Still another 422/424 question (Changing the sail plan

[Keithward]

My prospect boat a 422 has the mast just behind the forward bulkhead which is also about even with the back of the V birth aft porthole.
mine is a sloop, on the boats that were actually built as cutters the mast is a couple feet further aft.
it appears, just in general appearances that my boom is exceedingly short and that there is room for a considerably larger main sail if the boom were two or 3 feet longer.
there’s probably only another five years left in the sails.
if I extend the boom 4 feet and cut that in half by the height of the sail which I’m gonna call 45 feet I’m adding 90 feet of sail area. (Half the base times the height for the area of a triangle)
what are the pros and cons?
there’s actually probably room for me to add 5 feet to the boom.
I think my boat May actually have the same mainmast sailplan as a ketch sans the mizen sail plan. Thoughts. Thanks!

[psk125]

Guessing about the lengths of the luff and foot of the sail is going to give fuzzy results. Adding length to the boom and increasing mainsail area may upset the balance of the boat. Since it's not a cutter it doesn't have the sail area forward to offset moving the mainsail's center of effort aft. (Re your ketch sailplan thought: people sometimes remove the mizzen from ketches because the added drag and cost of the rig isn't worth it to them. This can improve their upwind performance and give them a more comfortable and useful cockpit.) Adding mainsail area could make the boat tend to pinch, slowing you down not only because you're pinching, but because you'd have the rudder turned, trying to keep the bow down. All these changes (new boom, new sails...) are likely going to cost many thousands of dollars. When you go to sell this "customized" Pearson 422 it will cost you perhaps thousands more, because buyers will be leary of any production boat that is not "production". Buyers want to know what they're buying and your setup is an unknown. Others may support your idea; the increased sail area may make the boat faster. Or not. Pearson 422's are not known for lightning speed, even with the spinnaker up. If you're thinking of getting this boat and making these changes, perhaps you need to be getting a different boat that doesn't need changing to make you happy.