It is a thicker piece of Okoume (18mm?), but if you couldn't get a sheet and/or suitable scrap of ply, I'm sure solid wood for any species suitable boat-building would be fine.  Let me know if pics would be useful.  

   Thanks Bob.  I am trying to match the wood (as closely as possible) for other "enhancement" I am considering.  Before she was neglected for  the last 5 years, I sailed her pretty regularly for almost 10 years.  Along the way I kept a mental list of minor things I would change to better meet my needs.  Now that I am in restoration mode, I figure it is time.  For example, I came up with a way to drop the rudder blade from the cockpit, without having to lean my 250lbs over the stern (that one was probably my only real complaint).  I am also switching from sprit to balance lug rig to improve pointing ability.  The sprit isn't horrible.  But, I have to deal with competing tidal currents and prevailing winds in my local waters and pointing efficiency will make a big difference.  The other enhancements are more cosmetic.

Steven

No prob.  Hey did you run the GetOutside web site?  I used to write about my Skerry adventures on there.

Bob, I knew your name sounded familiar.  I do :)

Hasn't been updated in quite a while.

How have you been?

Steven

   Hope you have a great restoration.  My NE Dory has a balanced lug.  Works fine, but definetly isn't a close-pointing machine.  Not even when compared to a lanteen rig on a sunfish.  I have my doubts about you seeing any great improvement with the balanced lug rig over the sprit rig - maybe, maybe not, but in any case I'm guessing attention to hanking on the sails, sail cut, sail trim & etc. would make more difference between these two than any inherent rig difference.  Maybe others will know more, as a straight-out sprit rig is one of the very few rig types I've never sailed.

If you really are looking for windward performance, I think you need to jump into any rig with a jib, whether gaff or gunter or (especially) the marconi/bermudian/sloop (all the same thing, I think) rigs.  In my experience even the single-sail lanteen rig or a cat rig (triangular sails) have much better windward performance than the 4-sided, single sail rigs previously mentioned. Again, others with more expertise can talk about slots, venturi effects, aspect ratios, Reynolds numbers, etc..   

And of course anything with a jib, and anything with the narrower aspect ratio/taller mast mainsail does give up the simplicity of a single "square" sail set on a shorter mast, no matter the rig.  

I'm sure a few lurkers will be happy to hear a report back from you if you do go to the lug, and whether you find any advantage over the sprit.

 Thanks for your insight. I have no experience with lugs. I am basing my hope of improved performance just on what I have read. But, I am hopeful that more sail, some sail forward of the mast, and more "tuneability" over the sprit will make a difference. I am running rig lines aft so I have some control while under sail. We'll see how that goes.

   Not to stretch this out too far, but sail area "forward of the mast" isn't the key point about "pointing."  For any given sail geometry, the important factor is where the Center of Effort is created.  Assuming other factors (hull shape, amount of heel, daggerboard and rudder) that create the Center of Lateral Resistance remain unchanged, it is necessary that every sail plan used on a boat create a CE (at least the forward/aft location, not necessarily vertical position) that puts it about the same place as any other sail plan.  Moving the CE very much (even a few inches) will create large amount of lee or weather helm, which would then need to be overcome by the rudder, which makes for a very slow and ornery boat.  So whatever the sail design/shape/rig, the designer must take into account where the sail's CE will be.  The balanced lug and the sprit should put the CE in about the same place.

But I hadn't looked to note that the balanced lug will be bigger for your Skerry.  If the lug does create a little more power and speed, I am betting you will find improvement all around, including pointing.  Unless overpowered in higher winds, having that extra speed/power will improve steering and control, and should help you to find and stay in a better close-hauled "sweet spot" trim while working to windward.  And if overpowered, then it is time to reef.

Hull trim enters into it, too, e.g., if she's down by the stern, she won't point as well.  Difficult to tell from inside the boat.

.....Michael

Right on Bubblehead

When I switched from the sprit to the lug, I raked the mast aft about 3 degrees to keep the CE close to the same spot (note this is not the stock lug sail).

   I have the standard lug rig for the skerry, and while I'm generally happy with it, I have to agreen that I haven't gotten it to be the highest pointing setup yet.  I've just improved the downhaul.  I think that the standard, just a line down to a cleat, is not sufficient, so I have a 3 part tackle now.  I just rearranged the cleat on the mast to get more adjustment range, and am wondering if I should rig it back for ease of adjust.

Also, the lug rig has a long boom and when you are running, that long boom over the side can create a lot of weather helm, more than the rudder can handle in gusts.  I'm coming from sloop rigged keelboats, so there's adaptation involved, but I think it is a characteristic of these lug rigs.  don't let yourself get into downwind situations with too much sail up, because I've gotten in a place where I couldn't easily head up to tack due to excess wind (overpowered as I came up through a reach and flogging the sail lost too much drive) and couldn't jibe through because the boat was exceeding hull speed and weather helm prevented a clean jibe (and trying to hand the boom to center just accelerated it). Basically, it tried to drive itself under.  The only solution was to drop sail, lie ahull while tying in a reef, then rehoist and proceed under reduced sail.