by K Albury

No, this is not an account of a voyage in my West Wight Potter to the Bahamas, but a few notes on changing the rig.

The Potter is a gunter rig boat, the gaff standing vertically against the mast, and so the luff of the sail is a straight vertical line. Since the gaff extends the mast by a matter of 4 feet only, it seemed to me a good idea to make a taller mast and get rid of the gaff. I obtained a rectangular piece of silver spruce a foot longer than the luff of the sail, ready planed to the size of the original mast (the Potter mast is rectangular section with rounded corners) and in the rear face cut a groove so that I could set the sail track into the mast. Now that I was able to judge how the sail would stand to the mast, I cut the section out for the mast head sheave and fitted it so that the halyard pulled the sail up parallel to the mast. A 2” dia. sheave was used. At this stage I also drilled a hole ⅜” diameter through the mast at the correct height for the shrouds. Leaving 7” at the foot of the mast for the tabernacle fitting, the mast was now planed to approximately a pear shaped section, and the mast track fitted in its groove.

Using the original mast tabernacle as a pattern, a new one was made up of oak and marine ply and glued and screwed to the mast.

The original shrouds and forestay were used, and were fitted as follows: originally they looped over the top of the mast against hounds. With all the mast track this was not possible. A piece of ⅜” stainless steel rod was fitted through the mast at the hole previously drilled and 1¼” dia. pulley wheels fitted on the rod on each side of the mast. The pulleys are fitted to avoid a sharp bend in the shroud loops. The port shroud goes across the front of the mast and loops over the starboard pulley, and the starboard shroud over the port pulley. The forestay loops from the front, behind and over both pulleys. The whole assembly was then held secure with a lashing. By discarding the gaff, I have reduced the weight aloft by 5 lbs. The mast is strong enough not to require cross-ties.

Another improvement I have made is to have a centre mainsheet. As I sail mostly on the Thames and the Broads, I do a lot of tacking, and found the mainsheet was frequently getting caught up with the tilted Seagull. The mainsheet now anchors to a fitting above the cabin entrance, the cabin top being suitably strengthened.