MacGregorSailors.com

Has anyone tried to put a sail rig on a Boston Whaler?
I don't mean one of their Harpoon sailboats.
There is a 1974 13' Whaler power boat, excellent shape, up for auction near me next week-end.
If someone says they have tried it, and it works fine, I may not be interested.
If someone says they have tried it, and it just doesn't work, I'll probably have to buy it and try it.

Well, Bill, I own a BW Harpoon, but I've *never* seen a sail rig on one of their power boats... I can't imagine it would work very well, given the type of hull they have.

The hull shape is almost like a small catamaran.
I'm not sure if I could lift one side out of the water, or not.
I haven't given it a lot of thought (obviously), but I have a sailboard mast, maybe put it on a tabernacle to raise it up some, with a wishbone boom which would raise the front of the boom, end of boom mainsheet, lee boards . . .

One of the problems you may run into is where to fasten the standing rigging. Perhaps the forestay could run to the norman pin (or back side of the bow eye on a later model) with twin backstays to the stern eyes. The problem is the shrouds. There are only small wood block reinforcements under the inner hull for screwing in deck hardware. You could fasten the shrouds to an athwartships beam between the leeboards, but what are you going to use to hold that onto the boat besides a nylon strap running under the hull?

Putting the mast in a tabernacle would give it some suport, but not enough to make it free-standing, obviously.
I don't think the forestay will be a problem.
Running backstays to the aft corners will give the mast some lateral support.
I think one pair of shrouds will be sufficient, if there is someplace for chain plates for them.

I had a 71 model and can say it was a excellent fishing boat & has a very high load capacity. 30mph/35hp
Plus it rowed well. Although a very rough ride when the chop was up!
Out of curiosity is the transom straight across or curved?

Even thin-hulled sailboats like the Macs have reinforced fiberglas where the chainplates bolt through. Whaler glass on the topsides isn't very thick, and it doesn't have to be or have to have ribs because of the continuous injected foam backing. I'm not saying chainplates wouldn't work. They, and backing plates, would probably just have to be large in area both inboard and out, with more than a few fasteners running between.

You can put a sail on anything. I've demoed a Hobie kayak with a sail. It worked well with the optional outriggers. How are you going to counteract the sail? Daggerboard? Outriggers?

Bill,

Why oh why would you even consider doing this?

Bill
I was thinking about this yesterday while waiting for the wife shopping - yeah I had lots of time to waste - and thought that a cat rig might work pretty well, you could power up the sail because the aft would provide sufficient arm and as you say it would be difficult to tip it laterally. And if you fashioned a fin onto a 25 horse outboard, it would be quite a power sailer, at least down wind. The lee boards were a design problem I never was completely satisfied with however.

Been having quite a bit of trouble with that old problem myself lately. Hope your back on track.
Ron

In Monster Garage style, an ample amount of duct tape, Liquid Nails, and a bucket full of mis-matched nuts & bolts will keep the nay-sayers at bay! Chainsaw a slot in the hull for a centerboard!