Kayaks, outriggers, and claw rig

[pmoyer]

I've been toying with the idea of building a claw rig for my 20' two man kayak, just for playing around on the Bay. One thing that I can't determine, though, is whether an outrigger is required for a narrow keel-less boat like a kayak or a canoe. I know I'd have to put up with a lot of leeway on a reach.... Any ideas on how to set the rig? It looks like the step is way forward of the CLR on any drawings I can find....

[Neises]

I don't think a traditional crab claw would work well on a kayak. The main strength of these is flipping the sail around to shunt rather than turning the boat to tack... The stern becomes the bow, etc. These are better suited for an open canoe, proa to be specific, since you're always keeping the lee side where it is & not fiddling with flipping a leeboard on shunts.

Outriggers are certainly not necessary, but will keep you upright. There's tons of commercial kayak sailing rigs out there, just do some googling & borrow a couple ideas.

[christyleigh]

If you missed my pictures yesterday on the 'addicted to sailing' thread check them out for some ideas. I did that 20 years ago as more of an engineering project than any claim to creating a real sailboat from a canoe. Before I started to transform the canoe I actually had already added a 2 inch oak keel like extention to the backbone for better tracking while paddling. The amas I used were a form of a see-saw for toddlers held on with a pair of aluminum tubes that slid inboard to narrow for trailering. The uprights next to the tubes were for weighted leeboards I made to replace the non-weighted ones that came with the original sail kit from Old Town Maine (after capsizing ). Like I said at that time I had never even heard of CLR and I doubt if the people at the Old Town canoe factory gave it much though either. The next summer after trying out all the ideas I could come up with on the canoe and actually only sailing it a couple times I returned it to a canoe and bought my first real Sailboat - a Siren 17 and went on from there.....

[Neises]

After thinking about it for a few minutes, I oversimplied the usefulness of an outrigger & neglected the brilliance of the proa. With the ama to windward, it becomes a counterwieght - ballast several feet from the boat's capsize axis. If you think wetting a rail is fun, just wait til you fly an ama.
An ama to lee has a tendancy to dig in, leaving you to fight it with rudder.

They also provide a rigging point for stay lines, and allow you to add much more sail area. If the outrigger isn't the solid pontoon sort, you get additional stowage.

If you simply use it/them as training wheels, you're just being slowed down.

You're in for a lot of fun!