The Primaat, from the drawing board of e.g. van de Stadt, is a light and very nimble cruiser. I have been sailing one in the nineties and used to say that she could sail on the memory of a wind.
I have recently failed to secure a nice light second hand gaff cutter on the market. To replace that, I was drawn to the idea of taking a Primaat hull and modify her to give her that last century look, and hopefully feel at the helm.
The first step has been taken. A hull has been purchased and arrived at our shed in Wolphaartsdijk.
In the meantime, decisions have to be made regarding sail area and centres. Rigging must be planned before we start on the deck and coachroof.
We have decided to go for a significant increase in main sail area, as a smaller sail would not look good. That means that we could end up sailing a lot on a very deep first reef, but we’ll have even more power in very light airs than she already had.
The fore triangle centre moves forward thanks to the bumpkin. Its area is also increased from the original plain sail plan. The final balance will have to be judged at trials, but looks all right so far. We always have the option to add a small skeg before the rudder. That was done on two small cruisers that we studied in the past years during the development of prototypes.
MORE COMING, in due time.