TexasPhil

Konrad, In answer to your question, how to scarf a full sheet of ply, I think Phil Gowans has the best answer on his site: http://www.pragdata.com/philboat/ConScarf.html However, that requires a lot of trust in your eye to get it just right. I used a "lap joint", where I basically used my router to trim half the thickness of the plywood from both sheets. Alignment was tricky, but it worked out quite well once aligned. I logged my notes on my site: http://www.phil-davis.com/boat Click on: Construction Log -> 05/12/2002 Hope this helps

What???? Jake has a sail boat????

Wow, what a book "The Annapolis Book of Seamanship" by John Rousmaniere (Click Here for the review of the book on messing-about.com.) My loving wife and daughter found this one at the library and for some unknown reason thought of me :roll: I guess they LOVE me! :oops: I have been reading this and found, for the first time, an explenation that makes sense about the hull speed. It is basically a physical property based on the wavelength created by the bow wave. It also points out how to calculate your speed based on the number of waves along the side of your boat. For example, if you have three waves from bow to stern, you are going 1/3 hull speed, 2 waves is 1/2 hull speed, 1 wave is hull speed. The reason you can't go faster is due to the fact that you can't break through the wave. Planing boats get up and over it, so they can go faster, but the displacement boats cannot. Since (bow) waves move at a fairly consistant rate, the boat has a limit based on the LWL. But, as we have discussed before, some boats are more apt to hit that limit than others, and some will hit it more quickly, while others can plane and go even faster. So, the "Theoretical hull speed", in knots, is determined by multiplying the square root of the LWL by 1.34

I think everyone else has supplied sufficient answer to your request... I want to know about your last statement of the first post: This sounds like a late night stelthy excursion... lets have some more details! Please!

Nice Find! $376 is a good price too.... I think mine will be a tad over that! (like an order of 10)

You can pretty much do the same (spillage wise) by droping the gaff. Has anyone given any thought to a boom-less rig? Just the next logical step after a loose-footed sail.

I like the boom jaw idea too. I believe this is a picture of such a deal... with a small platform to hold it up when the sail is lowered. Adding a boom vang and/or a down haul would probably be a good idea, unless you added a platform above the jaws to keep it from rising up to far. That would give it a channel in which to move around. You would need to give it enough play to be able to raise up some or something will give way.... usually causing breakage (and always the part that is most difficult to repair) Barry, why do you make your daughter wear a bit? And what's with the horse on the transom? You might want to seek professional help!

Joel, I like your jig. On the front of my belt sander is a slot for attachments. I tried to attach a wooden straight edge to it, and ended up putting two additional screws in it to keep the angle locked.. but it wouldn't work right. So I abandended the idea and have been doing mine by hand using the straight edge to check the angle. I am not sure why, but my angle was quite a bit off when I started. I have gotten down to about 1 degree, which I can live with. But it takes a while. I have completed both sides, top and bottom, from the front bulkhead forward. Time invested so far is about 4 hours. At this rate, I figure 12 more hours to finish the outer stringers. I might have to revisit the jig idea again!

How about using the new packing material.... the stuff they inflate. That stuff seems pretty good about retaining the air.

Yeah, wanna come paint my boat? I don't quite see your ridges that you are talking about, but I don't think an extra layer of varnish will hurt anything.

Yes Jake, Your bamboo dloor is quite lovely! I have never seen a string like that, but I would listen to Barry... he is VERY smart and knows everything!

Yet another insurance industry that is corrupt! Oyster... have the birds come back yet? When did they return?

Wow, I didn't even see that one coming! I hope everone faired OK up there!

She was quite a storm! I wish you well while you dig out! I have to say that I am quite glad that she slowed down before hitting land. It could have been much worse!

You can also get Kevlar from http://www.raka.com Click on Woven Fibergalss Material... about half way down. They don't have as much of a selection as the other site, but you may find something there that you like, often cheaper

Jan, as far as I have seen, I think you two are the only ladies here, or at least the only two that activly participate in the forum. I am glad to see the ranks double. I like hearing different points of view. I don't think there is anything in building the weekender that cannot be done by just about anyone. I don't think gender will play a role in your ability to built it.

Congratulations, 4 out of 7! Getting Better! :wink: Aah, the weekender... I was afraid you had used that in your house somehow! Good to know it is still alive! Or did you take it inside before you closed up that hole in the wall? Are you talking about the tell-tails?

Jo, Come on! The thread topic is "Home Improvement Update OT" and he told us that he now has sails in hand.... so they MUST be for his house! Right??!? So, I just want to know where they go? BTW, I don't think Jake can spell the word "THE". So, put that on his test!

So Jake, Where on the house do the sails go?

Jan, and others, I gotta chime in here too, so here goes: About the pot time of epoxy: A lot depends on temp and humidity, also how quickly you start to spread it out, and of course how much you make. I do small amounts, about 1 oz on average, and spread them out, and mix more and spread it out, etc. I found that the fast hardener from RAKA will go off very quick, especially if you spread it out slowly. For example: at 100 F, you mix it for 1 minute, and let it sit in your cup. It will get too hot to hold in less than 5 minutes and solid as a rock in a total of about 10 minutes. But if you spread it out within a minute (after mixing), you can play with it (smooth it out) for about 10 minutes. at 90 F, it doubles the time, and 80 F it is even better. The slow stuff is considerably slower: at 100 F mixed for 1 minute, and left in the cup, it will get too hot to hold in about 25 minutes, solid in about 70 minutes, unable to stir in about 30 minutes. But, if you spread it out within 5 minutes, you can work it for an additional 30 minutes or so. It is solid within a couple hours this way. Needless to say, I use a lot of slow, and almost as much mixed, and very little of the fast alone. I do the fast when I have a small item to set and I need it to setup quickly. As far as the keel goes, Frank is pretty much right on! At least pretty close to the way I did mine. I have about 5 5 gallon buckets of paint. So, I used them to "clamp" the parts of the keel together, while I screwed in the screws. I would recommend that you find the flattest area you can, if you do it on the hump of a road, you will get a strangly shaped keel! I used the slow mix and took my time to get things lined up, placed a couple of nails to keep the two pieces from sliding, placed the buckets, and started screwing in the screws. For Thickener, I use two things, so far. I use some of the dust from sanding, and I used silica. I really like the silica, but I use the dust to "match" some areas, like filling in the screw holes. It is a little darker than the original area, but it looks better than the clear plug on top of the screw that you would get from silica. I have heard other people using other things, and sometime I will probably try other fillers too. I strongly recommend placing plastic or wax paper down before doing the keel... Mine stuck in the ONE spot where I did not put some wax paper. There is still a small chunk of keel stuck there! I filled my hole in the keel with more epoxy. Have fun. I really like epoxy. I was planning on using weldwood, but the epoxy is so easy I use exclusively.

Lots of Fiber!

jinx!

Those things hurt when they drop from the trees, especially a tall tree. And most pines are VERY tall!

At a bare minimum, I would use epoxy for the keel, and the exterier joints: Hull joining, deck joining, transom to deck, transom to hull bottom, transom to sides, deck to sides, hull bottom to sides, and hull bottom to keel. The rest could easily be done with weldwood. You will also want to use epoxy when glassing... if you glass. However, I did a very un-scientific test: I put some weldwood on a couple 2x4s and clamped together for a week. Then I took the blocks and submerged them in water for a week. (put a couple large rocks on them). After 7 days, I checked them... they had come apart.

Read Directions.... not with the misses watching! You can always put pool noodles on the boom! Might save your noggen! Don't tell Scott Cozad!!! He just told us about his little incident and how noone will go sailing with him now... I'll bet he doesn't do that again!