Changes yet again

The Look Astern and Other Changes

The stern on the original design was also quite complicated. It had a motor well for the outboard which could be sealed off when the motor was not fitted by a plate which was held in place by a bungee cord attached top a removable curved piece that fit into two slots in the side of the well. The space on either side of the well was for storage and flotation.

So in the new version the transom is flat across and the well is eliminated. And an electric trolling motor is fitted through a PVC tube right aft of the dead wood. The original also had a leeboard which in the new version I've traded for a centreboard.

Because all the spars had to fit into the hull for rowing they were quite short which constricted the sail area. It was about 49 sqft, a boomless standing lug sail, with sheets led to each quarter. There were no permanent stays or shrouds.

This is the new design with the old rig.

The previous design was more row, motor, sail. In the new design I wanted more emphasis on the sail and less on the motor so I increased the sail area to 80 sqft keeping the the same foot and yard as in the old sail which means that the mast is now some 17 ft tall which might require stays and shrouds. So here we have the new rig. You'll notice that the centreboard is located in exactly the same place as with the old rig. But, because of the shifted centre of effort of the sail, it is deeper.

The sheets also had to be beefed up a bit given the increase in sail area.

We'll look at the interior arrangement next time and that will determine how we can lay out the shrouds and stays or even if we need to use them.