Junk-rigged dory has some performance issues...

[CaptainSkelly]

I'm a complete neophyte who built a 'disposable" boat to learn to sail in.
I've had her out twice so far, and each time learned that I missed an important detail for performance.

My sail has been recently fitted with formerly missing batten parrels, but still has an untamed sail when hoisted.
(I take it that I need to add a yard haul parrel and a luff/throat hauling parrel to keep the sail from sliding around fore/aft, but are there any other pieces I might be missing in this equation?)
I am also still tooling my kickup rudder/leeboards, with the current frustration of being uncertain how to make an efficient downhaul line to employ them after a kick.
(Prototypes have merely tugged them back up the way they came, witht he line tied into the lower fore-end of the boards.)
It's been a fun learning process to build and outfit this 12 foot dinghy, but now I'm itching to actually have something that goes where I point it...

[upchurchmr]

Junk the junk.

Do you have pictures? It's hard to TRY and help without seeing what you have done.

[Thorne]

Welcome to the Forum!

Give us all the info you can, complete with links, and that will save us all a LOT of typing and headscratching. What sort of boat, size, and sailing waters?

No need to reinvent the wheel here, or to create more complex systems than necessary....unless you like that sort of thing. Use lead or whatever in a bed of thickened epoxy to keep your rudder down..that way you only need the uphaul, which is easy to rig. Lots of posts about that here, try a search.

Can't speak to the junk rig. They are quite complex, so we'll need photos and a lot more info (plans?) to troubleshoot.

[John Meachen]

Welcome to the forum.A few pictures would be very helpful.Anybody who actually completes a boat that floats has achieved something quite noble in itself.I would have thought the designer would have included enough information for the boat to actually work.Is there nothing on the plans?A combination of a dory hull,leeboards and a junk rig seems quite cosmopolitan.

Holding down pivoting rudder blades is something I do know about and you may have built something that makes it more difficult than it has to be.A diagram would really help to suggest something.

[skaraborgcraft]

The leeboard on my sail canoe has a short line to its head to stop it over-returning (going forward) and i use a long bungy cord to hold it down from the same point;it generally looks after itself. Nothing wrong with the junk, it does not point as high (in general) as some other rigs, so depending on what your expectations and experience are, there might not actually be anything wrong with it. Pictures definately help, video under sail would be even better.