Jim, The bow sprit is removeable for trailering.  It fits under the now raised forestay fitting and into a socket on the mooring bit.  Quick release pin on the bobstay and possibly the tack should make this reasonably quick. The mooring bit is a commercial product ( about $90) and I had it drilled and taped for the socket. The bowsprit was made by a marine fabricator in Annapolis - did a terrific job. With the removable bowsprit the launching and rigging in the water was giving me some concern. Even fitting and sizing things while on the trailer could not be done. The shorter mast will is not long enough to reach between the mast support on the gudgeons and the one on the trailer tongue. So I cut off the mast support on the trailer to just below the bow.  If you look at the picture with bow sprit installed you will see the support stub just below the bowsprit. I have a locally made tongue extender for easier launching and in using that it will keep the bowsprit out of the rear window when launching. The jib at the tip of the bowsprit is free standing and to get decent luff tension the bowsprit has a 3:1 block and tackle to take up the tension. For this to work the bowsprit must have some ability to move vertically.  The plan is to raise the roller furling jib to the point where the bowsprit is snug against the vertical stop and then tension with the block and tackle. This of course is just theory at the moment :-) I am using harken small boat furlers on both the jib and forestay.  The harken does not use a luff foil, it only requires a wire luff) and lets the sail be coiled into the cabin or car for transportation. My sail maker is going to be Doug Fowler in Ithaca NY.  He is a specialist in traditional small boat sails - Gaffs, spritsails, lugsails ect.  He was highly recommended by John Harris at Cheasapeake Light Craft.  I finally decided to stay with the Egytian cotten color sails which I have been using for several years. I am by no means a sail designer or boat designer but from chating with people who seem knowledgeable the sail configuration I have chosen with the small jibs will not point as well as a sail design with a larger jib and smaller staysail.  However the larger jib takes away some of the versatility of the older cutters so I am staying more traditional. Thanks for the interest. Doug Kelch "Seas the Day" M15 #1G :-)  1 Gaffer --- On Tue, 1/20/09, Jim Desnoyers <dizman@mtexpress.com> wrote: From: Jim Desnoyers <dizman@mtexpress.com> Subject: M_Boats: Gaff rig progress To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 1:15 AM Doug: Thanks for the update on your gaff rig. While I have no problem understanding what it is that you are doing, thanks to your great pictures and drawings, I get lost in trying to understand the issues that your bowsprit and the bobstay introduce when it comes to trailering your new rig. Could you be kind enough to expound on how you visualize dealing with the bowsprit and the bobstay while trailering or do you perhaps propose dismounting the bowsprit for trailering? Where were you able to find someone to fabricate your stainless for you? This is certainly providing an education to a lot of people besides myself, I am sure. Jim Desnoyers Ketchum, Idaho _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!