Old book same problems.

[BlackPig]

I'm currently listening to Harry Colinwood's book For treasure Bound. In the beginning he designs a small bot to sail to the Pacific. He cannot trust a crew so sets about having a boat built for him and his first mate. As well as the boat he describes a collapsable catamaran, made from tow sectioned pipes.

Worth a read I must now look up what a sliding Gunter sail is.

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

A sliding gunter rig has a shortish mast and a shortish yard which attaches to the mast with jaws that keep the yard vertical. The yard remains vertical as it's pulled up the mast by the halyard. There's necessarily a bit of a kink in the straight line comprising the mast-plus-vertical-yard, and a gunter sail has a knick in its leading edge to allow for that. The rigged sail is almost triangular, and the rig itself is considered the forerunner to the bermudan.

To be distinguished from the 'folding gunter' rig by the fact that in the latter the yard is hoisted horizontally, like a gaff, being tilted to the vertical only when the jaws are at full height.

Mike

 

[tolhurstorganic]

A gunter sail has a spar set parallel to the mast that takes the top of the sail beyond the masthead. It is like a gaff that is peaked up vertically. The main advantage is that mast can be short and in the case of a dinghy fit within the hull when lowered. Gunter sail has similar performance to windward as a Bermudan sail.
A sliding gunter has the addition of two steel bands that slide up and down the mast to which the gunter spar is attached. This was intended to make reefing easier and keep the gunter spar tight up to the mast. I have never seen one on real life, I imagine that they could well jamb up onto the mast in some conditions.
Gunter rig is rarely seen now, which is a shame as it is incredibly versatile, it tends to be seen more in smaller craft, although I can not think of a reason why it could not be employed in larger craft.
The Mirror dinghy was perhaps the most famous gunter rigged craft of all time.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

A gunter sail has a spar set parallel to the mast that takes the top of the sail beyond the masthead. It is like a gaff that is peaked up vertically. The main advantage is that mast can be short and in the case of a dinghy fit within the hull when lowered. Gunter sail has similar performance to windward as a Bermudan sail.
A sliding gunter has the addition of two steel bands that slide up and down the mast to which the gunter spar is attached. This was intended to make reefing easier and keep the gunter spar tight up to the mast. I have never seen one on real life, I imagine that they could well jamb up onto the mast in some conditions.
Gunter rig is rarely seen now, which is a shame as it is incredibly versatile, it tends to be seen more in smaller craft, although I can not think of a reason why it could not be employed in larger craft.
The Mirror dinghy was perhaps the most famous gunter rigged craft of all time.

The Heron is/was gunter rigged. For dinghys, the great advantage of a gunter rig was that all the spars would fit within the hull when the boat was being transported on a car top or trailer. It may seem strange to realize that the Heron was originally designed to be transported on a car top! There was even an "official" technique for getting it up on a car top - you stood it on its transom and then rolled it onto the roof-rack. Wouldn't work with modern body styles, of course.

 

[sakysasori]

There was even an "official" technique for getting it up on a car top - you stood it on its transom and then rolled it onto the roof-rack. Wouldn't work with modern body styles, of course.