Junk Rig (again)

[Owly055]

     I'm in the preliminary stages of deciding which boats are best suited to my desire to do long distance cruising........ world cruising.    I've never sails on a junk rig, but have been researching them for some time now and have irrevocably settled on the junk rig for a number of reasons.   The problem is finding a suitable one at an acceptable price.   Frankly I don't care what part of the world it's in, but I need to get some junk experience, and with that in mind am getting ready to build an extremely simple low cost light junk rigged catamaran to play with on lakes and such.   It will be based on two 10" diameter 20' long plastic pipes with streamlined ends fiberglassed on for a total displacement of around 850 lbs.   The "cockpit" will be made from ordinary exterior grade plywood sealed with glass and polyester resin, yoked to fit the pipes, and attached by nylon ratchet straps, easily adjustable fore and aft for optimal balance.   It will carry the centerboard.  There will be a mast tabernacle of similar construction mounted forward, and a free standing aluminum tubular mast.  This will also be adjustable fore and aft.  There will be dual rudders mounted on the aft ends of the tubes, and the entire boat will be designed to be broken down and assembled in minutes.   The sail will be made from painter's drop cloth (fabric) with glued seams, reinforced where desirable with doublers and stitching where needed, and bamboo battens.   

     That said, the reasons for my choice of junk rig are numerous.   I consider Bermuda rigs absurdly complex with lots of sail changes, and deck work, often at the worst possible moment.  Roller furlers are NOT reliable under non optimal conditions.   I'm not interested in carrying numerous head sails, and constantly piddling to get optimal balance.  That's fun on short sails, but absurd on a 3000 mile passage.   The cost of sails for a Bermuda rig is quite high..... as everybody here knows, and there are not many sailmakers in the more remote areas that interest me.   Bermuda rig sails are subject to a lot of concentrated stresses due to being sheeted from one corner, and one small tear quickly blows out an entire sail, leaving you with few options, which may be thousands of miles away, not to mention the cost.   While the junk rig sail may look complex, it is typically actually pretty simple, and the stresses are far lower, sheeted at the ends of each batten, the stresses are well divided.  There is no track with cars where the sail attaches to the mast, just simple cord batten parrels that transfer the load to the mast on one tack and pressure on the battens transfers the load on the other tack.  A tear will compromise one sail panel only rather than blowing out the entire sail.   The sails can be build from virtually any available material successfully due to the light loading, and building camber into the sail is as simple as adding darts near the luff and leach of each panel to give each panel the camber you want.   Instead of reefing in anticipation you can reef in seconds simply by letting out some sheet..... no need to climb on the cabin top and tie reefs in a wildly flapping sail.    Because of this, huge sail area can be built into a single sail, and it is not uncommon to have as much as 30-50% more sail area in a single junk rig sail than the total sail plan for the same boat with a Bermuda rig.   Sails don't flog in light air due to the battens, and tacking and gybing (jibing) are quite gentle due to the fact that the sail is partially counterbalanced due to 15%-30% being forward of the mast.      The really big winner as far as I'm concerned is the lack of standing rigging..........  A free standing mast, with no stays, shrouds, spreaders, etc.   The strength is built right into the mast, and you are not reliant on chain plates shrouds and stays to hold it up, along with the many associated pieces of hardware, the failure of any one of which can bring the mast down.  These are all highly stressed items, and the attachment points are often the sources of leaks.    A tapered aluminum keel stepped free standing mast is going to weigh more than a conventional mast........but not much more once you take all the hardware and rigging into account.

     For me this is the ONLY rig I'm interested in at this point and for my intended use.   I want a boat I can sail entirely from the cockpit in rough weather.  I'm too old to want to get doused with sea water while trying to hank on a storm jib with one hand and hang on with the other one.   Safety harnesses are a great thing...... but I don't want to go into the water at all under these circumstances, much less get dragged behind the boat for miles while trying to board a bucking pitching boat.   A Bermuda rig is a thing of beauty on a lovely warm summer day heeled over on a close reach with a main and two fore sails bulging in the wind, particularly with a crew including a couple of bikini clad babes.   But solo, at night in a sudden squall, it's an entirely different kettle of fish.

     My criteria for a junk rig blue water cruiser are not entirely set in stone, except that it be an extremely sturdy boat that will get me home.  I'd like a fairly shallow draft for obvious reasons, but that is a compromise in performance.... Shallow draft equals more leeway usually.     I'd like a beamy boat for internal space.   I'm looking in the high 20's to the low 30's for length.  I'd rather have a tiller than a wheel for the sake or reliability and simplicity.   An inboard diesel is nice in many ways, but a 4 cycle outboard gets the noisy stinking engine out of the cabin, and considering the minimal use of an engine in long passages, in some ways makes far more sense, but then you need to take into account the function of charging house batteries, etc.  Can you retrofit an outboard with a charging system adequate to justify it's occasional use for just charging house batteries, or does it make sense to have separate generating system of some kind?   The reality is that 30 amps of charging current at 12 volts amounts to less than 1/2 of one horsepower....... does it make sense to run a 15-25 horsepower diesel to do that?   Or an expensive Honda outboard?  But then running an engine occasionally is far better than not running it.
     Full keel with cutaway forefoot and keel hung rudder is probably the most desirable keel configuration as far as I'm concerned.  Deep fin keel with a free standing spade rudder is the least, a longer shallower fin with lots of weight and a skeg hung rudder is reasonable.   I like bilge keels for a number of reasons, particularly for their potential to allow the boat to dry out in areas with sufficient tidal range.  For example, I could scrape, prep, and bottom paint on some remote beach on the African coast over the course of a few days, or near Darwin, etc without having to find a place with a marine lift, or careening, not to mention being able to deal with bottom damage, rudder or prop damage.
     GRP is pretty much a given....... which means that one has to be concerned about osmosis / blistering / proper maintenance.   That means finding a boat that has been hauled out on the hard much of it's life, or been treated with a barrier coat.   Fresh water boats seem to have less of this problem, so the Great Lakes would be a good place to search out a suitable boat, and there are a number of them there that meet many of my criteria.  Virtually any boat can make a junk rig, but the big thing is being able to locate a mast forward of the normal location, which usually means right in the V berth cabin.   Can a mast step be laid in and supported properly, and is the structure above capable of being modified to support mast partners properly and distribute the loading?    I have a real dislike of liners, worse yet are liners that are structural.  They severely limit hull access internally, and cannot be securely bonded to the hull in any way that is acceptable to me.  Depending on how the liners are designed it could be necessary to cut up and remove part of a forward liner to step the mast.... Not a big deal.   Liners unfortunately are pretty much a given unless you go with really ancient boats.   
     I won't name particular models of boats that interest me............  If I listed names, you would end up scratching your head, wondering about the diversity of design and features.   Some appeal to me for one reason, and some for another.   Some have almost nothing in common.  One might be a small extremely sturdy boat with good performance and stability, another might be an extremely beamy boat, another might have a deeper draft than I want, but other characteristics of interest.   What I'm learning rapidly is that I can't get everything I want in one boat........ It just isn't the nature of boats!     Currently there is a good solid junk rig boat in a remote location already set up the way I want at a price I can afford (depending on how much needs to be done).   I'm not ready to buy yet and it won't be there when I am.  It has only one liability.  A deeper draft than I really want, though not excessive (a bit under 5').    It has bilge keels...... OK with me as I mentioned, and with classic British backwardness, the galley is on the wrong end (forward).   I can live with that, though I feel that the galley and head should both be at the bottom of the companionway.   


                                                      H.W.

[CapnK]

Though I've long read about the simplicity & ease of use of the junk rig, I have yet to sail one. If they work as advertised, no wonder the owners love them. :D Your boat build sounds interesting. More or less like the "PVC catamaran" on YouTube.

[CharlieJ]

I've sailed aboard a junk rig. Very easily handled, quick to reduce sail. Great off the wind- needs a bit of sail stuff to get upwind well. But then who wants to cruise upwind anyway?

A quick story

aboard as 30 footer, steel hull, St Johns river.., Running dead before, full sail, aproaching a bridge, me steering.

I asked owner-can we clear that bridge? He replies- nope

we are getting closer, and closer and JUST before I hauled her up to weather, he walks to the break of the cabin, loosens the halyard, and drops 3 panels, which brings the sail lower than the mast head

We slide under with feet to spare, and he turns, grins,, and says- But the mast will!! And re hoists the sail.  Just that easily:)

[ralay]

You don't joke about bridge clearances.  But that is a devilishly hilarious story. 

Is it possible to retrofit a junk rig or do you plan to buy one designed with that rig? 

[Owly055]

You don't joke about bridge clearances.  But that is a devilishly hilarious story. 

Is it possible to retrofit a junk rig or do you plan to buy one designed with that rig?

     Retrofit is the way to go.  There are few available on the used market and those are virtually all converted from  Bermudas.    The big issue with conversion is that you must move the mast forward.    The mast is almost always an unstayed mast that is keel stepped.   This means building a mast step and partners where it passes through the coach roof or deck.   The gaff rigged catboat conversion shown in another thread here has a mast located about where you want a junk mast.    The sail area of a junk sail is usually as much or more than the total sail plan originally on the boat.   Virtually instant reefing makes this possible.  With modern cambered panel junk rig sails, efficiency is fairly high..... comparable to a Bermuda rig.   The battens reduce the load on the sail cloth to the extent that you can use rather light sailcloth, and the sheeting system from the end of each batten picks up a significant portion of the load reducing actual mast loading to less than one might expect.   
     There is a Macwester 27 junk rigged sitting in Tenrife that is for sale cheaply enough that I would be tempted to look into it, but I'm not yet ready to do serious shopping.  When I'm ready to "pull the trigger", I won't care much where in the world a boat is if it meets my criteria, and surveys out well.   This one was converted by Sunbird, and is brokered by Sunbird, about the only company that actively converts boats to junk rigs, located off the Solent in the Southampton area.

                                                          H.W.

[ralay]

I understand the benefits.  Someone gave us Annie  Hill's book when we moved onto our first boat.  I was more asking what would be involved in moving the mast.  It seems like most boats are designed around having the mast inna particular spot and have bulkheads and what not positioned accordingly.  Our last two boats have been deck-stepped with a tabernacle, so I don't know as much about how a keel-stepped mast is tied in. 

As a side note, it is nice to have a mast on a tabernacle.  It sounds like you're interested in having a rig that's going to be easy to service out in the distant parts of the world.  A mast with a  tabernacle could be raised and lowered without a crane.  We lowered and raised our 45' mast with block and tackle.  We had a bilge keeler with a draft less than 3' and a tabernacle that would have allowed one to get at the bottom or the top without a railway, lift, or crane.  But if you're set on a junk rig, keel-stepped it is.

If you haven't seen it already, the junk rig association has a for sale section dedicated to junk rig boats and parts for sale.

[Owly055]

     I'm familiar with the JRA, and have read a lot / most of their material.  I haven't found my boat there yet. 

     Moving a mast is a major undertaking, as supporting structure must be built both at the keel and deck or cabin top.   With modern boats that have liners, the situation is further complicated.  Locating the mast step in reference to internal hull structure, and structure above is the challenge.   A number of people have built a poured concrete structure for the mast step with good success as opposed to fiberglassing wood or other material to the interior of the hull.  I think this is an excellent solution as it distributes the weight and forces well to adjacent areas.   In most cases the optimal mast location will end up forward of the typical head location / in the V berth area.   In any case there will be some fabrication to ensure that there is sufficient structure to carry loads outward in all directions and distribute them properly.   Unlike a stayed mast, there is very little vertical load.

     The location of a junk rig mast is not carved in stone, and sail area can be juggled with more or less forward of the mast to keep the center of effort in an optimal relationship to the center of lateral resistance.   The forward portion can range as high as 30%, but is generally less, and of course the mast can be raked foreward or aft as Annie Hill did.

     I'm with you on tabernacles............ and have thought a lot about how to build a tabernacle of sufficient strength for an unstayed mast.   There is no question that it can be done.  Nothing quite compares to a single monolythic one piece mast for integrity.  As most junk rig conversions utilize a tapered aluminum municiple light pole, I've thought about a mating taper system so the upper portion lifts off a lower stub, with the shallow taper ratio, it would probably lock on like a morse taper, and in a moist salty environment electrolysis would be a problem.  The boom on a junk rig is generally fairly high, leaving a fair amount of height from deck level to the boom level for a tabernacle.

     45' is a lot of mast........I'd hate to try to climb that is rough seas, particularly on a junk rig where you can't have steps.  ;-(

                                                               H.W.

I understand the benefits.  Someone gave us Annie  Hill's book when we moved onto our first boat.  I was more asking what would be involved in moving the mast.  It seems like most boats are designed around having the mast inna particular spot and have bulkheads and what not positioned accordingly.  Our last two boats have been deck-stepped with a tabernacle, so I don't know as much about how a keel-stepped mast is tied in. 

As a side note, it is nice to have a mast on a tabernacle.  It sounds like you're interested in having a rig that's going to be easy to service out in the distant parts of the world.  A mast with a  tabernacle could be raised and lowered without a crane.  We lowered and raised our 45' mast with block and tackle.  We had a bilge keeler with a draft less than 3' and a tabernacle that would have allowed one to get at the bottom or the top without a railway, lift, or crane.  But if you're set on a junk rig, keel-stepped it is.

If you haven't seen it already, the junk rig association has a for sale section dedicated to junk rig boats and parts for sale.