I just bought an O'Day Sprite and it doesn't have any rigging on it. Got the sails though! I am looking for any advice or knowledge for rigging or finding a manuel or anything that could give me a clew!
O'Day Sprite
- Thread starter cnarwicz
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I know that you can get a set of drawings for the SPRITE from Robert Baker Designs (Google Robert Baker) the Design Name is not Sprite, but it is described as being 10' long and designed for O'Day. The rig is pretty basic, and a good sparmaker might have the specs to build the mast and boom. If not, it ain't rocket science, I'd lay out the sails and take some measurements, then use those to estimate the mast and boom lengths. Unless you are planning to race the boat in a SPRITE-Class regatta (do they even race those one-design anymore?) it won't matter if you are not exact on spar lengths. I'll include a sketch of the Sprite rig (no dimensions though, sorry) and a few pics. D oyou know how old the boat is? Early (like late 1950s-very early 1960s) models had a wood mast, later ones had an aluminum mast, a wood mast would not be that hard to build and should work for even the newer boats. Check out old books of plans for do-it-yourself boats, any similar-sized boat will give you a starting point for making the mast and boom or at least rough dimensions to take to an aluminum mast company. I am pretty sure that many of the original SPRITE masts and booms (aluminum) were made by ZEPHYR SPARS in Wareham, MA. They are still in business (a Division of Cape Cod Shipbuilding) and have a website. They are a small shop and very friendly, the problem is that shipping to Nebraska will be a killer cost!
The SPRITE was set up to allow stepping the mast in either of two different positions, forward for sailing as a CAT (just the mainsail) of aft for sailing with the Main and jib. You could still sail without the jib with the mast stepped in the sloop position by raising the CB slightly to balance. The wooden mast boats had a slot molded into the seat for the mast and another in the forward flotation tank. The newer boats had just a shallow socket in an inner keel to step the mast in.
The SPRITE was set up to allow stepping the mast in either of two different positions, forward for sailing as a CAT (just the mainsail) of aft for sailing with the Main and jib. You could still sail without the jib with the mast stepped in the sloop position by raising the CB slightly to balance. The wooden mast boats had a slot molded into the seat for the mast and another in the forward flotation tank. The newer boats had just a shallow socket in an inner keel to step the mast in.
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