As mentioned two postings below, Σοφíα my first boat is getting a re-rig following her humiliation last August. Here she was in 2013.

When I bought the Zef hull for Sarum, I transferred the rig to her and sorted out something temporary for Σοφíα. In accordance as its new vocation as an inland waterway boat, I have now decided to go for an Optimist rig without shrouds or forestay for the sake of easy rigging and unrigging. Here is the hull with the black foredeck taken off. I have bolted on a plank of pine with a hole of the right size. The mast will engage in a step plate, see below. The boat has a rowing thwart.

I moved the mast step position a couple of inches forward of the original mast position, because I found the weather helm to be hard, and the boat was easily caught in irons. This modification should make tacking much easier with a catboat rig (a single sail – no jib).

This is the new rudder blade with the second coat of varnish.

The spars are hanging on fine string whilst they get the successive coats of yacht varnish. In the foreground, the jaws of the boom. Behind it are the mast and the sprit.

This funny thing is the mast step to go down into the bottom of the boat. The weight of the mast will hold it down, and four galvanised bolt heads will engage into four recesses in the bottom of the hull. It is designed not to move. It is also getting its “magic” varnish!

I should be getting my Oppie sail in a couple of days, so then I can finalise the length of the spars, round off the cut ends and varnish. Maybe I’ll be able to think about tests on the water in about a week’s time…