Would this rig work?

[HonoluluJon]

I was looking at some pictures of middle eastern dhows and really liked the look of the sail, but thought that it would be a real pain in the butt to try to tack with a dhow's lateen rig. I started wondering if it would be more effecient to put a raked mast at the boat's transom and then put a dhow-shaped sail on roller furling with a jib boom to help it keep its shape. I drew a picture of the rig and thought it was kind of cool, and started wondering if anyone has ever seen a boat like it. Would it work at all? I figured this would be a good place to check, so I attached my crappy picture here as a .jpg file. Thoughts?

[Nemo55]

I guess the next step is to build a scale model right??
The Dhow is still in use today because of its ageless efficiency, or at least so i am told.
Pretty smart guy's those old testament guy's.

[CruisingFan]

No reason why it should not. It looks like club-footed staysail that you might find on a schooner. Not sure how efficient it would be downwind though.

[Benz]

You would need a way to stay the mast side-to-side without interfering with the sail booming out to run downwind, for starters. Then the balance of Center of Effort against Center of Lateral Resistance would have to be calculated. Then there would be nothing to counteract the bending load generated by the spreader. You'd likely be better off just stepping a vertical mast way aft and having a huge genoa (like some catamarans do).
Still, nothing like innovation.

[barnakiel]

It would work. But what about efficiency?

- drag?
- pointing ability?
- running ability?
- reef'ability?
- etc..

Many rigs look like a fine idea but there is a reason why we do not have ears on our backs. Similarly, sailing rigs are a result of evolution and adjustment. In the process they became optimized for the job at hand.

If you are going to sail in an area where there are plenty of dhows, this may be the right rig. Or else you will get stoned, one never knows.

1/2;-)
b.

[SunKing]

Not a dhow but how about multiple sails. Aft mast designs just seem to make sense to me. It's been a dream to build one for quite some time.

Monohull Sailboat Design
Sail Propulsion - Revisiting a Mast-Aft Sailing Rig

On a smaller scale...
Aft Mast help please - Boat Design Forums

[Geoduck]

I always wanted to rig up a PBY or an Otter float plane with a folding mast so I could fly to my favorite South Sea Island and sail around in good weather, do some fly fishing - like Jimmy Buffet does and fly away to some other spot before the weather gets too rough..........Good idea????

[Randyonr3]

Theres a Catalina 27 at Marina Bay in the San Francisco bay area rigged with one.. verry odd looking at the dock.. the mast has been moved about 4 feet further rearward and is only about 10 feet tall..
Maybe someone from there can get a picture of it..

[Bash]

I'm having a hard time seeing how that rig would balance. I suspect lee helm might become a major problem.

[DumnMad]

Tell us how the model works. When waves push obliquely on the bow I reckon you'd need a lot of rudder pressure to keep the bow pointing in the direction you want to go. Doesn't make sense to me. Like paddling a 4 man canoe from the back seat. OTOH it might go well motoring astern into the slip???

[SimonV]

Genoa only rigs have been around for a long time , I have seen quite a few power boats with the mast at the rear set up. Here is a big french boat with more than one genoa. Vidéo Ina - VENDREDI 13, vidéo VENDREDI 13, vidéo Economie et société Vie sociale - Archives vidéos Economie et société Vie sociale : Ina.fr

[charliehows]

lateen was a pretty common rig on traditional polynesian multihulls but when they needed to go about they just flipped the boom and steering oar to the other end of the boat and sailed the other way. The main mast was stayed in the centre though and i've never seen the rig you drew used anywhere. Doesnt mean it wouldnt work.

[SimonV]

Brian Eiland did a lot of work with mainless rigs this is worth a read.

http://www.runningtideyachts.com/sail/

[savoir]

The sail would work. The mast would not. It must be vertical and further forward.