Pictured above is a boat I built for a repeat client about 4 years ago. It started life a gaff yawl and since then the owner has refined the rig a couple of times. He finally settled on the Chinese junk rig seen above. He has found that it easy to handle and performs well. The only problem he has now is that fully battened lugsail has a different centre of effort than an unbattened lugsail and as a result the mast has to be moved back. This would also stop the mainsheet fouling the cockpit. You can see how it would in the photo above.

So as he had decided to move the mast back he could tackle the cabin top that he had designed initially. It gave full sitting headroom and plenty of liveable space below. Unfortunately if cut off access to the bow of the boat. Not a problem for sail handling but when dropping a mooring or weighing anchor it meant that when retrieving the rode from the cockpit the boat was broadside on to the wind, even with the mizzen sail, and the strain on the line was too much.

So the boat will be getting a new cabin top in the next coming weeks. I’ll retain the existing hatch and grab rails and build new sides to the cabin to create a raised deck layout that will provide nice and wide decks to the bow.

If you would like to have your own boat remodelled, refitted, restored or a new one built, give me, Tiernan Roe, a call a +353 86 1586937 to discuss your project.

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:tiernan@roeboats.com

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