Rigging
Detail of load-bearing forestay, prior to sea trials. The Ronstan sheave splits the load so that only 50% of the forestay tension is actually carried by the running rigging below deck. The inspection port, shown on the side of photo, permits easy access for maintenance. Maintenance? Yes, Virginia, there is always maintenance.
The shop under Willie's house where the finishing/rigging takes place. The paint was only 24-48 hours old, so terrycloth toweling was necessary to protect the still-soft paint finish. Note the main traveler (actually a vang traveler) running gunwale-to-gunwale.
Sea trials. Note that the space between the mainsheet cleat and the tip of the tillers is very small; that is intended as a physical reminder for the fat boys to keep their weight forward. Willie (in his head): I gotta cut about 3 inches off of these tillers. Kevin: "Don't you dare cut those tillers!"
The mainsheet/vang runs forward like an iceboat mainsheet, turns down at the gooseneck, and turns again at the keelson, where it is split to produce a cascading 8:1 mechanical advantage, and is led up to the skipper just aft of the main traveler, which runs rail-to-rail.
Controls forward of the traveler are: backstay, cunningham, and sideboard.
The adjustable board stop for the port board is visible just in the top of the photo, just under the cockpit edge.
The spinnaker turning blocks are visible, without lines fed. These are placed midway up the side decks to keep the crew weight forward (remember the fat boy in the stern), and so that the tension of the sheet does not tend to rotate the crew's torso aft whilst flying the spinnaker.
The self-tacking jib track is in front of the spar; the trim point is a single one, exiting the deck aft of the spar.
The asymmetrical pole controls exit the deck on the starboard (typically windward) side of the forward cockpit edge: tack and pole out.
Crocs as crew footwear are optional.
The mainsheet/vang runs forward like an iceboat mainsheet, turns down at the gooseneck, and turns again at the keelson, where it is split to produce a cascading 8:1 mechanical advantage, and is led up to the skipper just aft of the main traveler, which runs rail-to-rail.
Controls forward of the traveler are: backstay, cunningham, and sideboard.
The adjustable board stop for the port board is visible just in the top of the photo, just under the cockpit edge.
The spinnaker turning blocks are visible, without lines fed. These are placed midway up the side decks to keep the crew weight forward (remember the fat boy in the stern), and so that the tension of the sheet does not tend to rotate the crew's torso aft whilst flying the spinnaker.
The self-tacking jib track is in front of the spar; the trim point is a single one, exiting the deck aft of the spar.
The asymmetrical pole controls exit the deck on the starboard (typically windward) side of the forward cockpit edge: tack and pole out.
Crocs as crew footwear are optional.
Mainsail outhaul detail. The outhaul mechanism pulls the clew out, while the sail slug holds the sail down. There are inboard and outboard stops on the slug, so that the sail cannot be pulled out past the maximum in the Rule, which is 9'6". The inboard stop does two things: prevents the slug from being lost or removed by your crew when you are not looking, and also limits the inboard travel of the clew in the event of failure of the outhaul mechanism.
Single jib car on the self-tacking jib. The fibre rope is Dyneema single braid from Ronstan, the track, car, and sheave are from Harken. The shackle pin is captive, so you won't have to buy that part 8 times.
Main tack detail. Guaranteed not to bend aft. Shackle and shackle pin are captive. Note measurement bands on the spar.
The whole kit has to weigh at least 595 pounds. Here is the new electronic scale, showing 597. The model of the scale is an 'I-20W', which is an irrelevant coincidence. Resolution to .2 pound...two tenths of one pound.