Mast and sail questions?

[Bill Huson]

Darling daughter wishes to build a small catamaran. I have plans for a 14' Pixie and a 16' Quattro, the Pixie being her first choice as it can be car topped. I plan to build wood spars, and think a two-piece mast would make the rig more portable.

Question: Figure a one-third/two-thirds mast split. Is it better to make the joint 1/3 up from the step, or 2/3 up from the step?

Next up, sails. Will sail tape hold panels together on a small rig?

Need input here as my previous boat building experience was stock outboard racing hydroplanes - go fast, turn left - no sails, and I'm still assembling a list of definitions and descriptions of sailboat terminology, which is as confusing as a British car manual lingo.

[Woxbox]

That's a stayed rig, correct? If so, I"d put the joint right in the middle to keep stowing the parts simple. Otherwise higher is better because there will be a little less bending force up there, but on that boat probably not a significant issue.

I won't touch the taped sail question. Way too quarrelsome a subject around here. And please don't ask about polytarp.

[Ray Frechette Jr]

Tarp sails are a great way to get out on the water when you didn't put your order in to the sailmaker in time.

Also a great way to get out on the water if budget won't allow Dacron sails right off.

I see no reason to denigrate them. Better to be on the water sailing with tarp sails than sitting on shore wishing you were out there.

[wtarzia]

Tarp sails ... I see no reason to denigrate them. Better to be on the water sailing with tarp sails than sitting on shore wishing you were out there.

--- Hear him, hear him! I love my new dacron sails, but in my post-divorce environment, if I had waited until I could afford them, I would have lost some years of sailing time. Instead, I made crappy tarp sails (I was not confident enough to try sail design) and I sailed. I couldn't get much above a close reach, but what the hell, I left the ramp under sail and I returned under sail, and I enjoyed life.

And.... you can also make noncrappy tarp sails with a little preparation and help, until you can get The Blessed Dacron.

Think of tarp sails as having a historical experience in poorer sail performance. Re-live the 19th century until you can afford the 21st! People go to museums for things like that ;-)

Also consider that you can buy used sails fairly cheaply, but whether they are better than well-designed tarp sails is something that can be answered only on a case by case basis. -- Wade

[Bill Huson]

Yes, a stayed rig. A joint in the middle sounds good. My thoughts on keeping the joint low are unless I get jiggy with lightweight composites the joint will add weight and high weight is bad. The joint will make a stiff spot on the mast, and I figure a bendy top will allow the sail to spill sudden puffs and maybe save a few splashdowns during the learning curves of catamaran operation.

No polytarp. We're thinking making a dacron sail, or using/modifying a salvaged sail rig. Good wood - 4mm Okume - will eat up the budget so new sails are on hold for the future. If the Pixie turns out to be fun, we'll probably build the 16' Quattro with a good rig, but for now a boat (Quattro) that has twin trapezes and a buncha go-fast features is a bit much for a newbie.

Of course before the Pixie I must finish the 9' cedar strip dingy I'm building. She's all closed up and in the scrape & sand phase.

[ahp]

I don't like the idea of a two piece mast at all. I owned a Hobie16, which has a 26 ft aluminum mast. If the Pixie is 14 ft, the mast will be about 20 ft, maybe 22 ft. If stayed, and has the right fitting at the step you can raise it easily. The key is the right fitting at the step. Go look at some Hobie 16's and better yet see how they raise their masts.

[ahp]

Regarding car topping, what is you vehicle? With a normal sized vehicle a 22 ft mast should not be a problem. I used to car top a 16 ft Oldtown canoe on an old '38 Chevy with nothing more than a blanket between the canoe and the roof.

[Bill Huson]

The designer (Richard Woods) preferred rig for the Pixie is a rotating mast. I figure the mast step to be pin and socket with a delrin(?) washer unless I can score salvage parts. It is about 20 feet tall, and my daughter's vehicle is a Honda CRV - somewhat small. I'm not fond of a sectioned mast either, but a 20' stick would hang out a ways on a CRV. Course it won't be going far. This is coastal Carolina and one can hardly travel a few miles in any direction without falling into the water. Life is good for a buncha boat nuts like us :)

[Todd Bradshaw]

No, sail tape (even the $20 per roll super tapes) will not hold a sail like that together from Dacron. There are simply too many highly-stressed points (and what should be heavily reinforced points) on a sail of that type for it to work. Plan on doing a lot of sewing. Nothing horribly complex or demanding, but there is really no way to avoid most of it with adhesive stuff.

Also keep in mind that cartopping a catamaran and having to load, unload, assemble and disassemble it, while possible, is a pain in the butt that gets old really fast. In the long run, most people get an awful lot more use out of them with a trailer.

[floatingkiwi]

I got some sails if you want them.They are from an Ohlsen 30.
I cannot use them on my folkboat. I don't think.

[ahp]

Rotating masts, with a teardrop cross section, and full width battens make a very efficient sail. A cat's sail, ideally, should be cut flatter than more conventional boats, and an iceboat even flatter.

[Thorne]

I think that most trailered cats carry the mast on the boat on the trailer, so the length of the mast may not be as big of an issue even with a small car towing.

Check out www.baconsails.com and other online used sail resellers -- great deals on good quality sails that should fit without expensive modifications if you are lucky.

[Bill Huson]

Good input, all - thank you. Tentative plan is to build a wood mast, box or birdsmouth, using pine or WR cedar, or whatever suitable wood specie I find that *speaks*spar to me. As in clear, even grained and not pricey.

Sails? Methinks daughter has a line on a used set we can adjust to fit the sail plan. If we need to make sails the clews and edges would be sewn, panels taped. On a small rig like the Pixie rig, I figure tape will hold long enough to see if the sail has a decent shape, and we can always peel and retape the panels to adjust the shape.

Be more'n a month before this project gets underway. SWMBO allows one boat under construction at a time, and I have a dingy to finish. Reminds me - must figure out the photo post for this forum andpost pics of the stripwood dingy. 124 strips!

[Thorne]

Here’s how to post photos on this forum:

First - don’t attach photos. Most web forums don’t allow it, and space limitations are the main reason why.

Second - Instead of attaching them to a thread, post the pics on the web somewhere. You have a free website area with any paid ISP’s email account, or use www.picturetrail.com or other free hosting service.

Once posted on the web, right-click the image to copy the URL (web address). Always test first by pasting the image URL into the window of a web browser and see if the image displays.

Remember, the IMAGE URL will end in .jpg, not .htm or html. URLs ending in .htm are the page that the image is at, not the image location itself. If the image URL ends in other code, try deleting everything after the “xxxxxx.jpg” part of the URL to get it to display on web forums.

Third - once posted on the web, try this procedure while logged in to this Forum:

1. Click the “User CP” link in the browser window in the top left of the menu bar.

2. Click the “Edit Options” link about 1/4 of the way down the left column.

3. In the “Misc Options” at the bottom of the next page, select “Enhanced Interface” from the pulldown list.

4. Once this interface has been selected, in any “Reply” window you can click the “insert photo” icon --> a little yellow square icon with the stamp in the upper right corner, the mountains in the lower center.

5. Once the little dialog box titled “Please enter the URL of your image” comes up, paste the URL of the photo in the field.

If unsure of the procedure, test first by pasting the image URL into the window of a web browser.