Traditional Gaff Rigging "Rules of Thumb"

[movenden]

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody knows of good reference material for rigging small gaff rigged boats. I'm looking for general standard practices for selecting blocks / cordage ect.

I'm thinking just basic information like figure 2-1 of the Rigger's Apprentice (my copy is from 1998). I'm sure all the old riggers / sail makers could look at a rig and know instinctively what would be required based on the sail area / design.

I'm not sure if this knowledge has been captured anywhere. I find myself flipping between Skenes/gaff rig handbook/masting and rigging/various chapelle/hand,reef,steer but I haven't really found anything in these books. Masting and Rigging would be fantastic if my boat was greater than 150 tons

I pretty much purchase any books I can get my hands on so please fire away any suggestions.

Cheers,
Mark

[benz]

I'm not sure there is any standard work specific to small schooners--you seem to have the standard resources already. There are schooners of every size and description where I live, and all of them are rigged differently. I think you'll have to figure out the loads and use engineering principles to see what blocks and line to use. You may have to consult with a naval architect to calculate any loads you can't sort out from Skene's or the Apprentice. But don't be afraid to make your rig unique--do your best with the information you have available, and be willing to tweak things as you sail. After thousands of miles with my homemade gaff rig, I'm still tweaking things here and there.
Ben

[Ian McColgin]

The good news is that if you size sheets, halyards, and other running rigging by what's comfortable to hold, what's not too small to pull on comfortably, and you perforce select blocks to fit, it will all be much much stronger than the actual loading requires.

The place where some err is in the attachments to deck and spars. Anchor things well, through bolting robust pad eyes and such to a backing plate where possible.

G'luck