KK 42 Steadying/riding sail

I just purchased my KK42 and I was wondering if anyone had ever used their Mast/boom with a riding sail. I doubt it would do much to reduce roll (maybe dampen it a little) but does anyone have any experience with it helping with the yawing action while on the hook? Also anyone have one they want to sell me and I will test it out

Most trawler masts are too far forward for a riding sail to do very much. Before the trawler I sailed a Seabird 37 ketch. (https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/sea-bird-37)
The mizzen cried out to be used as a riding sail at anchor, so it got lots of experimental use. I found that the best riding sail was a small triangle attached at the aft end of the boom, sheeted flat. The boat rode head to wind and hardly moved. With a mizzen sail at the mast (forward) end of the boom, even though sheeted flat, and a somewhat larger piece of sail, the boat still hunted, though less than without sails at all. That mizzen mast was located at the forward edge of the aft cabin roof, so well aft of a typical Trawler mast location.
On my trawler, the mast stands on the deck below and is pinned to the aft edge of the flybridge deck. This is typical location, roughly the same distance forward as on a KK42 (https://www.bing.com/images/search?...dex=0&FORM=IRPRST&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0)
At that location the side forces are too far forward to do much to straighten out the riding position while at anchor.

Thanks Keith....kinda what I was thinking, not really worth the effort/cost.

Are you looking to control swinging while at anchor? If so, check out this link & photo:

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=694489&postcount=13

The little blue tarp in the photo completely took away our yoyo bouncing on a nylon rode at anchor, resulting in a much smaller and slower side to side motion.

Think feathers on an arrow.

Maybe you could have one fit the triangle shape of the boom & mast?

Matt: We looked at adding a steadying sail on our KK42. With our mast and boom configuration we estimated the square footage to be about 110 square feet. Not enough to really do much on a boat that displaces over 40K lbs plus the rigging would have to be beefed up.

We used a bridle at anchor attached from each bow cleat. It was a marked improvement from a single snubber over the anchor roller.

We have one that came with our KK42. We haven't used it yet, but plan to next winter in the Bahamas. I could give you the dimensions if your interested.

Selidster said:

We have one that came with our KK42. We haven't used it yet, but plan to next winter in the Bahamas. I could give you the dimensions if your interested.

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I appreciate the offer, but I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze...had my boat came with one, I would give it a try, but I don't think I will have one made.

Gotcha, and pretty funny comment considering our boat name. Nicely done.��

Selidster said:

Gotcha, and pretty funny comment considering our boat name. Nicely done.��

Click to expand...

LOL...I didn't even notice that

I think I was about 16 or 17 years old.

Got a sewing machine and some sort of reasonable heavy cloth or if you are lucky, some sail cloth that has been discarded, measure from near top, at least 2/3 of the mast and then attach to the base and then out to the end of the boom. You dont need any more than that. Realize, it is a 'flat sail'. Attach the sail at 3 points using grommets. After you get all this finished you might want to strengthen the sail additional cloth with some additional cloth along the edges and 2 or 3 pieces from the mast outward to the edge of the sail.
The most expensive part is buying the sewing machine, if necessary. Maybe one can rent a sewing machine?
Here's your chance to be creative and artistic at the same time. No says it has to be all one color. LOL
I have been known to replace a small panel near the peak of the sail, with a white cotton dish towel and iron on tape on the towel and additional stitching securing the iron on tape. Worked fine. Of course I did get teased from my dad (his boat) and his friend.
It was a fun mid winter project that turned out well.