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not sure if it is helpful or indicative, but playing around last weekend in F5-6 breeze (strong breeze), had only the jib up furled in a whole lot, not filling the foretriangle, and she sailed herself "on a rail" without a hand on the tiller/windvane anywhere from 70 degrees off the wind through 115.  I thought this was interesting...

thanks....we're all fairly fortunate to be CO26 caretakers!

from the tips and experience, next time the beast under the cockpit floor demands a cash feeding, it will be seeing the door.  Seems like a bracket and a smaller outboard, under 10hp will serve the purpose just fine.  Time to start taking the measurements and doing the planning - that part usually takes me 6 months alone on average for my projects.

I am in the middle of a similar effort.  Am building a platform on which the Thetford will be secured, which in turn is secured between the bulkheads and on cross members secured in the same bolt positions of the old head, plus one, which on mine cross the 24" span of the entire locker at 6" increments.  The platform will lift out in order to access the space below, nicely separated into 6" by 12" storage areas (about 3" deep), as well as additional depth in the front 4" which will become a bin of sorts - I saved the old backing for the locker to rebuild a front which matches the opposite wet locker in height, and expect to insert a similar horizontal piece as is found on the front of the wet locker as a brace.  I expect to use this space for three canvas tool rolls (with tools of course).  The bin will hold all the random small clamps, etc. securely without too much fuss.

To your question - feet may be easily rested on the horizontal piece.  All closes up nicely in the original space with original doors.  As an aside I will build a drop down top behind the head for additional nav space with cubbies behind for nav tools, which gets me to the hardest part of the job, installing an additional LED light in there.

Mind you, I've only removed the head and taken measurements thus far preparing to build in the off season...

FYI on holding tank.  Been going back and forth on how to best use that space.  I've been a bit concerned about putting anything potable in there, and settled on using same space for a locker for the heaviest stuff, especially anchor chain, in order to keep that weight as low and as centered as possible.  Am also going to secure a larger volume fixed pump on the underside of the hatch in the sole there for emergencies...flip the hatch over, slip end of hose already led into the deepest part of the bilge just aft, throw the exit hose into the cockpit, and go at it.  Noodling whether there might be a way to convert the existing head pumpout (which of course now is unnecessary) into the exit for this emergency pump so that in such emergency it would be possible to pump out with the cabin secured (ie. no boards removed to cockpit).  The issue is how to lead the hose without having to follow the same path as the existing head hose, which I feel may be too long for a pump, assuming the pump is even able to lift the water up the 5' to the level of the head pump out.

fyi...my thinking has progressed, thankds to the want to go engineless.  Removing the engine of course reduces float requirements, but lets assume I chew that weight savings up with rum.  Once the iron horse is removed and the thru-hulls all repaired, am thinking that glassing in the after part of the area below the cockpit sole with an access panel in the after part of the sole will provide about 40ish cubic feet of floatation.  Leave the engine mounts in place and attaching a 2k lb capacity (approx 32 cubic feet for the Turtlepac 1000) float bag so that it lifts the hull not the deck (thereby not risking spearation of deck/hull at joint), and same scheme attaching to the holding tank (which I've converted into a chain locker), gets me to over 100 - enough to float the 7k lbs.  In an emergency, jettisoning extra chain, anchors, etc. brings weight down to 6,500, and with the misc trapped air around and some installed foam, it might all add up to enough extra allowance to make up the difference should one of the three elements fail (popped bag, holed in stern, etc.)

Finally, taking into account all positive floatation I'll get from the rum, since alcohol is lighter than water, I'll need a basket to attach to the bottom once she takes off like a hot air balloon...

will do this weekend...thanks!  Thinking about it last night, it seems like such a solid solution

not sure if it is helpful, but in The Long Way by Moitessier, he described his preferred emergency method of dealing with such situations.  He had a large diameter thimble (large diameter as to not cause too much stress on the shroud) around which he turned the short shroud, back up on itself, clamped together again with three cable clamps, closest to the thimble looser then progressively tighter up the shroud.  Through the thimble he had a shackle joined to a length of chain and again joined to the turnbuckle or another shackle, with the hole tensioned as appropriate by the turnbuckle as usual.

One of the easiest most understandable and direct jury rig systems I've seen (and which I now carry proper parts for, as they are regular parts of the inventory...).  Evidently, as he was sailing around the world 1.5x, he left this jury rig on for more than one full circumnavigation...

I own a post 83 JJT as well and would start with that design.  Besides adding pretty much all the improvements made by seeadler, I'd change the hatch config for engine access (the panel and screws are a pain in the ass and if you actually had an emergency with thru hulls or hoses under there, you'd be resting nicely on the bottom by the time you reached it).  I'd build in longitudinal stringers and improve the battery compartment in the sole, maybe to even hold three (starter and 2 house!).  Would be nice to have a second water tank/air tight storage on the bow duplicating the same on the one side and perhaps a bit more hardware topside...

The two formulas give oar lengths of just short of 14 feet for the former and just over 15 feet for the latter.  Has anyone had practical experience managing a Contessa with oars, and where do you tie those down when not in use?