Two or three years ago I wrote an article describing how I had re-bedded the centre-board casing of Cobweb; also the doubling-up of her garboard planks. I will now relate what changes I have made to the rig. However, I offer these as 'food for thought' - I do not claim to be an expert and am not saying that this is how you should necessarily rig your boat.

Cobweb is a 12' clinker dinghy which, when we bought her some 10 years ago at the Wroxham boat auction, had a gunter rig with the jib set on a bowsprit. The sails were rather tatty, a blue jib and white main; eventually I had new tan ones made and decided to switch to standing lugsail - for no dramatically good reasons, mainly that she would be more "Swallows & Amazons" and she would also be eligible for the Old Gaffers races and events. The sails were made by W Sails at Leigh on Sea who drew up their plan from the boat dimensions I provided. A yard was acquired to go along the head of the sail and the boom was replaced by another one I bought for £4 at a boat 'toot' sale. The old one had a metal gooseneck; the new one was fitted with wooden jaws at the front.

Referring to Drawing I, you can see some of the changes I have made in that area. There were already holes in the ends of the 'horns' to take a piece of cord to hold the jaws to the mast, although to an extent this happens naturally. At first I just put a stop knot in each end, but it was difficult to undo one quickly in a hurry, especially if cold and wet. So I fitted a slightly longer cord which goes to a small cleat on one side of the jaws; the cleat is shown but not the cord, in the drawing. I also leathered the jaws, which are oak clenched onto a pine spar.

Incidentally, to treat the leather on my boat I use a 'jollop' of 'blended neatsfoot compound' called Ko-cho-line (pronounced 'coach-leen' I believe); this was recommended by a friend who has horses and uses it for their harness; it is liquid and I brush it on to saturation - it seems to go in much deeper than tallow or the like and I've found it excellent. It should be found in tins in most good 'dobbin' shops. Back to the jaws, I screwed a 'bridge' piece to the top - I can't think of a better name for it, but there is one shown in two of the drawings. I am sure you will see what I mean; I usually use the brass ones, with the inside of the arch carefully filed to remove any rough casting burrs, but sometimes the flat stainless ones are better, especially for going 'round' a spar as they can be bent to the curvature, e.g. the furling line on the bowsprit. The purpose of the bridge (on the jaws remember!) is, twofold: firstly to shackle the tack of the mainsail to - this has been omitted on the drawing for clarity; also to take the reefing hook. The first hook I tried was too small; this one is less fumbly and will take both reefing cringles. The spring clip also serves to keep the cringles on the hook if the pressure comes off for a moment while rehoisting the sail. The idea when reefing is simply to slacken off the mains'l halyard enough to hook on the first cringle, or even both if it looks that bad, then haul up again. I will discuss reefing the clew later; also the traveller.

The preference for the boom jaws rather than a fixed goose-neck was again twofold. It is said that the secret of a standing lugs'l is in tensioning the luff to get a good leading edge and set of the sails; so I fitted a simple downhaul using a block (yes, I know you can get sliding goose-necks, but not for £4, and Roger and Titty didn't have one!). I think the working of this is clear from the sketch. It may not be strictly necessary to use a block but it is smoother; I have thought of leading the running end down to the base of the mast, through another block and back to a cleat on the side of the centre plate casing, where it would be easier to reach when single-handing; also something similar for the mains'l halyard...... but I'm still looking for a Round Tuit. Note that when tying the stop knots on top of the jaws, it is necessary to get the ends of equal length so that the block hangs centrally; or tie the knots first then sieze the block in the middle.

The other reason for the quickly-detachable-from-the-mast jaws is that if they aren't, I can't lay the yard and boom in the boat, on the thwart, if I want to drop sail and row in a hurry. Cobweb has a foredeck, the aft end of which is closed in with T & G planking, with two hatches. Built into this is the tabernacle in which the mast is stepped using two bolts. Because of this foredeck, I can't drop the boom and yard straight down into the boat. If I use the traveller, the geometry is such that I can only lower (or raise) it half way before the luff tightens-up and I have to unhook it from the traveller. Unless I am likely to have to reef, I do not use the traveller and haul the yard almost up to the sheave, which is about right as the boom is not too low over one's head. To reef, I simply slacken off the mains'l halyard and hook on one or both of the luff cringles; I bring the traveller into use, if it wasn't already, then haul up the mains'l and down on the downhaul to get the right tension again. When not in use there is a small stainless hook on the front of the mast about 18" above the jaws to stop the traveller falling down onto the jaws etc. The other end of the sail is then dealt with - which is what I will deal with next.

Going to the aft end of the boom, I have fitted 'jiffy' type reefing to go with the quick luff hook. Rather than a bulky wooden reefing comb on each side of the boom I have used brass bridges - remember them? - 2 either side. For the first reef, a cord of suitable size is roved up through the aft bridge on one side, through the lower reefing cringle in the leach of the sail, and down through the aft bridge on the other side. Just below each bridge, leaving an inch or so of slack, a stop knot is tied. This is repeated for the forward bridges but using the higher cringle. Having reefed the luff, you then pull down on one side of the aft reefing line until the cringle is as close to the mast as possible. The running end, the one you pulled down on, is then taken forward to a cleat on the side of the boom. Repeat this for the second reef. Obviously there should be two cleats on the boom, the position of which must be within reach of the running ends. Also by trial you must find the optimum position for the bridges; they must be far enough aft of the cringle to impart a fairly strong outhaul effect as well as just pulling down the reef; I suspect that the single line shown in Drawing II is probably too upright. Work it out with the boat rigged in the garden on a still day! There are the usual two rows of reefing points across the sail, which should be tied under the sail and not around the boom, with you-know-what knots.

Another mod to the boom end was a clew outhaul. The old boom had a transverse hole near the end through which a thinner line was laced to the required tension and finished with two or three half hitches. This was difficult to adjust quickly. I made a slot in the boom, top to bottom longitudinally, by first drilling a hole at each end and then chiseling out the middle. This was to take a tufnol sheave which I got from a broken block, though chandlers do sell them. I had considerable difficulty finding a suitable spindle for it - a stainless bolt of adequate length could not be located and I found the solution in a stainless split-pin of the right diameter to let the sheave turn easily. I drilled a hole from side to side through the boom then assembled the pin and sheave. I countersank the pin head with a good clump from a hammer and cut off the other end leaving about quarter of an inch sticking out. I splayed these on either side and recessed them in the same way (hey, Mum.... I'm a craftsman!) and it works a treat. I got a length of 'plastic hemp' - the imitation stuff - and spliced one end to the clew with an eye splice. This went back to the sheave, down, round it and forward to a largish cleat on one side of the boom, fairly well forward so that it can be adjusted with the boom in any position, i.e. the cleat can be reached easily. The end of the rope must be whipped. The set of the sail can then be adjusted, tight for a good blow, more 'bag' in it for light airs. If required, a lighter line can be eye-spliced to the clew to lace it closer to the boom.

Around the very end of the boom is a brass ferrule and a small, flat, pivoting hanger-downer, with a hole in it. This could be used to shackle the mainsheet block to, or a topping lift. I sometimes fix to it a small modern dinghy-type pulley and use a line through this to set an old dinghy jib as a water sail in very light airs, especially in the Old Gaffer's races where everything gets hung out, including Grandma's old flannel draws! All good fun and it keeps the crew amused.

The jib is fairly straightforward. It is set on a modest bowsprit using a tufnol roller furling drum, and bowsed down with a bobstay and lanyard - the shrouds have lanyards too. There is a 'twizzle' at the head of the jib; the furling line goes through a couple of bridges on the 'prodder', leading to a cleat near the tabernacle. When the Round Tuit arrives I might lead it further aft for single-handing. The mast can be lowered quite easily for shooting under a bridge or the like. The top bolt through the tabernacle is withdrawn, when the entire mast and gear, all standing, can be leant backwards using the jib halyard to control it. I haven't tried 'shooting' Southend pier yet but it did work very well going under bridges in Southend carnival when Cobweb was on my Cub's 'Swallows and Amazons' float. I remember Frank Dye saying that he had a similar arrangement on his Wayfarer and one year was using it to good effect on the Leed & Liverpool canal (yes, canal! ) All went well till he was approaching one bridge at a fair rate of knots and the very strong following wind didn't want to let the gear come down. Panic won the day and he missed the brickwork by an inch. He heard a spectator's voice from above say "By George. That fellow's got it weighed off!"

Turning to the sheets, there is a rope horse to carry the double mainsheet block. The sheet is tied to an eye on the bottom of the top block (not shown in drawing), goes down and through the lower one, up and down again and then forward to the helmsman's hand, either clamped onto the tiller or held in the other hand. The jib sheets go outside the rigging and through fixed plastic fairleads which will shortly be replaced with a pair of very nice wood and brass ones which I have just acquired. Then either straight to hand or to a jamming cleat on the aft end of the centre-board casing. This is the 'horns' type where the lower horn forms a sharp V in the centre; you can either cleat it properly or just run the sheet under the cleat and up to your hand where only very slight pressure will keep it firmly jammed (see Drawing III).

Whilst I am writing, just a few other general details. Cobweb was originally varnished inside and out; I persevered with this for many years before giving up the unequal struggle. She had a few (traditional!) leaks so I stripped off all the varnish outside, sanded and cleaned it very carefully, especially in the 'angles' of the clinker planking. In these angles, up to just above the waterline, I ran a very small fillet of Boat Life rubber caulking, using a cartridge and 'gun', pushing the nozzle away from me as I worked, not trailing. This pushes the gunge right into the angle; to complete it, I ran a wet finger along the fillet to compress and smooth it. Once this had cured, the hull was painted black up to the rubbing strake and top plank. These were 'varnished' and it all looked very nice, and a lot easier to maintain. The transom was also 'varnished' and on this I painted a traditional name-ribbon with swallow-tailed ends. I knew I had a book telling the traditional way to paint this but eventually found it just after I had done it wrongly! The ribbon should be light blue across the main part on which the name is written; this is shaded a gradually deepening blue towards the ends of the ribbon. (I got the light and dark the wrong way round but it still looks good - I think! I did the graduating of colour on a hot day when the paint was drying too quickly to merge really well). The letters are in black and the ribbon is edged in 'gold' - I used a suitable shade of yellow.

The varnish inside became very bad. I had a blitz on that prior to taking Cobweb to Brittany for 'Douarnenez 88' last year. I used loadsa paint stripper and poggled and scraped for ages but eventually got it all off. I did not want to go through all that again so decided to use Deks Olje No. l; expensive perhaps, but worth every penny. I painted the inside of the bottom of the boat, i.e. under the floor-boards, with International's Damboline bilge paint (grey) and inside the sides with Deks Olje. I propped the boat on one side then the other and slopped D.O. everywhere, especially behind the timbers and any other hidden crannies. Keep your cheque book well away; the slurp of D.O. being absorbed can give it a heart attack - let alone you! I did not use No.2 on this, just left it matt. This means that when I do it again this year (next weekend, as I write!), I just have to have another slosh-around with D.O. I gave her a jolly good hose down inside and a light brushing to remove any salt, mud or the like, when she came out of the water. She is now quite dry inside. I have used D.O. no's 1 & 2 on certain other parts, namely the seats, thwart, inside and outside of the transom and the gun'l; their shine contrasts very pleasantly with the matt elsewhere. I also no. l and 2'd the rubbing strake and top plank outside. Supposedly, the big advantage of no. 2 as opposed to varnish is that it does not develop white patches which have to be rubbed right down before re-varnishing. Just slurp on more No. 2 - and this does seem to be the case.

Unfortunately, Cobweb was on her foreshore mooring just off the end of our road when the great 'hurricane' hit. She stayed moored but not afloat - well, awash, actually, thanks to her buoyancy bags. Her chain was shackled to a ring on the foredeck and this pulled out pulling away the planking where it joined the stem down to the water line and much of the foredeck. There is about 10 feet of rope on the end of the chain, carrying the float, which I usually put round the mast a couple of times as a long stop and fortunately this held. She was repaired professionally, at insurer's expense, a large piece of wooden apron being added to the back of the stem to screw the slightly shortened planks to. I also had a strongly supported Samson post built in at the same time, so hopefully that should not reoccur, not for the same reasons at least. In the same blow the jib became unfurled, despite being tied up, and flogged itself to ribbons. I was heart-broken especially as I had found it slightly undersized, but somehow this happened to get remedied when the new one was made!

Well, that brings us pretty-well up to date on Cobweb's development. It's not exactly America's Cup stuff, but I've found it works well. Some people might think there are too many bits of string, but it is a 'Gaffer' and if they feel that way they can buy a Freedom rigged boat or the like. Any comments or discussion on what I have said will, I'm sure, be welcomed by our Editor.

PS. Has anyone any knowledge or experience of the 'Sou'wester 18', a plastic gaffer produced near Falmouth by Barry Chissam, or know anyone with one?

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE DRAWINGS

DRAWING III: I picked up a good brass Whale bilge pump for £3, minus fixing clips which could be bought new - for about £6! So I made two blocks of mahogany, drilled large holes through, and screwed then to the casing. The centre-plate cord is cleated to the end cleat when moored or trailing to prevent accidents.

DRAWING IV: These are useful for hanging up hanks of rope out of the way or perhaps to go through the handles of picnic bags to keep them upright. I have two on either side just aft of the foredeck; they are siezed to a timber or rib a few inches below the gunwale. A duffle coat toggle goes in one end and a suitable size eye in the other, both with eye splices.

SKETCHES These are based on photos taken at 'Douarnenez 88'. The top one shows two Bristol Pilot Cutters passing ahead of Cobweb. The mains'l has not been dipped around the mast - I don’t normally bother unless we are starting a very long tack and it is on the 'wrong' side. There are two cleats on the bulkhead; one is the burgee halyard (right) and the other is the furling line. The laid anchor warp, passing across the port foc'sl hatch, is already made up to the samson post ready to heave over if necessary; the anchor is in the bottom of the boat. The warp is secured by one of the hanger-uppers shown in Drawing IV; I feel the short time taken to untoggle it outweighs the probability of a snake's nest if left loose - like my main and jib halyards! The tack downhaul can be seen and the cleat for the clew outhaul - sounds like a cue for a hauling shanty! In the other sketch, Cobweb is about to be rigged for the day's activities. The official shroud pennant was pink to indicate that we were in the 'tiddlers' class - under 5.5 metres; so was 'Joy' on the front cover of May's Classic Boat and the one behind her.