Monday 17 October 2011

A balanced Lug rig for the PDRacer

To me the Lug rig looks so nice,sort of French? PDRacer plans are just U$20,thats a low R170 right now.We can of course supply the boats materials and even CNC cut the plys,you make your own sail from reinforced plastic sheet.

R McB


Monday, October 22, 2007


Lug Rig for OZ PDR

I have just finished additional drawings for a lug rig version of the OZ PDRacer.

I would like to think I am something of an expert on lug rigs ritted to small boats. I have sailed countless hours with such rigs including weekly club races against conventional boats through to classic boat regattas.

My website has probably the best resource on the web (and maybe anywhere) for setting up lug rigs to sail really well – almost equal to “modern” boats.

So why has it taken me so long to draw up a lug rig for the OZ PDRacer?

The only answer is the time involved!

Timber Requirement
The timber list in this section is a complete replacement for all the mast and boom material in the standard OZ PDR plan.

Experience sailing a OZ PDR with a lug rig.
I did put the much larger Goat Island Skiff sail on one of the Queensland OZ PDRs earlier this year as an attempt to take the maximum sail area record from the Americans (right). I was only game to sail in quite a light wind as the standard OZ PDR mast is too lightweight and flexible for such a large sail area – I was worried about breaking it.

As you probably know the sail area on the OZ PDR is quite large as standard (82sqft) but lug rig was much larger (105sq feet).

The PDR handled the big lug rig beautifully, sailing upwind and down sedately under control and accelerated quickly to quite high speeds in the light breeze. It tacked and gybed reliably as well.

I don't think there is much point in going smaller than the standare PDR rig as the lug rig is easy to reef to match the wind.

Advantages and disadvantages.
The lug rig has a number of advantages and only one disadvantage that I can think of. So let's talk about the disadvantage first.

There is an extra spar to make up and I do recommend that it be made round to make best use of the flexibility to get an improved gust response for sailing in strong and fluctuating winds.

It probably adds around 2 to 3 hours to the building time.

The advantages are
1.The sail can be reefed easily for different wind strengths and sea conditions. I have made use of this capability by making the sail slightly larger than the original sprit rig. There is no discredit in sailing around with the sail reefed in moderate winds – particularly when you can use full sail in light winds and blow everyone away with the performance.
2.The spars are shorter allowing for easier stowage and cartopping – a maximum of 3.9m (13ft) – three feet shorter than the original rig.
3.Shorter spars reduce the timber cost and maybe reduce the weight slightly.
4.The centre of effort of the sail is a little lower allowing a larger sail to be carried.

The lug rig plans are available to all purchasers of OZ PDR Plans at no cost. Any other PDRacer owners can get a copy which includes all the information for the spars and the homemade sail by purchasing an OZ PDR Plan for $20 from duckflat, duckworks or seawing boats.

6 comments:


Shariputra said...
Hi Mik, I purchased your OZ Duck plans from Duckworks some time ago. Its an excellent, fully detailed presentation BTW. What proof of purchase do you need regarding the lugsail update? Should I contact you directly? My boat isn't built yet, but the time is nigh! Dakota and her Dad have inspired me. ;-) Regards, Tony.
Boatmik said...
Hi Shariputra. Contact me directly Michael.
Villo said...
Hi Mik, as shariputra I purchase today your OZ Duck plans from Seawingboats, but there are no details about lugsail. Must I directly contact you?
Boatmik said...
Hi Villo, If you want a copy of the lug rig just email me. I will ask a couple of questions and send the lug rig information to you for free. Best wishes Michael Storer
vann_solo said...
Hi Mik, I too just purchased the plans via Paypal from Duckworks. How do I contact you to obtain the lugsail update? Harry
Boatmik said...
Howdy, Contact me directly. storerm at ozemail.com




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