Sailing Rigs

[Jess Potter]

Hey, I am building a twelve foot dinghy and I don't like the plans they give for the sails. (it's supposed to be made out of fence tubing and blue tarp) That just doesn't really sit right with me. I was hoping somebody has a good suggestion on where I could get a mast that is 72" tall and is made of wood or any other material that would work good.
The other wierd thing is traditionally I've seen dinghies with a triangular sail this one shows an offset square and instead of the boom be approx. at a 90 degree angle it is at a 45 degree going upwards attaching closer to the top of the sail instead of straight out.I would rather have the regular triangular sail so if anyone has any suggestions on that please let me know also Thanks,Jess

[Jess Potter]

Hey, I am building a twelve foot dinghy and I don't like the plans they give for the sails. (it's supposed to be made out of fence tubing and blue tarp) That just doesn't really sit right with me. I was hoping somebody has a good suggestion on where I could get a mast that is 72" tall and is made of wood or any other material that would work good.
The other wierd thing is traditionally I've seen dinghies with a triangular sail this one shows an offset square and instead of the boom be approx. at a 90 degree angle it is at a 45 degree going upwards attaching closer to the top of the sail instead of straight out.I would rather have the regular triangular sail so if anyone has any suggestions on that please let me know also Thanks,Jess

[Jess Potter]

Hey, I am building a twelve foot dinghy and I don't like the plans they give for the sails. (it's supposed to be made out of fence tubing and blue tarp) That just doesn't really sit right with me. I was hoping somebody has a good suggestion on where I could get a mast that is 72" tall and is made of wood or any other material that would work good.
The other wierd thing is traditionally I've seen dinghies with a triangular sail this one shows an offset square and instead of the boom be approx. at a 90 degree angle it is at a 45 degree going upwards attaching closer to the top of the sail instead of straight out.I would rather have the regular triangular sail so if anyone has any suggestions on that please let me know also Thanks,Jess

[Don Maurer]

You can make a wooden mast yourself. Depending on how much work you want to do, you can make it out of 2 x 4s glued together and ripped to the right dimensions. You can leave it square, make it octagonal or round it off. The sail you describe is a sprit sail. It is a very traditional rig for small boats. If you really must change it (which I don't recommend unless you know what you are doing), you need to find the area and the center of the old sail. Then design a new sail with the same area. Find its center. Then position the new sail so the center is at the same point as the center of the old sail.

[Don Maurer]

You can make a wooden mast yourself. Depending on how much work you want to do, you can make it out of 2 x 4s glued together and ripped to the right dimensions. You can leave it square, make it octagonal or round it off. The sail you describe is a sprit sail. It is a very traditional rig for small boats. If you really must change it (which I don't recommend unless you know what you are doing), you need to find the area and the center of the old sail. Then design a new sail with the same area. Find its center. Then position the new sail so the center is at the same point as the center of the old sail.

[Don Maurer]

You can make a wooden mast yourself. Depending on how much work you want to do, you can make it out of 2 x 4s glued together and ripped to the right dimensions. You can leave it square, make it octagonal or round it off. The sail you describe is a sprit sail. It is a very traditional rig for small boats. If you really must change it (which I don't recommend unless you know what you are doing), you need to find the area and the center of the old sail. Then design a new sail with the same area. Find its center. Then position the new sail so the center is at the same point as the center of the old sail.

[Todd Bradshaw]

Jess,

If you can build the dinghy, a simple wooden mast should be a piece of cake. Almost any book on small boat building will have a section on mast and spar building, often with several construction options. It's also worth doing a search on this forum for "Bird's Mouth Spars". It's a great method for building masts and has been pretty well covered here.

It sounds like the sail on your plans is a Spritsail. They actually work exceptionally well on small boats with a minimum of hardware and fuss, so I'd think it over carefully before switching to a bermuda-type (triangular, pointed on top) sail. The advantages of the spritsail are that it gets a lot of area out of a fairly low rig, it can operate without having a boom to duck and it can be brailed (doused by pulling a line and temporarily furling it up against the mast) very quickly, which can be quite handy when launching and landing. The sprit is probably a more traditional dinghy sail than the Bermuda as well.

[Todd Bradshaw]

Jess,

If you can build the dinghy, a simple wooden mast should be a piece of cake. Almost any book on small boat building will have a section on mast and spar building, often with several construction options. It's also worth doing a search on this forum for "Bird's Mouth Spars". It's a great method for building masts and has been pretty well covered here.

It sounds like the sail on your plans is a Spritsail. They actually work exceptionally well on small boats with a minimum of hardware and fuss, so I'd think it over carefully before switching to a bermuda-type (triangular, pointed on top) sail. The advantages of the spritsail are that it gets a lot of area out of a fairly low rig, it can operate without having a boom to duck and it can be brailed (doused by pulling a line and temporarily furling it up against the mast) very quickly, which can be quite handy when launching and landing. The sprit is probably a more traditional dinghy sail than the Bermuda as well.

[Todd Bradshaw]

Jess,

If you can build the dinghy, a simple wooden mast should be a piece of cake. Almost any book on small boat building will have a section on mast and spar building, often with several construction options. It's also worth doing a search on this forum for "Bird's Mouth Spars". It's a great method for building masts and has been pretty well covered here.

It sounds like the sail on your plans is a Spritsail. They actually work exceptionally well on small boats with a minimum of hardware and fuss, so I'd think it over carefully before switching to a bermuda-type (triangular, pointed on top) sail. The advantages of the spritsail are that it gets a lot of area out of a fairly low rig, it can operate without having a boom to duck and it can be brailed (doused by pulling a line and temporarily furling it up against the mast) very quickly, which can be quite handy when launching and landing. The sprit is probably a more traditional dinghy sail than the Bermuda as well.

[ken mcclure]

Or, I could make you a mast for $10,238.00 US. Oddly enough, that's almost exactly how much I think I'll need to finish my boat. http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/biggrin.gif

[ken mcclure]

Or, I could make you a mast for $10,238.00 US. Oddly enough, that's almost exactly how much I think I'll need to finish my boat. http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/biggrin.gif

[ken mcclure]

Or, I could make you a mast for $10,238.00 US. Oddly enough, that's almost exactly how much I think I'll need to finish my boat. http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Frank Hagan]

Hi Jess,

The sprit sail is a pretty good option for a dinghy. Like some other sails, like the gaff sail, it puts the force the wind is putting against the sail closer down to where you are. You might have the problem of a taller rig causing the boat to be more "tender" (actually, the damn thing may tip you over! Splash!)

If the blue tarp idea doesn't appeal to you, you can take the plans to a sail maker, and they can make a dacron sail for you. He'll probably recommend something like 4 ounce dacron for the size of the sail.

The dacron sail will be stiffer than the blue plastic tarp, though. Amazing how much resin they put on the dacron "cloth" to make it catch the wind.

For a 72" mast ... that's only 6' ... you can easily build a solid wood mast. I've seen guys take round hardwood railing, about 2" in diameter, and use that.

[Frank Hagan]

Hi Jess,

The sprit sail is a pretty good option for a dinghy. Like some other sails, like the gaff sail, it puts the force the wind is putting against the sail closer down to where you are. You might have the problem of a taller rig causing the boat to be more "tender" (actually, the damn thing may tip you over! Splash!)

If the blue tarp idea doesn't appeal to you, you can take the plans to a sail maker, and they can make a dacron sail for you. He'll probably recommend something like 4 ounce dacron for the size of the sail.

The dacron sail will be stiffer than the blue plastic tarp, though. Amazing how much resin they put on the dacron "cloth" to make it catch the wind.

For a 72" mast ... that's only 6' ... you can easily build a solid wood mast. I've seen guys take round hardwood railing, about 2" in diameter, and use that.

[Frank Hagan]

Hi Jess,

The sprit sail is a pretty good option for a dinghy. Like some other sails, like the gaff sail, it puts the force the wind is putting against the sail closer down to where you are. You might have the problem of a taller rig causing the boat to be more "tender" (actually, the damn thing may tip you over! Splash!)

If the blue tarp idea doesn't appeal to you, you can take the plans to a sail maker, and they can make a dacron sail for you. He'll probably recommend something like 4 ounce dacron for the size of the sail.

The dacron sail will be stiffer than the blue plastic tarp, though. Amazing how much resin they put on the dacron "cloth" to make it catch the wind.

For a 72" mast ... that's only 6' ... you can easily build a solid wood mast. I've seen guys take round hardwood railing, about 2" in diameter, and use that.

[John R Smith]

Jess

I think the other point which may have been missed here is that if you change your rig to a triangular (Bermudan) sail, the mast will have to be a lot higher than 72ins. This is to compensate for the loss of sail area you would get if you changed just the shape of the sail and nothing else. For a twelve foot dinghy you need something like 18 feet of mast height on a Bermudan rig, or a twelve foot mast and six foot gaff for a gunter rig. So there's a lot of re-designing to do.

John

[John R Smith]

Jess

I think the other point which may have been missed here is that if you change your rig to a triangular (Bermudan) sail, the mast will have to be a lot higher than 72ins. This is to compensate for the loss of sail area you would get if you changed just the shape of the sail and nothing else. For a twelve foot dinghy you need something like 18 feet of mast height on a Bermudan rig, or a twelve foot mast and six foot gaff for a gunter rig. So there's a lot of re-designing to do.

John

[John R Smith]

Jess

I think the other point which may have been missed here is that if you change your rig to a triangular (Bermudan) sail, the mast will have to be a lot higher than 72ins. This is to compensate for the loss of sail area you would get if you changed just the shape of the sail and nothing else. For a twelve foot dinghy you need something like 18 feet of mast height on a Bermudan rig, or a twelve foot mast and six foot gaff for a gunter rig. So there's a lot of re-designing to do.

John

[N. Scheuer]

That sounds like a "quadralateral sprit sail" from your description, and I'd second the observation above that it's a pretty good sail for your type of boat.

If you want a triangular sail, "Marconi", "Bermudan", or "Leg-O-Mutton sprit sail", any of which would work, you'll need a taller mast; on the order of nine feet, maybe. Though you can compensate for a short mast by using a longer boom, or sprit-boom.

It all comes down to square foot area; design a triangular sail that is equal, plus a square foot or two, to your plan.

Moby Nick

[N. Scheuer]

That sounds like a "quadralateral sprit sail" from your description, and I'd second the observation above that it's a pretty good sail for your type of boat.

If you want a triangular sail, "Marconi", "Bermudan", or "Leg-O-Mutton sprit sail", any of which would work, you'll need a taller mast; on the order of nine feet, maybe. Though you can compensate for a short mast by using a longer boom, or sprit-boom.

It all comes down to square foot area; design a triangular sail that is equal, plus a square foot or two, to your plan.

Moby Nick

[N. Scheuer]

That sounds like a "quadralateral sprit sail" from your description, and I'd second the observation above that it's a pretty good sail for your type of boat.

If you want a triangular sail, "Marconi", "Bermudan", or "Leg-O-Mutton sprit sail", any of which would work, you'll need a taller mast; on the order of nine feet, maybe. Though you can compensate for a short mast by using a longer boom, or sprit-boom.

It all comes down to square foot area; design a triangular sail that is equal, plus a square foot or two, to your plan.

Moby Nick

[TomRobb]

A steel fence post? Good grief http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/frown.gif

[TomRobb]

A steel fence post? Good grief http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/frown.gif

[TomRobb]

A steel fence post? Good grief http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/frown.gif

[John R Smith]

Nick

surely a nine-foot mast for a Bermudan rig on a twelve-foot dinghy would be hopelessly under-canvassed?

The normal rule for mast height on a Bermudan sloop rig seems to be 1.5 times the LOA. Often with dinghies this is impractical, as the boat would blow over on a swinging mooring and the spars will not fit inside the boat for towing. So a gunter, or high-peak gaff rig is used instead, giving the same air-draught but with two shorter spars.

John

[John R Smith]

Nick

surely a nine-foot mast for a Bermudan rig on a twelve-foot dinghy would be hopelessly under-canvassed?

The normal rule for mast height on a Bermudan sloop rig seems to be 1.5 times the LOA. Often with dinghies this is impractical, as the boat would blow over on a swinging mooring and the spars will not fit inside the boat for towing. So a gunter, or high-peak gaff rig is used instead, giving the same air-draught but with two shorter spars.

John

[John R Smith]

Nick

surely a nine-foot mast for a Bermudan rig on a twelve-foot dinghy would be hopelessly under-canvassed?

The normal rule for mast height on a Bermudan sloop rig seems to be 1.5 times the LOA. Often with dinghies this is impractical, as the boat would blow over on a swinging mooring and the spars will not fit inside the boat for towing. So a gunter, or high-peak gaff rig is used instead, giving the same air-draught but with two shorter spars.

John