Frank from Alabama

[Freaky]

Hello. Frank here but better known as Freaky.

I'm not young, happily married to the woman of my dreams. I'm a proud father and grateful grandfather.

I'm in the earliest stage of preparing for my retirement. From my youth, I've planned to someday leave permanent realestate and go liveaboard.

Much has changed over the years.. motor yacht to converted trawler and so on. As I got older I settled in on sail. Now I'm beginning the data mining process to nail down good candidates to restore and convert to my needs.

The plan is to find something and spend the next couple years donating blood to it. Yup, I'm one of those idgets who loves time in a long project. I'd give a measure of my progress on selection, but no meters read so low.

That's pretty much it.
Hope to learn form y'all!

[JPA Cate]

Welcome aboard, CF, Freaky.

You've set yourself a big task, and i wish you well with it. Good luck, mate, and best regards to your good lady wife.

Ann

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Frank.

[Freaky]

Many thanks!

I'm still quite a way off from nailing down good candidates.

I lose most with the word "project", even more when I say junk rig and most of the rest when I say a conversion with an unstayed mast.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Freaky

Many thanks!

I'm still quite a way off from nailing down good candidates.

I lose most with the word "project", even more when I say junk rig and most of the rest when I say a conversion with an unstayed mast.

How much time have you spend living on a sailboat? I've seen many who were overtaken by the romance, put in a lot of hard work, and then completely lost interest and sold. I encourage you if this is something you've done your homework on and prepared as a couple, but if you are only in love with the idea and have no concept of the reality, then please do more.

[Freaky]

Originally Posted by BandB

How much time have you spend living on a sailboat? I've seen many who were overtaken by the romance, put in a lot of hard work, and then completely lost interest and sold. I encourage you if this is something you've done your homework on and prepared as a couple, but if you are only in love with the idea and have no concept of the reality, then please do more.

Many thanks,

Lived aboard trawlers of many sizes (all commercial) as well as many other commercial vessels. Hook and line off the Eastern shelf for right at 20 years. One of them had an actual toilet and a shower. Completely rebuilt a 52' Thompson (yup, balsa sucks) and spent all off season touring the ditch and working on all manner of boats.

That said, I only actually lived on one sailboat and only for a year and a half. A friend had (still has) a Nor'Sea 27 that had been vandalized and partially burnt. Spent 6 months with it on the hill getting her ready to float. Then splashed and completely refitted her. Gave a 50% discount on my labor and he let me have run of it for a year and a half while he finished his residency. Really enjoyed that boat. Never sailed far because of work but would have loved to.

For the last few years, I take 3 weeks to a month off and borrow or trade labor to sail for the duration. Fell in love with sail many years ago and fell in love with the junk rig 3 years ago on a homebuilt that I borrow as often as I can find the time.

I don't have extensive sailing experience, but some. I have extensive​ rebuild, repair, outfit, and neglected-maintenance work experience. I have never tuned standing rigging though. I've only replaced or installed as my insurance wouldn't let me.

Back to my reading. Hate to turn a hidy post into a help post.

[JPA Cate]

Actually, Freaky, thanks for the fill. We're all more than our first "Meets & Greets". The more we learn about you, the better we can tune our responses to your needs.

The reason people are not very enthused about junk rigs is that they want better windward performance. It is the fact that sometimes, in spite of the saying that gentlemen don't sail to windward, the windward choice is the better one. Another reason is that people shy away from what is different. Somewhat similar for un-stayed masts. In all our years of cruising, we've only known one with un-stayed masts, outside of the Freedoms, of course, but that one, is still sailing, in SE Asia.

It is not difficult to learn to tune your own rig, particularly on a simple boat. Look for Brian Toss' book on rig tuning. Or, do it yourself, paying for a rigger to check your work, and sign off for the insurance company. Rig tuning is a bit like plumbing, you need to do it correctly (to avoid unpleasant results), but it is not work you have to be a genius to do.

Ann

[Freaky]

Many thanks,

Rigging doesn't worry me, I just haven't "technically" final tuned any. If I end up Bermuda rigged, I'll hold no fear.

As to Windward, it is a certain downfall and you definitely do more radical tacking. Leeward is ferociously good, but not so much as to negate the Windward performance. Reefing in a blow is nothing (I know, don't do it, but trust me, it happens). A tear is pretty much not an issue.
All in, it's easy single handed..... However, my reason is just the feel and honestly the aesthetic. The unstayed mast is simply that you'll lose some of the benefits with rigging in the way.

All that aside, what was it's biggest benefit in my eyes? While on a short trip a few years ago.... 4 vessels. Someone (the owner of the junk I was on) suggested a wind power only "race" of sorts. We left out from Jamestown on our way to Great Abaco.

Sailing off the hook, we had them by a fair margin. By Virginia Beach, we were in last place. Cap kept saying we had the long legs as dead air was coming. I wasn't exactly convinced as we were the broadest beam and had little hull design in our favor.
Long story short, we sailed past them with radio chatter of dropping the wind rule till "we were all out of chains". We lost as he had to drop me at mayport for a family emergency.

Speed wasn't a factor for me, but the feel of sailing junk rigged is just something words won't so much as imply. It must be experienced to be known.

There are actually quite a few junk rigged boats out there. I've been fortunate enough to sail, crew or just enjoy the ride on three and have boarded a few more.
Like I say though, there's no quantifiable reason for my love of the junk rig, it's just so.