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Mini Cup


nae0254

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I know, I know, the rock star in this forum is Weekender.

A beautiful boat, with hundred of explanations and pictures.

Thank you Adla, you made a step by step tutorial on making a weekender from scratch with your posts! :D

But my first boat will be a mini cup, next will probably be a Weekender. Are there any mini cup's contructors in order to share experiences here?

Thanks in advance.

Guillermo

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don't thank me, thank Phil...if he and i didn't live 450 miles apart he would have had a restraining order put on me by now. I post here...but his site has a great begining to end process and lots of sailing..

I think the mini cup is GREAT....i want one toOo....but alas....is there enough time?

GoOod Luck on your boat and let us know every detail!!!!

Adla

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  • 2 weeks later...
plans are FREE!!!!!! (just turn away Mike, turn away )

Sighh...I know, I was the one who posted them on our site. Since then we've had far more downloads of the plans than we ever sold physical copies. I don't have a total, but it's around 10K downloads now (we sold close to 7K plans over the twenty-odd years they were available.)

Since the Mini-Cup went on the site I have added a couple of other free plans from our old files. A lady really, really wanted a Sewing Center and we had run out. It was short and it fit our scanner so I did that one. Then the same thing witht he Sportfoil. I don't know if, when, or what will be next.

I was thinking of the Amphora, and someone at the BYYB has scanned the book supposedly. I'll see it when we go back in a few weeks.

Mike

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I have a relative that built a Mini-cup from the free download files. His 10 and 12 year old kids were actually the builders and after learning some basic sailing skils on my old Sailing Surfboard, they are terrorizing the lake where they live. Now they want to have some friends build one and they want a second one themselves so they can race and sail together as a fleet.

I haven't actually seen the finished Mini-cup or sailed on it as yet; that will happen at the annual family picnic later this summer. I saw it after they had the boat 3-D and it looked to be a great project for the kids with only a little help from Dad and another Uncle. They installed the pink foam board insulation for flotation and were planning on glassing all of the exposed surfaces. Then painting with polyurethane floor paint.

They have a recycled laser mast/boom and rigging that they were planning on using and they had already sewn their own sails. With their Mom's help.

Should be a great project and a lot of fun to sail.

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Mike, thanks for the sportflyer plans! In all sincerity it is a very cool thing to post the plans for the ones you no longer sell. That's class. I may not build one (who knows?), but it is an interesting read, as always.

A quick question about some other plans you used to sell (not a request)... What was the basis for the hot tub? Was it a traditional round barrel type design, or something different?

Peace,

Roland

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There were a bunch of house projects. A semi-complete list (no promises-- I may have forgotten a few): The hot tubs (redwood and solar), Sewing Center, Gamekeeper, a couple of different greenhouses, popsickle-stick deck furniture (it looked like giant popsickle sticks, not made of them! went with one of the pools), Pool Cabana, Backyard Center, a bunch of playhouses in the Playhouse book, and all the pools (seven or eight I think.) Whew! Peter was busy, as those all overlapped with the boats too.

The hot tubs; Both were square, plywood of course, the Redwood one had lots of redwood details and the solar one was mostly plywood with solar panel covers which could be flipped open to get at the water.

Let me know if you have any questions...

Mike

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I just finished my minicup. If you have any questions, I would be willing to help any way I can.

My project took a year by the calendar, but actual build time was probably 4-6 mos. I had most everything built between last July and mid-September, then did a lot of Finishing and sanding this spring. Finally kicked it into high gear in the last 3 weeks to get the last details completed to meet my self-appointed deadline.

I should also point out that I did make a few modifications. For instance I fiberglassed my hull bottom and sides, and I constructed my own rigging with a mainsail and jib setup.

Although theoretically it is done and has been successfully out on the water, I still have a few things with which I want to tinker after having tried it out.

Last thing: I was all set to start my weekender, had plans in hand and had cut pieces for the site when I came across the minicup plans. Making the choice to do this first was hard to do, but was well worth the experience. Frankly, I would have been disappointed if my weekender came out looking like my minicup...especially since they are completely different sailboats!....but because the investment was so much less, and because it hasn't sunk yet, I think it was an invaluable learning experience for my next project.

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Guillermo:

Figure 13 of the plans shows the rigging details. You will need:

1 halyard single pulley block (at the top of the mast)

2 single pully blocks for the mainsheet - one in the forward part of the boom and one on the "traveller" (rope tied to the stern)

1 double pully block for the end of the boom.

When rigging my mainsheet, I run it first through the forward block on the boom, back through the one side of the double block at the end of the boom, down through the block on the traveller, back up again and through the other side of the double block. I then tie a figure 8 knot in it to keep it from coming back out. Theoretically you could get by with a single block there as well, but you would need a place to tie the end of the mainsheet to the end of the boom.

Make sure you have enough line in your mainsheet so that when your sail is blown forward you still have line in the cockpit. I tend to tie a figure 8 knot in the mainsheet at the point where it will stop the sail from going completely forward and then another one at the end that I keep in the cockpit.

Hopefully this makes sense. If you take a look at http://www.floatingbear.ca/sailingfiles/minicup/20040619_Mini_Cup.jpg you might be able to see the lines in action there.

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Andrew:

Your explanations are great... But your pictures are amazing! I took a look at your page (not only the picture you linked) and I can see clearly now.

I saw that the Mini Cup can sail with lots of wind too in your "Mini Cup misadventures 2004" These are good news...

English is not my native language, just as a curiosity the "figure 8 knot" is called "nudo lasca" in spanish.

Only one more question about the mainsheet, do you tie it to a cleat while sailing or you keep in hand in every moment?

Thanks in advance.

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