Barry Pyeatt

It can be a loooooonnnnnnnggggggg way around in much of the intercoastal. Very clever!

Ditto, think it has been hacked and the attempt is to spread to everyones computers that are linked to the BYYB

you may want to read and study the following article. Then consider what wood you might want to use. http://mothboat.tripod.com/CMBA/Building/foils.htm Just for thought consider this. Current harvests of Douglas Fir or Hem/Fir comes from plantation grown stock for the most part. You will find considrable difference between this currently harvested "fir" and old growth fir that is what most of the older articles are referring to. The old growth Fir was a slow growing, tree with very tight annular growth rings. Especially on the north sides of the trees. Some times you could find as many as 60 annular rings to the inch on some of the old groth Fir. Not any more. Now you will find that most of the harvested Fir or Hem/Fir will have between 4 and 10 growth rings per inch. They are raised to achieve maximum growth So they can make studs and peeler logs from them. The rest goes into OSB and particle board production. If you have access to some good clear straight verticle grain fir you will potentially have a good solid piece of wood to work with. Or some older recycled Fir that is from old growth timber. Then consider the article and the fabrication of either the centerboard or rudder. Any plain sawn lumber will warp, twist and cup. The article is showing how to eliminate that tendency. Using Quarter sawn or verticle grain material will make it much more stable to fabricate and a vastly superior finished rudder or centerboard.

Great to hear from you Mark. Been wondering just how all three boats have been holding up. Kits grow older and more experience and interests. Often at the expense of earlier interests. Boats can be a huge part of their life and continue on thru their lives if we can just keep them involved. Sounts like it is time for a larger boat?

These are photos of Capt. Jakes furling spool(s). He had one on his Lapper and one on his foresail. A modified standard jib rigged to fly inside the Lapper on a clubfoot. Together they were more trouble to use than it was worth to try to sail with both of them. Seperately, the Lapper is perfect for the majority of the wind conditions we see on Puget Sound and when it gets to the point that you need to reef down the main, the modified jib on the clubfoot offers a nice balance. The furling system(s) both work beautifully.

http://www.thechandleryonline.com//product.asp?dept%5Fid=1735&pf%5Fid=151%5FHR2080 These swivels work just fine. For both top and bottom swivels. The Ronstan furling package is an excellent system as is the Harken small boat furling system. Schaefer makes one as well as does RWO. All of these systems use a luff wire sewn into the sail. The luff wire is terminated top and bottom with an eye that is sewn into the sail. The sailmaker that modified the lapper shown here used a simple flat strap that bolted to the eye and connected to the top eye of the spool. This gave an absolute twisting to the sail and spool with no play between the two. If you use a top swivel such as the one Duckworks sells, the spool has a wire that sticks out and attaches to the forestay that keeps the swivel stationary at the top. This keeps the halyard from twisting with the luffwire. In practice, we've had no issues with the swivels shown in the link. I'll take some more detailed photos of the fittings and how they go together when I go over to the island later this week.

This is one of the spools. It is UHMW poly sheet and solid UHMW poly rod. The center is drilled out so that an eye bolt with a threaded shaft can be run thru it. The flanges of the spool is compressed between the Eye on one end and a swivel is attached at the bottom. The swivel then clips onto an eye in the bowsprit where it can turn. The sail has a flat plate attached to the bottom of the luffwire and that is attached to the eye bolt on the top side of the spool. It is simple and works smoothly. The screw on the drum with an arrow pointing to it is to attach the furling line to the spool.

Mark, I'll get over to the island on Wed. and take some closeup photos of the furling spools for you that were homemade. There was a fair amount of discussion on combining staysails with the standard jib on the Weekender a few years ago. At the time there were a lot of discussions on the Cool" factor vs the "practical performance" factors. The discussion led to Doing something similar to A Friendship type of setup but from a layout point of view the amount of space to make it work was not enough to make it practical nor was the actual increase in sail area considered enough to make it desirable. However...the over riding "Cool" took presidence. IT took Capt. Jake a long time to work out the geometry for the staysails clubfoot to allow it to furl and unfurl and to still allow it to function as a self tending staysail. On an outing with light winds we gave it the test. We got both of them set, tacked with them both (a real pain) and had some nice shape to both but when we furled the staysail, the boat with the lapper simply out performed the combination by a huge margin. So...the staysail has become the heavier weather jib, self tending and the main reefed down. Nicely balanced combination and easily managed. Now this combination was using a lapper plus the staysail. The staysail was basically hidden inside the curve of the lapper. Getting the lapper to swing about the luff of the staysail to tack was quite an ordeal. It was functional although difficult to manage cleanly. About 18 inches of seperation between the two.

For smaller stowable pads. Try the Kneeling pads for gardening. They are just firm enough that they give you good support but are fine for sitting on hard seats. They come in several sizes b ut you may have to look around for larger ones. Closed cell foam for upholstery work is available in a wide variety of sizes. Also verying densities. Those used for cushions are about medium density as they are fairly thick. An "Upholstery Foam" distributor will have the various types you are looking for. Check The larger Fabric shops as well as the Upholstery shops who will be able to direct you or may have it onhand. Some of the "home improvement" stores may still have summer furniture pads instock. Some of them are fairly thin but firm.

RE: Furling systems for Weekender Jibs. I've been sailing for basicly 5 years now with a Weekender with a homemade furling spool for the jib. No issues! It is for a Lapper, but could also be used for the standard jib and is on the Weekender Fire Escape. It will not work with a clubfoot on a Weekender. The geometry just doesn't work out to use a standard jib with the clubfoot and have it furl up when you need to quit. If you were to go forward unfurl the jib and clip it onto the clubfoot and unclip the clubfoot before quitting you could use the furler and have it self tending. But you would need a seperate furling line to the jib to unfurl it and then unclip that line and clip onto the clubfoot. Kind of self defeating. We use two jibsheets with the lapper which makes furling and unfurling a no brainer. Same with a standard jib, if set up that way. No clubfoot. The luff of the jib is modified by the addition of a luffwire, 1/8" 1X7 counterlaid stainless wire. Quite stiff. Any other gromments on the luff need to be removed and the luffwire sewn in. This will involve shortening the luff to eliminate the portion with any holes punched into it. The luff wire terminates at the head with a sewn in grommet and at the foot with another sewn in grommet. These allow you to attach the jib halyard and the foot to the furling spool which is mounted about 3" behind the forestay. A furling line is run from the furling spool back to the cockpit area thru small bullseyes and terminates at a cleat. To set the jib you would release the furling spool line but keep it taut and pull on the jib sheet to either side of the mast to set the jib. Then cleat off the furling spool line. When yo want to quit you pull on the furling line from the spool to allow you to furl (wrap) the jib around the luffwire. The two jib sheets are attached as normal. It is a tension act with both furling line and jib sheets keeping the jib taut between them. Once the jib has been furled you cleat off the jib sheets, and the furling spool line and the jib stays wrapped around the luff wire sewn into the leading edge (luff) of the jib. If you wanted to have the jib be self tending, you would need to go forward and attach the clubfoot to the jib and disconnect the jib sheets. When finished sailing you would need to reverse this in order to furl the jib. The Harken small boat furling system is ideal for the Weekender. Schaefer makes one as do a few other firms but all are relatively expensive. All work on the same principle but they are not deisgned to reef the jib. That is another matter entirely. The home made furling spools we use are formed from UHMW solid rod and sheeting. The rod becomes the cylinder hub for the spool and the sheeting is cut out into flanges for that hub These are all thru bolted together and a Schaefer swivel is mounted to the bottom of the hub to allow it to turn easily and another Schaefer swivel is attached to the jib halyard and the jib to allow the luff wire to turn freely as well. We have two of these on "Fire Escape" one for the lapper and one for a highly modified storm jib which has had the geometry worked out so it will furl with the smaller clubfoot attached. This storm jib is mounted behind the mount for the Lapper allowing us to use both or either. with both being able to be furled. I'm doing the same thing but with Harken Small boat furling systems for a Lapper and a Standard jib on Spiritwind.

Glad to hear you had a good outing. Couple things to note regarding your gaff. If you have rounded over the inside edges of the gaff jaw, say with a 1/2" Round over bit in your router it will move easier and cause less wear. I've gone to craft stores and picked up pieces of leather that can line the inside edge of the gaff jaws. I've wet it to allow it to be formed around the pieces and wrapped it tight to the gaff jaws while it drys. Then glued it inplace with a Product called Pliobond which is an industrial strength contact cement. Then tacked the edges to hold them to the flats on the outside of the gaff jaws with copper flathead tacks. Then oiled the bejeebers out of the leather with a product called Lexol which is available at any feed and tack store or western wear store or most Ace Hardware stores. This will soften and protect the leather and can be reapplied a couple times a year. You can also wrap a thin sheet of copper around the area on the mast that the gaff rides against and bond it to the mast with the same Pliobond Industrial contact cement. Place the seam of the sheet of copper on the opposite side of the mast from the area the gaff jaws rub against and tack it down with the same flat head copper tacks. You can put a wrap of tape around the bottom and top edges of the copper sheet to keep it snug and flat against the mast itself. Spray on several coats of Polyurethane and the copper will stay bright and protected. Do you have a Line running up between the mast hoops on the opposite side of the main sail? If not, go back to the plans and see how they run this up to the gaff and down to each ring to hold them level when raising the main. It also keep them level when under sail. If not the jaws will often hang up and cause issues in raising and lowering the main and on occasion can cause issues in the main sail taking a good shape under some points of sail or when tacking. Sounds like you have the initial basics going OK for you. Check where each sheet runs when under sail under all points of sail. If anything is rubbing on them or they are running around any other parts of the rigging and getting hung up on them, then move those parts so the sheets are free to move and clear of any obstructions. Always seems like they get hung up at the point where you need for them to be moving freely and keeps you from doing what you need to do. Keep your halyards tidy and coiled out of the way while under sail. Keep the excess length on your sheets tidy and neatly coiled so that you don't have knots forming to prevent you from trying to have them run free. Keep all other items and materials stowed so that they are not going to cause anything to happen that you could have prevented. Never cleat off your main sheet. That is one sure way to have things happen suddenly that you can't handle. The basic learning curve is generally quite easily managed. Each outing will help to set things in your mind and the things that don't work will be things to focus on and try to understand better. It will all come with practice and your confidence will build. Time to pick a point to sail to and then turn and sail back again several times. You will learn a lot about how you can adjust jib sheet, main sheet and peak halyard tension to allow you to sail comfortably in any direction. Yes, you will heel over unless the boat is heading directly down wind. The boat will feel much more solid when it is heeled over and the tighter you make the jib sheet and main sheet and ajust the peak so that the sail doesn't have a diagonal crease runing diagonally on the main, the faster you will tend to go when heading into or across the wind. You can loosen up the jib sheet and main sheet if you feel that you are heeling over too far and not controlling it well and you will straighten up and keep on going at a lesser speed but still in control. You can always ease up on the main sheet and turn into the wind and you will have control again. So go have fun and try adjusting tension on the sheets and peak under different points of sail and you will feel the difference in how the boat responds. It is usually very nimble.

Hurrah! Was wondering if you had actually had a launch. Glad you are having a good time with your Project. Nothing like having it in the water and getting it wet.

You do not want to support the boom with the topping lift while sailing. You only want to have the topping lift taut when you drop the sail to keep the boom from dropping to the deck. Using the peak halyard will become second nature and you will feel a dramatic difference when under sail by adjusting the tension on the peak. If you have diagonal wrinkles in the main, you need to adjust the peak tension so that the main sail takes a smooth shape with no wrinkles across the diagonals. Going down wind you will find that you will loosen the peak somewhat so that the main fills and has more power. Going cross wind or up wind you will find that tightening the peak will flatten the sail giving you more power going on those points of sail. If you keep the topping lift taut, the main will have a ridge running across it from the aft end of the boom to the top where the topping lift is creating a crease in the shape of the sail and the main sail will not function as well as it could nor will adjusting the peak halyard have much effect. Under sail the topping lift should be slack so it doesn't interfere with the sail shape. If your boom hangs too low when undersail, you may well have the mast at the wrong angle just as others have done. That is easily corrected. With the mast set at the correct angle the boom should hang with ample head clearance unless the main sail is not the dimensions as designed.

Great Mark! That is the way it should be done. You will notice when you are under sail that the tension on the shrouds will change as you sail. The more pressure there is on one side or the other the tighter the stay will be on that side as well. Often the stays on the opposite side will be a little slack. Learning to adjust them for more or less equalized tensionwhen there is no difference in pressure is part of learning how to adjust your rigging for it to perform well. Having a bit of forward rake to the mast was essential to this design to keep the Weekendr from having too heavy a helm. (Weather helm). While under sail if you to release the helm The boat should turn into the wind on its own until the boat points directly into the wind with both jib and main fluttering with equal pressure on both sides of the sails. This is turning into the weather. If the pressure on the jib were greater than on the main the boat would turn away from the wind and this is called lee helm. This can be very dangerous under some conditions if the helm has been released and it happens on its own. These boats are designed so that they have some weather helm for safety reasons. As you gain experience and you have a better feeling for how things feel under varying conditions you can tweak (tune) things to give you better control and to increase performance a bit. Initially learning how to tack consisitenly and how to adjust the peak halyard for best mainsail shape and power and then how to detune it to loose power will be a major goal. You may want to add telltails to your sails as you get further along and get used to how it handles. These will allow you to see how the air flows over the leading edge and across both sides of the sails. You will find out how changing tension on your halyards or sheets can allter the sail shapes enough to give them better shape and performance. It is going to be a lot of fun. Just take your time, don't push things too far initially until you get used top how it handles for you. Learn the safety tips, follow them. Learn hot to sail the boat in a 360 degree circle around a fixed point and how to get to a fixed point from all points of sail. The learning curve can be fast or as slow as you take it. Just don't be afraid to ask questions. :grin:

Wedges (Tapered Shims) are commonly used to take the slack out of the mast box and keep things in place. What you lost was the thickness of the kerf caused by cutting the mast base. If you wish, others have added a small shim to the bottom leading edge of the masts base that is the thickness of the kerf to keep things as they were as well as at the top of the mast box to keep the same dimension at the deck level. Yes, the forestay will be shorter than before. The aft shrouds will need to be slightly longer than before. The top of the mast has moved forward quite a bit. Adjust the length of the forestay so it is fairly tight when you set the mast. Adjustment for tension should then be done with the turnbuckles on the shrouds just as before. I know this might be an unknown for you since I got the impression that you hadn't raised the mast for sailing as yet Then a boot is placed around the mast that will keep water from running down the mast and into the mast box. This generally requires a wooden curb around the mast at the deck level. This would be done regardless of what you might have needed to do to get the mast at the correct angle. This is not addressed in the instructions from the plans.