30-50 ft LOA non-wooden Gaff-Rigged Sloops and Schooners?

[Schooner Chandlery]

Oh, Uncivilized! how uncivilized to suggest skinned or splined boats that were once-upon-a-time fine carvel planked ones! Shoo away that idea or brush it under the rug!

Mercater--lovely boat!

Our schooner is wood and we love it. I would not suggest a wood boat unless the buyer really knows what they're looking for and why a wood boat will achieve that for them. Now I do appreciate composite hulls alot, but too many wonderful carvel planked boats have been hacked and fiberglass-ed over often hiding rot that will just keep on giving until the boat is no longer seaworthy. Suggest you stay away from boats that were modified after build from that which the designer and builder intended since it almost always is hiding a problem or creating a new one.

Speed and gaffers--it's more a matter of hull than rig when it comes to the potential of good speed. A poor hull form can't be fixed by a great rig.

Gaff material: I'm not quite sure why it is that people start suggesting all the ways to make the gaff lighter--the weight aloft, in the case of the gaff can serve on good purpose--weight aloft is known to dampen a harsh motion of a boat. This is one reason empty lumber schooners used to hoist a couple logs up into the rig--to dampen the roll.

I've been told the weight of the gaff boom helps bring the sail down when it comes time to drop the sails. Ha! that's a joke. In the case of our 500+sf gaff foresail with its Sitka spruce gaff boom I can't say it helps. If we're dropping sail in a blow, that boom wishes to stay aloft and we often must haul down on it smartly else we'd be indefinitely at sea sailing. But--don't let someone tell you the gaff needs to be light since I can haul our foresail up alone and as an average woman in strength I'm not as strong as the average guy. No winches needed, just 4:1 purchase on the throat and peak halyards.

If you keep a good lookout and you have a reasonably good budget to work with, you'll likely find a traditional looking boat, in fiberglass, that will make you happy. If it happens to be a gaffer, more so the happiness.