Mudnut,
I'm in year five of a nine year
rebuild on a ferro. The
builder and his wife lived on and sailed the
boat near Toronto for five years with a
junk rig. I hauled it into my back yard and devote much time to it.
While it looked to be in fair condition, after digging into it I tore off the
cabin, removed the
Farymann engine (replaced it with a 4-109) and the ballast, and basically started over from the
hull. The hull is wonderfully fair, but was plastered over cedar and there are the inside voids you would expect from such a method. The hull is now repaired, rebalasted with
steel and I'm doing the
cabin and joinery
work.
Ease of handling is one of the main advantages of Junk
rigging, with two masts you basically have two lines to play with and this can be done from the cabin. It is self reefing.
The biggest thing you have to worry about is that the masts are unstayed. If the boat is not designed as a
junk rig, lateral stresses on the masts can be a problem. And if it is a two masted rig, the stem of the boat may not support such a setup. The advantage in this area is that there are less stresses with the junk rig with an equal amount of sail. Collin Brooks at ferroboats.com can fill you in on all of the disadvantages and dangers of the junk rig on ferro.
If you are considering a junk rig, get "Practical Junk Rig" by HG (Blondie) Hasler and JK McLeod. It is a wealth of information both on the engineering and sailing aspects of junk rigs.
The hull number on the three ferros that I have been on were carved on a cabin beam visable from the
companionway. I think the lettering was about 2 1/2 inches high, but this is spelled out in Coast Guard rules. It also listed the net tonnage.
Ellis