If i cut the top of a main off would it work as a gaff sail?

trouville

trouville

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This is not so daft as it sounds!

Im looking at an old fishing boat which would be perfect for Corsica Sardinia i have to decide soon as its free if i dont take it it will be cut up!!!I can tow it to the yard then pay while i work.

I have a choise of a small petrol or Diesel engine,the first works the second dosent-yet.I would want to sail her,i cant set up a traditional rig and a sloop main would look very out of place.

I have old cotten sails from a 6 meter merlin rocket sails and J24 sail all would do.Just wouldent look right.I also have an old main from a swan and a main from my Hillyard both far to big!

Could i cut the top off and have a gaff looking" sail that would draw???Just an idea i had just now.
 
The simple answer is yes but not very well. That said you say it's an old sail so it probably doesn't set well anyway. Why not try it, you have very little to lose and if it works enough to prove the idea you can get a sailmaker to do a proper job when funds allow.
 
moi auci, j'avais pense peut etre ca c'est vrai, mais je pense auci il est tres droll et pas de problem.
stu
 
auci quand on regarde le premier mots de la post l'anglais est tres bon et plus tard l'anglais est mauvaux (sic)
stu
 
Well I am inherently anti gaff. All that hardware up there waiting to fall on you. Or to just tip the boat over.
Gaff can be held very close to the mast as in some small dinghies or hung well away to make a mainsail almost rectangular to the extent that they run a small sail in the triangle .

I noticed that maxi racing yachts have a very flat top to the mainsail with a headboard and battens to hold out a huge roach such that it is almost like a gaff running in the mainsail track but is actually just a reinforced main.

So if you have a short mast I would suggest cutting down an old mainsail at the top to give a greater roach and fit sturdy battens and head board to the extent you think will hold up then cut the foot off to suit the mast.

However if you think only a gaff will look right then that must be the priority. That will probably also dictate a gaff hanging well out from the mast. You could try cutting your existing mainsail but I think these gaff sails usually have panels (seams) running from the gaff at about 30 degree angle when they meet the boom. Are you having a boom? I reckon if you are serious you will end up having a sail made for the main.

good luck olewill
 
[ QUOTE ]
auci quand on regarde le premier mots de la post l'anglais est tres bon et plus tard l'anglais est mauvaux (sic)
stu

[/ QUOTE ]
Exactement, mon vieux.
Je croix que nous avons lui rumbled, peutetre.
 
Im not set on a gaff as such as said all that hardware to fall on the head!I would like a junk rig that was my first thought,but i couldent see how an old main could be adapted?

A lug or dipping lug would do very well but i seem to remember hearing that they dident set well??Or what ever there had been a question and fishermen had use another type of sail instead,i cant remember what it was????I read an artical in yachting world? or monthly? from the 1890s( from the year book bound in brown leather)

Lug sail??As its a tradional open fishing boat with cuddie forward it would be nice to have a traditional looking sail

Cant make out what all the French chat is???Anyone speak French??Im in Italy for the moment so my French is hors service
 
[ QUOTE ]
moi auci, j'avais pense peut etre ca c'est vrai, mais je pense auci il est tres droll et pas de problem.
stu

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps you write in french because you can't spell in English? Or perhaps you hope that most of us won't spot the atrocious spelling in french. Er, - some of us do.
Or have I missed something subtle?
 
the post was intended to produce a result and i think that myself and alldownwind have proved that trouville is perhaps not quite what he intends us to think.
my french spelling is not atrocious ( if you were to comment on the grammar perhaps you would be nearer the mark!) and alldownwind understood perfectly what i was saying, so as to your comments, what was the point? you speak french better than me? perhaps i should comment on your personal pecadillos!!
stu
 
Trouville just wanted to ask if he could modify a sail for use on a fishing boat.I havent said ill take the boat yet,i havent got a mast but i do have old sails

Im not posting on an english language forum nor a grammer one im asking a simple basic question thats all,and it hasent been answed at all.

At the moment im in the Italian Islands speaking Italian and drinking Italian wine Rossese di Dolceacqua which is a dry red!
 
I bought a little clinker dinghy with the intention of converting from the slightly dumpy bermudan to a balanced lugsail to make it a good Swallows and Amazon style boat.
However it sailed very well as it was and someone I know with a lugsail thought I would be losing too much windward perfomance to make it a worthwhile activity.
Gunter rig boats are almost bermudan, perhaps you could recut the sail as a gunter rig with the gaff lowered a touch more, as much as the sail you have will allow.
 
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