Skerry (CLC) rig options

[rmiller3]

My son (age 14) and I are very seriously considering building the Skerry from Chesapeake Light Craft. We are first time boat builders, but lifelong sailors. The hull seems pretty, and capable, enough. And would meet our purpose. And the CNC kit should make completion fairly straight-forward.
Holding us back is the rig. My son will not be satisfied with a marginal sailboat. (Me too.) To my eye, the rig is also much less attractive than the ship.
Today's master plan, then, is this:
Build the lovely rig from the Whilly (Iain Oughtred) instead. Love that sliding gunter (high peaked gaff if you prefer). Build the mast step as per the Whilly plans. Place it at the proper location for CE in the Skerry. Lots of advantages, including ability to fly 20 square feet more sail, or shorten sail, as needed.
So...question: How crazy is this idea?
Thanks.
Robert and Daniel

[Steve Paskey]

I'm no expert, but it sounds perfectly sensible to me. And I agree that the squarish sprit sail on the Skerry is unsightly -- what were they thinking?

If you look at the photos of the Skerry, you'll note that the mast step for the rig is located right at one of the frames, which forms a bulkhead for the watertight compartment at the bow.

I would expect that the larger rig would need to be placed farther forward -- if that's true, you'll probably need to add additional structure for support.

Before I went ahead with the change, I'd want to see the plans and figure out exactly where the mast step for the new rig should be, to make sure that the placement will work and there are no unexpected complications.

[ 09-08-2003, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: Steve Paskey ]

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

"...what were they thinking?"

I'll tell you what: they weren't!

Such a graceful looking hull. Then the rig. Looks like an afterthought - just stuck on. Sad, really. If you tried to make it less attractive with a rig you would fail. I have nothing against CLC at all. In fact, I nearly bought the Skerry myself but as I would only use it for sailing... well, the look of it kept causing my upper lip to curl, ala Elvis.

In contrast take a gander at any of Oughtred's designs. The whole package just simply goes together. It never occurs to you, "Oh, there is the hull and then, yes, the rig." On the contrary I find myself just marveling at the sheer art of his boats.

I would encourage you to modify the Skerry just as you desire. Honestly, there is not a question that will go unanswered on this forum. These folks bailed me out repeatedly and are more than generous with their knowlege.

If nothing else they are willing to empathize with you when the unexpected happens. Like when the horde of ladybugs descended upon my upturned hull just as the final coat of epoxy was setting up and I was off at work. You can imagine my, um... ahem... well, reaction upon returning home! And yet I felt much better upon viewing the photo that another forumite posted of the same scenario, but with a twist. Seems this boatbuilder returned home after work to find a lizard as a permanent hood ornament on the curing hull!!!

[ 09-08-2003, 10:12 PM: Message edited by: Captain Pre-Capsize ]

[Ben Fuller]

Actually they were thinking. The 60 sq feet or so in the rig is plenty for inexperienced sailors on a somewhat tippy hull. The high foot keeps the sail out of people heads, and still allows them to see ahead.

A traditional Delaware ducker rig is about right for this boat. Low at the tack, high at the clew and very high peaked sprit. You can do it under 60 sq feet as the gunning rig, the winter rig or get a bit more creative with another 2 feet in the mast and sprit and close to 80 feet in the sail. The melonseed rig that is on the production ones is pretty much like this except that Roger Crawford uses a horizontal sprit instead of a boom. Self vanging at the expense of a topping lift that brails boom and sprit up in neat bundle against the mast.

[Todd Bradshaw]

We had a good bull session about the boat and it's stock rig when it first came out. See:
http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=002027

If you can find a solid place to put the mast (which would need to come back a fair amount) I think you could change to a Whilly-style gunter sloop rig, though I'm not very fond of purposely overpowering the boat and expecting to reef a gunter sail. I don't have a picture of the hull handy, but don't believe it's very convieniently set-up for hiking-out and gunters can be difficult enough to build with good shape under full sail - planning on reefing a lot just makes the rig harder to design, will probably throw off the balance and makes heavy air performance a big question mark. It's probably a better idea to scale it down closer to the boat's original sail area. You will gain more complexity with a gunter sloop than you would have with a sprit or lug, but I'm not sure you will actually gain much of anything else. It depends on your definition of performance. It may point slightly higher and might do slightly better in really light air, but those things are by no means guaranteed and it may not be any faster.

[imported_Steven Bauer]

I've got an idea - build the Whilly boat!

http://www.duckflatwoodenboats.com/pictures/oughtred/whillyboat2.jpg

http://www.duckflatwoodenboats.com/pictures/oughtred/whillyboat4.jpg

http://www.duckflatwoodenboats.com/pictures/oughtred/whillyboatstudy.jpg

I'm helping my 13 year old build Iain's Elf, a very similar size to the Whilly. Just go for it - lots of beginners have built Iain's boats.

Steven

[Gavin Atkin]

I agree with Steve Paskey and others about the Skerry's rig. I think it can be quite difficult to make a small sail look good on a slender boat. In this case, though, I wonder if what spoils it more than anything is the height of the boom: if it could have been designed lower, the boat would look better and a larger sail area might well also have been possible - and that too would improve its looks.

Gavin Atkin

[Matt J.]

The Whilly is much prettier than the CLC Skerry... I can't decide what it is about the skerry that I don't like, but there's something cheap about it. I've seen it at the shows and at the shop, and I just think it looks like a knockoff Norwegian boat; however, the Whilly boat, similar in design, looks more faithful to the original. Not trying to dump on someone's pick, but I would consider the Whilly before the Skerry anyday.

Apparently the SKerry was John H.'s idea for an ideal boat for a Watertribe Challenge, and perhaps there's more of a function in the boat than a form. I'd think the Whilly would be even better there as well. Doesn't look difficult to build either. IMOOO, and I'm a long time fan of CLC, I think they've got some boats that they really nailed (older generally) (and some they've flubbed).

Either way, it'd be a fun boat whatever you build.

[Ben Fuller]

Pete Culler used to preach it because he'd looked at a lot of traditional boats: the tack needs to be low and the peak high to make spritsail rigs pretty. That what the traditional duckers did. It also works better, longer luff length less twist.