Sail plan for Sail Rig MKII

I am about to start building a Sail Rig for my Redfish designed kayak and had a couple of questions about the sail plan.  There is someone in my area selling a Klepper S4 rig for a good price and was wondering if any here thought it would work well with the CLC outrigger design.  

 I like the idea of having a jib and a main and really like the idea of being able to reef/ raise and lower the sails while on the water, both features are missing on the CLC specified sail plan.   Also, I do not mind the extra time it would take to set up the klepper rig, which uses a forestay and two shrouds .  I believe the the S4 sails have a combined area of 54 sqft. 

looking forward to everyone's ideas. 

 


2 replies:

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RE: Sail plan for Sail Rig MKII

Casey – so it looks like you did use the Klepper S4 rig on your Sail Rig? I looked at your finished project and you are my new hero. I sailed my first-generation sail rig on a Chesapeake Double last week in Door County's Bailey's Harbor. We had 25 knot winds, 3 to 4 foot waves, and had a blast getting up to probably 9 to 12 knots. Then I realized I had some work to do. The Feathercraft double rudder isn't sufficient to turn into the wind, the lee board was not available for use, I had little knowledge of sailing this rig and had no stern/mid-stern attach point for the main sail — I held the sail into the boat by hand. Chuckling is ok. Belly laughs are good too. I am trainable. So I like your setup and rigging and it looks like you have a "sleeve" rudder over your Smarttrack? I can re-rig and add a jib as you have by your excellent photos, but if you have some type of plan for the 1.5%-of-sail rudder sleeve I'd be glad to compensate you for it. Thanks, Casey! Greg T.

RE: Sail plan for Sail Rig MKII

Greg,

 The Smarttrack sleeve rudder failed miserably.  The force exerted on the rudder was too much and it broke a part of footbrace where the cable goes through.  I ended going with an even larger sized rudder than the Smartrack sleeve.  The rudder steers with a long tiller and not the foot braces.  This rudder is large enough to turn the boat, or hold it on course.  The problem I had then was that the forces on the rudder were too great for a typical kayak rudder mounting.  I eventually had to make a carbon fiber cap to fit over the last foot of my boat.  It bolts on and allows me to mount the rudder securely.  You probably won't have this problem as the CLC double has a plumb stern so you should be able to have an easier time mounting a larger rudder than I did on my pointy stern.  

 And yes, I did go with the S4, but, again, I had to make a couple of modifications to make it user friendly.  Feel free to email me if you want any more info on my project.  

 

Casey 

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