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OK so this is what I am going to do. Just ordered a set of plans for the Vacationer, but I'm not going to build the hull. This weekend I am picking up a 21ft fibreglass South Coast, including trailer for $400.00 which includes all the usual, plus winches, engine mount and ample s/s rigging and turnbuckles. South Coast is no longer in business, but there is a strong owners association website where there is a host of pics and knowledge.  As I am in awe of the Vacationer style I intend to remove all the marconi rigging and replace it all with the Stevenson Gaff rigged design including, bowsprit, taff rail, mast and spars etc. In time I will also change the cabin, but maintain the pop top which this boat has. This fits my needs in many ways, I do not have room to construct from scratch but can work on existing. The hull is solid and has a swing keel which gives me the confidence to sail to Catalina if I choose. There is more room than I imagined below, with dinette/double berth, V berth and single on the s/board side, as well as space for a porta potty. I know it's going to be a lot of work, but I just retired and welcome the challenge. I will post before pictures after I pick her up. Peter.

Hey Peter, We'll still talk to ya! (smiles) That's the way to go if you're not a died in the wool boat builder and have a great need to make piles of sawdust. If you get up this way give us a call. Oh ya, send some pics as you chop that thing up. Warren

Good deal Peter.  I am eagerly awaiting the photos.  8) 8) 8)

Sounds like a fun project.  If you enjoy math you can spend some time going over calculations about the centre-of-effort of the designed rig vs a gaff rig.  Or - you can just go for it and hope which can be fun too.

One advantage of a gaff rig is that the centre of effort will be a bit lower which will give you more stability.  There are of course dozens of different sail configurations out there.  Personally I'm a big fan of the lateen sail (from the Stevenson MiniCup and Arabic Dhows) which have just two string - "sail goes up" and "I want to go fast".

Greetings Peter,

Is this the same South Coast 21' ?









Cheers,
Tom

If you want to keep the mast in the same location, as the fractional Bermudian rig, you'll need to employ a bow sprit and a new higher cut clew jib. If the gaff was peaked up more then usual for a non-topsail equipped single sticker, then you could get away with a shorter sprit.

Of course your up wind ability, which is fairly good with the SC-21, will drop about 20 degrees and swinging through 100 degrees apparent, would be about the best you could get (still carrying speed), pinching down to about 94 - 95 degrees with reasonable momentum kept up through several tacks. The good pinched performance is because of the appendage configuration on the SC-21.

You may be able to keep the lower and cap shroud chain plates, but the backstay will surely have to go.

I'd recommend you use a masthead jib and lastly have a professional look over your CE/CLP relationship and possibly global loading issues.

Hope it's not too rude to reply to you all in one go and I certainly enjoy the input and look forward to more. Mine doesn't look anything like the SC21 pictures you posted and I'm wondering if it might be  SC22. To be honest I really don't know what I'm doing, except winging it and having fun. My primary objective is to make it look like a Vacationer as much as possible and then if I can make it sail in a decent fashion, so much the better. My intention is to putter around on Lake Powell, Tomales Bay etc. I see Craig had a foresail, jib and topsail on the SaraLee, so I can see that's an option. I intend to use a Vacationer set of sails and intend to move the tabernacle forward,( and move the internal pressure post into the same position) enough so that the end of the boom looks,"right", over the cockpit. I'm a lousy mathematician another reason for winging it. If I'm doing really dumb things, please yell at me. Thanks Peter.

Just to get it out of the way - Peter - you're doing really dumb things ....  You've bought a boat - something no sensible person would do - not as dumb as trying to build one from scratch mind-you.... ;D

Experiment, have fun, if you follow reasonable safety precautions the worst that will happen is you'll get wet.  The people who built the Nelson's fleet didn't use calculators either.

Peter, you really don't want to move the mast. Trust me on this one, I've moved many and it's not something you want to do without really comprehensive understanding of design parameters.

This is a South Coast 21

This is the South Coast 22

This is a South Coast 23


The CE on the SC-21 is located approximately (in a vertical line of course) above the forward end of the companionway opening. This is a rough guess without doing any math, but I'm fairly good at eyeballing the CE on sail plans.

The Ce on a SC-22 is about a foot behind the mast

The CE on the South Coast 23 is just a bit further aft (proportionately), but the masthead rig does affect the CE slightly forward. This boats CE is about mid way through the companionway hatch opening (again vertically viewed in profile).
The height is irrelevant and a gaff rig will lower it a fair bit, though not as much as you'd think.

This is a South Coast 23 hull, but has a different liner/deck cap and called a Kittiwake 23. The major difference is the doghouse at the aft end of the cabin.

Again, these could be gaffers, but it's a lot of work and the Vacationer rig may not be the best choice for these boats. The Kittiwake carries 220 sq. ft. of working sail, but preforms much better if you hang another 60 to 80 sq. ft. on the fore triangle, bringing the total up to 280 - 300 square feet, which is well above the Vacationer sail plan area. The South Coast 23 carries 247 sq. ft. in working sail and again the jib could tolerate a fairly large genoa, also putting it over the area of the Vacationer sail plan. The south Coast 21 carries 206, but like it's bigger sisters could use more headsail. The South Coast 22 carries about 230 sq. ft. and also could use more headsail area.

This needing headsail area issue is typical of designs in this era. Alberg was a good designer, but the trend at the time was a fairly small fore triangle, partly to take advantage of racing rules and partly because it was just the design dynamic of the day. Our understanding of headsail/mainsail dynamics is much better now and the proportional relationship is now different.

Fooling with the location of the CE can adversely affect the balance of the boat. Placing a different rig on a boat isn't a crap shoot and isn't an especially easy thing either. This is a very ambitious set of variables and you will likely need some professional help, especially if you move the CE and/or mast. I'm not trying to discourage you, but I don't think you know what you're diving into, so I'm offering some warnings before you cut up a perfectly serviceable boat.

The South Coast 22 is a centerboard boat, all the others are full keel boats. Does you boat have a centerboard? Posting a picture of it's profile will quickly determine which it is.

Hi Paul,
        Thanks for the input. I'm totally confused and agree that mine does not look like your drawing of the SC21 or the pictures. There are many, many examples and references of SC22s on the SC Owners website. Your drawing of the 23 has a different steering configuration from mine, which has the rudder mounted directly to the transom with the tiller going up and over it, with no lazarette! If I don't move the mast then I don't think I get the kind of gaff rig I really want. I think you've just posted more info since I started this reply. Thanks Peter.