Docpal

We did make it up to Olympia,WA and then ran with the fleet up to Port Townsend,WA and stopped at a few harbors, and anchorages along the way. 55 boats, also an SUP, a Whitehall, and a 20 pound carbon fiber rowing proa/canoe who paddled the 100 miles, in many cases beating us to the next port as there was not a lot of wind throughout the week. It's a great idea: cruising in company. You'll still spend hours tweaking each and every facet for performance, as compared to any boat in sight, but as long as everyone finds their way to the next port, it's all good. They've got a gazillion pix of the cruise,with sailing videos,etc. on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/285180382147515

Report to date- So far, from the list in the SCA article mentioned above; From Heritage marine: "Unfortunately, we do not have a market for owner constructed vessels. Sorry we could not assist." Lyle Marine- only insures boats in the Mid West Haggerty Insurance- wants my resumé , and complete marine history before officially offering me a policy for $547 annually, ( which might mean it's cheaper to buy a dinghy and anchor out at the marina in question and row in...) I'm still waiting for a few more responses, and will post them as they arrive. And yet when I look at SCA and other boating magazines ,"kits" are advertised everywhere...

Padre Point, Thanks, but since my US address/habitat is also uninsurable (another owner built cabin in fire country...) that's not an option at the moment...

Andy, Thanks! You DO need to subscribe, and so I did. This will let me start the process......

To All, I'm in the process of tarting up Petunia so we can make the run up to Olympia,WA for the Salish 100. I just called Boat US/Geico to inquire about boat insurance for when she is re-patriated, and I was told that they no longer offer hull insurance to ply/epoxy boats !!! Is this really true, have I been out of the country that long, or did I just get someone having a bad day? I've already had one marina ask me for insurance documents online. Has anyone else been told anything similar? TIA for any info, Docpal

Samantha, Incredibly timely topic here as well as I am also prepping Petunia for her first repaint since launching back in 2014. Like a few have mentioned above I went with System 3's water based linear polyurethane paint because I was working in an attached garage when I built her and I wanted a tough paint with little/no fumes. I also used it for her cabin interior,again, no fumes. The paint IS easy to apply, and tough. It has handled 3 Northeastern Winters, and 6 Baja, Mexico Summers . And most of my prep work is going to be repairing dings, and scratches from various unplanned encounters with immovable objects . Unlike most marine enamels I have used you can touch up this paint and it blends in perfectly, even when painted months apart. And as Dave mentions above you can get multiple coats done in a single day which was a big plus when working alone. I had ordered a gallon just before my latest trip down here, and never noticed the name was different (now Pennant, etc.) until I saw this thread. I hope you get her done in time for the Salish 100 , keep going !!! Bill P Docpal

Hello, Are any B & B owners/sailors going to participate in the Salish 100 this Summer? I'm seriously considering a road trip with Petunia as she hasn't been there yet... And since my Baja fleet has expanded to unmanageable size I am also thinking of finding a place in the area to list her for sale after the cruise, details on that to follow. However my current crew for the event may have a scheduling conflict , so if anyone would be interested doing the race/cruise in a CS 17 MK? drop me a note. This is an evolving scenario... Docpal

I have also tried a few solutions for the open cockpit style of boat. "Petunia" My CS 17 has a trunk cabin so I didn't really need one on her, but her Sister, Daphne , a Drascombe Dabber yawl, IS an open cockpit design so I tried using a Scottish "hoop" tent ( Vango F10 Xenon UL Tent ) which works VERY well since I also have two masts on Daphne as tying off points. Plus this is a double walled tent as rigged so there is little/NO condensation on it's walls...And one could either keep it's existing bottom intact if they had platform/ sleeping boards in place, OR cut out the bottom of the tent and have a VERY tall interior space. I have more room in the hoop style tents, than my domes. Some versions have doors at both ends.

Jay, Probably the easiest/safest place is the marina at Puerto Escondido which is about 1/2 mile from where I have my current mooring, and 20 miles South of Loreto. They are a " world class" facility with every amenity one would want. First world pricing, but they are also the ONLY marina within a few hundred miles...On site facilities for car/van storage,etc. Berthing at a pier is pricier than using one of their mooring balls, but then you need a dinghy to get back/forth from the boat. Next closest place with facilities is La Paz (200 miles to the South) which is a very large city/port and you CAN get anything there as well as having the choice of multiple marinas and a larger cruising community. That's roughly half way between Loreto, and Cabo San Lucas. Launch ramps down here are usually used by the Pangeros for their fishing boats, and I have yet to see a floating tie up pier near a ramp in ANY of the marinas, so launching can be a little dicey at times. Draft IS an issue if you plan to cruise the coastline. More often than not the beaches are rocky, rather than sandy so you don't want to beach the boat everywhere unless you have really checked it out. In the first picture of this post I was able to sail right up ON to the beach because I had been there before and KNEW it was small gravel rather than mini boulders. More often than not we anchor OFF the beach and ferry gear in from there. I've even thought of a small dinghy for some of these locations as the surge can keep one off the beach a ways...We don't get severe tides here (a few feet at most) . My local friends and I are just about the ONLY people who are doing camp cruising down here, and the Sea of Cortez coastline is literally unreachable in most areas without a boat. The Baja coastline looks very much like this, with numerous off shore islands, for over one thousand miles...It would be the PERFECT place for a Water tribe event....

Now that we are finally out of full lock down we were able to get out on the water again and do some coastal cruising here in Southern Baja. Wind was fluky, and anywhere from 0-22 mph so I got some reefing practice in about mid channel when it started to blow. Some beaches down here let you nose right up to the shore, and the surge keeps me anchored off the beach in other areas. NOT fun remembering that you forgot something out on the boat after dark and you have to swim out to retrieve it... I am going to have to upgrade my boarding ladder setup. I can still pull myself up into the boat as long as I can push off the bottom, but when I'm anchored over my head it's getting a little dicey... Had one interesting encounter; it's been SO dry down here (I think it's rained 3 times in the last 4 years...) that the local island bees have had their water sources dry up. So when boats land on the island they swarm ANY fresh water source they can find. My 5 gallon water bladder had a slight leak in the nozzle, and the bees used it to suck two gallons out of the bag overnight...!

I agree with Pmm1950. I bought a simple Harbor Freight rivet gun like this one- https://www.harborfreight.com/3-16-inch-air-hydraulic-riveter-93458.html . But then I filed down the nose piece so it fit exactly inside the groove on the SS mast track. Each rivet got a dab of Sikaflex and then was drawn up nice and tight with only a small compressor needed.

What about a "collar" of pool noodles? Cheap, easy to work with, could be strung around the hull with a line through their centers, etc. From what I could find on the internet a 3"noodle provides 2-2.25 pounds of flotation per running foot. SO I replaced the 40 year old bags of popcorn styrofoam in my Drascombe Dabber ( "Daphne" who is Petunia's sibling...) and added approximately 350 pounds of flotation. I have one of the Duckworks boat rollers which Paul suggests, but because of it's girth I can't imagine HOW you'd incorporate it into a dinghy situation...You can even pair the noodles to get double the flotation without adding much more weight, or volume...

Jim, I have been playing with the stop concept and trying to rig a little "tab" I can move to create a "temporary bottom" of the PVC tube until I get it upright. So far I have just rested the mast bottom on the lip of the Carbon fiber deck tube ,and with the "stop"on the forward face of the PVC I can keep it in place while under control, and then just lower it all the way. I used such tall/large pieces for the cheeks because my trunk cabin height ( see attached) would not allow me to start from a fully horizontal position if it was shorter. At this height I can lay the mast flat on the cabin before I start the hoist. And since this is really the prototype design I always go larger, as it's easier to scale back... PS- The design as shown above does not close completely around the mast so the sail track is not interfered with while lowering it into the deck tube....

Hola All, While in lock down mode I too have been working on my answer for the mast stepping issue. My cabin makes it a little more difficult than planned to get solid footing so I wanted a way to use both what was already there, and some "mechanical" advantage for the hoist. I decided to use up what was here and make my own tabernacle that would; 1. Allow me to set the foot of the mast into a socket 2. Do the hoist/lowering with the help of my double topping lifts, and the bow roller. 3. Allow the original MK1 design of a rotating mast to STILL function 4. Be removable if i wanted to clear the deck a bit. Made the "cheeks(?)" out of some Padauk I had stashed from her build days, and then took some PVC pipe, a brass piano hinge, and a few large SS bolts to fab it up. Rigged a "tab"on the bottom of the PVC step to both clear my bow cleat, and also to "stop" the hoist when it came into contact with the stub of the mast tube I had left protruding. Once raised I can simply lift the PVC out of the notches on the cheeks, and store it until/if I need it to unstep the main mast. I have only used it a few times so far, but it works well and when we are allowed near the water again I hope to give it a try while on her trailer at the launching beach. report will (eventually) follow. PS- Mast float project is also on hold as I can't even get to the beach to float test the rig.