Rigging Change

[donhallmon]

I have a 1979 Vagabond 42 which is or should I say was rigged as a Ketch with an inner staysail. Due to recent storm damage by Huricane Ike, I will now be replacing all of my rigging. The masts and spars were not damaged so I intend to reuse as much as possible.
My question is this, I want to re-rig it as a cutter and eliminate the mizen all together.
The main is deck stepped and from what I can tell, it is much farther aft than most ketch riggs which shouldn't create a problem with relocating the mast. Where can I find information on boom length and jib size? How will this affect the handling on various points of sail?
I've been told by dockside experts that the mizen on these boats was mostly for offshore stability and isn't nessessary. The fact is that after over four years of baysailing on Galveston bay and the gulf, I've only used it about three times and two of those were photo opps.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by donhallmon

.....The main is deck stepped and from what I can tell, it is much farther aft than most ketch riggs which shouldn't create a problem with relocating the mast. .

By this do you mean that you do not intend to move the main mast? If that's the case the size of your jibs/gennys shouldn't change. If you want to lengthen the boom to regain lost sail area, then obviously you'll need to get a new main to match. It looks like your traveller location will easily absorb another couple of feet of boom length....

However if you rarely used the mizzen and found the boat comfortably balanced and adequately powered then it seems to me that all you'll be losing by not replacing the mizzen is some windage and some character. Perhaps you'd be best off the leave everything else alone.

So then it's an issue of does the boat look "right" without the mizzen in place?

It sounds to me like you've not been sailing a "ketch", truly, for some time anyway.

[svfineromance]

A Ketch rig is a wonderful thing, generally the mizzen sail is the first thing one puts up and the last sail one takes down. I find that many that don't use the mizzen sail don't quite understand the advantages of it. I had sailed only sloop rigs and it took me sometime to learn of a ketch's advantages over a sloop rig. Don't lose the mizzen!