The "force" has been building for several years. The bottom line is probably romanticism. I always find myself lusting after the older gaff rig designs and have come close to biding on a few wooden non-trailerable wooden boats. I am not in a position to own multiple boats and do not want to let my M15 go so... modify it. Frank Durant brought a 16 ft Gaff rigged Sun Cat to one of our week long Chesapeake cruises and it was very fast an pointed higher than my M15. He was kind enough to trade boats with me for a 1/2 day and I was very impressed. The I read "Sailing Just for Fun" - cruising a 16 ft Gaff rigged cutter for 70,000 nautical miles in England. I do not expect to loose more than 3 - 5 degrees in pointing ability and I am willing to trade this off for the ability to balance the sail plan under a wide range of conditions. With a two part block and tackle on the bobstay I should get plenty of luff tension on the flying jib at the end of the bowsprit. Besides I love playing with strings (lines). I sail my M15 single handed with a spinnaker when ever conditions are appropriate. With the extra spinnaker halyard, pole topping lift, running twingers and spinaker sheets it gets quite....well entertaining. I actually think that the gaff rigg on modern boats are greatly underated as they have better speed and power than a bermuda rig on any point of sail except hard on the wind. When I get it ready this spring why don't you come out and do some side by side comparisons :-) --- On Mon, 12/22/08, larrypegg@aol.com <larrypegg@aol.com> wrote: From: larrypegg@aol.com <larrypegg@aol.com> Subject: Re: M_Boats: M15 conversion has started :-) To: doug_kelch@yahoo.com, montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Date: Monday, December 22, 2008, 11:37 AM Why? What is the Driving force for doing the conversion? I kind of want a bow spirit to hold my anchors and put a stay to hold a jib if i loose my roller but why the gaff rig? At your service Larry Pegg 208 249 0538 -----Original Message----- From: Doug Kelch <doug_kelch@yahoo.com> To: Montgomery <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 5:52 pm Subject: M_Boats: M15 conversion has started :-) The conversion of my M15 to a gaff rigged cutter has started. The old mast is stripped down. The new gaff and boom are in transit, the bowsprit has been fabricated and I am working on the bow/forestay attachement. After all of the components are completed, including sealers and varnish, the drilling and cutting will start. Then things are serious. I have tried to post a thread on the the trailer sailer BBS but the component picture won't load so all you can see is the sail plan as it exists right now. http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/montgomery/index.cgi/read/273 I need to reduce the sail area a bit ( I would like to be under 140 sq ft) and move the CE forward a little. I will likely lower the gaff and shorten the foot a bit. I won't order the sails until I have the rigging complete and can dummy the sails up with light line to get some good measurements. I am thinking of going with barn red sails. Anne Westlund was using a color called NASCAR red on her Slipper 17 in the the North Channel. The tan bark is too dark for my taste and the I have had the Egyptian cotton for 8 years. Time for something new - hmm robins egg blue? Your comments would be appreciated. Doug Kelch M15 #310 "Seas the Day" Maybee I will change the tag to MG #310 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet! Listen to 350+ music, sports, & news radio stations – including songs for the holidays – FREE while you browse. Start Listening Now!