tom151

Dear Action Tiger... what is this boat design shown in your post

Another alternative sail plan - this four sail reaching looks very close winded too, From the board of Roger Martin...

If memory serves, always a risk with mine, Graham described his setup for the spinnaker as taking the spinn halyard to the windward rail amidships, as adequate for providing the necessary mast support. That may be incorrect, or he may have refined it, but it's my memory of it. wwbaginski -- As far as taking the pole to windward,.. the simple setup on Gougeon's 'Hot Canary' (an i550) might work sweetly on a B&B design as well.

If you haven't tried it, try tenting the parts separately with plastic and sticking a lighted bulb under for generating heat. Has worked for me during winter projects.

Let me nit-pick a little... As you know, water will really pool up between the siderails ahead of the hatches in a heavy rain (and much more so during trailering) , consider adding "serious" limber holes in the side rails ahead of the coaming at the front of the trench (almost as large as typical handrails). With the sliding sequence of hatches shown in the sketches (e.g. aft-most in the top-most position... fwd-most in the bottom position) there ends up being three (3) sweeper strips vulnerable to leaking. If you reverse that so the aft-most section is on the lowest track (and slides 'under' the hatch section ahead of it) then you eliminate the sweeper strips needed between overlap between hatch 1 and hatch 2, and similarly the sweeper strip between hatch 2 and hatch 3. Of course there might be a bit more too it than that Not sure but you may also be able to make the fwd 'twartships hatch coaming solid between the rails (instead of having a gutter (water channel) running along the full length of the side rails. Don't know how clear that is, but hope the basic idea got across. Of course it ain't that easy, and there are lots of details involved... I really like that by dividing the hatchway into three it brings the crew so much close to the mast. Can't tell from the dwgs, but If there isn't one, consider adding a sturdy standing/stepping location inside the boat (with the hatches most forward) in a position that allows the crew to stand with their waist/hips just at the level of the coaming - standing in a hatchway so that you're well braced without using hands is quite helpful if you need to fiddle with the sail in the rough stuff. Cheers, TomH

Docpal, Kudos to who ever designed the cabin... would love to see more, do you have a blog or pics anywhere of the interior and the cockpit? Cabin style is best by far of all the ones I've seen - but I'm a throwback to the old boats for style (but not the construction ). Notch the transom and be done with it. Cheers, TomH

Docpal, Boat looks great! In that video... looks like lots of lee helm while going straight. What's going on there? Centerboard? TomH

Docpal, Thanks very much for the details - pics look good. What design is that boat? Looks familiar - really like the cabin style Again, thanks, TomH

Docpal, Very interested in getting storage in the area - I'm from Massachusetts - and need a good storage spot to keep the boat there when not sailing. If you'd be so kind as to share the name & contact info of the one you found - and the monthly charges. Also, if anyone else has leads for good, economical, and secure storage... please chime in Thanks a lot TomH .

Google is your friend 2014 archipelago rally http://newenglandboating.com/news/2014-archipelago-rally-set-for-nov-1-in-westerly-ri.html

Great for fillets or other structural uses... not so much for fairing. It's way too hard to sand when you're fairing

I find it useful to estimate the amount of resin to mix by planning on a 50/50 ratio of glass to epoxy in the finished product. Use the weight per sq yard of the glass you're using and multiply by the yards of glass you're doing (for each session) - that should approximate the total amount of epoxy you need to use. If I remember (no guarantee, here) I'd mix half of that amount and spread it on the surface then roll the precut glass onto the surface and squeegee it until the glass shows clear - then apply the remaining epoxy after the glass is properly positioned and smoothed with the initial coat. By rolling up the glass piece into a tube before applying I found that I could usually do this easily without any second set of hands for helping to hold and position the glass fabric onto the wet surface. Usually I'd start unrolling from the transom end, keeping the straight edge aligned along the keel/centerline of the hull and working out the wrinkles as I go. Lastly, about filling the weave... If the glass shows the weave after the epoxy has gone green but before it goes full hard -- I use a wide scraper (hardware store paint scraper, about 4" to 6" wide with sharp blade) to scrape the epoxy smooth (use EXTREME care to NOT scrape into the fiberglass. For me, this greatly reduces (nearly eliminates) the extra coats of epoxy needed for filling the weave (and the sanding needed to get a smooth finish). Saves the weight and cost of extra coats of epoxy too. Just saying.

Not in any order... For sheer strips, gunwales, rub rails, etc you will discover that in many cases they are actually bent/curved in two dimensions -- which can be a surprise you if you're not ready for it. For boats with lots of sheer curve (in profile view) it can be very difficult to laminate the beam in advance of attaching it to the boat and have any hope of getting it properly/easily fit to the hull. I tend to choose to do each lamination individually - directly onto the boat. And yes, as mentioned in a post above, do both sides at the same time. Adding these features after the deck is on can be difficult clamping and result in needing to use (temporary) screws to clamp up the laminate. If it will also serve as a rub rail I prefer to laminate it (and making the outer laminate in shorter, scarfed sections as well. For me it's easier to do repairs to laminated rub-rails - mostly because using the various pieces minimizes the damage spreading along the full length of the grain run. Lastly, IMNSHO, a builder should take every opportunity to cover the end grain of plywood with timber. The vulnerable uncapped end grain of ply tends to be the single most likely source of unnoticed damage and water intrusion - with the subsequent rot. Consider this when you decide on adding your rails. The obvious assumption here is that you've not decided that the boat is essentially disposable and expect it to last long enough pay you back for the good work you've done.

Not "hard" to do, but not as simple as simply "using conventional booms" - which would not replace all of the functionality of the sprit it seems. If you want the boat to be able to sail properly that is. The sprit in essence replaces the boom, the boom vang, and not unimportantly the (expensive?) multipart mainsheet tackle to a large extent. That's a substantial amount of "related" gear that needs to be added in order to fully replace the lowly sprit Some of that can be minimized if you wish to add circular mainsheet tracks and the related control lines.