Sharpie rig and hull, pros and cons

[BATAAN]

Here's an arriving boat at the Wooden Boat festival in PT. He came zipping downwind and hove to for the harbormaster. The mainsail has a vang but the sheet is quite interesting.
Any observations, things you'd do different and why?
One cool thing I notice is a stopper knot a couple feet from the end of the sheet. Let go the sheet and the rope goes through the block enough to hit the block with the knot and leave a part hanging down. Now you have a single part sheet long enough for the sail to fly completely forward if needed. Pull it in, grab the dangly part and you have a two part sheet with more power when on the wind. Less rope to snag, instantly spills wind if overpowered and you manage to let go in time. All sheets on a boat like this are either held in the hand or made fast with slippery hitches within reach of the helmsman.

[BATAAN]

correction, what looked to me like a vang is in fact the bobstay.

[Angélique]

Nice pics Bataan, thanks

Is it WoodenBoat's version of Munroe's Egret . . ? ?



Cheers,
Angel

[Angélique]

Bataan's pics looks like the main mast is aft and also there is a jib added, so the schooner rig differs from the Cat-Ketch in the WoodenBoat plans, why . . ? ?

Btw, Reuel Parker draws the 28' Egret Ketch with a jib too nowadays, why could the jib have been added . . ? ?



Here Parker's 28' Egret as a Cat-Ketch..

Cheers,
Angel

[philSweet]

He probably flips a coin; heads, a ketch, tails; a schooner. Or light air is a jibheaded schooner; heavier air is a bald ketch.

[BATAAN]

I don't know whose design it is, just saw it sailing by. Many original sharpies had 3 mast positions and 2 masts. Could swap and move things around to suit conditions. Could be a cat ketch, the usual thing, or could strike larger sail and put smaller mast in position just behind main mast position and make it a snug cat boat.

[gilberj]

This is one of the Egret versions, not sure who designed this one. The rig more or less resembles my Meadowlark with the two sails pretty much the same size. I sometimes joke that I don't have a Mainsail just a Mizzen and a Foresail. I sort of wish I had the sprit booms, but not enough to totally change the rig. Anyway sail twist is not a huge problem in a cruiser. She goes to widward well, though not as efficiently at 45 degrees. at 50 degrees all is well. The geometry of the SCHETCH works better than I expected, partly because of the versitility of the leeboards.
I have admired the Egret for as long as I admired the Meadowlark, and have considered building one till the Meadowlark became available at the right price.

[Eric Sponberg]

Originally Posted by BATAAN

Here's an arriving boat at the Wooden Boat festival in PT. He came zipping downwind and hove to for the harbormaster. The mainsail has a vang but the sheet is quite interesting.
Any observations, things you'd do different and why?
One cool thing I notice is a stopper knot a couple feet from the end of the sheet. Let go the sheet and the rope goes through the block enough to hit the block with the knot and leave a part hanging down. Now you have a single part sheet long enough for the sail to fly completely forward if needed. Pull it in, grab the dangly part and you have a two part sheet with more power when on the wind. Less rope to snag, instantly spills wind if overpowered and you manage to let go in time. All sheets on a boat like this are either held in the hand or made fast with slippery hitches within reach of the helmsman.

The rig is a gaff-headed cat ketch with jib. Sans the gaffs, I have been designing free-standing rigs on this principle for over 30 years, all for the advantages you cite, and then some. These are not new boats or rigs, but they are a delight to handle. To do differently, I make my masts free-standing wingmasts built out of carbon fiber instead of round masts built out of solid wood. The rest of the world should be so forward thinking.

Nice photos, thanks.

Eric

[sharpii2]

Originally Posted by Angélique

Bataan's pics looks like the main mast is aft and also there is a jib added, so the schooner rig differs from the Cat-Ketch in the WoodenBoat plans, why . . ? ?

Btw, Reuel Parker draws the 28' Egret Ketch with a jib too nowadays, why could the jib have been added . . ? ?



Here Parker's 28' Egret as a Cat-Ketch..

Cheers,
Angel

To improve airflow over the sail behind it. It is too small to add much power of its own. And a decent sized jib needs at least three stays to stand properly.

As drawn, this tiny jib increases the rig's power out of proportion of its size.

[sharpii2]

Originally Posted by BATAAN

Here's an arriving boat at the Wooden Boat festival in PT. He came zipping downwind and hove to for the harbormaster. The mainsail has a vang but the sheet is quite interesting.
Any observations, things you'd do different and why?
One cool thing I notice is a stopper knot a couple feet from the end of the sheet. Let go the sheet and the rope goes through the block enough to hit the block with the knot and leave a part hanging down. Now you have a single part sheet long enough for the sail to fly completely forward if needed. Pull it in, grab the dangly part and you have a two part sheet with more power when on the wind. Less rope to snag, instantly spills wind if overpowered and you manage to let go in time. All sheets on a boat like this are either held in the hand or made fast with slippery hitches within reach of the helmsman.

When it comes to bang for the buck, the sharpie hull and rig is hard to beat. No. I shouldn't be use to cross an ocean, but most of us do that only in our dreams.

With water tight hatches and a sufficient ballast keel, I see no reason a sharpie could not cross an ocean. But then it wouldn't really be a sharpie, would it?

As it is, it is probably about the best casual day sailing boat you can get. No involved project in rigging it (the biggest aggravation with stayed rigs). Just set up the masts and go. And it can be run up to the beach.

The only thing I would do differently is put the centerboard case right up against a cockpit seat riser. Then I would have a clear isle between the seats and a nice place to bed down, when camp cruising. The centerboard trunk in the middle of the boat does not make a very good ship mate.

[BATAAN]

Can't think of a single reason an off center C/B case would not work. Bolger seemed to like the idea.

[sharpii2]

Originally Posted by BATAAN

Can't think of a single reason an off center C/B case would not work. Bolger seemed to like the idea.

I think he did admit it came with a slight loss of performance. He also said that on his JESSE COOPER design, the boat heeled more on one tack than the other.

I have never heard of such a centerboard arrangement ever being successful in racing against a more conventionally located one. I think the puddle duck fleet bears this out. It has lots of boats with side mounted dagger boards and more than a few with the center mounted ones. Now, the fastest boats seem to have center mounted dagger boards as well as large rigs and light hull weight.

But races are won and lost on a very small margin of performance advantage. Hence my disdain for racing.

Say a 3% loss of performance beats tripping over the damned case.

[PAR]

An off centerline case has much to merit it and little to detract from it. Most will not notice the difference if the case is just offset to clear the keel batten. If per chance, it's way to one side, then yep, it'll have a tack that it'll suck on, but boats designed like this aren't selected for construction because of it's preformance abilities, as much as many other considerations that are more noble on the priority list.

[Angélique]

Here's a 28' Parker Egret in Holland, it came from Florida when the 2nd owner moved back, it was for sale a few years ago, I saved the pics from the sales ad..





They did not seem to be happy with the rig and have changed it. Last pic shows the new rig.

What could have been the problem with the old rig and what do you think of the new one . . ? ?

1997 built in NY state.

Cheers,
Angel

[BATAAN]

Getting rid of gaffs reduces weight aloft and increases stability and cuts the number of halyards in half, gaining simplicity. It's a trade-off because the new rig is a bit smaller. Possibly the local winds are fresh enough to make the smaller rig a good choice.