Rigged

The wind today was light out of the west, which is what I was waiting for to check out the rigging. I laced the sail to the mast, rigged the sprit and club, and hoisted the sail.

I have followed Chapelle's plan for the rig as exactly as possible, and read and thought a lot about the sail and rigging. But when I set it up in real life there were many surprises. I found that it is necessary to have the clew laced and tied to the club before doing anything else. The sprit and mainsheet block need to be secured to the club before hoisting the sail, but to do that the forward end of the sprit needs to initially hang way over the bow. Lacing the luff to the mast is straightforward. Once the sail is hoisted the downhaul and lacing line are secured, the sprit is tightened and its control line, the snotter, is cleated down. That will take a lot of work right up forward; I hope the boat is steadier than some dinghies I've sailed, so setting sail is not an athletic feat. Whatever- I'll find out soon enough.

I had fixed the mast step in place temporarily because a small error would cause the mast to rake to much or too little. It turns out I had it just right. I was asked to show a photo alongside Chapelle's sailplan:

After unrigging, I had time to give the inside trim and the coaming a finish coat of paint. The rub rails remain to be finished. I'll fill the screw holes and give them a couple of coats of paint. After that she'll be ready to sail. Not row though; oarlocks need to be made and attached for two rowing stations. When the boat is in the water I'll be better able to decide how high the oarlocks need to be for the oars to clear the coaming inboard.