Reduced rig on a motorsailer

This may be sacrilegious but I have a Westerly Konsort Duo that is in good shape except for the sails and rigging. I really like the boat and at my age I don’t really have much interest in sailing anymore so it’s sort being used as an efficient trawler. My interest is the possibility of a much reduced rig that can function both for roll reduction and get home type propulsion. I have a mast and boom from a smaller boat that I have imagined stepped with a tabernacle and having a couple hundred square feet of sail, perhaps even a lug sail or junk rig? Thoughts?

 

No reason why you could not do that, but you will need to make sure your tabernacle is well engineered and the new sail is positioned to remain balanced.
When an aging friend found the gaff rig too heavy to handle, he swapped out the main and mizzen for "triangle sails", almost halving the sal area, and no gaffs to hoist; in that spirit, you could just hoist a reefed mainsail and swap out the genoa for a smaller headsail.

 

If your replacement mast is as high as, or higher than the existing mast spreader, it should still be useful. The best parts of the rigging can be re-used on the shorter mast. Cut the foot off the old sails to suit the new mast height, and they will have a new life, use the original boom for mainsheet simplicity, and a large boom tent. Tabernacle is a good idea, with balanced lug, or sprit sail, but could compromise cabin roof, or interior amenity. Junks need a post at the stern for many control lines. Find a jib off a large dinghy to balance it out, and you may enjoy sailing again. I stopped using the gaff on my dinghy and made a shorter mast head mainsail, with smaller jib. It's much more relaxed to sail now, and I don't have weighted keels.

 

Is the tabernacle function needed to achieve a short term boating goal?
Otherwise I'd maintain the current rig and get better sails to suit.
If the boat were smaller/less heavy I'd be more excited about messing with it.
The lug and junk rigs will be more 'fiddly' , more lines for the junk and more weight aloft for both with a yard on the lug and battens on the junk.

 

Some info for reference on the Konsort Duo - they were built in England.
KONSORT 29 DUO (WESTERLY) - sailboatdata https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/konsort-29-duo-westerly/

They mention that the standard sail areas are 180 sq ft for the mainsail, and 210 sq ft for the headsail - if you keep the existing rig then you have your proposed 200 sq ft in just the genoa for get home power when needed (how does she sail when using just the genoa?)

Here is a video of one that was for sale - have you got roller furling on both your mainsail and genoa like this one?


You suggest that the sails and rigging are not in good shape - how bad are they?
I am guessing that she was probably built in the 80's - do you know when the rigging was last changed?

 

Thanks for the reply. The standing and running rigging are over twenty years old and sails are original, the boat is a 1988. My intention was to have a mast that’s easy for me to raise and lower by myself. My interest is to have a riding sail to dampen the roll a bit and possibly a Genoa to provide a couple of knots as a get home option. I have a 23 foot mast from a daysailer that would be easy to raise.