Modified gunter rig

Posted By: Harry Gordon, WWP14 #234, Manatee, Mountain View, CA
Date: 10/17/08 3:10p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: A gunter rig would be great (pic) (Greg Bauman WWP 14 San Pedro, CA)

I modified my original gunter rig by sawing off the mast at the cabintop, retaining the stub as a compression post.I have a recess at the cabintop that the mast steps in, instead of using a hinged mast. Combined with lever-type sidestay attachments, I can release the stay tension and lower the mast without unhooking any of the three stays. I can then lash the mast down on the cabintop, with or without the yard, boom, and sail. A hinged mast would be even better if it could be designed such that it does not hang over the back of the boat too much when trailering. I also added a gooseneck with slide on the yard and a matching track on the mast, so the jaws straddling the mast were not needed and were removed. I found that to be a major improvement--much smoother in operation, and the yard cannot get jammed sideways as sometimes occurred with the original setup. Later I learned that the UK C-type Potters use a system similar to mine. The main drawback to the gunter rig that I found was that it was not practical to use larger sails such as the Potter Mk II and later main that has the full-length batten. The boat sails well with the later sail, but you have a problem when you lower the yard because the long batten is sticking down almost perpendicular to the yard and has to be dealt with, usually by removing the batten or letting the sail hang over the side of the boat. In waves and wind that can be awkward. I have a full-batten sail that looks great and performs well, but it is even worse to handle when the yard is lowered. I tried using a second halyard to allow leaving the yard aloft and lowering the sail down the yard, but that was more difficult than it sounds, and you lose the advantages of the gunter rig: the ability to lower the sail quickly and at the same time reduce weight aloft.