In which case a sliding or movable rig, such as was used in the Boucher Co. commercial models of he 1920’s, becomes mandatory.
Cheers,
Earl
Ian,
I assume to sail downwind with a fixed rudder you need both the main and jib to be very similar in area?
Holding the sails forward as you suggested with elastic must help as well.
Any other design and sailing hints for dead downwind?
No - similar transverse moments about the centre line. Not the same thing (truly devilish cackle!)
I’m catching up with the last few days, so in no particular order…
Free Sailing Rules
I got the Free sailing rules from Rodger, a while back and over looked the rule on rudders, as I was going the Southwold route with a skeg. Unless I’ve missed something in the wording, you can only use a fixed skeg, which seems a shame. Vane gears are simple enough to build and are needed for the fun of flying a spinnaker.
Also under CC1c “more than one set of rig and sails is prohibited” so you need a good all round rig that can be de-powered if the wind gets up. This does keep it simple, but three rigs would have been nice- ghosting , working and storm.
Adjustable Masts
A very good thing. I fit ~3 mast tubes to move my free standing masts, say plus or minus 4 ~ 5% of the boats length (for this style of rig and boat) . The last two small sharpies 12and 15 inch, balance well and have only one mast position (built in a hurry). But trim can still be adjusted by moving the jib along the bowsprit.
Downwind sailing
My sail proportions tend to be as the drawing. The sails are set at different angles, to allow for the difference in areas, so you get the same force acting each side of the mast.
I’ll sketch the details out soon. To sail well down wind, it’s trial and error, practice, record your settings (use a scale on the deck for the bowsies) and swear to fit a vane as soon as you get home.
Just for fun, I have sailed a larger version with a square sail, it’s great down wind. Then hook the tack onto the deck -using it like a dipping lug and it will go upwind very well. It’s great fun sailing up wind, past small radio sports boats with pointy top rigs. It leaves the poor dears ever so confused.
Foam
I love the idea of sheathing with thin ply. I have used PVA or acrylic paint with paper or light glass cloth~35gms as I have a lot. I use foam a lot, generally scrap packing foam - far from ideal with it’s large cells but free. I rarely use balsa as I get bad hay fever from the dust.
As this is intended to be a simple, give-away plan, I was planning on balsa as there is no sheathing, just varnishing. easier to do and less instructions needed.
Keels
The 30s swept fin skeg and D shaped rudder? Very stylish, I just never made a boat to suit. I go as deep as possible, for stability. A straight fin is easier to make and keeps the wetted surface area low.
Hulls
I’ve tried free sailing my r/c boat which went better than when it was carrying all the r/c gear. But not as well as a boat designed for the job. I find narrow hulls much easier to balance well in all conditions.
When beam is left alone by rules, the fastest boats tend to be light and narrow, from Marbleheads to the Americas Cup. Radio Footys are too heavy to go thin, so maybe maximum beam is the way to go ?
I use a ‘normal’ distribution of buoyancy, and reasonably sharp bows - small light boats need all the help they can get when meeting waves.
Basically you want a hull that can heel without changing shape too much, having said that, I’ve seen some odd shapes being successful in the right conditions.
If you fancy some more nostalgia I recommend the Vintage sites
www.vmyg.org.uk/
www.swcp.com/usvmyg/
and an early Footy at www.vmyg.org.uk/pages/gallery/restorations/paxton_l.htm
Ponds
You do need a pond with good access all around, standard on old ponds, not seen so often now. Sailing on open water with a chase boat used to be popular, for example see the history of the Balimane Bugs (www.themodelyacht.com).
I enjoy rowing after a model on the river, but its not for everyone.
The small Footy opens up new sailing water such as the shallow paddling pools in many parks? May need smaller keel, but I have a Footy with a 100mm draft which sails well, with a smaller rig.
Very interesting. I started off being inspired by Ian to draw a couple of free sailing hulls and, right enough, the numbers do stack up very nicely. It then struck me that using the latest in lightweight electronics and a rather more exotic type of construction than Ian tends to use, it was possible to pull off very nearly the same trick with a radio controlled boat - beam a little over 80mm, disp about 205 g. and a sensible ballast ratio on a weight estimate that is probably realistic.
Once again the Richardson yards are going to be churning out another half-finished Footy!
Angus… if instead of half finishing another Footy, try finishing half a Footy then you can glue it to a teak board and sell it in the local ‘antique’ shop!
I forget, did we ever declare peace in the War of the Roses?
The Yorkshire git :sly: (that’s my G.Boycott impression)