Convert to gaff rig?

[braol]

I was thinking about experimenting with my rig and trying to do a gaff rig on my Hunter 27. Not a permanent installation, just a fun DIY project...something I can attach/detach easily when the fancy strikes me.

I am handy with the sewing machine, so the sail presents no problem. The gaff rig isn't real efficient to weather so sail shape is less critical than with a standard Bermuda-style sail.

It also looks like I could make the gaff jaw (attachment to the mast) from hardwood myself and pad it with leather. Maybe a piece of aircraft-grade square or round aluminum tubing for the gaff boom?

If anything it would be a good project from an educational standpoint. Plus I couldn't resist having near-by boats hear me shout the command to "hoist the peak halyard!" I can almost see the red sails in the sunset.....

 

[Anonymous 121765]

BR,

One question.................................WHY?
Your boat is NOT designed for a gaff rig.

Fun is one thing, performance is another. You will be soo disappointed of the time you spent & the effort in doing so. And, what will you gain, nothing.

You have a sloop rig, that's what the boat is designed & set up for not a gaff rig. First of all, however closehaul you can get with your now setup, throw that out the window.

Do some background homework in the performance of a gaff rig first, This is for a reaching hull/rig design, not what your Hunter was designed for.

So I must now ask, why did you think this? I'm only trying to save you alot of disappointment pal.

CR

 

[bffatcat]

gaff rig ???

Normally I would say whatever floats your boat. but in this case I have to agree with captain Ron before you spend a lot of time and money think about what happened to gaff rigs that
were popular a century ago, One of the main reasons for the gaff rig was, Lack of ability to properly support a tall marconi rig. As soon as they figured it out the gaff rig rigs started to dissappear

 

[Joe]

Or you could be the envy of everyone on the lake, simply build one of these 16 footers.

http://www.woodenboatstore.com/product/plan_16_Haven_Class

 

[heritage]

Or build this one: http://www.dixdesign.com/29Retrodidi.htm

 

[Stu Jackson]

Yeah, it'd be waaay cool.

Except for your spreaders.

Think about this...

 

[braol]

Yeah, it'd be waaay cool.

Except for your spreaders.

Think about this...

I guess everyone missed the whole point at the beginning. I'm not about to do anything permanent. The whole idea would be to tinker with a winter boat project and try something classic out on the boat for fun. I have made a set of sails previously and I have enough extra sailcloth to make a gaff sail. I also have my buddy's old broken spinnaker pole with about 9 feet of good pole remaining before the 'kink' that I can use for the gaff boom. Except for the gaff saddle, which I can carve from some 3"-thick oak I have in the garage, I have all the materials/hardware. There is also a great website I found that sells lots of cool classic sailboat hardware called classicmarine.co.uk that would really be useful.
As far as the spreaders are concerned, the throat of the gaff boom only needs to go up to just below the spreaders. The gaff rigged boats never haul'd up their gaffs all the way to the maintop in the first place, so I only need to get the boom up so high.
I know that the center of effort of a gaff-rigged boat is much further back than on a sloop...but my boom isn't as long as a gaffer and it's all just for fun anyhow. I'd probably only move the center of effort of the sail back about a foot and a half...maybe 2 feet. Gaff rigged boats don't beat to weather very well either so a more aft center of effort wouldn't give any kind of horrible weather helm at the typical gaff-rig points of sail.
I hope to post some pictures here of my gaff saddle project. For durability I am going to go with an aluminum backing plate along the outer edge of the saddle where it parallels the gaff boom. This should look better than just some big fender washers.