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ooh Bill, it sounds like you are going to stretch my capabilities here.

I would love to see the pattern for this sail (although i will tell you, i won't fly it while single handing the Elsie B). Maybe you could give a post of the sequence of raising and dousing the staysail through the tacking process.

I have thought about it a lot and it has me stumped. On the folding schooner, the forward corner (tack) of the staysail attaches in front of the horse for the forward Gaff. Thus a tack with the staysail set flying would be disasterous.

Cheers!
Breaux

CLBREAUX

The stay sail pushes It to a crew of 3, so you couldn't run it single handed unless thats the only sail you running.

The tack attaches about 2/3 of the way up on the foresail from the horse for the fore sail on mine tool.

This is for those really light wind days, and you get to the point that you feel the you need some excitement.
The tacking sequence when you are: Ready to Come About:

1) Ease the hailyard down a couple feet to take the tension off the leach. We have a cam cleat and a knot in the line so you just pop it off the cleat and let the knot stop in the eye.

2) Pull the clew around the main mast

3) Un clip the tack and pull it and the sail back against the main mast, making sure the clew is on the windward side of the mast. It kind of locks up this person against the main mast rather than ducking under it as it passes over, so they don't adjust the sheets so they are less busy in the tack.

4) Then, Helms Alee, as the boat starts to turn I force the main over to make it swing till the fore & jib catch and trim.

5) They reclip the tack on the windward side and pull the hallyard tight and back in the cam cleat

6) I trim the stay sail and then kick back and listen to the crew complain about how much they hate the staysail.

I don't tie off the sheets, it's one of those growing up on hobbie cat things I guess and the need to release them in sudden big gusts.

I'll work on making my drawings bigger and put in the details. Bill

On a down wind run, you need a wisker pole and rig it out like a spinaker, and clip the leach on the outside rail. Then the main dumps across to the Staysail, then back across to the Fore and jib.

pardon me for being so lubberly but when you say :

Then the main dumps across to the Staysail, then back across to the Fore and jib.

do you mean the main and the staysail are flown on the same side with the fore and jib on the other (sort of a double wing and wing)?

Cheers!
Breaux

It was getting al liitle late, I ment a double wing and wing, kind of like the one on the left. Since this is a "show me the pictures" site. I tried to fudge in the sails and was going for a close hauled set up, on the right. - bill

CLBREAUX,

I looked up your staysail, and it is quite a bit different than mine, here is both boat outlines overlaid. I put red sails on yours and for contrast I have the coppertone hull. You can see where Phil shifted my sails down a bit. I thought it was interesting. Bill

Wow Bill!

very talented man you are. it's amazing how close the sail plans are (in total area) given the what, 8ft difference in length. add the stays'l and the light schooner is definitely got her outcanvassed. Now if i was any good with numbers i'd be able to figure out the ratio of sail area to wetted surface (rough estimate of 150 sqft for the folding schooner lenghtxbeam and say 100 sqft for the light schooner).

with approximately 200 sqft of sail, pre stays'l on both that would give you a 2:1 ratio and me a 1.3:1 ratio.

my lower ratio, if i did the math right, would explain why she is not too scary to single hand. Now my first mate from last year's Texas 200 would agree with me, sailing is fine, it's stopping that's scary!

thanks for the pictures. school me where i messed up on the calculations.

cheers!
Breaux

CLBREAUX, as a you can see how low much lower my sails are I have a problem with limited visability. I don't know how Jim sails his Lite Schooner solo. i think the point is to have your rudder controls up at the main mast and have a furling jib like on Mecheng's Folding Schooner. So far, I've set up a furling jib and that is the handyist thing ever.

I had drawn a pretty accurate hull on an Auto-Cad like drawing program and it give the area every 2" section to come up with the flooded volume of the lite schooner. That only took about 10 hours to get the water weight of 6,050 lbs. (or I could have spent that time shoveling snow.) Since you mentioned the wetted surface, I went back and took the bottom area and the side depth at the water line for the wetted surface. My frames dimensions are similar except for the spacing, so I lengthed the sections from 2" to 3" spacing and that works out to get the extra 8' and fairly accurate boat lines.

So, for the lite schooner, I got: 61 ft2 of WSA and a SA/WSA ratio of 3 with a light load and 2.85 at fully loaded. For the folding schooner, eyeballing the depth at the waterline, I got: 92 ft2 of WSA and a SA/WSA ratio of ~2.2. I expected that kind of number for your hard chined, light weight sharpie hull, for what it's worth. Bill

Oops pushed the wrong button. I had to work fast in one day to make enough of a cover so I could move my boat out of the way the concrete guys starting a week early to pour my boat pad.

I only had time for the minimal number snaps along the side and didn't get to put in the stretchy waist line in fed into the seam to hug under the rail. The full side panels will have to come when there is a better chance of no rain. I was thinking of putting a strap down the center and on both sides so I could lace a elastic cord along the top to keep it taught while towing.

I forgot what a pain it is to sew that UV boat cover material on a regular sewing machine. I got all the snaps installed and a waist line.




"If you don't do it, I guess there is always watching TV".

more pix at: http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii16 ... lue_Bayou/