for a coastal cruising sailboat that's inexpensive and easy to build, it's hard to beat the "sharpie" type hull. Bill Gale at the helm of ‘Rana’ Photo: Dale Wahren, SASC For 25 years I was the only gaffer Shopping around a little, I got a screaming deal on some 7/16” Validator II line from Samson, which is Vectran with a poly cover. Therefore, if a double berth ri… Generally speaking, that implies a fabricated rather than a cast saddle, and it also favours one or other type of steel as opposed to say bronze. Gaff A gaff rig is named for the extra spar, called a gaff, which is raised with the sail and results in a four-sided mainsail (and/or mizzen). Note the thimbles on the stay’sl through which the halyard descends to a turning block on deck. originally developed in … By the time I had eight hoops my fingers were pretty sore (it took a few days), but all of them together had cost what just one oak one would. Also, Dux has to be sized large enough to negate the molecular “creep” it suffers under a certain load—it’s less than the creep of plain Dyneema, but still a factor. To recap that information, the luff is that vertical portion of the sail that is nearest the mast, and the leech is the vertical portion farthest away from the mast. The schooner is a type of sailing vessel having a foremast and mainmast, with or without other masts, and having fore-and-aft sails on all lower masts. The thinking at that time had to do primarily with the ability to manage sail area. However, the gaff rig’s greatest pull is probably its classic appearance. Modern gaff rigged trailer sailer. To douse the jib we simply turn enough downwind to blanket it with the mainsail, then ease the halyard and gather it onto the deck as it descends. Many sleek, more modern yachts built as recently as 2007 are available from professional yacht dealers and brokerages around the world. We decided to put a gaff rig on Ganymede for several reasons. Description, photographs and drawings of Hout Bay 50 steel multi-chine cruising The slots in the fittings “key” into the edges of the extrusion. The bowsprit is hinged on the foredeck so that it can be folded aft to reduce berthing length.The mast can be set in a tabernacle to allow the mast to be lowered for low bridges or to access canal systems such as those that form a … The tack of the jib is fitted with a toggle that attaches quickly and securely to a loop spliced in the traveller. Mary’s hitching with turk’s heads aloft and alow. At the upper end of the lowers and cap shrouds I made leathered soft eyes, which go around the whole mast and eliminate shackles and thimbles. The latter would have required a long and expensive extrusion; my mast was an aluminum light pole (6” OD, 3/16” wall thickness, forty feet long), that cost $700 delivered. The rigging for the main gaff was a little tricky to figure out. Since they must be made big enough around to easily slide up and down, they can’t be made to hold the sail as close in to the mast as slugs or slides in a track would. The forward sail is called the yankee and the one slightly behind it is the staysail. The stay’sl’s turning block attaches to the stemhead with a toggle: it can be easily removed and stowed aft out of the way of foredeck work, like anchoring. Historically, it was a smallish single-masted, decked sailcraft designed for speed rather than capacity.As such, it was gaff-rigged, with two or more headsails and often a bowsprit of some length, with a mast sometimes set farther back than on a sloop. Among other advantages it allows for a superior They’re also useful to protect a soft shackle where a block’s metal shackle would chafe it. So Ganymede’s rig, though old-fashioned looking from afar, is really quite cutting-edge—alloy and composite spars, synthetic rope rigging, soft shackles—all of which allow me to have a very light-weight, easily handled rig that doesn’t need halyard winches and still spreads 20 square feet of mainsail more than Bermudian-rigged Cape George 31’s do with masts twelve feet taller. Danielle’s dad does a lot of weed cutting with a heavy-duty string trimmer, and has spools of heavy plastic line lying all over the place. Most original gaff riggers are much more expensive and have wood hulls (I'm not adverse to wood but would prefer FG. Having the traveller eliminates the need for ever going out on the bowsprit end, with all the jibnets and railings and platforms that involves, all of which are horribly cluttery on the bows of a boat. John Leather noted naval architect himself and prolific writer on marine matters considered Arthur Payne to be second to none in the design of fast cruising and racing yachts - the equal of William Fife and GL Watson and ahead of Joseph Soper in this regard - and JAVELIN rightly fits into this category. A third is that Ganymede’s hull, a full-displacement, long keel sort, is eminently suited to such a rig. If extra tension is needed, the fall can be lead to a sheet winch. Boats, especially fibreglass ones, have a long intrinsic lifespan – there are still … What’s a gaff rig? Make an eye on one end dimensioned to fit snugly about the large cleat fixed on the front of the mast. PBO and carbon fiber weren’t even options due to cost and availability issues, and now that we have synthetics, there’s no excuse to use any kind of metal rope for boat rigging. The mahogany woodwork is impeccable and finished bright. Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the gaff.Because of the size and shape of the sail, a gaff rig will have running backstays rather than permanent backstays. The latter would have required a long and expensive extrusion; my mast was an aluminum light pole (6” OD, 3/16” wall thickness, forty feet long), that cost $700 delivered. Properly designed, the modern gaff rig has a lower heeling moment than a modern high-aspect main. The new Vectran shrouds are fitted to the mast and loosely lashed at their lower ends before standing up the stick. Everything as it should be. These rigs weren’t so wonderful upwind, so when the bermuda rig was introduced, with their efficiency and simplicity, the gaff rig fell out of favor. Gaff rig[1] is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the gaff. The gaff rig and the Bermudan are the two major rigs today. Varnished wooden boom, gaff and bowsprit. This site is devoted to her anf the pleasures of sailing and living aboard her. It works splendidly though, especially since the two-part Vectran halyard can be set up bar-tight by leading the fall around the rope drum of the windlass. In theory they could, but the sideways thrust from the gaff, which takes a significant compression load,  would put a frightful strain on the gooseneck. They exude beauty and carry with them a spirit that is unique and distinct. Looking closely at other boats with galvi chainplates and hardware, I’m convinced that steel is an inferior metal for use at sea, especially in the tropics, and every effort should be made to use bronze when possible, aluminum where practical, and stainless steel where the other two won’t do. I made one or two like that, but much prefer my own version, which is to splice a toggle to one end of a line, then splice a loop in the other end which tightly accomodates the toggle. For example, just as with a traditional gaff rig, one will be handling soft Dacron lines and multi-part tackles rather than harsh stainless wire and mechanical winches. There is something so undeniably dignified and stalwart about a fully rigged, gaff-rigged sailboat making its way. Decide on which side the rigging lines will fall as you lower the mast. Gaff rig - has a four-sided mainsail, the head of the mainsail is guided by a gaff Lateen rig - has a three-sided (triangular) mainsail on a long yard The Bermuda is the most used, the gaff is a bit old-fashioned, and the lateen rig is outdated (about a thousand years). At the bowsprit end, leathered soft eyes on bolsters, the lifelines outboard, and the jib traveller on an Antal Low-friction ring. Like the ketch rig, gaff rig lovers will say that the configuration produces less heel, a more comfortable sail, better balance and more choices for reefing in heavier winds. A long soft shackle, made from a scrap of old vectran rigging, makes a handsome tyer for the stay’sl. The gaff, also, is a piece of aluminum tubing, and the saddle I made out of carbon fiber, epoxy and aluminum bar stock. True, upwind efficiency might not match that of a Bermudan rig, but modern gaffers have been known to give ‘pointy-sail’ boats of similar size a run for their money. While this may seem somewhat heretical at first, there is no arguing the fact that no one wants a mast in the middle of their double berth...! The mast hoops provide an easy an quick way to get aloft as long as the sail is up. Feb 22, 2020 - Plans for gaff-rigged sailboats for amateur or professional boatbuilders. The drawings in the plans got me most of the way there, but I did end up consulting some additional resources. They might also speak of the practicality of being out at sea and having the ability to make repairs to a a part of the rig with plenty of rig still intact and operational. The main mast of a brig is the aft one. Tom Cunliffe’s book “Hand, Reef and Steer”. In the model version,in this case used on an rc foiler, the gaff is a solid piece of extruded carbon. While the gaff rig never went away, I believe it is poised to make a huge gain in popularity, especially among those who want an easy, inexpensive, low-maintenance, reliable and powerful rig. The string trimmer line is woven into a loose sort of Turk’s head. Vectran, on the other hand, remains static once the constructional stretch has been got out. The use of round thimbles eliminates possible chafe spots. Ganymede’s headsails are set flying; that is, not hanked to any stay. The rig just suits her look, far more than a tall, multiple-spreader Bermudian would. Now some gaffer sailors are also wooden boat purists—they wouldn’t dream of a gaff mast that wasn’t a knotty tree trunk, or a boom not adzed out of a solid spruce tree. Douglas Fir topmast made by Collars in 2011. There’s a world of new materials out there just waiting to be incorporated into the best ideas of the past, and together the results could be amazing. In short, those shrouds needed no replacement. Her combination of traditional gaff rig and modern underbody gave her performance and helm response which surprise most who sail on her. For windward work in light winds, one hoisted a gaff topsail (See Fig.1). Bill Gale at the helm of ‘Rana’ Photo: Dale Wahren, SASC. She is a good reaching boat but, unlike many gaff riggers, she is powerful to windward as well. Stainless steel standing rigging to external bronze chain plates. Properly designed, the modern gaff rig has a lower heeling moment than a modern high-aspect main. Dux was only available from specialty dealers, whereas Vectran could be bought from Port Supply, with an additional full-spool discount. By: Pat Reynolds Sailboat Rigs, Sailboats. They carried gaff rig, whereas in modern usage, a Bermuda sloop excludes any gaff rig. Our line of modern cat-rigged models (dubbed “A New Breed of Catboat”) offer the ultimate in trailer-sailing ease and rig set up. I hope to post some pictures here of my gaff saddle project. Gaff rigged boats are generally less efficient at sailing upwind. Modern sloops dominated the scene and continue to do so, but during the 1960s, folks began to say, “actually gaff rigs are kind of cool,” and there was something of a resurgence based on a love for history and the beauty of the rig. 7,000 miles later, on the opposite coast, I changed to Colligo Marine aluminum deadeyes, partly because I was convinced the gaff rig was worth keeping, partly because I could afford them at last (the whole boatload cost me about $1200), and partly because the turnbuckles, although US made and of very good quality, were suffering from rust after two years of tropical cruising. Even though I had lubed the threads heavily with Lanocote, the galvanized steel didn’t get along well with the bronze chainplates, and some of them were well-nigh seized. The gaff rig was the standard manner of rigging a sailboat a century ago and before. Modern race boats have what they call a "square head mainsail" and which by any other name is in fact modern gaff rig. Gaff rig is within the scope of the WikiProject Sailing, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Sailing. Perfect time for a rig inspection! It took some research to figure out shroud materials. Rig . A gaff rig employs a spar on the top of the sail and typically other sails can be set in conjunction with that mainsail with the gaff. Still, I like our new shrouds, and being more confident in their suitableness and durability I took the time to decorate the throats of the splices with fancy work—St. Being that I did have a round, straight section available, mast hoops had to be come up with. Wanting to keep the cost of the rig down, in case it shouldn’t suit after all, I used galvanized turnbuckles from the hardware store that cost $25 each. The gaff rig takes advantage of high aspect sails having short gaffs, and all aluminum spars. Even worse were the shackles directly in contact with the bronze chainplates. This allows a fore and aft sail of a larger area, than that of a Bermudan sailing rig, to be hung from a mast of similar height. The flying headsails have two advantages over hank-ons. A gaff is a spar, or a strong pole. Galvanised rigging is used for the gaff rig versions, further reducing costs. Gaff rigged trailerable, centerboarded 18-20' daysailer Gaff Rigged Cutter Motorsailer Boat 27' chessie flyer - gaff rigged sharpie ketch-boatdesign, Chessie flyer. High-peaked gaff rig of the Cape Charles 32. See more ideas about sailboat plans, sailboat, gaff. This is a very tall mast, certainly taller than her original working boat mast but allowing her to set the sail which gives her her reputation for speed. The sails weren’t made of the lightweight synthetics of today and there was solid logic involved in dividing the sail plan into pieces for the purposes of balancing and reefing in strong winds. One method of setting a stay’sl flying is detailed in Tom Cunliffe’s book “Hand, Reef and Steer”, and while trying to replicate it from memory, I got it all backwards and ended up with my own way. Yet other classes such as the Belfast Lough Island class yawls changed to Bermudan rig in the 1930s, but in Dublin Bay the honour of the gaff rig was stubbornly carried until 1963 by the Dublin Bay 21s, when after sixty years of None of these things are modern inventions (in ancient times these “Low Friction Rings” would have been called “Lizards,” and a “Cascading Block System” would have been simply a “Spanish Burton”), but they’re very old, very reliable and simple technology done in lighter, stronger modern materials. An optimum combination of the modern… Very useful things, and I’ve retained many in service, but have mostly phased them out of the rig in favor of something better: soft shackles and toggles. The Overview page includes the parts of the sail, and that information won't be repeated in detail here. It used a modern carbon fiber mast & gaff that was controllably fixed into place - allowing controlled gaff … In other words, it has *less* weight aloft (the rig has a lower vcg, and a lower ce.) It would have to be engineered pretty heavily. With regard to the construction of the saddle itself, there are two things to aim for. That’s a function not only of rig developments, such as high-peak gaffs and, in some instances, carbon spars, but also of the hulls beneath the rigs. Mystery – A modern Classic It was a long winter, so I also made a whole new set of mast hoops, taking more care to get them all even and pretty. In sailing, a full-rigged brig is a vessel with two square rigged masts (fore and main). Sure, it was bright blue, and one size bigger than my original rigging, but at 63 cents per foot, too good to pass up. Slab reefing boom from Collars in 2011. All new spars I have had both, like both. ‘Cherub’, ‘Ranger’ class replaced her very modern Bermudian rig with a modern gaff, she is faster with this, particularly in strong winds. How shall we choose among them? After wrapping the weedwacker line with vinyl tape, it gets serviced over with 1/8″ nylon heading twine. Though in the dark ages of a decade or so ago it may have been the best option, there’s so many issues involved with fittings, crevice corrosion, weight aloft, chafe, difficulty of splicing and cost, that it’s wonderful that we can now safely move away from all that. Chione T is the name of a gaff cutter - a Tradewind 25. The keel is a NACA foil shape for maximum lift and minimum drag. modern gaff rig Yard Upwind is traditionally not where gaffers are at their best, but the right sail trim makes a big difference Getting to grips with gaff T here’s no question about it: modern gaffers are go. After 7500 miles, mostly in the tropics, the 5/8″ galvanized turnbuckles were showing rust. Gaff cutter rig on a deck stepped varnished Douglas Fir mast. Another reason to choose Vectran was that it can be bought with a polyester cover to keep off the sun,  which is a killer to synthetics. Traditional look running rigging Ash blocks. The main throat halliard holds the main gaff up, right at the mast. They are living reminders of where technology was and the importance of solid craftsmanship that existed at that time. But that doesn't mean it will work well on a "modern" hull shape, and is unlikely to work with an existing rig. Today, gaff rigs are still around, sailed by sailors who love what they represent and some that swear by their sailing capabilities. BELOW DECKS Below decks Gaff rig usually goes along with a hull developed along with it and just as a tall modern rig is a poor fit for many traditional boats designed for gaff rigs, so also a gaff rig is not usually suitable for a hull designed for something else. One is that the stay is not pulled sideways when sailing hard, but is dedicated solely to keeping the mast upright. It is because of the gaff saddle or jaws, and the hoops, that a gaffer’s mast must be a round straight section: no taper (which rules out using most flagpoles as a mast), and no oval-shaped or box-section (which rules out re-purposing a bermudian mast). I've received lots of questions about handling a gaff rig, enough to make a separate video on the subject. One of the most distinctive features of gaffers is the series of hoops that keep the luff of the sail close to the mast. 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Was and the gaff rig hasn ’ t had the advantage is the staysail peak… Feb,... Gaff-Rigged sailboat making its way sail is called the yankee and the importance of solid craftsmanship that at! These are the basic configurations rig adapted from fishing boats, I opted for that instead ( ). Agatha might well define the term modern classic modern gaff rig 5/8″ galvanized turnbuckles were showing rust t stop there holds. Slots in the jib is fitted with a classic feel would chafe it each has its advantages, but dedicated! The development that has gone through some changes through the main modern gaff rig 32 ft!