Sailing Rig for an Arkansas Traveler.

Jim Dodd

LOVES Wooden Canoes
I'm hoping that Todd will chime in !

My Son is building his first cedar strip canoe. I lofted plans for an Arkansas Traveler, from the Adirondack Museum. A Rushton design.
It is shortened to 14', and will be setup as a solo double paddle craft.

I'm looking for a sailing rig, or at least advise on how to set this canoe up to sail ?
Any ideas ?

Thanks !

Jim
 
I have a 1895 Traveler in the shop right now. A more narrow canoe, designed for two, I have never seen! It seems that sailing one shortened to 14' would be "invigorating"...
 
Here is a photo of a Rushton Igo (beamiest of the Ugo, Igo, AT triumvarate). It has a fairly standard lateen rig. If I recall, the canoe is 15'. Don't know the sail area.
 

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That boat is narrow enough that I'd keep the sail area pretty modest (maybe 30-40 sq. ft.) keep the center of effort fairly low, and keep the boom relatively short. Long booms (like on lateen sails) dragging in the water when the boat heels and the sail is outboard are a potential formula for disaster. Naturally, it will all depend on the skills of the sailor and what sort of conditions he chooses to sail in (or not sail in) but in general I've probably sold more short-ish-boomed balanced lugsails for that sort of small canoes over the years than any other type. The lugs go up and down very quickly with only one line holding them up They can have reef points, though I tend to find that reefs on most canoe sails usually don't get used much at all, and they're pretty good performers. They can also be battened or made without any, depending on the perimeter shape and whether they have a roach hanging out the back end which needs support or not.

One other thing to keep in mind is that your stripper needs a rather hefty gunwale/thwart and/or deck structure if you plan on clamping a sail rig to it. Sailing generates a lot more twisting force than paddling and requires more and bigger trim to get a solid grip.

unbattened balanced lugsails

Geoff's%20lugs.jpg


battened balanced lugsail

Kahlua-sail-installed.jpg


battened lug on Wee Rob canoe

wee-rob-sail.jpg
 
Great Replies !

I've been studying the Photos.
First I like the idea of making the sail rig removable ! I Like the Wee Rob . I noticed the air bags, interesting !

Marks 1895, looks very similar to my shortened Traveler.IMG_0746_zps5ovufwjo.jpg
Not a lot of room in my shop for a better pic, but I will try tomorrow to get a better one.

Thanks Tod for the advise on the gunnel construction ! I'll keep it in mind, when I get closer !

Jim
 
Hi Jim,,

I should add that it is a 1895 Arkansas Traveler. This is probably why you notice similarities I think the AM plans are from a later canoe though. (I don't wanna go dig mine out to confirm that though. I am not quite sure where they are!)
 
Wow 1895 looks awesome. Where did you get plans for something like that? Probably out of my league, but the look is just amazing.
 
Mine are tucked away also.

I purchased a set plans for Mac McCarthy's Wee Lassie II, from Mac. I laid them out and noticed a similarity to my Arkansas Traveler forms. Sure enough Mac took the AT design, shortened the form spacing, and change the stem forms, then called it the Wee Lassie II.
That design is versatile!
Looking back I should have built it at the original 15'

Thanks !

Jim
 
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