Phil Gowans

One of the great things about sharing what we are doing is seeing all the different ways to build a boat. The world would be a boring place if we all did the same thing as everyone else. I for one love to see pictures of each. Morningstar is so unique, that almost everyone on this board is excited to see what is happening. You have really captured the look of the 18th century ship. For those wanting a link, check http://ulyscustomplunder.itgo.com/ Please keep posting, especially if you have some great photos like this one: (I love this stuff). I also want to know when you launch, Boise might be a necessary trip.

I actually glassed almost everything plywood - Inside and out. Then assembled it pre-glassed. I was worried about the cabin trunk taking the bend, but I did glass the exterior of it, just not the interior. Expansion is eaiser to take than compression. It still looks fine. I do find some surfaces have a bit of an imprint from the glass after 7 years, but haven't noticed it on the trunk.

It is hard to see much in this picture, however I usually tie (with a constrictor knot) 2 fenders, one to each end of my grab rail. The fore one falls right between the shrouds. I raise them as high as possible so that they still hang down. With a dock rope on the bits and the aft cleat it usually works quite well. I have spent the night tied up to a dock without any problem this way.

I think most of us that play with woodworking have some horror story. I took off part of the end of my finger and nail on a router table. Continued to work for a couple hours wishing it would stop bleeding. Had to go to the hospital and have them stop it. Like Charlie it didn't hurt at the time, but now the nerves are all rewired and it feels funny a lot. Two days ago my son took off part of his index finger on a bisket joiner. Same problem as me working too close to cutting parts with small pieces. He's about as dumb as his father, he won't go see a doctor even though it still bleeds. He says "What's he going to do, want me to pay him to tell me I hurt my finger?" :roll:

Andrew - they are made from scrap mahogany. I think 4/4. First drilled then shaped on my sanding table (just a belt sander held down). Then edges routed with a roundover bit - I hate sharp corners on anything on a boat. The hole was routed with a larger bit to lessen rope abrasion. The ones in the photo are screwed in from underneath the deck. Ones you can not see are countersunk and bolted in from above.

Here's mine - I use jib sheets with my lapper. Of course you can't use a club foot when the clew of the sail comes behind the mast. I still use the club foot with my standard jib. This fairlead was place by experimentation. I set up the lapper in my driveway and moved the sheet around with different headings until I found the best spot for it to come in. A movable track would be nice if I had more sails, but I don't plan any more. And I also have this little fetish about trying to use only hand made parts. The lines follow back to another fairlead next to the combrail and then to a jam cleat. The block you see is for the jib sheet when I use the club foot. I love my lapper, in low wind and heavy, however I don't like to single hand it in heavy. I don't have enough hands and time to adjust the jib sheet on the lee side of the boat, hold the main and steer. When I begin to heal significantly and my ballast is all wrong on the lee side, I often have to hold the jib sheet to be able to sail at all. This is just too tricky and not fun. I remember one storm that came up sudden where I had to do this. In conditions like these I prefer to take it a little easier and use the club foot. Dave, I don't see how you can get proper sail shape with that block where it is. I think I'm not seeing the fore end of the sheet. Where is the main point of attachment for the sheet on the boat?

The battle reinactments are a lot of fun. Here's a picture of the Lady that I like. I took my Dad on one in 2004 in the SF Bay. Our perspective was looking the other direction. If anyone is interested in more pictures, I made a little write up at: http://www.pragdata.com/philboat/battle.html

Here's a few from my personal pictures. There not the best pictures of deadeyes, but the best I've got. 1) Californian - Topmast Schooner 2) HMS Rose 3) Hawiian Chieftain - Topmast Ketch 4) Aloha - Weekender

I often frequent Boaters World, since they have about the best prices locally on general boating supplies. They have carried the MAS brand for a couple years and I have been interested. However, I still have some System 3 left for fixup use, so I haven't tried it. It's nice to be able to buy quantities locally. http://www.boatersworld.com/

I built a grate. It was mostly something to do next. I didn't find my feet getting that wet. I mostly like the grate for looks. I do get water in the cockpit. Much of it comes from my feet when I am beach launching. This also gets a lot of sand etc. in the boat. The grate keeps things a little nicer while sailing. I still have to tilt it up and sponge up and clean off the sole. As mentioned earlier by Barry, I built my grate by daddoing the fore and aft pieces. I used 4 athwartship pieces with daddos to keep everything square. then I placed non-daddoed strips in the other slots. This made the grate a little eaiser to put together. An added benifit was that it could be picked up by placing a finger underneath one of these slats and lift. It also allows water to move around a bit better underneath. I did find that I had quite a job of fitting the grate to the sole. The sole is the bottom of the boat which has a little rocker to it. There was a lot of sanding and fitting to get it to not rock and provide proper support without causing undo stress on the grate. Sand under the grate creates some extra wear on both the grate and sole. I'm glad I fiberglassed the sole. It seems to be it pretty good shape still. Again I don't know if it is that useful, but I do like the looks.

Thanks for the pictures, they reminded me of my trip of a couple years ago that I made to the PNW. I was on Alcyone to the Old Gaffers Race for part of it, what a blast. I loved the PT area, and the Center for Woodenboats. You have pointed out many more places I now want to visit like Devlin's. In fact, I had so much fun there I talked the family into going on a vacation there in Jun. It is kind of road trip. I will be staying in Seattle, Depot Bay, Victoria, Port Townsend and Greys Harbor. Unfortunately, because we will have only 1 car and the whole family, we will be fairly rushed trying to travel and keep everybody satisfied. Not much time for me to do maritime activities (they're not into things like that). I understand there's some great drift diving up there too. Oh, well, It's pretty hard not to have fun up there anyway.

Yes, Please keep us informed. That's only 350 miles from SLC & I went 300 miles with my boat to see 3 weekenders in Utah.