Building a Sailing Rig

[bdpvt]

I am in the middle of a restoration of a 1924 Old Town Yankee. I intend to convert this into a sailing canoe , but don't want to loose the vintage look. So far I have gathered most of the appropriate Old Town parts for this project except for mast and sail. What size sail would be best for this 16' canoe? I understand that the typical sail was a 55sq ft lateen. Is this too much sail for a novice to handle?
Also, where can I find details for reproduction of mast, spars and rigging for this canoe? Did Old Town have a prefered rigging style or was this left to the end user? This is a great group. Glad I found you guys!

 

[Andy Hutyera]

You might contact Max Peterson. He's listed in the members' list under "m."

I believe Max has an original Old Town Sailing rig in his workshop. He might be willing to send you some photos.

Being a novice sailor who sails a 55 sq. footer on a 17 foot canoe, I would say that that's a reasonable size sail for your canoe. You might check out Todd Bradshaw's book on canoe sails for better information on this point.

Andy

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

Benson's probably got specifics that you could check for spar diameters and mast length (and the sails did vary somewhat during different periods) but the typical Old Town sails were usually something like these three. Size depends on what kind of winds you plan to sail in and just how atheletic you want to get with the process of sailing the boat when the wind is up. I don't think I'd go down to the 40 sq. ft. version unless I was expecting pretty windy conditions most of the time, but either of the other two should work well. The 45 sq. ft. model will probably be a bit easier to learn with, but the 55 will have better performance in light winds and isn't so big as to be a huge difference. It might be a better long-term investment unless you plan to sail a lot in high winds.

If you can't find something to measure, typical spar tapers and diameters can be worked out with formulas.

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

And in the period right before that one, the sail would likely have been something similar to this Morris lateen. Vertical panels were used in most early sails and the narrow cloth widths tended to resist stretching-out better. It all depended upon who was making the sails for the canoe companies at any given point and how much money they wanted to spend on them. Old Town's sail rigs were usually pretty decently priced and the construction was pretty basic with few frills.

 

[Benson Gray]

The 1924 Old Town catalog listed the 45 square foot sail rig as their standard size (for $18) along with 55, 65, and 75 square foot rigs. I learned to sail with a 75 square foot rig on a 16 foot long canoe but it would probably be easier to start with a smaller sail as Todd and Andy suggested. The attachments at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=969 list most of the specifications and http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/otacc/ has some good pictures. You are welcome to come look at one of my Old Town sail rigs if you are ever in the Portland, Maine area. The other option is to just buy an old sailing canoe to use for parts or as a pattern. There is one on eBay now at http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28221QQihZ014QQitemZ330165275696 from 1933 that might work well. Todd's book at http://woodencanoe.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=92&products_id=436 and the Old Town catalog CD from http://woodencanoe.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=90_91&products_id=404 or http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/cdrom.htm#oldtown both have lots of good sail rig information. Feel free to reply here if this doesn't answer your questions.

Benson

 

[bdpvt]

Guys- Thanks for the detailed response! Sharing your considerable knowledge on the subject is really appreciated. Sounds like I will be real happy with a 55 sq ft sail on my canoe. I'm sure I will have more questions along the way.
Bruce