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SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Fri August 7th, 2009, 3:14 pm
by Luis V. Torres
Hello. I am Luis V. Torres(Louie), from the Philippines and I am planning to build a Senior. I have been corresponding with John since last year and ordered a Senior CD and also the stitch and tape plans from Paul Fisher of Selway-Fisher. It's a fascinating little pocket cruiser and has very pretty traditional lines. I made a cardboard model using the 1/10th scale plans from Paul to see how the stitch and tape version works out and sent John some pictures of it. It went together quite well and I am hopeful the actual boat will not be too difficult to build.

I was wondering if anyone has any photographs of the gunter rig and its related hardware. I'm not too sure how it all goes together as the plans do not have enough detail about this. This is to be a trailer boat so the shorter gunter rig masts would be easier to handle and set up single handedly. Is the sail's luff cut with an offset for the Yard?

Thank you.

Louie

Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Sat August 29th, 2009, 3:56 pm
by chris s
I find the bermudan rig mast is easy enough to errect & take down single handed. Chris

Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Sun August 30th, 2009, 5:54 pm
by Luis V. Torres
Hi Chris,

I was told that a bermudan rig would be simpler and more efficient because there were less parts and hardware involved. It is definitely a more straightforward setup. However for trailering purposes, I wanted to keep the mast within the boat's overall length of 16 feet (even if a 20 foot bermudan mast would only stick out by 2 feet from the bow and the stern). I was also intrigued by the ability of the gunter rig setup to lower the top portion of the mast or the gunter when reefing, thereby reducing the weight on top of the mast.

I'm not really sure if the gunter rig will be more difficult to reef than the bermudan rig setup but if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, I may opt for the gunter rig. Maybe someone can enlighten me about this.

Thanks again Chris and best regards.

Louie

Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Mon August 31st, 2009, 8:05 pm
by chris s
I am sorry I cant help you with the gunter rig as I have never even seen one let alone sailed with one :?

Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Thu September 3rd, 2009, 12:20 am
by Luis V. Torres
Thank you Chris. Appreciate your help.

Best regards.

Louie

Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Sun October 4th, 2009, 5:44 pm
by Wagtail
Louie: There are advantages to the gunter rig. The spars are shorter and when you reef the sail you lower the height of the whole rig. It's also almost as efficient as the bermudan mainsail. I have a photo of my sail which shows the key features of the running rigging. You need two halyards: a peak halyard which is attached to a wire strop or span fixed to the gunter yard, and a throat halyard which is attached to the bottom of the yard at the jaws where it meets the mast. I am going to try to post this photo here and will be happy to explain in more detail if necessary.

The other thing to decide is whether to make it a sloop or a cutter (ie with two headsails). Mine is a cutter, with the jib (or outer headsail) on a bowsprit. I'm told that the sloop-rigged Seniors have a good deal of weather helm; the extra headsail helps to control this, though i have to say that mine still carries a little too much weather helm for my taste.

Ricchard 'Wagtail'
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Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Tue October 13th, 2009, 10:22 am
by TONYDOBSON
Luis,
I have a gunter rigged Senior built exactly as designed. There is a length of brass track along the mast from tabernacle to just below the main halyard sheave at the top. The bottom end ( heel) of the gunter spar has a gooseneck type arrangement and moves up and down this track. If you look very closely at the sheet with the sail plan on and expand it, you will see that the main halyard comes out of the sheave at the top of the mast, through a sheave fixed to the gunter spar and is shackled to a brass halyard slide which moves inside the mast track. I have never seen a system like this before, but it works extremely well and requires only one halyard to raise the mainsail. Furthermore, when reefing it ensures that the angle of the gunter spar remains constant. I have tried lots of different sails on my boat and I have found that a Drascombe Longboat main is perfect for the job. In order to achieve an optimum angle for the gunter yard and in order to avoid the sheave on that yard fouling the mast I use a 5 mm piece of plastic tubing pulled over the halyard to act as a spacer to hold the yard back from the brass slide. My boat is a bilge keeler and, despite the fact that the longboat main stretches all the way back to the end of the boom, suffers from no weather helm problems at all. I will take some photographs and send them on to you. The details of of all the parts required are on sheet 6 of the scanned drawings( Materials).

Regards
Tony dobson

Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Sat October 17th, 2009, 3:18 pm
by Luis V. Torres
Thank you very much Ricchard and Tony. I was starting to lose hope regarding getting more information about the gunter rig setup of the Senior.

Ricchard, I will study your photograph in detail together with your explanation and recommendations.

Tony, I have all the plans but because I am not familiar with a gunter or gaff rig setup, I'm afraid I will need a more detailed explanation. I would really appreciate any photograph you could post showing the sail track from the tabernacle all the way to the top and how everything goes together.

Thank you again and best regards to you both.

Louie

Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Wed November 25th, 2009, 9:55 am
by TONYDOBSON
Louie, My pictures won't upload onto this board, but if you email me; dobsonofyorks@aol.com , I will send you them.

Tony Dobson
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Re: SENIOR GUNTER RIG DETAILS

Posted: Thu February 18th, 2010, 7:39 pm
by Eventide Owners Group
Well done Wagtail!

John