gaff rigged 14 footer

[David Pounds]

I am looking at a lot of day sailer plans and I keep coming back to a Glen-L 14, but I saw a Stornaway 14 with a gaff rig and a bow sprit. I love the gaff look, but have never sailed one. Is a gaff rig practical for a 14 foot day sailer? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Thanks in advance for your sage advice.

Dave Pounds

[rbgarr]

I grew up sailing in gaff and sprit rigged boats from 8-25' long, but there are no real substantial advantages to them in a daysailer, I venture to say. There are more lines and spars to set up at launch and more lines to handle to get the sail to set well, yet if the look is what you like and the boat will stay in the water on the mooring, it's more of a choice worth considering.

[holzbt]

Sea Mew (http://www.uncommonboats.com/website/article.asp?id=442)

Here's a 14' gaff sloop designed by Fred Goeller. Plans are available from Mystic Seaport.

[Lion]

Also look at www.gartsideboats.com (http://www.gartsideboats.com) - a variety of very good looking traditional styles with gaff amoungst others - and a delight to deal with.

Lion

[Venchka]

A blast from the past. My most favorite, least practical gaff rigged wee boat.

http://www.boat-links.com/Atkinco/Sail/images/Pocahontas-1.gif

Pocahontas (http://www.boat-links.com/Atkinco/Sail/Pocahontas.html)

I'll second the Paul Gartside endorsement.

Wayne
In the Swamp. :D

[Christopher Locke]

To express a very slight disagreement with rbgarr, I don't think that it is necessarily the case that a gaff rig takes longer to set up. Many designers have one large gaff-rigged sail instead of a Bermuda sloop style main and jib, which can be faster to rig. Also, in a 14 boat, sometimes you don't need stays for a gaff rig, which you would for a Bermuda rig (at least a forestay for the jib). Finally, a gaff rig does tend to result in shorter spars which can sometimes fit inside the boat for easy trailering. I think there is an entire thread somewhere on whether a gaff-rig can point as high as a Bermuda rig, and people get pretty excited in debating that. Personally, I like gaff-rigs, but I'd look at the specific designs you are looking at to see whether the designer has taken advantage of any of their qualities.

[mdevour]

We built a Weekend Skiff (http://www.eskimo.com/~mdevour/boatproject.html) and launched it a year ago. I elaborated on the simple plans and put a gaff sloop rig on it, made up from scratch with no design experience.

IF you get good advice, as I did on this forum, such a project is not totally doomed. :eek: In fact, the results are better than I had any right to expect.

Now that we have some experience with the boat I can list some of its strengths and weaknesses...

Rigging is time consuming. Everybody working together can put it together in under 20 minutes, but with only one or two, it's a half hour or more... and you usually forget something until you're out on the water! ;)

We added it up once. There are something like 40 individual pieces of rope or cord on this 15' boat. The fact that everything works so well is, well, pretty amazing.

The boat, with me and an older teenager in it, is overloaded enough that it's hell to row or paddle in any air at all. Be sure your design is bouyant enough for what you want to carry around.

The beam is only 4'. That's narrow enough to make getting forward of the mast tough for an adult. Between keeping low enough not to tip over and squeezing between the shrouds and mast, not to mention fitting into the space up there... it's a bit of an athletic manouvre.

That said, the boat works very well. It points nicely, goes like heck in any kind of good wind, and balances beautifully on the helm. It's not over-canvassed, and the low aspect rig, flat bottom, and weighted daggerboard add up to controlled heeling.

The sails set well, now that I've tweaked a couple of minor things. The halyards pull, the sheets trim, the lacings bend... ;) The rigging works and is as simple as it can be for the inherent complexity of the rig. All that thanks to the expertise of others. :cool:

Actually sailing is as simple as any other sloop, three sheets and a tiller.

You have to get used to people in kayaks taking pictures of you. :D

For me, there is still tremendous charm to the rig. I like its looks, the traditional feel and fittings. I'd build another small gaffer in a heartbeat.

Pick a design that you like that does what you want it to do. Make sure your boat is big enough to take your weight, beamy enough to move around in, and rows well.

Any of the suggestions so far look sweet!

Go for it, I say!

Mike D.

http://www.eskimo.com/~mdevour/atlakejames.jpg

[almeyer]

You might want to consider a standing lug without a jib. It's got the traditional look and the shorter sticks that a gaff has, but easier set up. My rig has one halyard, one sheet, and no stays or shrouds. I wouldn't mind a gaff at all on a larger boat that spends most of it's time on the water, but it seems a bit complicated for a 14' trailer sailor. But if your heart is set on a gaff, then go for it.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid181/pd8ac7b32ef777a18450882e4355121ee/f2e8c2ea.jpg

[David Pounds]

Thanks for the input everyone. I really like the gaff look, but if it is more work than a modern rig I might just forgo it and stay with the standard Glen-14 bermudan sail plan. I want to go slow and easy, the days of hiking out on my brother-in-law's Laser are way past. Isn't there another rig called a gunter rig. Apparently the two part mast makes for easier trailering. Is it more hassle than it is worth to set up?

[mdevour]

Al, is that an Oughtred Acorn? Beautiful.

It's never been my intention to go fast for its own sake, but I haven't been able to keep from noticing that the sloop rig seems to move better than the couple of lug rigs I've had the chance to compare her to. :D

NO QUESTION that it's a simpler job. For that I envy you. A lot! smile.gif

Mike D.

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

Good gravy, how could you insult Arch with a comment like that? ;)

It's a Penobscot 14.

[almeyer]

The Captain's right, it's a Penobscot 14. I considered the Acorn but the impression I got was that the Acorn was designed primarily for rowing.

One beef I had with my previous (plastic) boat was the set-up time required. It was a conventional marconi sloop rig. The Penobscot is easier/quicker. The lug is unstayed, and you don't have to bend the sail to the mast or boom, so setup is simple. Granted, it doesn't perform as well as a sloop rig, but with a decent breeze I can still make 4-4.5 knots, which is probably hull speed.

The design also shows a gunter sloop, which didn't meet my needs, but from what I've seen on Arch Davis' site, it's a popular choice. It's got more combined area than the lug, so it ought to perform better in light air. Again the concern I had with the rig was setup. In my opinion, the gunter offers the advantage of shorter sticks as compared to a marconi, but with the high peaked yard, the sail shape approaches a marconi. The downside is that rigging a gunter is about the same as rigging a gaff - you've got the same number of strings to mess with, bend the sail to the mast, etc.
Al

[almeyer]

BTW, Mike, I really like "Splinters". Nice website too. A little complicated for a small skiff, but classy as hell! Nice job!

[JimD]

Some very sharp looking examples of the Glen-L 14 at their website:

http://www.glen-l.com/designs/sailboat/gl14.html#avail

[mdevour]

Originally posted by Captain Pre-Capsize:
Good gravy, how could you insult Arch with a comment like that? ;)

It's a Penobscot 14.Woops! Sorry! :eek:

:D


Originally posted by almeyer:
BTW, Mike, I really like "Splinters". Nice website too. A little complicated for a small skiff, but classy as hell! Nice job!Thanks, Al. It means a lot. smile.gif

It's been one of the best darn educations in a 15' package I could imagine. I learned a lot about boatbuilding, and the kids can step aboard almost anything and know what bits to pull and what they do. Mission accomplished. :cool:

Be well,

Mike D.