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Spindrift 11N Build Log


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  • 1 month later...

So it's been two months since the last update. The good news is I'm almost finished with the painting.

ah


ah-ha


ah-ha-ha-hahahahahaha

Installing the daggerboard trunk and mast step went easily enough other than aggravating and old knee injury and pulling a bunch of muscles in my leg. That definitely slowed the work for a while.

 

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Creating the bearings and shoulders for the three piece mast.


Now that I had the keel installed I tested nesting the dinghy again and found that the bow was still contacting the seats. Not much point in having a nesting dinghy that doesn't nest so I decided to chop up my seats to make room for the bow. First I cried a bit then I went and bought a new tool woot!
 

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It fits! Just barely.
 

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Since my seating area and reserve buoyancy was now greatly reduced. I decided to build some removable foam seats. I had planned on adding additional seating anyways so chopping the seats was a blessing in disguise. Mmmmm lemonade not only does it quench your thirst but it keeps you humble too.

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I was told that using was paper with expanding foam was a terrible idea. It's true!

 

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Mmm sanding foam is sooo much fun. It doesn't create much of a mess at all.

 

The foam seats are going to held in place by the thwart which will be bolted to the dagger board trunk. Normally the thwart is a seat for rowing but since I'm not interested in physical exertion and I wanted to preserve as much seating as possible I got a narrower board to act as the thwart.

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I got a board that was symmetrical fore and aft to the bulkheads. If I was a bit smarter I would have gotten an even narrower board to preserve more seating area.

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Now that I have the original seats patched up and the new seats built I've applied a final coat of epoxy to everything.

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Besides being held in place by the thwart there are also 'things for which I do not have a name' preventing the seats from sliding into the center of the hull. I have also added 3/4" bits of wood to the inside aft corners of the seats. If necessary I can arrange another attachment point to the original seats to stop the foam seats from moving when I forget which way is up.

 

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The seats still need another coat of epoxy but if I'm not mistaken (snicker) I just need to do another sanding pass on the fresh epoxy and then I can start painting this evening.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've gotten the interior of the dinghy primed, painted, and varnished. Now I just need to finish cutting out and glassing the dagger board slot on the bottom of the hull and I can start painting the outside. It feels like the end is almost in sight. I still have over a month of summer left to finish my winter project so I'm feeling pretty good about getting to go sailing this year. :D

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I still need to varnish the gunwales, but  the painting is done other than a little touch up. I'll confess that it's a 10' paint job but I think it looks pretty sweet at 10'. If I get bored over the winter I can always pretty it up. I ended up buying about twice as much paint as I needed.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Tried to maiden today with the help of a friend but the winds were gusting over 20 so we decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Also noted a few things that needed some attention including forgetting my pfd and an offering to Poseidon. Will be trying again tomorrow

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Thanks Steve.

 

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Offerings offered.

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Woo-hoo I'm sailing!

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Woo-hoo I'm sailing the other direction!

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Now I'm sailing away. Horizon here I come!

I can now move on from boat building to sailing and of course the wonderful world of boat maintenance and fixing. Primarily I need to figure out how to transport it without banging it up and then I'll refinish it.

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16 hours ago, Steve W said:

I wound up buyng a litle jet ski trailer cheap and putting a rack on it to carry a sunfish and the 11N. Kind of defeats the purpose of a nesting dinghy but the hassle is reduced significantly.

 

No matter how clever the rig, nothing makes the process of launching and hauling better than a trailer.  I have even gone so far as to propose a formula:

The frequency one uses their boat is inversely proportional to the the extent of the pain in the @$$ it is to launch/haul.

 

So often all I want is a dose of sailing, an hour or so might even be enough. I have gone so far as to leave my sheets rigged to the sprits, my sails flaked with the battens still in and a special "bag" for this arrangement and more.

 

But you have a great looking boat to start with, and you don't have to stop enhancing it.

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Agreed, the easier/faster the setup, the more often a small boat will be used. When I lived in St. Pete, I had a house on a cove, with two slips just outside the front door. I literally sailed daily, having my 15' sloop on the dock, at the ready. The other half got home from work an hour and a half after me, so I'd come home, grab a beer or two and head out, until she got home. I'd wave and she'd call for dinner unless something was up. There's nothing about that house that I miss, even lost money on its sale, but I do miss the convenience of being able to hop in and go in less than 5 minutes. Since then, I've always tried to have at least one boat, that could be gotten underway in 5 minutes or less. For a trailered boat this is tough, but my current boat can be done in this time and I can even do it all after it's launched, which is handy at a crowded ramp.

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I built the nesting dinghy because living in a townhouse I couldn't keep a boat on a trailer and the closest marina where I could store a boat is almost an hour's drive away on the weekends. Once I get things figured out I plan on leaving the boat in the back of my truck under a tarp during the sailing season.

 

The issues with banging up the boat are mostly caused by finding a convenient place to carry the mast and boom. You can see the scuff marks left by the mast and boom hardware in the second picture. The aft corners of the bow section also get scuffed when it's nesting. Some clear vinyl on those edges should solve the problem. As far as the mast and boom I'm thinking of getting a ladder rack for the truck or at least half of a rack by the cab so I can set the mast and boom in the boat and lash them to the rack instead of laying them beside the hull.

 

 

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Roam, moving blankets between the nested parts work great. Also, a long PVC tube to hold the mast  and boom works good. My issue is with the boom. I may try making a nesting one out of round stock like the mast just so it can be shorter. 

 

FWIW, the reason I love my SP is it is really fast to set up......probably 10 minutes at most. The 11N longer without the trailer. I worry that my CS20.3 will take a long time to rig. Not every sail is for three days.....sometimes I just go for 3 hours.

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  • 10 months later...

Don, here is one source for expanding foam. The 2# density is what's used for flotation.

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=2198&familyName=TotalBoat+2+Part+Polyurethane+Flotation+Foam

 

It is probably available from an industrial supplier in one of the larger cities near us in larger quantities and better prices without shipping and Hazmat charges.

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You can also use 2" foam insulation foam from a "big box store". Cut it into pieces and stack them to fill your flotation box. On any boat that has to meet USCG standards, it cannot be exposed to the possibility of exposure to fuel or oil because they can dissolve it, but if the flotation box is sealed, it's ok. The expanding foam isn't affected by oil and gas.

 

You have to be careful with expanding foam in an enclosed space because it can rupture the structure if you use too much and it can't have room to expand. Safest to leave the top off of the flotation box (seat?) until it has expanded, then attach the top.

 

I used the sheet foam on Turtler, the motor canoe, and Old Codger.

 

 

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