a little heresy...

I've always liked the gaff rig because it's a stout spar that does not require a lot of tension to stand. There's a lot to be said for that.

While I don't think that Tom Colvin's junk rigs were fully evolved they did make a whole lot of sense.Take his Gazelle for instance.

Minimal stays with the ability to carry a jib makes all kinds of sense to me. The masts are lighter and less expensive than free-standing masts. Mast placement tends to be more normal in the sense that they are less radical where the interior is concerned which is no bad thing when dealing with a classic plastic boat. The fact that a jib is a great aid to balancing the sail plan and helps with windward ability is an added bonus. The Colvin rig makes a lot of sense.

Then again, it would make even more sense if it was brought into the current century.

Yep, I'm well aware that most junk rig aficionados tend to be foresail and standing rig phobic but a well designed junk or lug cutter would make all kinds of sense where a bombproof, powerful, and inexpensive rig is what you want.

With the current available tech it would be easy to build a light spar in plywood (see Reuel Parker's) and since textile rigging has become an available affordable alternative it's within the reach of anyone. Take a little extra effort and serve the rigging and you'll have a rig that will last into the next century.

Might be a bit of heretical thinking you should think about.
 

a couple of thoughts on spar building...

When considering changing to a rig like the balanced lug or junk, the first issue is that it requires moving the location of the mast. Finding the location is easy, but it can play hell with the interior. Free-standing masts, while not being as tall as the Bermuda rig, are larger in terms of diameter and a 10-inch diameter spar will create bloody havoc with the accommodation.

Which may be an excellent reason to keep your Bermuda rig if it’s still standing with decent rigging and sails. 

In the future, I’ll be doing an outline on how to locate the mast, build the mast, and otherwise get you through the new rig process for a more-or-less traditional junk or balanced lug rig. 

Here are a couple of things to mull over.

Is the new mast location going to work with the current interior arrangement? If not, peruse accommodations that would work with minimal fuss.

Do you have a place to build a mast?

The current mast on “So It Goes” should have taken me a week to build. The reality was it took a lot longer, and it was a nightmare to build. I was building in a parking lot with zero protection from the elements. I had to stop whenever it rained or seemed like it would rain, which was just about every day. The landlord of the property made the task worse. He really didn’t want me building there, which fostered a very negative workspace. My spar bench was “bumped” regularly in the parking lot, causing me to re-level the bench/molds before getting to the actual work.

I really should have found a better place to build, as it would have saved me both money, aggravation, and with a better built mast to boot.