Are you aware that the decked areas on a PMD are flotation compartments?

You can have your preferred looks, lug sail and the safety of built-in flotation without having to fiddle around with adapting sail rigs to a different boat.

Laszlo

Laszlo,

Good point. I guess I assumed the JS2 had significantly more floatation and thus more safety, given the notes about motor regulations. I do not know for sure if either is true. Thoughts? There are some other factors I like on the JS2 including the open cockpit, and longer waterline (I think). So the question remains, can the JS2 be built with, and perform well with a PMD Lug sail? Also does anybody have experience with both boats that can provide insights on thier compartive merits, or know where this may have been discussed before?

- Ron

Anybody have a Jimmy Skiff II anywhere near Central Ohio?  I have a Passagemaker Dinghy with the lug rig, and I'd be willing to experiment with putting it onto the JSII (mast might need shimmed in the step and partners?) to see if it works.  Of course, we will have to await warmer weather--just last weekend I was out photographing a frozen waterfall with temperatures in the mid teens!

Comparing photos of the two boats, it seems like the distance between the mast and dagerboard might be similar enough to make it work, or at least give one reason to hope if the sail can be rigged so that the center comes down in about the same place (the balanced lug is somewhat adjustable fore'n'aft).  Some of the balanced lug is forward of the mast (that's sort of the point), but the center of the leg'o'mutton would fall much closer to the luff of the sail, so it might just work out.  The sail area for the PMD lug is given as 62 sq. ft., the JSII sprit leg'o'mutton as 68--not a huge difference.

Seems to me a balanced lug rig would be an improvement in the usability of the boat in terms of switching between modes and especially in tenting it in for sleeping aboard.  We love our PMD Winkle (takeapart, lug rig), but haven't yet come up with a good way to sleep aboard.  Thinking of build some kind of knock‑down frame to make some sort of a pipe berth to rest between the bow deck and the sternsheets, using the mast as a ridgepole for a simple tent.  But, I digress....

Mind you, if you're just worried about the floatation bit, I can attest to the fact that, if capsized, the PMD will float very high on her side, right very quickly, and remain fairly stable once you swim you soaking wet self back over the rail to start bailing her out.  This is not a theory...tested as recently as late September of 2022...ahem.

.....Michael