Shantydock Sails!  
(the build, the launch, the details)

Click images to see larger ones. 

The mast is a 16 foot spruce 2x4 that overhangs 4 ft fore and aft of the 4x4 roof posts. A 6" x 3/8" galvanized carriage bolt serves as a pivot through the forward post. There is a cradle that holds the mast aft. While down, it looks like a railing for the "upper deck."

 

The mast seems very tall when up without a sail, but she pivots up into position amazingly easily.. (And, yes, that is a front porch glider swing on her bow.)

 

 

The leeboard is a 5 ft piece of fir 2x12. I cut a 5" radius arc in the top which allows for pivoting. (Thanks to Richard Frye for this simple board idea.) I intend ultimately to pivot it on a 1/2" bolt, but here I'm using a 1/4" lag screw until I'm sure of placement. There are two lanyards, up haul and down haul, attached to the head corner and the tail point. Not visible are the 3/4" deep holes that I made with a forstener bit I'm calling "knot hollows." A quarter inch hole is drilled through the edge into the knot hollow. The line goes through  the hole and a figure 8 knot hides in the knot hollow.

 

Here's a view of the sail from the aft deck. Not so easy to see really, but great fun to fly! The 2x4 mast is oriented edge wise fore and aft. This is the opposite from how you might use it in a small sail boat, as the stress tends to be from the side. However, this is a shanty dock after all, and her ability to point is questionable at best. So I mostly imagine loafing along down wind. Besides, I couldn't figure out how to pivot her easily in the other direction.

 

This is the 115 ft lug sail I made for Featherwind, using Jim Michalak's double pleat technique for shape. She has seen a lot of sailing in Florida sun for a couple of seasons and so is on her last legs. We have no rudder, so use the sculling oar to guide her.

 

Disaster strikes when the sail rips from head to foot. I would like to point out that it was the factory seam that gave up, not any of what I did! In the spirit of Chinese junks we sail her that way anyway.  This view gives you a sense of the proportion of the sail to the hull.

 

Here she is ready for the high seas with Ebony the wonder guard dog at her post.

 

A long shaft, 36 lb thrust Minkota motor pushes her around the lake nicely. I had no GPS so can't testify to any speed, but with a boat load of folks dragging their feet she moved fine. Since she feels more dock then boat, people seem amazed that she moves at all and don't seem to care about speed.

I'm thinking the next saga might be laminating a Yuloh (curved oriental sculling oar) for her. 

Some Details of her cleats, steps etc can be seen here. 

David Beede  simplicityboats

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