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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/15/2017 in all areas

  1. There are a number of ways to skin this cat. I was having a similar issue when I did the skeg, so I elected to scribe the profile and fit a filler piece, which I found faster and easier. I wouldn't worry about gaps, though I would grind down bumps to eliminate as many as practical. You do need to make a decision about bedding or bonding the skeg. The two are different and one doesn't need the other, if it's glued. I like to think about repairs and replaceability, so I went my way, but you may have different ideas or needs. Both a bedded or glued skeg can work just fine. Once the decision is made, you methods are the same. If you do glue it down, yep, watching for too much ooze out, from excessive pressure is a good idea. You can very slightly hollow out the underside of the skeg (where it lands on the hull) so there's a place for the goo to live, when bent into position. You also don't need fasteners, if you're gluing it down. Some weights will hold it in place until the goo cures. Rachet straps, Spanish windlass, even duct tape will do. Don't use drywall/sheetrock screws as temporary fasteners. These will just piss you off, when you break them in the work. Use "deck screws" which are often coated gray. Also "tech" screws are handy to have a round too, with their button heads and point options. Both of these are much stronger and though slightly more costly, you can trust them to not break and they can be reused, repeatedly. I've found the drive type makes little difference if you're not asking too much from the fastener. A stripped out fastener is a pain in the butt, though you knew long before you were going to strip it, maybe because it was too small, you had a lousy drive angle, a rounded over tip, were applying way too much pressure for the size of the fastener, etc., etc., etc. Try to avoid making these mistakes, as soon as you notice you're about to try it anyway. I've caught myself countless times saying to myself, "I'm going to strip this thing". Age has finally taught me to pay attention to this inner voice and stop, rethink and grab a bigger screw. As to which filler, well you're going to need some silica to control viscosity, but I like to add milled fibers to improve elongation and cross link. Cotton flock (404) or a straight silica joint will do too. I dislike pure silica joints, because you can get dramatically weak areas in it, unless carefully mixed and it's more brittle in compression, which is precisely what a skeg will see in an impact. Both 404 and milled fibers are better in this regard, though you'll still need some silica to thicken it up.
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  2. PAR, Thanks again. That is all great advice. I also read the "Painting" section on your website. Kudos to you for taking the time to write and share all that good info. I see you are located in Eustis, FL. We happen to have two sailboats built in Eustis here at our museum in Solomons, MD. They were built by Earnest "Dick" Hartge, a well known Chesapeake Bay designer and builder who retired to Eustis in the late 1960s. Witch of the Wave is a traditionally built plank on frame livery boat. He built five or six of them in Eustis that he kept on the shore of his property to rent out and earn a little money. He actually prefabbed a lot of the parts here in Maryland and built the boats once he got set up in Florida. He called that design the "Breadwinner" class. Spirit is a much more interesting boat to sail. He built her in his 80s by and for himself. It was essentially his last boat as he only built one more smaller boat after that. She is strip planked and weighs about what a Lightning does, ~700 lbs. Hartge was well known for designing and building several winning boats in the Chesapeake 20 class. Spirit looks a lot like one of his Chesapeake 20s except Spirit is double-ended and 2 feet longer (22 ft LOD). Our boatshop did a restoration on her a couple years ago and she has a nice new set of sails.
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  3. Thinking back, I realized that I made an error. Alan and Paul left Chocoloskee in fourth place behind the Thistle and the two CS17's. It was very lucky that the La Perla crew recognized the SOS. By Bones admission, he should not have left Flamingo. He was hallucinating and another crew tried to dissuade him from leaving without more rest. There was one more rescue. The Coast Guard plucked a kayak-er from his boat that was aground near the Crocodile Drag-over in Florida bay with severe hypothermia.
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  4. Thank you for relating the story of Nomadic and Rover coming to the assistance of a fellow boater. There are not many details, but they could not have known that someone desperately needed their help when they interrupted their plans to investigate an unusual flashing light. Nice lesson.
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  5. Thanks for the report, Graham. I agree with replacing the word "failure", maybe with "scratched". I lost a whole month in building my skiff, due to a horrible back failure. There is absolutely nothing you can do in that circumstance, except respect the pain. You did the right thing.
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  6. You could edit the word failed out of your report. What else do you need to do? I don't know. Matthew Flinders? In more serious answer to your question. You may wand to save the file as a PDF on you computer.
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  7. Nothing, I was able to open & read it
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