Stripping her down...

Now that I’ve established she can sail adequately with just the genoa, now is as good a time as any to remove the mainsail and the boom.  I also was able to sell the radar to another boater who will make much better use of it than I; this uncluttered things further.  You can see in these Before-After pictures that she does look a bit stripped down now.

BEFORE

AFTER

The mainsail and boom together weighed about 25 pounds and the radar transmitter dome also weighed about 25 pounds; they both were about 90 inches above the waterline.  The square sail will be hoisted 13 feet above the deck (230 inches above the waterline) on a yard-spar that will weigh about 20 pounds.  If you do the moment arm calculations, you’ll find that these offset one another almost exactly (at all angles of heel); one less thing to worry about!

Now I have a spare halyard that can be used to hoist the square sail and a blank canvas to start adding to...running backstay, braces, crossjacks, yard-spar retention loop, etc.  This will make my first ascent up the mast an easier job as well.  Here’s my first attempt at a running backstay:  a prusik knot pushed up to the spreaders with the boat hook and lines run aft to cleats on the stern.