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  1. Today
  2. Chick Ludwig
    Finally got to try my Happy Hour Kayak. We went to Lake Adger, 45 minutes down the road from Hendersonville, NC where we live. I'm VERY pleased with it's performance. Easy to paddle with a surprising turn of speed. It tracks well when paddling, but is sensitive to wind when drifting. With a sweep stroke, it turns in it's own length. Great stability. I even caught a little river cooter (turtle) with my net. There's plenty of room for my cooler in the aft compartment. Ready to go. Miss Debbie paddled the plastic kayak and took the pictures. I'll move the seat forward a bit next time. That will totally clear the transom and bring the bow down. Shallow here! Notice the heron standing behind me. Old guy looks happy. Bye, y'all. Back home and safely tucked away.
  3. Yesterday
  4. Steve W
    I have no worries about having a thread within a thread. I'm learning!
  5. frowley
    Paul, Thanks so much for the detailed response and photo. (Hope this is ok, Steve?) I like the placement of your cheek blocks to pull the clew back. Perhaps I need to refine my heave-to as well. Good point about loosening the mizzen snotter so much the sprit can catch on the main sheet/sprit - had that happen too (yikes).
  6. Alan Stewart
    Update: I have ordered some new aramid tape which is heavier weight and also bias woven to have another attempt at making a kevlar hinge. I found bias kevlar (aramid) tapes sold by a nice outfit in maryland. https://sweetcomposites.com/Seamtape.html I will report back how it works out. Below is a picture of Graham's cockpit hatch piano hinge. They are 1 1/16" wide. No signs of crevice corrosion. I am sure Graham would have polished his hinges before installation.
  7. Alan Stewart
    I usually just measure it into a cup carefully the ratio has a window of about 5-10 percent in my experience (I've never had any issues with paint mix ratio). I don't usually thin the 545 at all but it does start to thicken up in the cup after about an hour so I would mix a small batch, roll it on and then mix some more. It flashes off quickly and you can add another coat in about 30 min. You'll just about be able to start at one end and when you get to the other end you can go back to the beginning for the next coat. If you DO put in some reducer I would give it a couple of hours to come out of the primer before the next coat. 545 is a high build primer so it's good at this (building up a decent thickness). I don't usually bother priming anywhere i'm going to nonskid. This is nice on a bigger boat that you have to stand in while painting the cockpit because you can keep the sole unpainted (primed) while you work everywhere else then carefully jump out. Or better yet, paint the boat while on it's side for better access and also you won't have to worry about dripping condensation from your respirator into the paint or sweat if it's hot or dust/dirt. Unless you want a very high level finish I probably wouldn't even bother using 545 in the cockpit at all just so you don't have to sand it all smooth which takes a long time but priming is necessary if you're not ok with seeing a pinhole here or there. The primer will reveal a lot of imperfections you just can't see in the epoxied surface. I find the best tools for the 545 are a brush for corners and an 1/8" foam roller for surfaces. Here are some links for what we use http://bandbyachtdesigns.com/store/ For topcoat i would go with either the "hot dog" rollers or the same 1/8" foam rollers. The best advise I can give would be to sand the primer until you're happy with leaving it looking like that because the only thing that's going to change when you paint it is the color and gloss, any imperfections will still show as the topcoat is very thin. I've found that thinning topcoat too much for rolling and tipping is frustrating because I want to be done with 2 coats. If you thin too much you'll be putting 4 or 5 coats and no one has time for that plus you don't want to be sitting there with it for that long. I like to thin it minimally when rolling and tipping. Just enough that it will still level out after I roll it on and tip it with a foam brush. I would do some test pieces. Less thinner means it will flash off faster though so you have to do it like you would varnish. Do an area with roller, tip it then move on with your wet edge. DONT GO BACK. If you thin it more then you can go back to it over and over but you might have to do 3 or even 4 coats. If you thin it like almost water as some do be sure to put it on ULTRA thin for no runs and plan to do at least 3 coats It will usually flash off pretty fast though as long as you put it on thin. For the best finish (like on the topsides) you want to start at one end and finish at the other. You can't go back and add a bit to just one spot without creating a "patch" with edges etc that only you will be able to see. When I painted the inside of the Core sound 17 I did it mostly with just a brush because i put it on heavy and could just about get away with one coat. It flashed off fast and you couldn't go back but it was quick and I was happy with the finish. I didn't care about a few brush strokes here and there. It is a home made boat after all and I no longer aspire to a gel-coat production boat finish in the cockpit. Topsides are easier to be picky, cockpits i've become much more tolerant of imperfections after having done a few. When I say imperfections I mean glass tape edges, low and high spots and the occasional brush stroke or run not pinholes, cracks, crevices or anything that would collect dirt or prevent it from being wiped clean those I care about.
  8. Casey

    Nz ob20 #54

    Casey replied to Casey's topic in B & B Yachts Forum

    Thrillsbe clean up equals beer time👍 And thanks.. taking longer than first anticipated with work and a newborn keeping hands full but ill get there
  9. Casey

    Nz ob20 #54

    Casey replied to Casey's topic in B & B Yachts Forum

    Rattus the rainbow trout in our lakes migrate into tributaries that flow into the lake to spawn. there are 3 larger rivers and dozens of smaller streams and creeks scattered around the lake. I also practice catch and release. Its More of a sport and excuse to get out of the house and use the boat🙂
  10. Last week
  11. Thrillsbe
    Congrats on your launch! She slides through the water so smoothly. Now the fun begins. Can’t wait to see her at the Messabout.
  12. Thrillsbe
    You clean up at the end of each day??? What a novel idea. I’ll have to try that sometime. You’re doing a beautiful job.
  13. rattus

    Nz ob20 #54

    rattus replied to Casey's topic in B & B Yachts Forum

    Finally found a link on "Rainbow Jack" - turns out it's either a NA native rainbow trout if it spends its entire life in fresh water, or what we call a steelhead if it spends part of its life in salt water. Steelhead flesh tends orange, and rainbow, white/beige. AFAIK, the NZ populations don't inhabit salt water, so that was a very large rainbow trout. Very impressive. The ones we catch (and release) here or buy (usually farmed) are rarely over 1kg. My rule is 1 per person. Applied to grill weekly. Bet that grilled well!
  14. Paul356
    Steve, thanks for letting us take over your thread for a while. Frowley, here is a picture I happened to have that shows the end of the main sprit with the second reef in. The second reef line is the white braid with red tracer. You can see I've pulled the cringle down tight, and the cheek block is just up the way on the sprit, where it can pull the reef cringle straight down or I guess down and a little back to get max foot tension. Its cleat is just ahead of that, as close as workable, so I can reach that easily when hove to with the main luffing, with the mizzen sheeted in tight or mostly tight and the sprit midships or nearly so. The first reef line has the blue tracer and is also cleated in this picture, tho the cringle is not pulled tight. Same routine, cleat closer to the end. I start both reef lines in the clew hardware in some fashion, also to help get maximum foot tension Finally, I see in this picture I have the mizzen reefed, too, using the downhaul hook in the first reef cringle at the mast (also a white braid with red tracer). I also need to credit one of our colleagues in Ohio who put up a nifty video on jiffy reefing a few years ago. Got lots of good ideas there. I'd say I let off enough slack on the snotter to let the main sprit drop about 18". Otherwise I can't seem to get the sail reefed tight in back. So it's ease and cleat halyard, ease snotter, set mast reefing line (which tightens halyard), set clew reefing line, set snotter. The sprit is rotated 90 degrees to the left in this picture for some reason, although that sometimes happens when sailing, too. I ease the mizzen snotter to reef, too, but you have to be careful the sprit doesn't run too far forward and snag the main if the main is swinging. Hence a good idea to be lying pointing slightly one side or the other of the wind, so the main is clearly one side or the other of the mizzen. You don't need long, tho. Heaving-to: Right now, I'm saying I have two methods. One is with the mizzen pulled in tight and the rudder cocked just a bit to one side. Boat is almost dead into the wind (as just described), probably moving backward a bit. Good for setting/reefing sails. The other is to be reaching or beating and just head up so sails are luffing, then lock the tiller down a bit to keep the boat trying to head up a bit. The sails will luff, the boat will continue to fore reach but lie very steadily and you can be perfectly at ease. Good for taking a rest, finding lunch, starting the outboard, etc. Depending on how close you are, may also be able to use this to reef or douse. It never even occurred to me to try to heave to with the board up, and it seems the board and rudder blades provide needed balance and . But I guess I'll have to try. Maybe with the blades up the boat will slide and make that slick that keeps waves from breaking.
  15. frowley
    Soooo interesting. Thanks everyone. I'm also glad to hear everyone's slight variations on heaving-to. I love heaving-to in a blow because I'm often discovering at the same time that I need to settle things down a bit on the boat and take a breath, and I'm always surprised how stable it is. I release the main, sheet the mizzen down tight, and release the tiller, CB stays down. If it's blowing and there are heavy chop or waves, the boat tends to sail a little perhaps 10-20 degrees off the wind because the waves seem to push the bow off the wind - with the main still flogging. When I've tried locking the tiller in the past, the boat seemed to go all over the place, but perhaps it's time I tried that one more time. I've never tried raising the CB and rudder, but I'll give that a go next time as well. Sounds like everyone's main reef cleats are at the aft end of their sprits. Jay - I'd love to see a photo of your setup (I Totally get that you're on your 27th version, I'm just trying to catch up to you!). Thanks!! Also - Paul, I'd love to see a photo of your setup if you have one and it's any different from Jay's. 'Reefing the mizzen is so quick'... are you releasing the snotter a lot so it's down at nearly deck level? So far, I've found that I have to release the mizzen sheet in order to cinch up the clew reef line, but maybe I'm just not letting out enough snotter line.
  16. Pete McCrary started following Roller Trough for a CS20.3 trailer . .
  17. Pete McCrary
    My trailer for Chessie (a CS20.3 #4) had three keel rollers and a pair of side bunks balancing the boat. Chessie's weight was about 1,400 lbs -- which included OBM & 9.5 liters fuel, sailing & cruising equipment (including about 7 gallons of fresh water in coolers and bladders), spars & sails, and a Two Paw 7 dinghy. Almost all the weight was carried on the three hard-rubber rollers -- which, over time, suffered damage, becoming out-of-round, and not "rolling" as they should. Inspired by Graham's "roller" design, I made a wooden "V-trough" -- which worked quite well for a launch or two. However, the concept didn't work out, mainly because the friction built up after a few road trips. Inspection showed buildup of considerable road debris in the trough. So, I decided to make a roller trough copying Graham's concept -- substituting 5" rollers commercially available instead of rollers made from 3" PVC pipe. Here are the details: Shown here is a pattern board cut with the keel offsets provided by B&B specifically for the CS20.3 keel, indexed to the forward edge of the CB slot. Chessie was lifted off [of her trailer] and the pattern board was place next to the keel [and located with respect to the CB slot] and the "as-built" keel profile was scribed -- which is shown on the next photo. Then 13 small holes were drilled at the scrib marks at each roller location on the pattern board. The board was placed on one of "cheek" boards [of the trough] and located so that the lowest roller would just clear the trough's bottom frame while the 1st and 13th roller axles were equal distant from the top edge of the cheek pieces. The axle locations were then marked with an awl -- no measurement transfers required. The two cheek planks were clamped together and the drill press rigged to drill thirteen pairs of 5/8" axle holes simultaneously. Design concept with cost data. Rollers and SS hardware. Assembled and installed. The cheeks are held to the frame bottom with 1/4" x 2" hot dipped lag bolts on 8" centers. In order to help "channel" the boat's stem for recovery, guide boards are placed between the bunks and the trough. Also shown here is the aft end of the CB "catcher" raised over the port-side guide board. Now, if the skipper forgets to raise the CB (for launch or recovery) the board will simply slide over the board. This is the position of the boat for the final "sea-trial" launch (video below). There were three previous launches -- after which adjustment were made. IMG_2088.mp4 This was the position of the trailer at recovery. The first launches went fairly well, but the recoveries required [I thought] too much cranking effort. So, I made adjustments to the bunks so that they carried much less weight. That helped reduce the cranking effort substantially. Further adjustments may be required. Originally, all rollers except #6 were in contact with the keel. After reducing the load on the bunks -- all rollers (including #6) now contract the keel. I think it's fair to say that the dynamic load on each roller has be reduced substantially -- from almost 500 lbs per roller to about 110 lbs, a factor of more than 4. The next three photos shows my method of preventing the boat from rolling off the trailer unexpectedly.
  18. Hirilonde
    Stainless steel is weird, at least to common "intuition". When it stays wet it corrodes. Water gets into the countersink of the hardware, behind the head of the fastener and dries slowly. During the wet period corrosion occurs, called "crevice corrosion". It can be caused by scratches as well. 316 hardware and fasteners is the best solution, but it will still occur. Another thing that can help is to buff the fastener heads and countersink in the hardware with a jeweler's wheel w/rouge. We actually did this at a previous employer's shop. For those who want a thorough explanation instead of my over-simplified version: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/crevice-corrosion I used bronze piano hinges and screws. They turned "patina green" and I like it.
  19. Alan Stewart
    A recent question prompted a reply for all.... I think Graham has always used stainless steel piano hinge for his cockpit hatches. Piano hinge is nice because it's pretty flat, and very strong and stable. B&B purchases piano hinge from our main supplier "paxton" which is 304 stainless. Generally we feel that 304 stainless is fine for our small boats which live most of their life on trailers sometimes even under cover rather than sitting in salt water. For an ocean cruising boat going with 316 stainless would probably be worth the extra cost. Our 1-1/16" 304 stainless polished piano hinge is $28 for a 6' length and we've used it on many cockpit hatches. I've often seen stainless steel screws create rust stains on the stainless piano hinge and my guess is that the screws are not as high a quality 304 as the hinge itself. I think it's worth the extra for 316 screws in this case because the staining looks bad but I think the 304 hinge is ok. We usually just use pan head screws for cockpit hatches. In practice they really don't stick up too bad and they are usually behind your butt when you're sitting in the cockpit so it's just not an issue. McMaster sells 316 piano hinge for not much more. about $36 but it's unpolished. The also have polished for more like $46 on last check (all 6' lengths) I'm about to need some hinge material for my own build and I really wanted to try something different. I wanted to try and save some weight but also just make it a bit easier to install especially for all of my bunk hatches in the cabin. I've known about live hinges forever because we used them on model airplanes especially RC gliders where the elevator and aileron hinges were just kevlar strips bonded into the wing core and then scored to free them. A google search for "kevlar piano hinge" shows all sorts of very expensive options most of which include carbon fiber legs with the kevlar in between. I bought a small amount of kevlar to try and make my own for use on my cabin bunk hatches and maybe even cockpit hatches but my first test was not very good. the hinge snapped after just a few dozen bends. I'm going to keep trying though but I think i should have started with some thicker kevlar and the next test I'll try to prevent epoxy from getting to the hinge line at all perhaps with some hot wax pressed into the hinge line before laying up the kevlar flat on a mold surface. I also used plain old kevlar tape so half the fibers are wasted going along the length of the hinge. I should have got some thicker bias tape which would have had all fibers across the hinge line and requiring less bending of any one fiber. I will report back on my next attempt. I would just buy some kevlar hinge (video below) but the price is ridiculous. Sure would be nice though to just glue it down and done! so maybe if you factor in all the time it takes to screw, bed, polish, drill, yada yada it's maybe 6 vs 1/2 dozen cost wise. Another option i recently saw as fiberglass or carbon piano hinge with a stainless steel rod. Here is a boatdesign thread that describes the making. https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/carbon-piano-hinges.61551/ Basically folding some glass or Carbon over a tube or rod so that you're left with a hole then cut the "teeth" for the hinge and slide in the final rod. I was thinking of trying to make it with fiberglass and then slide in a 3/32" 316 stainless tig welding rod. Graham did his bunk hatches on Carlita with some aluminum piano hinge that he had left over the I believe Tom Lathrop gave him (very light and nice). After Jay used riv-nuts to attach his rub-rail to his boat Graham wanted to try something similar and he actually used pop rivets (correction he used solid aluminum rivets inserted from below and then peened closed) to attach the piano hinges to his bunk hatches. This has the advantage of being nearly flush inside and out as opposed to using screws and then having to grind all the tips off that stick through the 1/4" plywood. It worked fairly well and I don't think any have come loose.
  20. Thrillsbe
    I’m with Meester. I enjoy the process. I will add that it took me 15 months to build my BRS15. Please note that many days I only worked 4-6 hours on it. I was also repeatedly interrupted by “life”. But such is life. This winter, I decided to build a Two Paw 8. I figured it would only take a couple of months. Between laziness and “life”, it took six months. But I enjoyed the process, and wasn’t looking to save money by building it myself. It was fun to build, and I now have a sweet nesting boat.
  21. Commercial Renovation Commercial Renovation joined the community
  22. Paul356
    What jk said. Keep board and rudder down, lock tiller. Sheet mizzen tight. You'll be moving backwards, but sprits will be luffing on the centerline and cleats for reefing lines on sprits will be easily accessible without filling the sails. Dont forget to ease the snotter when easing the halyard and tightening the reef lines, then retighten the snotter once the reef lines are set. All my mainmast lines--halyard, downhaul, both reef lines and snotter--come back to the cockpit so I can reef from the cockpit while lying into the wind under the sheeted mizzen. Reefing the main is a matter of 30 seconds or less. That includes grabbing the clew reef line and yanking it forward in its clam cleat on the sprit. Reefing the mizzen is so quick that grabbing the sprit to tighten the clew reef line and cleat it is not an issue.
  23. Jknight611
    A picture is worth a thousand words, particularly on this topic, I will roll my boat out tomorrow and raise the masts and snap some photos. I never go forward to reef, by the time it occurs to me to reef, the foredeck or forward hatch isn’t where my plump butt needs to be! Gravity likes me enough that if solo, my weight that far forward really upsets the stability. This is the 27th version of my reefing system and it seems to work the best of the previous 26 attempts. If I sheet the mizzen down tight on centerline, board full down, it just kinda gives up and stays bow on the wind. The mizzen is easy to reef, standing forward of the mizzen tabernacle. Photos tomorrow if it would help anyone.
  24. Steve W
    "In any kind of blow the boat sails away on you and holding on to the end of the sprit is a real fool's errand. " I haven't sailed Skeena in a situation that required reefing yet. Close, but not quite. I was able to flatten the sail to de-power. But I wonder if the problem you are having here is because your heave to technique might need adjustment. I have been sailing a cat-ketch Sea Pearl for 12 years. One of it's novelties is that you can sheet in the mizzen and it will walk straight backwards while the main flogs itself right on the centerline. It's while doing this you can walk forward to reef the main. But in order to do this you need to pull up the lee-boads and the rudder. Without doing that, if the boat backs up and gets even a little cross ways, you better be ready to un-cleat the mizzen. I believe there has been capsizes caused by not following this protocol. Last fall at the messabout I had the privilege of sailing Pete's boat "Chessie" and I briefly tested the technique and it sure seemed like the same behavior, only easier. A SP is very tender while the CS seemed so docile in comparison. I cam home excited. I'm anxious to get Skeena out in more wind to test, but I'll let you know. My plan all along was to rig the boat like the simpler plan with cleats on the sprit. Put her in "Cat-Ketch Irons" as described above (C-board and rudder up, mizzen sheeted hard) and then tend to the main. It will require me to poke my head out of the fore-hatch or go forward over the cabin roof to move the down-haul hook. Hopefully we'll get some good wind. We've either had too much or none for much of my sails.
  25. ForthBridge ForthBridge changed their profile photo
  26. frowley
    I've tried a bunch of different approaches to reefing the main (specifically the leech reef lines) - not working yet for me! I'm really curious to hear everyone's experience and approach. Originally I ran these lines back to the cockpit using the ramp and ball technique on the drawings at the time. Set up time was too onerous so I took off the ramps and re-configured, initially with cleats at the clew end - thinking that was way clever of me - I'd just tighten up the reef at the end of the main sprit while I stood in the cockpit in front of the mizzen, heaved-to. Not. In any kind of blow the boat sails away on you and holding on to the end of the sprit is a real fool's errand. I'm moving the main, clew, reef cleats to the forward end of the sprit unless I hear a better idea. Your approach sounds appealing, Paul, but I can't imagine in my head how I'd keep fully battened sails attached to the sprits when raising and lowering the masts. Where are your clew reef cleats for the main? Are you using the ramp and ball rig? I've been using small blocks and a soft shackle to secure the clew reefs to the cringles on the mizzen, but they're a pain. I like your idea, Jay, of just using hooks, so I'm going to switch to those. Do you, then, Jay, cleat the main clew reefs on cleats at the forward end of the sprit? This would be a set up that mirrors the mizzen. If so, then a trip to the foredeck is required, and it's kind of a reach to get to them. Here's another question - I re-do my approach every time I have to reef in earnest. Do you release the snotter all the way so the fwd end is down near the deck before cinching up the clew reef line? I'm thinking this makes the most sense, since otherwise I'm standing on the thwart and reaching up just to get to the cleats, with similar antics or worse for the main.
  27. Steve W
    Cool! I love "out of the box" thinking. I hope the results achieve you objectives. Please keep us updated.
  28. Oyster
    Great photos and report as usual.... You are on a lake. So buy a bass boat , which lets you go fast. But seriously electric boats have a certain draw about them. They are a step above a sailboat for sure. for older folks their lure increases too, IMHO. But the downside is the requirement for added battery weight if you want any range. But with the smaller hulls and shorter trips why not just add a pedal prop for those times that you just want to cruise along the shore bank and sip on your wine and eat your brie? Now let me run and get my bag of popcorn.
  29. ForthBridge
    And I should have added, a great deal of thanks to William, a regular poster on this forum - https://messing-about.com/forums/profile/2082-william/ - who provided helpful advice regarding the use of Nidaplast. His posts are very detailed and interesting. My own build is less scientific and certainly a lot less weight saving! I have gone for over engineered strength to hopefully provide a long lasting serviceable tender.
  30. ForthBridge started following Nidaplast and carbon Spindrift N11 build
  31. ForthBridge
    Hello everyone, I last posted on here a few years ago. It's taken me sometime to convince my wife to give up the living room to an N11. My Spindrift N11 project is called South Queensferry Electron - in recognition of Donald Crowhurst's Teignmouth Electron - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Crowhurst Following the usual 'messing-about' convention, here is my progress right up to when I found the courage to saw her in half - earlier today! Nidaplast is very flexible and I epoxied and peel plied each piece of the hull before assembly. Bulkheads are carbon fibre and Nidaplast, three layups of biaxial cloth. A diamond cutting wheel on a Dremmel made short work of trimming excess from the bulkheads and transom. The hull still needs finishing, as do the bulwarks. Knees still to fit as well, that's the next job. So I realise that 6mm ply would have been the best route to go down. However, prior to this build I had not worked with West Systems or carbon fibre before. The SQE is a 'learning by doing' project in preparation for the retirement boat. I will update with more photos as work progresses. I live in Scotland, the weather is getting colder and less conducive to epoxy use and, of course, I have to give the living room up for Christmas. Progress might be slow! However, with the hull complete I can cut out the rest of the Nidaplast components and get the sailing rig ready. Happy boat building to you all! Jim
  32. Chick Ludwig
    i think a CS15 would make a great camp cruiser without the rig. I'd make a removable cuddy for it. Not excited about electric though. Just not enough power or capacity. My little 2.5 hp Zuki would do great. Old Codger is the planing version of the CS15. I wanna go faster than displacement speed.
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