ALternate sail plans?

[ancient kayaker]

Originally Posted by messabout

AK; Lucifer or some other nefarious individual must have visited us both. I have a tiny little dink on my drawing board. It is to fit inside my Honda Element. The Element is too tall to make cartopping desirable. The tiny flattie will be 9'-0 x 42". It'll be a bit tiddly I fear. Calculations appear to give it a bit more than 200 foot pounds of righting moment at 25 degrees. Lightness is a primary goal. I hope to get by with about 60 pounds hull weight. I will use 6mm Okume for the bottom and glue/lapstrake the sides with 4mm. All this because I dont like to mess with the trailer under my larger sharpie, and of course there is that urging from the devil who visits me uninvited. I too will experiment with different rigs and have multiple mast locations. The name of the boat will be E.D. Not the kind of ED for which you can get purple pills. Element Dink = ED.

Here's hoping that neither of us drown.

Should you wish for information my progress it is being posted at Small sailboat Design - advice requested. I don't know how high an Element is but I plan to car-top my boat on my minivan. I plan to rest the foredeck on the van roof then lift the transom and slide her forward. I chose a slightly longer design in the end so it would lean on the van at a lower angle, since a shorter boat require me to lift a greater percentage of its weight.

My boat is 10' x 4.5', I am also using 4mm/6 mm ply, and based on material calculations I expected it to come in around 60 lb. I have a lot of built-in buoyancy as well, so your smaller boat should be lighter than mine. Mine may be heavier than I expect, but I'll be able to weigh the complete hull in a day ot two, when her weight, good or bad, will be revealed.

[dskira]

Originally Posted by BHOFM

I was thinking, 3.5" round mast, 2" boom, 1.75" gaff.
I would like for the mast to make the ridge pole for the
cover.

I am going to use polytarp sails.

The boat will be stored in an airplane hanger that is open
to others, no the general public, it does have video surveillance.
I think the boat would be more secure if it was, "self contained.

Thanks for the reply.

What ever you choose, please ask a sail maker to do your sails. They are aproximatly $10 (and less) the square feet, and worth every penny.
My two cent
Cheers
Daniel

[ancient kayaker]

The mast size sounds large. my plans for a 10' sailboat call for a 2.5" dia Al mast; I am actually building a 2.5" dia hollow spruce mast tapering to 1.7", with thiicker walls but about the same weight. For a 12' boat a 3.5' dia mast might look rather chunky.

I will also use polytarp for the first few sails so I can try out different designs. I will start with a spritsail, which has the advatage that it can be cut flat. However, when I decide on the sail size and design I will get a pro one made.

[PAR]

65 square feet in a gaff sail, on a free standing rig is a 2.5" aluminum tube, with T-6 and a .083" wall. Or you could use a tapered birdsmouth spar with the same base but a straight taper to 1.5". Increase mast top dimension to 1.75" if using a jib. Decrease the heel dimension to 2.125" and mast head to 1.375" if low aspect Bermudan cat. Increase mast head diameter to 1.625" if a Bermudan sloop.

These all have healthy margins and assumes a 20% stave wall on the birdsmouth.

I completely concur with Daniel, in that I've made sails once (which was enough to teach me) and sail makers earn every dime that ask for.