Over the couple of years I've had my Spindrift, I've managed to collect a whole assortment of different sails and spars, which have been effective in varying degrees.
Current rig of choice is from a windsurf, with a wishbone boom. Perfectly happy with its performance, and the four piece mast stows away to nothing. But the wishbone is not the easiest thing to set up if you're already out at sea. The sail is also getting very tired- it's had an awful lot of use, almost daily for the past year or so.
What I'd really like to do is switch to a more conventional rig. I've got a great sail from an OK class dinghy, which has a bolt rope. The mast I have for it is very heavy aluminium tube with a track. I want to use a windsurf mast instead, bit of course that has no track. I think my options are:
- rivet and/or epoxy the track on to the grp mast (not sure this is structurally a great plan)
- get a sailmaker to sew on a luff sleeve (I'm guessing this is the best, but costliest, option)
- install eyelets along the luff, and lace the sail to the mast (very DIY friendly, low cost)
I'll need to figure out how to make a gooseneck but maybe a simple plastic claw (rowlock?) would work.
I'm hoping to avoid a trip to the sailmaker partly for cost and partly because, as a full time cruiser, I don't like having to be tied to being in a certain place for any length of time.