Arne, balance is 19% in the main & 22% in the foresail. In a schooner, I'm not sure that the split rig makes much sense as the foresail is already doing  the (more or less) job of the jiblets for the main.

I suspect that the generous camber my sails have (10% in main & 12% in foresail) also has something to do with why the port tack seems to be so unaffected. The mast just disappears in all that cloth!

I know the amount of camber that I have is controversial in certain quarters but the sails undoubtedly produce drive & lots of it. LC heels as much as any Bermuda rigged boat does and that to me is a sign that real drive is being generated. I very much doubt that I'd be getting the same windward & reaching performance with less camber or flat sails.

BTW We me up with another Tahitianna at the end of last summer. She was Bermuda cutter rigged and could set 750 SqFt (LC 650 SqFt) with the aid of a genny. In a force 4 - 5 we were able to show her a clean pair of heels on all points of sailing and I suspect we could do it in any wind strength. Anyway, I do believe that that little incident proves what I've long thought, namely the junk rig is the best and the fastest rig I've had on LC to date.

Arne, having more balance than the norm makes one think that the distortion caused by the sail being distorted by the mast would somehow interfere with the sails ability to produce drive. However in practise it does not appear to be the case. LC (as you must know by now) sails very well and is more than able to hold her own to the windward against both other junks (Zebedee can confirm that) and against the pointy competition. She also exhibits the same peculiarities that most other junks exhibit in that the (slightly) better tack is the one in which the mast is buried in the sail. So it would appear (at least for LC) that having more balance than usual in a cambered sail is not in anyway a disadvantage. Certainly, I'd not hesitate to do the same again.

Re the van Loan sail, having designed & built a van Loan rig (Carl Bosteck's Aphrodite) I think I'm qualified to comment on this. The van Loan rig is not really in anyway different from the standard PJR rig by very much. The main difference being the lower yard angle. However the yard angle is related to balance. If you need lots of balance, the yard angle should be lower and vies versa. What you are trying to do is keep the centre of the yard in line with the halyard blocks as they hang from the masthead. If you have to much drift, you will struggle to get a cambered sail to set well. You may get away with it in a flat sail but not with a cambered one which is much less accommodating of geometry errors.

The van Loan sail as shown in van Loan's book is not peaked enough for a cambered sail, you need to increase the yard angle. Exactly how much, depends on the amount of balance you need (as I've already said above). I found this out the hard way when I did Aphrodite. You can also very easily prove this to yourself by building a simple stick and string model.

James,

If I had a conversion project ahead of me and the preferred mast position favoured a high-balance sail, I would choose Slieve McGalliard’s  Split Junk Rig (SJR). Since I like to use camber in my sails, I would be worried if the mast had to sit near the max camber point, as with the Van Loan planforms  (.. however, Paul J Thompson, with his La Chica could maybe prove me wrong there). With Slieve’s SJR this problem has been solved.

If you have looked at my rigs, you will see that I have stuck to 70° yards and little balance in my sails. Originally, this was because I wanted low-balance sails, since they give minimum distortion of the camber (..and the SJR had not been invented yet...). Today the reasons have mainly been that on the projects I have had, the best mast positions (far forward) have dictated the use of such sails.

Even though I have not sailed with a SJR, I have read Slieve’s reports on it (plus reports in Practical Boat Owner), and I see no reason why it should not be good. It even is a junkrig, basically, with the sheet controlling several battens. Therefore, it will handle and reef just as easily as any other junk, without needing to tie down the battens.

In comparison, Beneteau’s experimental wing sail and Paul McKay’s AeroJunk only have their booms sheeted (right?), so will most probably need some reefing lines at the leech end for each batten. In addition, although Paul’s Aerojunk sounds and looks to have very good aerodynamic, I guess I am more confident at the sewing machine than as a mechanic, so my choice would be Slieve’s SJR: The SJR calls for some sewing challenges, but the battens are just straight tubes.

Anyway, good luck!

Arne

Regarding balanced rigs and mast placement my development of the AeroJunk showed what could be achieved and what would not work.

In general a jib of 25% of the total sailplan or 33% the size of the main is as much as is desirable. If you attempt to make the jib larger then in stronger winds the whole sailrig turns broadside to the wind - not recommended!

With the help of Jef Verhaar from Belgium I have worked out a a mathematical way to check your design.

Find the sail areas and Centres of Effort (C/E) of both the jib and the main. Measure from the Main C/E to the mast centreline in metres, multiply together with the main sail area in m2 to produce a 'Factor'. Do the same for the jib which will produce a smaller factor. Finally divide the smaller factor by the larger one. If the result is less than 0.2 the the rig will balance perfectly. If the result is 0.2 or greater then the sail will turn broadside in a F5 wind. (Use feet/inches and square feet or metres and square metres. Do not mix the two) This makes it easy to check any potential design before commiting yourself.

Best wishes to all, Paul McKay

James Hleba wrote: <sup>Ideally, if I can get a system well tuned and reliable, I would like to gut my cock pit, build an enclosure with a dome bubble hatch

I have used both a 'bubble' and a pram hood and would unhesitatingly recommend that you go fro the pram hood.  It is infinitely superior to the bubble.  If you search our site, you will find some discussions about it.

 in a position where I can run the rudder, keep watch and control the lines while under way. The main benefit of this would be better usage of the loads of empty space in the area, storage, and a little work bench to work on making new rope stropped blocks, sewing sail panels, ect. It would be great to have all my tools organized and a nice place to work on things when anchored. Also, I really like cold climates, so it would be nice to be able to sail and keep warm and dry through a storm. Thank you for all of your input. The goal of this boat is mainly for coastal cruising with maybe some small passages from Canada to Alaska for now. After I conquer that, I am sure I will need to make adjustments to my boat.</sup>

^{JJust curios is there any form of DIY DSS available? What would it be called? A sliding dagger board? Any who, I still have at least a few more months to plan everything before the weather will cooperate enough to get any work done.}