CP-16 gaff rig cat boat....what!!!

[romei]

Well, I mentioned in a post last year that I was going to do it.  I did it.  I haven't tried it out yet.  Will have to wait till May for that but I'm convinced it's going to work just dandy. 

Here's a link to the pics while I was setting everything up.  You'll notice that there's no finish on the mast in the pics and the halyards are run in a temporary fashion on pics 1-5.  Pics 6 and 7 show the permanent routing of the halyards.
http://www.ronmeinsler.com/compac/gaffrig/

If you want to read the blog post about it, here's a direct link to that.
http://www.ronmeinsler.com/cantina/?cat=5

Man I can't wait till spring!!!!

[CaptK]

Wow, Ron, that looks really good! What did you do to the foredeck as far as reinforcing it for the stresses of holding the spar and whatnot?

Also, I looked at your blog, and I have that same outboard, I think. 2 or 2.5 hp, and 2 cylinders, right? If so, it is a tough lil bugger. I bought mine well used, and she runs fine.

Last - good to see a fellow GIMP user!

[mrb]

Nice looking.  Be sure to let us know how she handles when you get her out in May.  Think the spinnaker will be a great down wind addition and maybe good on a broad reach.

What did you do with your tabernacle and old sloop rig.  Might want to hold on to those if you ever want to sell and move up.

Fair winds
mrb

[romei]

Welp, as far as reinforcing the fore deck, it was already re-inforced from the factory.  It's heavier there and there's a support ring installed that was originally installed to couple the vent.  The bottom of the mast is in a step mounted thing that I built the anchor locker and it's strong.  There is a fore stay that really isn't visible in the pics, but it goes down to the original location on the bow.   

I could even run the original jib, and I'll try it for sure, but that's not the plan.  If this doesn't work the way it is....plan B will be to cut that mast down 26 inches and bolt it to the original mast step and run a jib with the gaff sail, but that would increase my sail area signifignantly, and I'm not sure that's all that smart.

I'm kinda flying blind here I admit.  It's a small boat.  If it works I'll post regularly.  If I drown, ... I won't.  :-D

I still have the original rig, in tact.  The boat is still in tact.  I can put the entire boat back to original condition in a moments notice.

The motor is a 4hp Johnson.  I'm guessing 80's maybe?

[B.Hart]

   WOW that makes the 16 look even more salty. Thanks for the pics, can't wait to here how she sails. HAPPY SAILING   BILL

[Craig Weis]

I out right love this gaff rigged cat boat using a Com-Pac 16 hull.
The more I look~see the more I likey!! skip. Just pure sweat.

[Bob23]

Ron:
   Beautiful! Do be a good chap and let us all know how she sails! You've got my creative juices flowing- I wonder about a 23 as a catboat?
   Is the mast wood? I couldn't really tell from the photos.
   Where are your home waters?
Bob23

[romei]

I will indeed post updates as I learn and tune this rig.  The mast is wood.  I had a local saw mill cut me a piece of wood and then I sat out in my driveway for 4 days whittling it round with a draw knife.  It actually looks alot better now.  I finished it with a few coats of dark mahogany urethane.  I'm going to re-assemble the hardware and rig the boat this Saturday for some more fine tuning.  I'll take a few more pics and post them.

I sail at Lake Augusta in Central pa.  http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/shikellamy.aspx  I rent a seasonal campsite there so I usually put the boat in the water in mid May and take it out in October.   I'll let you all know when I put it in. 

Since I have this sail now, I'm keeping an eye out for a second boat.  Prolly around a 20 footer with a cabin.  I want to make a new mast and try a gaff rigged sloop using this sail and the jib and/or genny from the cp16. 

[romei]

I went out today and re-assembled the mast and rigging hardware, and did some more figgering and tuning.  I posted a few more pics.  It looks much better with the dark finish on it.  If you look close you can see I finished the tiller to match :-P

Pics are at the same place http://www.ronmeinsler.com/compac/gaffrig/
and they are numbers 8 thru 12.

I ran the halyards back to the cockpit but it's pretty hard to raise the sail.  I'm hoping to figure something out and keep it like that.  I have an artificial leg and every time I have to get up on deck I'm pretty much taking my life in my hands.  I'm going to try it like this but I may have to wind up fastening some cleats on the mast and jumping up there to raise and lower like I used to have to do with the original rig.

[Craig Weis]

You know romei as a cat rigged boat with a gaff or as a masthead sloop sail she won't point as high. I just read that in Small Craft Adviser.
skip

YOU ARE CORRECT! I Agree with your above statement. That Gaffed 16 is way too cool to worry about performance. What a fine craft and great execution. skip.

[romei]

You know romei as a cat rigged boat with a gaff or as a masthead sloop sail she won't point as high. I just read that in Small Craft Adviser.
skip

I read that too, but if I were really looking for performance I wouldn't be sailing an older cp16.  I just dig going out on the lake and letting the wind push me around on a good looking boat.  I can't wait to see how she fares though.  It may have some surprises since I moved the center of energy directly over the keel instead of having all that push up front where there's no keel.  We'll see.  If I can't notice a difference, you folks are more than welcome to come and sail with me and check it out for yourselves.  It'll be fun to meet some new people and learn from some old salts.

[romei]

Well, the new sail rig had her maiden voyage this past weekend.  I'm pretty certain it's going to work nicely after a little more tweaking and adjusting.  To aviod re-writing the entire experience, I invite you to read my blog post describing the event, or would it be better for me to copy and paste it in here?

http://www.ronmeinsler.com/cantina/?p=561

Any and all comments and suggestions are welcome, especially from those with catboat experience.

This is really exciting!  :-D

[romei]

I adjusted the lacing on the top boom/sail as I had planned and I went out again last weekend.  Saturday was another day of high, gusty unpredictable winds so I reefed the sail.  It was awesome.  It was much easier to adjust and get a good sail shape while reefed and the boat was very responsive.  I was loving it.  Sunday was a better day for wind for a while.  I raised full sail and learned a bit more about getting the right sail shape with this setup.  I had a great hour or so of tweaking and sailing till the wind died.  I was worried about losing pointing performance but honestly, it seems to point about the same as it did with the original setup.  Maybe even a little better.  It feels like I have more sail area or more power with this sail.  (It's brand new and crisp)  I learned that if I take a little extra time when raising and adjusting the sail that it pays off in the long run.

Oh, and I made it under the bridges.  I have to drop the upper boom but I clear by about a foot.    Now I have the entire lake at my fingertips!

I'll blog about it tonight and include some pics, but the pics are pretty bad. 

[romei]

You know romei as a cat rigged boat with a gaff or as a masthead sloop sail she won't point as high. I just read that in Small Craft Adviser.
skip

.

Skip,
You were right.  I had trouble pointing this weekend.  It was partly me for sure.  I was out all day in the hot sun with little or no wind and was on my way back to the dock when the wind picked up, blowing right in my face.  I was worn out, had a bad kink in my neck, the dog was all antsy and whining, and all I wanted to do was get back home, but the sail seemed to perform as poorly as I did.  It seemed to point better the other week when it was really gusting and I had it reefed. 

The wind here is so unpredictable.  I'll have to just keep at it.  Hopefully this weekend will be better.

[Craig Weis]

['cut' and 'paste' from 'edit' in tool bar above]  "I had trouble pointing this weekend.  It was partly me for sure.  I was out all day in the hot sun with little or no wind and was on my way back to the dock when the wind picked up, blowing right in my face."

This boat is so cool! I think the little or no wind had a lot to do with not being able to point. Some steerage and input from the stubby keel may improve the ability to point. Drifting sideways toward a can in a little current is a bit nerve racking. Running into a can or nun is similar to striking a seawall. Been there, done that, almost.
Better wind, more time sailing when feeling better and a little schooling with expirementation will help I'm sure. Thanks for building that boat.
skip.