaff cutter which I will be restoring to former beauty with aim to have her ship shape and ready to sail by April...I've no history on her so keen to find out more (though not sure where to look) beyond the fact that she apparently has been built in the 20s, ribs/planks replaced in the 80s, hull glassed (I believe) just after (evident by the strong wood when inspected)..she is a typical traditional long keel gaff cutter with a long cabin (obviously sit head room only) and parked near Ramsgate at the moment although I am thinking of moving her to the Solent area (or anywhere west of Brighton) once she's ready.

So looking for any 'gaffers' out there, I've joined the old gaffers association (or at least registered) but heard that this is alot more of an active website (apparently classic boat was one but most shifted here)...

I'm looking to do a few improvements and big hope is that I will be able to sail her single hand beyond the typical coastal passage but we shall see of progress...
 
Hi Tom - I sail a 24-foot gaff rigged boat but it's a modern knock-off rather than your old classic :)

My hull is plastic but the masts and spars are wooden, so once you get to the point of rigging and sailing her I might be able to help.

Pete
 
Hi All,

Thank you all for your help/links. Overall she's in reasonable condition, may need to replace some rigging but most of the work is cosmetic I'd say though will go through from for'ed to aft to ensure all is proper...

I've taken a couple of pics but will take proper ones this weekend which can be found here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/114104...key=Gv1sRgCIj7pOKD58uo0wE#5699013335939124002

I also bought Tom Cunliffe's book Hand Reef and Steer...Bobobolinsky you say he runs courses..where abouts?

Well I think I will start a blog after the weekend to track progress so that I can build up some evidence of effort lol :)
 
DownWest said:
John Leather's 'Gaff Rig Handbook' might be a good idea too.
Click to expand...

Hmm, not sure about that.

The majority of the book consists of descriptions, lines plans, etc of different types of traditional gaff-rigged craft in the UK, France, and the east coast of America. There's a couple of chapters at the beginning on setting up rigging, but they feel a bit cut off short when the topic suddenly changes to historical types of boat. As far as I remember, there's nothing on how to actually sail a gaff rigged boat.

It's an interesting book, but as history, not instruction. I bought it for much the same reason you're suggesting the OP should, and I think the title is misleading.

Tom Cunliffe's book is the practical one.

Pete
 
DownWest lol, I think the pipe will arrive before beard (though I'm not a spring chicken mind you :))

Pete (prv), I heard same about John Leather's book hence went for what apparently was more practical (TC book)...a question on setup, is yours setup for single hand in any particular way or do you work the mast or fore'd also
 
tomdmx said:
a question on setup, is yours setup for single hand in any particular way or do you work the mast or fore'd also
Click to expand...

Yes, mine is set up with most lines back to the cockpit. I'm generally not an advocate for this, and consider it unnecessary if sailing with crew on bigger boats, but there's no doubt it's handy for single-handed sailing in close quarters (eg scandalising the main as you steer up to a buoy).

The important thing with a gaff, presuming you have a solid mast as most do, is that you can't run the halyards down close to it, as they'll foul the gaff jaws and also the mast hoops if you have them. The traditional run was down the inside of the shrouds, to a pinrail either built into the bulwark or as a sheer pole across the shrouds. This may not be practical on a small boat.

In my case, the cabin trunk ends just aft of the mast. In front of it, more or less athwart the mast (actually fixed to the back of the tabernacle) is a metal rail running across the deck out to the width of the cabin. A series of blocks are shackled to it, at a suitable level that the lines run horizontally out of them at cabin-roof height. Each halyard (topping lift, reef pendant, etc) goes through one of these blocks and then runs aft along the cabin top to jammers at the aft end of it. Because the blocks are spread outwards along the metal rail, the lines spread out away from the mast instead of running down parallel to it. This stops the gaff jaws fouling them (mostly - they sometimes hang up a bit on the staysail halyard because it's closest to the mast and comes off lower down than the others).

The lines in the jammers are, left to right:

Main peak, 2nd reef clew, 2nd reef tack, topping lift, [hatch], topping lift, 1st reef tack, 1st reef clew, main throat.

As you'll know from the Cunliffe book, you have two topping lifts so that you can haul up whichever is the weather one.

My jib and staysail halyards are at the mast because the jib is on a Wykeham Martin and the staysail is on modern roller-reefing, so only the furling lines need to come aft. I do have to handle the jib halyard to rig and stow the bowsprit, which I have to do each time I enter or leave my home berth, but of course I'm on the foredeck anyway to do that.

I have a mizzen mast; all the gear for that is automatically in the cockpit.

Pete
 
I've got all my halyards run to the cockpit. 4 plus topping lift in total: Jib, staysail, throat gaff halyards and topping lift. Only need to fasten the reefing bull horn at the mast and adjust the reefing pennants on the boom (and you could set that up to be single line reefing if you wanted to). The 5 halyards run to blocks (one triple, one double) fastened to strong eye bolts set into the cabin top on either side of the mast foot and then to cleats at the aft end of the cabin top. I know Cunliffe suggests two lines for the topping lift but it's not the only way. I use a single line, which splits to a twin line about half way up the mast, goes to a double block and then down each side of the sail. The real advantage of this is that as both parts of the topping lift move together, you can set up lazy jacks lines on each side to hold the sail in place.

PS she looks great - hope you have fun
 
Fantastic information chaps, VMT! (Very Many Thanks for those not in the know :) )

If it wouldn't be too much troubl or you happen to have a pic or two at hand please do email me as I'm a lot more visual :D (I've sent the email via pm)
 
Plenty of great ideas thanks all, I'm working on the interior to make her cosy for the upcoming weekends or weekdays of hard labour :)

Oh and I've started a blog..just a couple of entires and time will probably prevent me from updated more than once per week but if you are interested to follow the progress :)
jollyripple.wordpress.com
 
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