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Yawl conversion


Tony Lawlor

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Hello to all,

  I have just got a sixteen foot, sloop rigged pocket cruiser with bilge keels which I am thinking of converting to a yawl rig from the original sloop rig. I would appreciate any opinions, good or bad, or suggestions which might be of help to me. The main reason for this plan is that the man that I bought it from reckoned that the sail plan was a little bit small for her. I have always fancied the yawl rig and I thought this might be a way to put it on a boat without overpowering it.

Tony Lawlor.post-2446-0-58089400-1380291117_thumb.jpg

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I love the yawl rig and have owned a number of them from 35'ers on down. It's not a practical rig on a boat your size, but it does offer the option of a mizzen mule, when the sheets are eased, which can be a turbo in light air work.

 

The typical conversion requires the main boom be cut down a tad, though not much. You can cut this off the foot of the sail, though if the sail is attached along the boom, the lower panels will need to be recut to retain their shape there. Conversely, you could make it loose footed, in which case you probably wouldn't have to recut the lower panels, but in stiff winds, this portion of the sail will vibrate pretty good.

 

You'd be best advised to make the mizzen free standing, to eliminate any staying issues and of course, the main's backstay will need to be split, often to land just abreast of the mizzen, or slightly aft of it. The main mast can live in the sloop location, so shrouds remain the same. With the shortened main, you'll want to cut the mast down too, which means the cap and lowers might need some adjustment, possibly the spreaders moved down a few inches too, though often on these small rigs, you can live with the changed "panel" loads, unless you like to sail in SCA's all the time.

 

What's the year, make and model of your little pocket yacht? She looks British.

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Hi there,

  Thanks for your comments. It has given me a few more issues to think about and how/if I will go about this rig change. When I bought the boat the saiil bag has the words Seaking "Promise" written on it. I am presuming that Seaking is the make/model and that "promise" is the name used by some previous owner. However I have been unsuccessful in finding any information which might educate me as to the origin  of the boat. I am also of the idea that she is probably an English boat. Maybe somebody here might have an idea about her history?

  Tony.

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Again, the typical approach to a yawl is just to add the mizzen, though for good balance, you whack off a small portion in the length of the main's foot. This was a very common thing done in the 50's and 60's with the CCA racers, built as sloops. They'd hack a foot off the end of the  boom, recut the main, then stand up a mizzen at the aft end of the cockpit. In fact, rating systems approach this conversion with little reduction, having a yawl within a few percentage points of a sloop, again mostly because it is a sloop, just with it's main slightly reduced. My last yawl (35' CCA racer from 1965) carried it's full main, with barely a few inches between it and the mizzen. Up wind the mizzen was doused and the drag penalty just tolerated, but as soon as the sheets were eased, the mizzen was hoisted and when then further off, the mizzen mule also set. Broad off I could carry 5 sails, which really pissed off the sloop drivers.

 

Agreed Ken, some experimentation with headsails is in order, though a big headsail is only so effective. A mizzen offers some additional options with the increase in area. I'm not sure what the appendages of this little boat look like and longish keels do seem to accept this change better, with less impact on helm balance. The nice thing about small craft is, the crew can alter trim easily, if some accommodation needs to be made.

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