Alternative rigging?

[Dutch seaspray]

Hi,

The sails and mast of my seaspray are pretty worn and damaged. Here in the Netherlands no spare parts are available so i have to be creative to get it back on the water again (within a reasonable budget).

I hope purists don't get upset, but my plan is to try to fit mast and sails from other boat types that are more readily available here.

Does anyone have any experience in using sail and mast from other brands on their seaspray?  Any advice?

I have the impression that the sails on the seaspray are more like the ones found on dinghies than the ones found on other cats like the Hobie. 

One option is for example the mailsail of a 470 sailboat.  It measures luff: 18.5ft and foot: 8.5ft.  The leach is a bit "fatter" than the one from the spray.  Any thoughts?

[Don]

If you have the sail rigs available to try on your Seaspray go ahead and see how they work.  Balance is important.  Larger size sail areas have the potential to overpower the rudders but if you are using the standard larger rudders this likely won't be a problem.  Larger sail size will become overpowered sooner in higher winds but will likely be fine in lighter winds.  Taller masts and larger sail size will make it harder to right the boat if you capsize.  The standard one design rig is more like a mono hull dinghy and are lower aspect when compared to other catamaran classes.  The trade off is that they are a great sail plan for going downwind but are not as good going upwind when compared to a high aspect rig.  Let us know if you decide to add foils to your boat.  

[Dutch seaspray]

Some feedback on my project after 3 weeks of sailing in France.  

The boat now consists of:

-  Hull, main beams and rudders: original SEASPRAY 1977

-  Mast, boom:  Hoby 14 (2-part mast)

-  Sails: 470 dinghy (1978!)

-  Self made, 2 part trampoline

-  Self made daggerboards

My goal was a boat that could be transported from Holland to France on the top of my car. This was very easy given the low weight of the hulls and the 2-part mast.

 

The boat sailed quite balanced with the 470 sails. It was clear that these 40 year old sails were not in best shape and their profile was not designed for the speed of a catamaran. Still the boat was a pleasure to sail and we managed to get 13 knots on the GPS and upwind performance was quite acceptable. 

Does anyone know of max speeds that can be achieved with a seaspray with optimal rigging, so that i can compare?

 

Op donderdag 26 november 2015 20:33:28 UTC+1 schreef Dutch seaspray:

[Don]

I have used a gps to record my boat speed on a recreational model only once.  The conditions were not optimal but were only slightly faster than what you have gotten.  Certainly in an offshore wind with smooth water and a high wind speed I think the boat will go much faster than 13 knots but what maximum speed is possible, I don't know.

I like your transportation setup.  Do you think you could transport the boat with the hulls put together with the cross beams?

Don

[Dutch seaspray]

Hi Don,

Yes, it would be possible to transport the assembled hulls, but you would need your roof-beams to be extremely wide, like 75 inches. 

The weight of the 2 hulls, lower mast section and boom is approx. 80kg, If you would add the weight of the beams, this may be heigher then what you car allows for (although most cars in Canada will probably carry a lot more than our European cars) :-)

Op donderdag 26 november 2015 20:33:28 UTC+1 schreef Dutch seaspray:

Hi,