Before Raising the Mast

Remember plan drift?  It works by accident, and can happen by design. 

So why would a person steer away from a perfectly good plan offered up by a designer that will yield a perfectly usable boat?   I mean, it would seem that by now there ought to be a boat for every conceivable taste and desire, from racing to puddle jumping.   I mean, it's as easy as jumping on the Internet and looking, right?

Well, finding a boat design on the Internet is kind of like buying a car, unseen, off of Ebay--especially if it's a model you've never owned before.    Now, how did I even pick a Teal?  Well the original idea was to build a Harley 8 (think cheap sailing experience).  My friend James said that, "No, you won't be happy with that".   Now, of course during his build of his Harley 8, the Teal kept popping up as a "neat" boat.  Still James wanted something bigger (he's going to build Michalak's Mayfly 14) because he wants to carry two people in the boat.   The Teal looked really appealing, and before l knew it, here I am.   Not building a cheap boat either; phooey!

Now, is the Teal THE boat for me?  Well, probably not, but since this whole exercise was not born of my "wanting" a boat, it's more a matter of grabbing the most available plan vessel and going for it.   But, that is NOT recommended if you're WANTING a boat.

So, back to the mast.   Why on earth would I not follow Bolger/Payson's perfectly sensible spirit rig?   I honestly can't say, but the spirit rig didn't look too user friendly and lacked one vital element that somebody else suggested I have--the ability to reef the sail or otherwise depower the rig (short of dropping sail and rowing).   Also, a 16 (ok, 15'8" and some) foot mast?  Egad, that's a lot of mast way up there or on top of my car.  Still, it fits the Bolger imperative in many of his "instant" boats of "simple, simple, simple", as in instant, not espresso.

Since I am effectively a newbie, I also didn't want to have too much sail and the attendant hazard of dumping the boat and then trying to recover it.   However, in the future, I might.   That's the point where they say you should build another boat, but why not make the current boat more flexible so I can change things about?  The most changeable thing on a sailboat is the sail rig, and changing that moves the sail's center of effort, which either means moving the leeboard/daggerboard, or moving the mast.   Well, easier to build a multi-position mast step than a multi-position leeboard, which would be a lot easier than a multi-position daggerboard or centerboard (though it's probably been done).

Well that's my story and I sticking to it.  The initial sail rig will be a balanced lug.   It's also a simple rig, though probably not a as simple as a spirit, since the lug requires some extra setup and tensioning to work right.  However it runs on a lot shorter mast and is a lot simpler to cut out (yes, the good ol' blue poly tarp special).
Eventually I might try the gaff with jib that the Annas Discorse has, simply because it looks a lot more "boaty", but it may be a poorer performer.  Might not even get that far, but I will get this boat built--otherwise I'd have an interesting half built thing in the backyard.  Besides, I've already ordered the epoxy (ouch!) and it's on it's way as I write.

Next time I'll put up pictures of what I did (on the mast step) and let others rate my wisdom on that.  Still, it's my boat and if it all comes out wrong (or right) it's going to be my problem or success.  Your mileage will certainly vary.