rattus

Congrats! Good things come to all who wait. Looks like it's just in time for a certain kidly individual to share the joy with you! A sailing report might be nice ;-)

Gorgeous boat, outstanding workmanship. Beautiful photos! My only criticism of the layout is no seating with your honey on the aft deck. ;-)

Fall just hit us with a vengeance - best leaf peeping weekend, and now dropping like, well, leaves. Nice sail - can you comment on wind vs. boat speed/angle?

Damn, they say you can never have enough clamps, or friends.You, Sir, may have crossed that threshold. I am jealous - keep us up on the progress! Thanks, Mike

Need to double the aft beam, and add a scow bow. It'll be the Mini-mini Transat. Lifting foils come next. Specification creep much?

...and how about an alt cat ketch version, equal sail area, without standing rigging? ;-)

Please edumacate me... Why the platforms for the outboards, rather than simply extending the hulls, and cutting down the transom to accommodate, with a bulkhead to contain possible water ingress? I imagine a fair amount of locker space could be liberated then for lightweight items like fenders, shade canvas, and PFDs along the sides, without much added structural weight, even with a stepped hull. Help me understand. I sail, don't power.

You can never have enough friends, or clamps. Excellent craftsmanship!

Steve, who makes that ladder? Also, I'm surprised that harmonica hasn't somehow found its way overboard... ;-)

To continue the slaughter of the language, it snew 4' in October by us. And our kids experienced exactly 1 snow day during their entire school careers, when the power was shut down and the heat wouldn't come up. Life at 8000'+ in a ski resort (Vail). ? But I grew up in upstate NY, and have been in NH the last few weeks helping my folks out, and there really is no cold like Northeast cold. In CO it's usually dry, bright and sunny even when we have many feet of snow underfoot - here it's bare at the moment but that humid, frozen wind just cuts right through you. So Steve, the end of your season makes sense. May it resume on time next year.

You call that snow? Pfft. But gorgeous boat, nice flick, *really* nice speeds. Congrats. ?

Completely off-topic, but inspirational nevertheless: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/us/hurricane-dorian-cows.html

Finally found a link on "Rainbow Jack" - turns out it's either a NA native rainbow trout if it spends its entire life in fresh water, or what we call a steelhead if it spends part of its life in salt water. Steelhead flesh tends orange, and rainbow, white/beige. AFAIK, the NZ populations don't inhabit salt water, so that was a very large rainbow trout. Very impressive. The ones we catch (and release) here or buy (usually farmed) are rarely over 1kg. My rule is 1 per person. Applied to grill weekly. Bet that grilled well!

Clean and quality work. Congrats. As an aside, that fish looks like some cross of a rainbow trout and a salmon - what's it called?

You won't necessarily need a reversible pump; a 2-posiion 4-way double angled "L" crossover valve could do the trick, like this: where the left side is overboard, the right to the tank, the bottom to the pump input, and the top the pump output.

Been happy with Manasquan Fasteners too. https://www.manasquanfasteners.com/category/specialty-sharx

That's odd - I'd stopped purchasing *anything* (fasteners or hardware) from Home Depot or Lowe's as 99% of it is Chinese crap; our local Ace stocks a fastener-palooza and I have no problem finding non-304 stainless, mostly for my bikes and tannic woods like the CAHVG redwood that's our siding. Near constant salt-water exposure, is 316-grade stainless insufficient for an inner port-ring application? Mike

A big two thumbs up to Bahia Concepcion. Wiggle your fingers through the sand in waist-deep water (bring a mesh bag) and harvest a bunch of little clams; we steamed them in white wine and garlic in our Jetboil and snacked away... There was also a motel near the thatched roofs that offered the use of a room for rinsing and showers for cheap, which was welcome in 100° weather in late June. ...and wallow in fish tacos everywhere!

Man, that reminds me... we've explored both coasts of the Baja peninsula, but only where accessible by (mostly sketchy) roads with our Eurovan poptop and a big 2-room tent for the girls. I mean this in a most respectful way, but sir, you suck ;-) Wow. Just wow. Please continue to chronicle your explorations for the rest of us to envy! How far do you expect to roam?

Peter, just wow. Beautiful boat, outstanding workmanship, and your description of the satisfaction of the initial sails captures that feeling so well. May you have many happy sails, and please take us along with your writing.

Take the Columbus OH route, have a (giant, authentic) meal in the German Village historic district. I recommend Schweinshaxe. (the pork shank with crispy skin) Accompany with a Spaten Franziskaner or Paulaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel (dark wheat beer, best on tap), and politely inform them that fruit is not welcome in your beer. Local accommodations may be wise as you plod along after the meal. It will inoculate you against any long-term damage Vienna sausages may impart upon your system. Go heavy on the Rotkohl for safety's sake. Then again, your'e from WI. You could freelance it! I am German, I know these things ;-)

You made it to the First Scratch Incident! John Vigor wrote a humorous story about his "First Scratch Ceremony", in which he intentionally inflicts the first scratch to a boat so that future damage may be withstood with humor and dignity; of course, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty, is duly beseeched. http://johnvigor.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-scratch-ceremony.html You may now sail with humility and ease ;-) Nice boat, by the way!

Damn, is that *real* Sea Foam Green? Absolutely gorgeous! Stunning workmanship. Must keep wife from seeing this. Expectations must be managed ;-) Thank you for the inspiration.

Pete, congratulations! As you're obviously an engineer, I find your thought process logical and interesting.

I understand the compromise, wondered where the tradeoff "tripline" occurred. Not to be a PITA, but what, very roughly, might be the penalty a 16° deadrise might cost over a 13° at, say, 20 kts in flat water, all else being equal (which it won't be)? Yeah, I need a good simulator. ;-)