Henry Felber (my neighbor and sailing friend) and I put Tattoo thru her sea trials in her new yawl rig on Wednesday, August 8, on the Potomac River off Leesylvania State Park. It was cloudy with rain forecast and winds of about 10 knots, gusts to 12 or 15 knots. Typical GPS speeds were about 4.8 to 5.5 knots. That's almost the speeds obtained with her rigged as designed.
- Tattoo under sea trials sporting her new yawl rig . .
- Yawl Sea Trials3.jpg (39.2 KiB) Viewed 3243 times
I like the new rig. From the diagram you can see that the mains'l is only 92 sqft (vs 109) and the mizzen is 27 sqft. The overall sail area is increased slightly to 158 sqft (vs 148). Mostly, I sail solo, and I find the smaller mains'l easier to handle. And I really like the way the mizzen adds stability. If the wind and waves are steady, I found that she could be steered with the mizzen sheet (hands off the tiller). But more practically, with a "tiller tamer" she could be set up to self-steer. Also, she could "heave to" without much trouble. Tattoo also sails quite well with just her jib and mizzen deployed. In a 10 knot wind (with that setup) she makes 3.5 to 4 knots easily.
- Yawl sail plan overlaid on PocketShip's design sail plan . .
- Tattoo in yawl rig.jpg (69.46 KiB) Viewed 3231 times
When at anchor -- the mizzen is deployed and sheeted to the centerline. It serves to dampen the extremes of PocketShip's tendency to "sail around" her anchor.
The mizzen sail is furled by rolling the leech about its sprit boom where both are held fast (to the mizzen mast) with a small bungee. There is a small halyard (1/8" diameter cord) used to raise the sail cover (a zippered sleeve). The mizzen mast is made from two pieces of Southern White Pine (laminated, tapered, and hollowed). Its weight is only 5.5 lbs. The total weight of the mizzen mast with sail and sprit boom (also Southern White Pine) is only 11.5 lbs. The boomkin is made of a single piece of ash, just 3.5 lbs. And the mizzen also serves as the sailing rig for Pluto (Tattoo's dinghy, an Eastport Nesting Pram) . Of course, the boomkin isn't needed for the dinghy. It's not as effective as its regular standing lug rig -- but quite useful in the harbor.
The mizzen mast was placed just to starboard of the foot well and its partner integrated with the transom coaming. Its step is bolted [and bedded] to the cockpit deck at the top edge of the "deck--foot well--transom" intersection. The boomkin is placed along the starboard side of the foot well extending aft thru a slot cut in the transom. The mizzen sheet passes thru a 3/8" hole in the transom and is reeved thru the center hole of a jam cleat placed just ahead of the inboard end of the boomkin within easy reach of the helmsman.
- Mizzen is furled with sprit boom inside. Notice location of the boomkin's heal, the sheet, and jam cleat.
- Mizzen & step & partner & boomkin.jpg (136.67 KiB) Viewed 3242 times
I'm pleased with the yawl rig as it has turned out and plan to use it exclusively. That means that I have FOR SALE a slightly used mainsail (the premium "cream" version by Douglas Fowler), its boom, and its gaff w/ track installed. The boom has all hardware installed for reefing and attachment of pulleys for the main sheet and outhaul. If interested, contact me offline at "[email protected]".
Pete McCrary, Tattoo's builder and skipper