My Sailing Canoe Rigging

I turned one of our canoes into a sailing canoe a few years back, but it would not sail to windward. So, I decided to move the leeboard nearly 3 feet forward, and that did the trick. Now, I can sail to windward like the best of them, feeling plenty secure in winds under 10 mph. With this rig I can convert our canoe into a capable daysailer, and easily remove the rigging to revert back to a regular canoe.

[TarekElBaradie]

Thanks for sharing this piece of beautiful work. Happy canoe sailing!

[wayfarerchris.]

Lots of tips and tricks for us all, so thanks for sharing.
Lovely canoes by the way 👍🙂.

[seniorLu]

I just bought my second canoe; actually it' a Grumman sport boat/canoe (love it), and I'm just gathering info on a sailing rig which I plan to accomplish next spring. I'm an older senior but that shouldn't stop anyone from having a vision and courage. Your video is very informative, I learn mucho, gracias for your time.

[delaguitara]

Thanks for that and yes, I definitely learnt something and appreciate your contribution. Five stars and 2 thumbs up!!!

[sailingoksi]

This is the beauty of sailing canoes. They can be done in so many different ways. Looks great!

[TheLastPhoenx]

Thank you for sharing this, a lot of useful engineering knowledge can be harnessed.

[normandgallant]

On my home-built sailboat the lee-board is ahead of the mast . Comments from other sailors is how close I can reach .

[ianski]

Thanks for sharing mate, greetings from the jolly old UK 🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽

[tomjeffersonwasright]

Thanks for sharing.  The changes fron boat 1 to boat 2 are very informative. You did a lot of nice work, and put it into good materials. That will pay off in the long run.

[robconnect]

Thank you, I was looking for ideas for making a mass.

[jimmathieson]

Thanks for sharing, love it, interesting, love the canoe designs, would like to convert my Swift to sailing but fear wrecking it, so I got some ideas from you, have builtdinghy and foam Catamaranhulls before….can’t type but…..thanks again….Jim

[marxclassen]

Awesome thanks Brother... i learnt a lot

[dougwilson]

This came up in my feed, while I was looking for sprit rigs. This is a really nice design for sailing, which is what I mostly do, as opposed to canoeing.
- The rudder assembly is straightforward, and looks sturdy. The trailer clip to hold the tiller on is brilliantly effective and inexpensive. (I might steal that idea 😁).
- The bilge board is also a straightforward, sturdy, elegant design. I might suggest that you cut a plastic cutting board into two fender washers (say 50mm diameter) to put over the carriage bolt, on either side of the bilge board. Then when you tighten up the wing nut, they would act as compression fittings. Tight enough to hold the board down, but would allow it to kick up if you hit an obstruction. (you could do that to the rudder also)
- The sailing rig is also very elegant, but it is a lateen rig. Great for lightweight craft, but not what I was looking for.
- Your mast construction is good, but I might recommend a birds mouth mast construction. It would be just as light, but would be better at taking the stresses from the wind. (especially strong unexpected gusts) If someone didn't want to build a hollow mast, they could put a larger conduit in the mast step, and mount a solid mast inside of that. (No shame in having yours halyards showing 😁)

All in all, this is a great rig, with lots of great ideas. Thanks for sharing, and enjoy your new build. Anytime on the water, is a good time. 👍

[Lester-dgrv]

Thanks Mark, I did get something out of this, a few things actually.

(Liked and Subscribed 👍)

[FlyRc]

That's a pretty canoe even if it doesn't have very much rocker nor lots of spring in the sheer. The low ends will not catch the wind and I bet is a great lake boat.

[chaswarren]

I recommend a mast that drops in & will drop out if you turn turtle. Otherwise it is difficult to right the boat, especially if the mast is stuck in the mud !

[danielmccaf]

A roller-furling sail and mast would be much lighter. There would be no need for a boom, and it would operate about as easily. Hobie uses that system on their Adventure Island boats and I think it might be easier for DIYers to build. Much could be done with ABS pipe. But your system looks a lot nicer. It's nice to have carpentry skills I suppose.

[elsuperpollo]

great video I want to convert a canoe to a sailer thank you. Do you offer the plans on building by the rudder/tiller set up

[paralotnik]

Very nice project and vid, big up.
I've got same size sail attached to cheap inflatable kayak which is way

easier to roll over. The river I sail has rapid current up to 6 mph and I wanna go upstream faster so Im going to build even bigger sail this summer.

[JesseLatourrette]

awesome video, you deserve more subscribers