Ketch to Sloop.

[Hillbillybuddha]

Trying to figure out how to refit my boat on the cheap. I love my boat but I've been considering getting a different boat because of the refit costs on the one I have now. On top of everything else, she needs new rigging, chainplates and steps. She's deck stepped and the deck is sunken around the mast and the mizzen so that'll need to be repaired.

So I'm thinking, do I really need the mizzen? The one thing I dislike about my boat is how hard it is to get around all the rear standing rigging when trying to get to the foredeck or even on and off the boat. Removing the mizzen would make her easier to move around on.

I looked up the numbers. The main on the sloop is 46 ft tall; the main on the ketch is 43.5 feet tall so I'm only losing 2.5 ft. I haven't been able to figure out if the mast is placed in the same spot on the ketch and the sloop but looking at pictures of both, they seem like they are pretty damn close.

Is this a bad idea?

[hpeer]

When do you ou use the mizzen?

Often or not much?

When you do use it how much difference does it make?

[Hillbillybuddha]

Originally Posted by hpeer

When do you ou use the mizzen?

Often or not much?

When you do use it how much difference does it make?

Not much. In light air to get going. I imagine it would come in handy in heavy weather but I haven't needed it for that, yet. I'm sure I'd do fine with a reefer main.

[RaymondR]

If you hardly ever use the mizzen but have the inconvenience of dodging around the rigging all the time I'd get rid of it.

I have some friends with a ketch and the mizzen screws up the whole back end of the cockpit. The mizzen sits on a pedestal ahead of the wheel so the helmsman is peering around the side of it all the time and there are stays everywhere back there. I don't know how they put up with it.

[Celestialsailor]

More important than the mizzen being removed is where the main mast is placed and is the main boom the same length as the sloop Cascade model.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

More important than the mizzen being removed is where the main mast is placed and is the main boom the same length as the sloop Cascade model.

This is a valid observation however since it's a leisure activity and the mizzen is detracting from your leisure enough to have you contemplating alternatives taking the mizzen off the boat and storing it whilst you experience the alternative of no longer having it bother you is a viable experiment. You can always put it back on.

[Don C L]

You can always just go out and sail it without the mizzen and see how it works out. My money is on noticeably degraded performance.

[parachute]

Originally Posted by Don C L

You can always just go out and sail it without the mizzen and see how it works out. My money is on noticeably degraded performance.

I agree our boat had a mizzen.

[Sailmonkey]

On our boat, the sloop version has stepped the main mast almost 3’ further aft.

I’ve noticed without the mizzen while beating I’ve got lee helm. But our keel shape is such that we need the mizzen aft to correct this.

[Hillbillybuddha]

I sail without the mizzen about half the time. She definitely performs better with the mizzen but not so much that I think I'd miss it. The boom is longer on the sloop version so before it's time to replace my main, hopefully I'd have found a longer boom and that would increase sail area.

As for placement of the mast, on the ketch, it's about a 2 ft forward the cabin top. I can't find measurements for the sloop but from the pictures I've seen, it looks about the same.