The models on this page feature overlapping sails, an interesting study in getting more sail area in ‘profile’ than you otherwise could. You also get to tinker around with adjusting the overlapping sails to get the concept of the sail ‘slot’ where wind gets channelled between layers of sail area.

__'Cutters edge'__________________________

The traditional definition of a cutter is a small fore and aft rigged sloop with two headsails, a vertical stem, and a long bowsprit. In the 18th century, these small, fast sailboats were often used by smugglers, and by the authorities who were sent out to catch them.

In those days, British revenue authorities had numerous small ships that patrolled their seas. These were collectively known as 'The Cutter Fleet' even though they may not have all been 'cutters' by strict definition.

To the US Coast Guard, 'cutter' refers to a vessel more than 65 feet long, lightly armed, used for patrol and rescue. The term "cutter" most likely passed down through the years from the old generic fleet name.

Much like the yawl, large naval ships carried auxiliary boats that are referred to as cutters, the difference is that a 'ships yawl' would be suspended over the stern, and a 'ships cutter' would be taken on board, in both cases, these auxiliary boats would be powered by sail and oars, or in modern times, motor.

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Jibs, for given sail area, are more efficient than mainsails. Wind flow becomes disturbed by the bulk of the mast on a mainsail, where the jib is attached along its leading edge to a stay. And so, there is more attached flow right from the start. With two headsails, sailboats double that cutting edge over a single headsail alone.

The names of these headsails are the fore staysail, and the jib topsail (that is the jib on top).

The jib topsail is attached to a long line running from the bowsprit to the mast head using a length of clear tape.
At the mast head the line loops through, around, and through again, the slot at the top of the mast making it secure.

From there it travels down to the fairlead at the stern, this section of the line has now become a backstay.

Along the length of the backstay, about two-thirds of the way from the mast head, I tied a plastic cleat. The free end of the line runs down through the aft fairlead and loops through a few times to give it some grip, and then travels back up to the cleat and is secured. The use of a backstay is recommended to keep the mast from raking forward from the tension of the two head stays.

Up at the bowsprit, I run the line through the hole at its tip and then I use the tip of a bamboo skewer and press it into the hole, this locks the head stay in place, it is easy to pop it out and fine tune the position of the sail, and push it back in. (very neat!)

The jib topsail has a jib sheet that leads to the staysail jib underneath. This way, both sails work in tandem. At the clew of the top sail I tied a short length of line, at the end of this line I placed a small hook made from brass wire. (See pic.) This easily clips on and off of the clew of the staysail (jib) underneath.

The fore staysail jib has the same type of wire hook at its tack, and easily hooks onto the eye screw (fairlead) at the models bow.

The staysail has a short length of bamboo skewer taped along its foot, and a small cleat at its clew that the jib sheet passes through.

The jib sheet branches off of the mainsheet, about five inches aft of the stern.

The topsail can be completely removed with no trouble at all. Pull the pin from the bowsprit, unhook the top jib sheet at the clew and unhook at the stern.
If you decide to not use the top jib, hey! your cutter now has become a fractional sloop.

The forward staysail jib has a line running from its head to the masthead, but the line is held against the mast using a plastic bread bag clip. (Round off the corners of the clip with scissors, it looks much better that way :)

The clip is adjusted along the mast so that the two head stays are equally spaced apart.

The length of line running from the top jib clew to the jib underneath clew should have the same spacing. You want a evenly spaced slot between both jibs for air to flow through.

The mainsail was made with three panels, (see article on multi-panel sails).

The green top jib was made with the same plastic as the panel in the mainsail. The mainsail has almost no roach, because it must swing underneath the backstay when changing tack. I 'broad seamed' the mainsail on this model.

Broad seeming is when you build curvature into the sail surface, you do this by building the sail in panels, (see link above), only instead of a straight seam, that produces a flat sail, you fuse the panels together on a very, very slight curve.
Too much curve in a sail that is broad seamed results in a sail that will keep that shallow "bowl" shape even on the wrong tack, unless the wind is strong enough to punch it in.

The twin headsails produced a lot of effort, and combined with a roach less mainsail, the centerboard had some of the forward part of its top removed to allow it to set more forward in the well.

This was done to balance the helm when sailing on a beam reach, when the model is well heeled under strong winds, where it tended to have a lee helm. An alternative method is to simply slant a normal board forward, then back again for other points of sail.

The hull was customized with a block plane and sandpaper, the boats hull was rounded at the chine at the bow, note there is still a sharp entrance, and rounded along the midships where it sweeps to the stern into a rounded "V".
Lines (as always) are drawn onto the stock hull first before any work is done.

The hull was given a exterior prime coat and then a couple of coats of enamel 'sea mist green' paint. After it dried, the gloss was buffed down with fine steel wool. The deck was left natural, topped with a couple coats of clear finish.

This good looking boat sails well as a cutter or a fractional sloop. Changing the topsails tack is easy, but you have to do it manually, first pluck the boat out of the water and unhook the top jibs sheet, hold the boat so that the wind whips the sheet over to the opposite tack, and clip the sheet onto the stay sails' clew again. With a little practice, and you can do it in a few seconds.

Performance rating;
Stability...Good
Sail adjustability...Good
Swiftness...Good
Manoeuvres... Good
Windward...Very Good
Course stability...Fair
Ease of construction...Difficult

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__'Ms. Molly'__________________________
(Good Golly!) a Gollywobbler Schooner!

The gollywobler sail is used mostly for 'light air', one could describe the gollywobbler as a fore-triatic staysail-main sheeted balloon sail, but that sounds too much like nautical gobbledygook. Where the name ‘gollywobler’ comes from is any ones guess...My guess? if it is set up improperly the mainsail will be back winded and will wobble (luff) works great when you get it right (golly!)

You are familiar by now with the head and back stay, the 'triatic stay' is a stay between the fore and main mast. Easy to remember, 'tri' meaning three or third. 'atic' as in attic.

On this model, this stay is actually the head stay that the jib is attached to, it just continues on from the fore-mast to the main-mast.

The sheet (line that controls the sail) is 'sheeted' to the mainsails boom so that both sails work in tandem. Because it overlaps the mainsail, it needs to be set again after you change tack.

Models rigged with this type of sail are best sailed when you have a long stretch of beach to explore, when you won't be changeing tack often.

The masts were placed in the second and third mast steps, giving it room for a good sized jib without needing a bowsprit. The space between the 2nd and 3rd mast steps doesn't give much room for a large forsl' but since the gollywobbler overlaps the main, it gives ample power.

Although you don't really need a triatic stay, (you could get away with just tying a line from the sails peak to the main mast) I used one just to add protection to the head of the sail.

The main sail is rigged using a length of bamboo skewer, (see bambooms) the sheet of the gollywobbler clips onto the line that runs along the mainsl's boom. using a plastic jam cleat. You can adjust the cleat along the boom so that there is a nice even slot for the wind to flow between the two sails. (about 2-1/2 inch)

As you move the cleat forward more tension is applied to the sails luff and less tension to the sails foot. Moving the cleat back reverses the effect. You should also be able to adjust the length of its sheet (between the cleat and the gollywobblers clue) once you find the right length, it does not need to be adjusted again.The fore mast on this schooner was shortened three inches, enough that the triatic stay would sometimes pop out of the head of the fore mast. (Oops!)

To make the triatic stay "stay" in place, a second notch is put into the mast. (use a very thin saw blade i.e. a coping saw or a mini hacksaw) This is cut into the forward side of the mast and on an upward angle.

When securing the head stay, run it through the notch at the mast head, wrap it around and hook it through the notch at the front.

I have made two versions of this sail, one is flat and attaches to the fore mast (shown above). The other I added some 'belly' to, and is used when a schooners regular fore-sail is reefed down, its primary use is for sailing on a reach in light winds. You can add or remove that sail without too much hassle.

The sail can be reduced by loosening the sheet to the mainmast, and tightening the sail around the fore mast and then adjusting the sheet at the clew.

Another gollywobbler sail was made to replace the fore sail in light winds (on a different model). The sail was fused together using two pieces of plastic (see multi-coloured sails) the sections were fused together with a slight curve. (Rather than using a straight edge, make a curved one out of cardboard to help you guide your iron. This curve adds a bulge to the sail giving it a little more area. In sail making lingo this is called "broad seaming". I recommend a slight curve so that the model will still have some windward abilities.

You can tie the tack end down if you are good at small knots, or you can make a small brass wire hook.

The head of the sail is tensioned and made fast at the head of the fore mast, and the peak of the sail is made fast to the head of the main mast. (See illus.)

This model is swift sailing on a beam reach, and the flat sail version has good windward abilities.

I gave the hull a couple of coats of flat black enamel paint and a cherry wood stain on the deck. Like the cutter model above, the boat sails best when the sails are set on the proper side, and will need to be manually reset when you change tack.

Performance rating

Stability...Good
Sail adjustability...Fair
Swiftness...Good
Manoeuvres...Good
Windward...Good
Course stability...Fair
Ease of construction...Difficult

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