Topsail schooner sail plans and rigging
I have been researching topsail schooner rigging and sail plans. I found many questions, answers and comments on the Forum, but no one place that discussed the many variations. I decided to post information that I have found to help others who are interested in these ships.
This is a sail plan for a "typical" two mast topsail schooner with one topsail on the fore mast and no topsails on the main mast. Schooners with three or more masts normally repeated the sails and rigging sh
I have been studying rigging dimensions, and that has been an adventure. First, here is a drawing showing various dimensions used for determining mast, spar and rigging diameters.
The biggest problem is that many authors use the term "length" ambiguously and just assume you know what they are thinking. This is known as "functional illiteracy" and it is very common.
The Hull
The length of a sailing ship's hull is often the length on deck - for the
