Pooduck rigging

[mwybo]

Hi,
I have finished the first season of sailing my Pooduck. I have rigged it as per the Shellback book but have a question as to whether this is correct or if I am sailing it properly. Here is the issue.

1. I rig the boat with the yard hoisted on the port side of the mast and the boom as well on the port side. There are 6 - 8 inches of of the luff forward of the mast.

2. On a starboard tack (wind over the starboard side) the sail fills nicely, the sail pulls away from the mast and has a nice shape and plenty of power.

3. On a port tack the 6 - 8 inches forward of the mast is essentially backwinded and there is a crease that forms from where the yard crosses the mast to the aft end of the boom. Terrible sail shape and loss of power.

Question: Have I got this rigged properly? Should I have some sort of jaws on the yard and the boom ot keep them in line with the mast? Should I be flipping the yard and the boom to the leeward side of the mast with each tack?

AQs far as I can tell I have it rigged as per the designer's instructions but it sure could use some improvement.

Thanks
There are a few pictures at http://www.cabot36meltemi.blogspot.com/ . The second photo is from early in the season before I got the rig adusted properly with yard and boom on the leeward side of the mast but that crease you see is definitely there when they are on the windward side.

Thanks

Mike

[Bob Ketterling]

You did a great job on the boat!
I have been sailing my Pooduck for 4 seasons and I haven’t really noticed the problem you are describing. I nearly always use the jib as well as the main sail and that seems to make the sail draw much better on either tack. It adds more power than I thought it would given its small size. I also added some jaws on the boom and that seems to allow for better control of the sail.

[Clinton B Chase]

Mike, I have a Shellback and rigged it per JW's instructions. My sail shape is fine on the tack that you describes as having a backwinding prob on your dinghy. Do you have a downhaul. Unless it is very light air, I put a good amount of tension on the down haul. This gives the luff what it needs to hold its shape.

Cheers,
Clint

[Todd Bradshaw]

Creases form along lines of stress on the fabric which are greater than the stress on surrounding areas, so either the fabric is being pulled too tightly along the creases or it's too loose elsewhere. I'd start by replacing the spiral lacing along the yard with individual robands (a little chunk of line tied around the yard at every grommet, including all four sail corners). You can see how the sail's throat corner is pulled away from the yard at the yard's forward end. In reality, the sail's edge should be the same distance from the yard all along that edge. If it's not, you get distortion. You still need another chunk at each corner to haul the sail out horizontally along the spar, but the robands will keep the spars close to the sail at a fixed distance. The amounts added or subtracted from the flat sail plan to create shape on a sail that size are quite small. Loose or uneven lacing (or lacing that migrates, up and down the spar) can create gaps which are big enough to un-do the shaping that was sewn into the sail, cause creases and all sorts of bad-set problems. Decent downhaul tension is also worth having if you don't already have something providing it.

[Rick Starr]

Beautiful job Mike.

Ditto the lacing issue, and downhaul, downhaul, downhaul.

I replaced my single purchase downhaul with a tiny three part affair and I like it much better.

[mwybo]

Thanks, I will try relacing the sail and getting a better downhaul arrangement. Unfortunately trials will have to wait a few more months.

Mike