Solent rig?

[jaapschellekens]

It is very easy to spend silly amounts on money indeed. In our case the previous owner dit a fairly extensive rifit in 1998 and the boat was put in storage just a few years after that. As a result we now have 'cutting edge' 90's electronics (i did add some solar) and a 1998 4 cilynder vetus peugeot with just 90 hours on it plus a bow thruster. Although i used to hate them and did never need one with our previous dutch barge it is welcome in the close quarters here in Friesland where we are moored. The limiting angle of the tiller in combination with the long keel and the small size of the rudder make this the boat with the largest turning circle I have ever sailed (and that includes some rather big boats...).

Even with that we have been working on a lot of stuff:
- mast lowering system (so i can get to my home in A'dam)
- new standing and running rigging
- new upholstery (and cushions)
- new alcohol burner
- complete overhaul of the taylors heater (it now works without setting the boat on fire)
- new navigation electronics (GPS was too old to get a fix)
- added solar (we did not need any shorepower in this summer's two week trip around the wadden islands)

On the subject at hand: below the only photo i have of the mast top. Indeed about a 25/30 cm offset between the two stays. One thing to take into account is that we did need to add extra tension to the back stays to get both forestays to enough tension so that the heavy rolled-up sails do not start bouncing (not sure if that is the right word for this). I also added a picture I got from the son of the first owner of the boat on the warf when it was build. He happens to live the 5km from where we are moored and he spotted the boat from the big radar reflector in mast.

Anyway, really great to hear from someone as experienced as you about these boats. I think there are just three or so in NL at the moment.

For me adjusting the rudder is high on the list, if you have any pointers I'd be very interested to learn!

 

[Tranona]

Thanks for the photo of the mast head. It will be useful to show my rigger what is required. I work closely with Kemp Sails who have made all the sails and canvas work for my boats for the last 35 years or so. The mainsail works very well, although if we did it again it would probably be fully battened because I have now fitted a Tides Marine track to the mast which is so much better for raising and dropping the sail. Before we were not confident that batten cars would work in the original Proctor track plus the battens would be very long and put a lot of pressure on the batten cars. However the Tides cars would work well, we think - but not going to change because the sail works OK.

When Mark Urry took over the moulds in 1996 he did a lot of detail redesign, primarily to meet the RCD requirements for Category A. The biggest change was a slightly deeper draft and more ballast which in turn made a bigger rig with a taller mast possible. The new mast was 39', which Terry had used on some boats, and finally a 41' cutter rig which went on the last boat, Sea Fever which is in the first photo. This also shows the rudder that Mark designed to give about 15% blade area forward of the pivot. This is what I based my modifications on, although as you will see from the photos my cutout is different for 2 reasons. First the engine in Mark's boat is set at 10 degrees down and mine is 7 ; his prop is fixed blade and mine is feathering so the cutout had to be big enough for the blades to clear when pivoting. The construction is very simple. I cut the extension out of a piece of Douglas Fir left over from making a spinnaker pole. The original rudder was epoxy coated so the new bit was epoxied on sheathed and blended in.

Difficult to say what difference it has made because I never sailed the boat with its original rudder, but others who have done similar things report a reduction in weight on the helm and a tighter turning circle. By today's standards the rudder would be considered inefficient and no doubt a new blade shape with a greater area lower down and better profile would be a big improvement. This is the sort of thing a did with my Eventide which had an even worse rudder initially, but not sure I want to go to all that trouble again as so far I have no complaints about helm weight and turning circle is less of an issue when there is a bow thruster.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Keep it hanked on, but stow it in a modified sail bag with a flap around the stay. Quick to set and to stow avoiding the windage and weight of a roller furled sail. Worked for the staysail on my last cutter rig. If I had thought it through I would not have put a furling foil for the staysail on my current boat.

That is exactly what I do. I had a sail cover made that clips around the inner forestay and under the sail. To be honest, quite often the genoa sheets catch under the bag when tacking. Mine is not a solent rig though, sloop conversion to cutter but without the bow sprit.

 

[geem]

Keep it hanked on, but stow it in a modified sail bag with a flap around the stay. Quick to set and to stow avoiding the windage and weight of a roller furled sail. Worked for the staysail on my last cutter rig. If I had thought it through I would not have put a furling foil for the staysail on my current boat.

Horses for courses. Sailing at night with twin furlers allows the on watch crew to make foresail changes without going on the foredeck. We are quite happy to go to the mast where we have the security of large granny bars but venturing onto the foredeck in 30kts upwind in 3m seas is a different issue

 

[jaapschellekens]

Thanks for the photo of the mast head. It will be useful to show my rigger what is required. I work closely with Kemp Sails who have made all the sails and canvas work for my boats for the last 35 years or so. The mainsail works very well, although if we did it again it would probably be fully battened because I have now fitted a Tides Marine track to the mast which is so much better for raising and dropping the sail. Before we were not confident that batten cars would work in the original Proctor track plus the battens would be very long and put a lot of pressure on the batten cars. However the Tides cars would work well, we think - but not going to change because the sail works OK.

When Mark Urry took over the moulds in 1996 he did a lot of detail redesign, primarily to meet the RCD requirements for Category A. The biggest change was a slightly deeper draft and more ballast which in turn made a bigger rig with a taller mast possible. The new mast was 39', which Terry had used on some boats, and finally a 41' cutter rig which went on the last boat, Sea Fever which is in the first photo. This also shows the rudder that Mark designed to give about 15% blade area forward of the pivot. This is what I based my modifications on, although as you will see from the photos my cutout is different for 2 reasons. First the engine in Mark's boat is set at 10 degrees down and mine is 7 ; his prop is fixed blade and mine is feathering so the cutout had to be big enough for the blades to clear when pivoting. The construction is very simple. I cut the extension out of a piece of Douglas Fir left over from making a spinnaker pole. The original rudder was epoxy coated so the new bit was epoxied on sheathed and blended in.

Difficult to say what difference it has made because I never sailed the boat with its original rudder, but others who have done similar things report a reduction in weight on the helm and a tighter turning circle. By today's standards the rudder would be considered inefficient and no doubt a new blade shape with a greater area lower down and better profile would be a big improvement. This is the sort of thing a did with my Eventide which had an even worse rudder initially, but not sure I want to go to all that trouble again as so far I have no complaints about helm weight and turning circle is less of an issue when there is a bow thruster.

Thanks, very usefull information. We do a lot of short tacking in our home water... so for that a shorter turning circle is also handy. Maybe this winter.... Thanks for all the info, love it!

 

[srm]

Horses for courses. Sailing at night with twin furlers allows the on watch crew to make foresail changes without going on the foredeck. We are quite happy to go to the mast where we have the security of large granny bars but venturing onto the foredeck in 30kts upwind in 3m seas is a different issue

Valid point, My boats were both cutter rigged, not Solent, so staysail tended to remain set while area adjustments were made by reefing the high clew foresail. Also, my inner stays were well inboard on the foredeck so not a worry to work there.