Florin {VACATIONER}

Jan, I tend to agree with Craig on this one. His trailer is a nice one, and his bunks are fully adjustable. That would be the cat's meow if you can manage that. Mine are not adjustable at all, so I'd better get them right the first time. That's why I left them longer to start with... easier to cut them shorter after the fact as opposed to welding on some more pipe. He is right about the keelbox as well. You only need the 2/3 at the front.... Why????? Because when the trailer is backed in the water, the aft part of the keelbox is submerged in the water so deep, the keel won't come in contact with it until you're about 1/3 in on the trailer... So then the first 1/3 is just firewood as far as I am concerned. I wish I knew this BEFORE I made it...I would have saved on carpet too... but this is the school of hard knocks hehehe. Cheers

Thanks Arnie, I will compare the measurements with the one I have, plus check to see if it fits on my rig. My mast sits at least 1-2' taller than what the plans call for. This would maybe allow for more sqft of headsail hehehe. I also find the foot of the sail to be cut at too high of an angle compared to the deckline. I don't really think that's necessary because I really don't have anything that tall to clear on deck up there. Maybe I'll cut mine at an angle lower to the deck and see what hapens. Thanks

Here's a side shot. You can tell how long the keelbox is here. You can also tell that the bunks needed to be adjusted for the boat was sitting too high, and also she needed to be balanced on the trailer, but you get the idea... At the aft end, the trailer is about 4ft shorter then the boat, so there is an overhang. The keelbox stops at the end of the trailer. My trailer is overbuilt... So next time I would build a much lighter one. Cheers [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

OK, here's the trailer just after the boat was put on. Hope you can see all the detail you need. Yes, the bunks are sitting about 6" too high and about 8" too far out. I'll have to get the boat unloaded at the lake and get the trailer home for the mods. Shouldn't take more that a couple of hours to do. That will bring the C of G lower and the bunks further in to fully support the weight of the boat. If you have anymore queestions shoot! Cheers [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Jan, You'll probably have to weld in a crossmember somewhere at the front. It doesn't have to be too bulky and strong 'cause it really doesn't have any load bearing on it... at least on mine it doesn't, all the weight is supported by the bunks. I'll try to scrounge up some pics and post them in a couple of minutes. The bunks and keelbox were made out of cheap construction grade spruce 2X8, but i'm sure 2x6 will work too. I made up some brackets out of 1x angle iron and welded them to the crossmembers. Drilled them thru and bolted the keelbox to them. They were painted with tremclad first and then covered with marine grade carpet. They look pretty spiffy I think.

Ahah! Now I know where you were hiding this weekend. Looks like you've had a lot of boats to look at. I'll bet it was a good time. I haven't been to Vic in 15 years or so. Yep, the gardens are gorgeous. You'll probably find this funny: My ex and I went there on our honeymoon in '89. We were just starting out in life and didn't have a camera just yet. So my out-laws offered their 35mm TTL camera... they also said there was a brand new film in it. My ex took about 257 pics in the gardens. When we were at the exit I asked how many rolls of film she used..... after a big pause she said we're still on the first one....but there are still shots available. Anyway, I opened the darned thing and it was empty... Go figure! Now we're divorced :-) Cheers

Yeah, I think I wanna make one of those.... I think 100%er should be large enough to start with, and also should give us more speed. What size jib sheets do you guys use? Thanks

Yep, we have our keelbox extended all the way to the stem and all the way to the rear of the trailer. Loading and unloading is a breeze. I remember when I owned a stinkpot on roller trailer... this is waaaaay easier to do. It always ends up centered... first time too, regardless if I backed the trailer in a bit at an angle. First we back the trailer in so that we have the bunks about 1/2 submerged. We have a painter tied on the chain and another rope tied to the scuppers at the rear, this way we can control the boat on both axis. I sit on one of the bunks and center and pull the boat into the keelbox... attach the winch-line and winch her up as far as possible without tugging too hard. Then I get Barb to take over the winch and slowly winch her up on the bunks while I gently back the trailer into the water some more til we have her all the way. We got it to the point where we can do this in 2-3 minutes and we're out of the water in record time. I didn't think it would be so easy. If you have rollers you should be able to do this in one shot. Cheers

Jan, As far as I understand there is no weight bearing on the keelbox from the boat at all. It is only there to guide the boat straight onto the trailer mainly when loading and to keep it centered on the bunks/rollers while in transit with it bouncing up and down on crappier roads. We opted for bunks because aparently they distribute the contact weight better 'cause they have more surface as compared to the rollers, and I'm not sure with the ply boats, but on heavy plastic boats may warp the bottom due to the wight applied on such small surface such the top part of the rollers, although I haven't seen one damaged yet. We built our trailer from scratch so the bunks option was way less work and way cheaper as well. By looking at the pics I would reccomend using a keelbox to keep things aligned and ease of loading, but that's just my opinion. They're not a lot of work to do either. Good luck, and BTW your rig looks great!!! Cheers Florin

OK, I guess I've got a problem with my boat terminology and I really don't know what a lapper is then. I thought it is a large jib which overlaps the mast like a genoa or maybe a bit smaller... which is what I want to build.... Sorry about the confusion, can we start over please? Thanks

Does anyone have a lapper sail plan and dimensions for the Vac? Thanks

Yep Ray, I would agree... it seems like the glued lapstrake would be a lot easier (and probably cheaper ) to build. Now I assume fiberglassing the lapstrakes would be a major pain. How do people protect the ply? Do they just paint it or do they actually go thru the pain of getting the cloth into those corners? Thanks

Thanks guys for your help!!! I forgot to mention that the Penobscot 17 by Arch Davis was the other one I've had in mind... She looks quite cute and looks like she may be even easier/faster to build since she is glued lapstrake out of marine 1/4"ply, and it seems like she is a bit beamier and more spacious. It's hard to make a decision between the two... I wish I could find a forum like ours here which deals with the two different boats. Thanks again!

Yes Frank, I've had a look at his boat pics and they all look really good. I wouldn't mind at all chatting with him about the construction. Thanks

Since we enjoy fishing so much our next project will be a fishing boat. We wanted a fairly large wooden boat which we could use on lakes and as well on rivers, be able to row, sail or just use a small outboard to putt around the lake trolling for big lunkers. We did some research and found the Cosine Wherry to be a very attractive project. Since we've only built a ply-boat so far, strip building seems a bit involved, something we haven't done. Could someone who has built this boat tell me what it was like, and what kind of experience/equipment one would need. Thanks

That's a pretty nice looking boat, too bad he has to sell her. If I was closer to him I would buy her in a heartbeat. Its unfortunate a guy can only get $1000 for that... we all know how much work and materials go in one of these. Too bad.

I couldn't find a parrot to put on my shoulder at the Pirate Party Treasure Hunt so I got Zak to participate. He doesn't mind being on the boat as much anymore... well, not bad for a landlubber. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

And here's the other.... [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Excellent pics ladies and gents!! Here's a couple we took a while ago on our local lake. The boat (SS MOYE) actually runs on diesel and the paddle wheel is actuated by a hydraulic motor, but she sure looks cute. She belongs to the Heritage Park here in Calgary and she can be boarded a few times a day for a ride on the lake. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Great post Bob. Now I don't have any chisels which would require new handles but I can definitely use the advice on making handles for my files since they came as a kit, with one interchangeable plastic handle. Would you mind posting a tutorial on proper sharpening of chisels please. Thanks

Darn, I just lost my entire write up for the weekend... I thing the computer ate it.... Oh well I'll have to write up another now. Good to hear the tarp worked out for you.... it would be too darn expensive to make experimentals out of dacron. I'll probably make another jib maybe in the next few days and see how it works. We were on Lake Windermere... close to Fairmont and Radium in the Columbia valley, we wanted to go south and meet you there but we decided to go to BC at the last minute and didn't think we could get hold of you on the net that quickly. In retrospect I'm really glad we didn't go....I'll tell ya why later. I'll have a write up later on today about how the weekend went. Cheers

Tim, it sounds like you've had a riot of a time on the lake. Good to hear the new lapper is working fine (that'll be my new addition for the next season). As a matter of fact I think I'll be getting a new coat of real sails for next season. Is your lapper dacron or is it just a trial one out of tarp? We were out in BC this weekend, we thought of trying to get hold of you but it was too late. Cheers

That's looking pretty good there Mike. Is that jib made of tarp? Because we wanted to get the extra headroom in the cockpit we've had to install the boom gooseneck above the hinges on the mast. Also, with the current setup of the mast guides (where the cleats are installed in according to the plans) the mast hoops and the gaff jaws wouldn't slide down over the guides... Soooo now we have to disconnect the gooseneck and gaff jaws off the mast every time we want to trailer. This takes about a minute to do, so it isn't as big a problem as it may seem. We could do the furling reefing system on the boom, but that would complicate things. Just simple reefing points would seem to me like the easy thing to do. Once I make my new and larger hoops, the mainsail should slide up and down a lot better (hopefully). Also the topping lift is in order. If I can find some dimmensions for the larger jib, I might jus whip one up in a hurry. The plastic hanks were discarded on the main for they didn't work well for us and we changed to HD hardware rightaway. We still have the plastic hanks on the jib, but we'll be getting rid of those because we want to be able to take the jib off the stay in a hurry when we want to, and the plastic hanks are a pain.... We would like to store the jib in the forepeak when not in use or when camping at anchor, to avoid having it flap around in the wind. I installed a cockpit drain+plug last Friday. Seems to work just fine. Don't know if it was quite evident in the pics, but we decided to use the space behind the seatbacks in the cockpit as storage. I know some of you will have some negative comments about that because we've lost some of the floatation there... We are going to add a bunch of closed cell foam in various places, and this will be one of them. We'll add foam under the deck behind the seatbacks. Now that area can be used for storing all kinds of junk, extra ropes, fishing rods, etc. I have to think of a way of draining the water which accumulates in those spaces during rain. I was thinking to drain it in the rear lockers under the seats which will drain into the cockpit floor, which drains on the ground once the plug is out. Cheers

Yep, we've really had to push hard this summer to get her on the water. Some of the things were ignored such as installing the potti (although we have it), the gimball stove (which I have to make the hardware for), the electrical system, bilge pump, etc. We figured those were non essentials and they'll get done during the off season, or I can add them as we go. We're all really happy we did it and the girls enjoy it a lot, especially that they get to drive the boat often and are catching some fish ... they love the fish finder and we no longer need to get a TV for them onboard (not thet I would have gotten one :-)) They've already got their sea-legs and run around the boat like it was the back yard. I think maybe next year we'll enroll them in a beginners sailing class. I'm sure they'll love it a lot. Cheers

Dave, the epoxy idea sounds good... and if you mix it with chopped up cotton it is aparently a lot stronger. If I were to make another rudder I would make it thicker and I wouldn't have to add the shims, but now its too late and don't feel like building another. Maybe next year. Speaking of fish-finders: I bought one (Eagle Cuda 240S) and installed it on the boat couple of weeks ago. It works wonders... too bad it isn't forward looking like you said. Although for our boats I don't think it really matters. I spent an extra $25 bucks and got the one with GPS and its great when making small adjustments in sail trim... it really lets you know if you're screwing up royally. I've got it hooked up to a car battery which sits in one of the rear cockpit seats... I know it really wasn't a wise idea to add more weight aft there, but we just wanted to get it installed quickly without having to install the batteries in the forepeak and having to run wires and electircal in the whole boat. We'll do that in the off season. So we'll have to put up with this inconvenience as well until the next season.