Want see how a balanced lug works? How about rigging your 21' trailer sailor with a Junk sail? Many times our curiosity is stifled by our wallets. I had read several forum posts about using plastic tarps as sails and decided to give it a shot.

Polytarp is cheap, relatively durable, readily available and does not need to be sewn in all cases. To me that sounds like it is perfect for experimenting. Now, wiser men than me may have many things to say against its use, or some of the quick and dirty methods used, but you can get a functional sail out of duct tape, polytarp and some line.

I had finished the hull of my first stitch and glue dinghy some time earlier in the year and had promised myself that I would craft a birdsmouth mast and sew up a nice sail for it. Well, my impatience got the better of me, so I bought some 2x2 and 1x2 pine stock from Lowe's and used my table saw to rough them into octagonal form. At this point my total investment is less than $20 including the wood, tarp, 100' of line and the duct tape.

The pattern for the rig came from www.bateau.com, the same place I found the plans for the PK78. They have a great article on the sprit rig in their FAQ section.

I laid out the tarp on my driveway with my spars against a hem with existing eyelets that I would use to lace the sail to the mast.

Using the measurements from the Bataeu.com article I marked the outline on the tarp and cut it out. At the foot I left some extra that I would fold up to help reinforce the area that I would attach the sheet to. I also left 1.5" hem alllowance.

I quickly tacked the hem up with small pieces of tape, then I went over the whole hem with a line of tape. At all areas that would be attached to the spars I added extra layers of tape. I did not get good pictures of the reinforcing process, but it was simple. After punching a hole in the tarp I would cover with a square of tape. Then I would cut an X in the center of the tape and push the center through securing the tape on the opposite side. I repeated the process several times, switching sides until I had built up a strong point.

After that I laced the sail to the mast and set up the snotter. The snotter is critical for getting a good set of the sprit, I won't even try to explain it. Duckworks magazine had a good article on it, and much more elegant than my solution.

The other interesting part of the rig is the sheet horse. It is just a loop of line attached to the transom with a stainless steel ring attached. The main sheet runs down through it and then forward to my hand when sailing. Simplicity and practicality are so pretty.

So after spending $20 and about an hour of my time? A green sail, that sets well and moves the boat. I have no frame of reference since it was my first sprit sail, and the only rig I have used on the boat. I do know that if I want to try other rigs for this little boat I have the confidence to do it without losing much in the way of time or money.