first, check jim luton's inspirational work http://sailingskiffs.blogspot.com/
the canoes are at the bottom of the scroll.
his 'alien' is a fully developed, performance boat.
note that he stayed within aca class c parameters, the forward third and aft third are decked with the center open.
i have several sailboats including two hobie cats, an oday daysailer, sunfish...i love sailing canoes and just completed a refurb and rig for this malecitehttp://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2994995860053419764niaKGy?vhost=outdoors
heres one that is partially decked with outrigger http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2055174640053419764DtaRJE?vhost=outdoors
heres the same boat with opti rig. http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2527823710053419764Fywjlx?vhost=outdoors
i tried the framed decks with side decks without success: too heavy and bulky. my experiences with luan decks are not printable. i've replaced two pairs. they only last a couple of years in my environment. i like the skin on frame idea mentioned above.
i plan to get big lashed in float bags similar to those used by ww canoes next...
Nice to know I’m in good company. Well, if it’s good enough for Mister Yost…(
Yeah, I’m having strong second thoughts about decking in with the luan too(the weight equation again, mostly). So far, I’ve purposefully held off commencing with any real permanent attachments. Floatation may end up being my choppy waterway ticket as well. Lord knows, I know enough ww canoe guys that can gimme recs on which to buy.
–Liked your rig and rudder job on that Malecite, Danny!
Rigging Deck If you want to avoid any permanent modifications to your canoe, you might consider making a clamp-on rigging deck for your sail conversion. I put one together several years ago based on a picture in Todd Bradshaw’s book. It’s pretty easy to do. Clamps onto the gunwales and center thwart. My canoe weighs about 80 lbs. as it is so I don’t want to deal with permanently adding any additional weight either. I’ve got some pictures over the Yahoo sailing_canoes group if you’re a member.
I’ve used this with a 36 sq. ft. Opti sail for about 6 years and then went to a 47 sq. ft. balanced lug last year. Both the rigging deck and gunwales have held up fine with this and I was out on a lot 10 - 15 mph days last summer.
There are parts of the NFCT where this would not be my ideal craft. But I sure would have liked it on the big lakes we’ve paddle-sailed! I do think that a few changes to Hughs ideas could bring it a lot closer to a perfect NFCT craft.
nice rigging deck! the ‘folding mast step’ is an interesting touch. i quit using my opti rig partly because it couldn’t be easily dropped while under way. how is your lug rig working? got pictures? i’ve gone back to a lateen with boom jaws on the boom to get the ‘gaff’ spar parallel to the mast
folding mast step Thanks, Dan. I had the same concerns about being not being able to drop the Opti sail while underway. The original idea for the folding mast step was to be able to pull a pin and drop the whole rig. As it turns out, I’ve never used it. The few times that I have dropped the rig on the water, I’ve just raised the mast the 2" needed to clear the mast step and then dropped it back. Pretty easy to do with the Opti sail since it’s small. The folding feature is the most useful when we take the canoe on vacation with us and need to fold the rigging deck flat to save space.
The balanced lug sail has worked out really well. It’s very easy to raise/drop while on the water and is a lot more well behaved when gybing than the Opti. It’s powerful enough that I can sit on the gunwale when the wind picks up. The only picture I have of the balanced lug is here (scroll down to “Sailing at MASCF”):
That said, I think the Opti’s make great canoe sails and are readily available and cheap. The short spars are a big plus too since they’re easy to make and store.
Tilting your lateen up like that makes it look a bit like a crab claw. Any big difference in performance compared to running with a horizontal boom? BTW, I love the job you did with your Wa Apa. I hope to build one of those myself at some point.
Spars Thanks, Tommy. Mast is 10’, yard is 6’ 10" and boom is 7’ 10". The sail design was taken from a 57 sq. ft. balanced lug in Todd Bradshaw’s book (pa. 253) that’s been scaled down to 47 sq. ft. If I remember correctly, you’ve made a couple of lugs for your Explorer. This is my first experience with the design and I like it.
I’ve got some other stuff tucked away in the Files section of sailing_canoes too:
This has been a terrifically informative thread for me! (Had no idea, there’d be this many good replies with pics/info, when I first posted.) Now before I get potentially indicted for igniting “paddling.net” into “paddlesailing.net,” thought I’d list another valuable website for those whose appetites have been whetted like mine for more:
“canoe sailing resources 2010”
–Looks like “the mother of all canoe sailing” pages. (Sorry, I tried copying the link/address, but “404” kept popping up on me…A search with those words should bring it up though.)
Thanks again all. Signing off(and sailing off)-Bob.
