Designer

Polysulfide is fine underwater. 3M 4200 was designed to have a lower shear strength than 5200. Because the bailer has a metal base, you can heat it with a heat gun to 140 degree F and and it will debond from polyurethanes and epoxy. I do not know how beat up the bailer is but if you squeeze both sides of the wire cam lever near the hinge point it will come out. Rotate the bailer down aft and it will come out. You can inspect the gasket and remove it if needed. All of this can be done in 5 - 10 minutes. The bailer can be trued up at the bench if needed. If I had new bailer that was the same as the old one I would inspect the old base, if the caulk and the base was fine I would swap out the parts and save the new base in case the caulk leaks in the future. When Southern Skimmer arrived at the beach for the EC many years ago, about a dozen volunteers heaved her back to get her off the trailer. After about 4 feet she stopped dead. The bailer was left open as it had been raining during the drive to Florida and was slammed into a trailer bracket. As you can imagine the moving part profile was given a distinctive Z shape. It leaked badly but when I got home and trued it up in the vise and no more leaks. It may still be in there.

I am glad that the drawing made sense to you. By the time I reduced the file size of the screen shot and uploaded it, the red lines are almost black on my screen. Yes you are correct. Seeing that you are getting down in the weeds, you could trim the boat down by the head until the mast is vertical and pour in enough unthickened epoxy and let it level out. If you want to go a step further you make another glass tube like the main mast step, not to waterproof the mizzen step but to guide the mast into the step. I did this on Carlita, it is definitely easier to step. When thinking about it, it occurred to that if I dropped the mast in harder than I should, I might damage the the wood fibers on the keel and being hard to see or get at I laid in a layer of glass. If that pretty wood mast rotates in the thwart it will wear away the varnish, you might want to wrap a layer of glass at thwart height. Glass is incredibly hard waring. After about a year of full time cruising, I wore through the oarlock rubbers and into the oar shafts on my tender. I was far from stores so I wrapped the oars in glass where needed and added turkshead stops. They were still going strong when the oars were lost 25 years later.

Hi Sandgroper, Dave is correct, see the red lines on the drawing for the larger mast diameter. The new step will be wider than the keel batten so you need fit a piece of wood to fill in the gap. This is a high stress part so you need to make it strong. The picture shows a poorly made mast step that failed. I am amazed that it lasted as long as it did. What we can learn from the picture is that there were no screws to help carry the shear loads, ply as specified has half of the grain running in the opposite direction making it harder to split and a low percentage of well bonded glue line indicating poor prep. It is better to let the masts rotate so that the snotter does not tighten around the mast when you pay out the sail. On masts in tabernacles we attach the snotter snapshacle to a horizontal loop held by a pair of eyestraps.

Yes there is a lapstrake version. If it was me I would build the lapstrake version without the laps. This turns it into a multi chine hull. The main reason is that the chines are flush allowing you to glass the outside of the boat making a stronger and more durable hull. The Lapstrake is traditional and handsome, I think that multi chine also looks good. Our building method gives a nice fair hull fairly quick. Jay has completed his second multi chine hull and was pleased with the ease and fairness of the build. He may chime in. In the meantime you can look at his build of the looper and Matthew Flinders on this forum. I have completed the updates and changes that I wanted. The next move if anyone is interested is for Alan and I to go over every part of the design together so that the second pair of eyes may spot any errors, omissions or conflict. He will then part it all out, and nest all of the parts into sheets and create the tool paths

I decided to jump into this discussion. Even though the advise has been excellent, I have sailed all of the boats under discussion probably more than anyone and in hard conditions. I have even sailed a Scamp with John Welsford as my crew. I was probably responsible for the pictures of the CS15 with lots of heel. When Alan brought the CS15 he built to our messabout, I saw him tacking in some gusty conditions. I videoed and shot stills of him heeling her way over. I then took her out and flogged her hard. There were quite a few pictures taken of that sail. I wondered when I saw them uploaded if they would have a negative effect. On the following Sunday after most of he boats had gone home I had the three fifteen footers I had designed BRS15, Lapwing and the CS15 sitting at the dock. The first thing was to test their stability. The CS15 was clearly the most stable with the Lapwing second. None of this was a surprise as that was what the original static calculations showed but it was good to check them as-built. Next we tested them under sail. The BRS with her smaller rig was the slowest. The other two have identical rigs which is a fairer comparison. I ended up judging them even overall but thought that the Lapwing had a slight edge in light air, it was the reverse in heavier air. When CS15 hull #1 was built, the owner left her with me for a week so that I could give her a thorough test. I was well pleased with her when I handed her over. When I designed the Lapwing I just put her hull under the CS15 rig. (Don, was that your BRS?) Is the CS15 tender? Definitely not. She does have a good size rig and should be reefed appropriately. You said it best. "So one of the leading attractions to the Core Sound line for me is speed. Not racing, but rather the ability to cover ground while cruising. I've read some of the accounts about the Everglades Challenge so the Core Sound can exceed my personal needs." It has always amazed me how the miles just seem to roll on by with the CS17. While the CS15 is not a tender boat, the bigger footprint of the CS17 makes her a lot more stable. There is no problem building from plans. As we ever update and improve the kits Alan has done a good job of keeping the plans up to date. The gear chine was a great improvement. I introduced it because I was always fussing at the chine trying to get it perfectly fair. Because of the transition of the chine joint starting as a butt joint transitioning to an overlap at about 20% aft, you were never sure how fair you got it until it was cured and cleaned up. The gear chine eliminated that issue. All you have to do draw up the chine ties tight and it is fair. Thousands of folded boats were made with out the teeth and thousands more will be built without it. I never will do it with out it. I can still recall when I put it first on a CS17 how perfectly it worked. Every time I went into the shop until it left I scan the chine and enjoy how fair it was. If I was in your position I would probably go with the 17mk1. It would easily fit under your weight limit. I dragged Carlita around 10,000 miles one year mostly behind a 1.9 liter VW including both ways over the Rockies. She is a lot heavier than a 17mk1. Whatever boat you choose, put on a masthead float. The tendency of all open boats is to invert after a capsize. When Charlie Brown asked Snoopy while fishing "what is the secret to life?" Snoopy replied "reef early and reef often."

Hey Chick, can't Ken leave his post here and put a link over on the cruising page? I never think to check the cruising group page and would have missed this great video of Rosie. I am sure that I am not the only one.

Brass is normally bad word on a boat. This is one of the rare exceptions. Brass has been used to prevent chafe above water on boats for practically forever. Under no circumstance should us Brass screws, they will dezincify in no time. Use bonze screws. On a Sprindrift I always put a strip for about 2' 6" outboard under the chine where it bears on the bottom.

Don, The missing hatch sides and back were in the original drawings. You definitely have a builder modification. The good news is that what is built looks like it is to plan and shouldn't require any alteration to bring it up to spec. I would add some sides and modify the back to clear all of those nuts. Then put a straight edge on the deck across the hatch to measure the gap above the coamings for the gasket and adjust if necessary. I think that you would be better off with a mizzen staysail. It will give you the most bang for the buck. It is mostly in the cockpit and easier to take down if conditions suddenly get ugly.

I agree with Ken, I am glad that the Bondo has not failed for Reacher. I am quicker than most to try and save a buck but most of the time it bites me in the butt. I built my first stitch and glue Catspaw tender in the late Sixties. The only epoxy that we could buy at the time was as thick as molasses on a cold day. I was aware that polyester resin not a true adhesive so I used isothalic polyester which was the best at the time. I cross hatched the surface under the glass tape with a piece of saw blade and primed under the tape with thinned resin. She lasted a little more than a year of full time use before the glass tape started to delaminate. I made a female mold from masonite and built a fiberglass Catspaw. She was heavier than the plywood version and the hull panels were not as stiff. She was well patched when retired at about 10 years old. The next dinghy was like the first but built with modern epoxy. She was the best of the three and was still going at 25 years when I loaned her to friend who lost her in a hurricane.

Hi Viktor, You are in luck. We have had a number of requests for the Amanda rig on the Spindrift and I have been working on it. The problem with just sticking the Amanda rig in a Spindrift is that the dagger board needs to be moved aft about 6" to balance properly. This is not a problem with the offset board with the trunk going through the side tank. If someone wanted to use both rigs they could just make the trunk 6" longer and have a plug positioned forward or aft for the rig they wanted to use. This may not have much value except for nuts like me that like to experiment. I sailed the Small Reach Regatta in Maine in an Amanda a few years ago and was well pleased with her functionality and performance, beating the whole fleet except for a pulling boat rowed by Tom Jackson to the lunch time beach one day including a Caledonia Yawl. If you have the plans for your CY you should be able to measure what size boat she can carry.

Don, You bring up one of the advantages of creating your own boat, you can fit it out to make it work the way you use it. I have a tricolor masthead navigation light on the main mast which works very well. To remove the mast from the boat I have to have a "weatherproof" plug near the base of the mast. These plugs become troublesome over time due the corrosive environment we operate in. I find that if I smother the terminals in dielectric grease and mount the plug under the foredeck out of the weather I get trouble free service so far. The plug has to be polarized which means that it can only go together one way. With the screen removed I can reach through the port and view the plug so that I can plug it in the right way. It is very awkward trying to plug it in reaching in blind kneeling on the foredeck.

Hi Viktor, We have done most of the modifications you want on different boats over the years. Here is a link to the "Kendrift 9" build log. She is a Spindrift 9 that we modified for Ken to be a lightweight tender for his OB26. Ken said that she weighed in at 66#. If you want the S10 or S11 modified so that it has the dual rowing station and offset dagger-board I would be happy to modify the plans.

Borrowing R&D (research and duplicate) from Steve who unashamedly stole it from Jay. This is not earth shattering but when I saw Amos' neat mosquito screen installation on the forward side of his bulkhead I thought "dummy, why didn't I think of that?" When I was thinking about making my screen I was looking from inside the boat. I made a thick ply frame and glued the mesh to the face, it works. The down side is that every time I get under way I take it out so that I can screw the 6"plastic hatch in. It is not hard to do but it takes a screw driver and I have another piece of clutter to store until I need it. Every time I get under way I make sure that the lockers under the berths are dogged and the hatches are sealed just in case I get knocked down. It has not even come close yet but if it did It could end badly as I am regularly far from help. I now have a mast head float which should add another layer of safety. I carry my canned food and tools under the bunks and my battery is just in front of the ballast tanks and I cruise with the ballast tanks full. I intend to capsize test her again in her current trim. I have driven her hard. One of the things that I really like on Carlita is her white paint above gunwales. It is always cool even on a hot summers day with the three hatches open. The red hull is mostly in the shade. Unfortunately we cruise in one of the buggiest places on earth. With screens in place of the companionway wash boards and both hatches closed and the screen over the 6" hatch forward I am good. Often after I tidy the boat after a days sail I grab whatever I want out of the ice box to eat and dive down below and try to kill whatever came in with me. The 6" screen might not seem like much but I have 12V Hella fan that clamps to the deck stringer just aft of the screen blowing air at me when it is hot and venting out through the companionway screens. The forward bulkhead on the mk3 has the 6" hatch tucked up under foredeck to the starboard side and stays dry even in driving rain. The green lines mark the forward tabernacle and the anchor well. I drew a square of 1/4" 6mm ply and chopped off the corners. I drew five strips of 6mm ply with two at the bottom staggered about 3/16" to form a rabbet which holds the screen in place. A washer under the turn button at the top should make it easy to turn and allow for easy removal.

I think that it is good idea to use your CS17 as a motor boat. We used my BRS15 a lot with a 6 hp motor without rudder and rig. With 3 adults, 2 large dogs and picnic gear she ran at 7 knots. Running solo and trimmed out it seemed a lot faster. We did not have Navionics then, It was generally hard to find an accurate measured distance on the spur of the moment. As best as I can calculate for your boat using a 10 hp motor. @ 600 # all up weight I get 10.3 knots and @ 1000# 8.9 knots. Take this for what it is worth because this is operating at hump speed and calculations can be way off. The ideal way would be to try and borrow a motor for a trial run.

You can go either way with glass taping the inside keel seam. I think that it is strong enough without and that was the way that I designed it. There are a couple of points to consider. First, the boat is rather fragile at this point which means that you cannot hog down on the keel batten too hard to force it into place. It would be a lot stronger if the seam was taped. If the keel was fitted nicely and you don't go crazy with props wedges and a hammer, you should be good. there have been a lot built without tape. The second point is not be too frugal with thickened epoxy under the batten. I have seen a couple of older boats get some rot in the keel over time. There was insufficient squeeze-out and the boats were put away with water in the bilge and those voids being at the lowest point in the boat just stayed wet. I would plane or use a round over bit in a router on the top of the keel batten, at least 1/4" radius except where the trunk touches it and at the mizzen mast step. I would use that squeezed out epoxy to lay in the biggest fillet I could in that corner at the keel batten/ bottom junction so that it could be made smooth. The sealer coats of epoxy resin that you will coat the boat with will give you an excellent protective coating. Not to mention that it will look great, be easy to clean and hopefully have a long happy life.

Steve, It sounds like a great challenge. The big unknown quantity is the weather, at that time of the year it can be excellent or horrendous. Your boat is at least 10% faster than mine which will increase your cushion. I like the idea of trailing the boat south to give you more time but it would be nice to save unrigging, loading the boat and then reverse it when you are all ready to sail off. The fact that you have a get out jail card with your friend to come and get you if time runs out, I think that I would just go for it. I presume that the friend is going to drive down and bring you home. I can recommend Amos as having the best pit stop on the coast. The 6 hp motor will be nice. I hope that you have some solar power. I would also want to have an autopilot.

Paul , Thanks for the feedback. It does not matter how many times we test something, there is nothing like a real life situation with Murphy watching for a chance to get us. I do not need to know how or why you capsized. Most of mine have been my screwups.

There should have been several layers of glass sandwiching the bushings. I don't see why you can't just add them now and sail on.

Yes everyone is correct. You want the out side of the bottom transition to be smooth. It may seem obvious but pay attention, making sure that you pair the bottom panels to make sure that you do not end up with two left or right sides. You would be surprised by how often that happens. It was the very important lesson that this first time 15 yr old boat builder made with 2 left side centerboard trunk sides. I became obsessed with pairing parts ever since. That measurement is different for every model. We do not usually use it on CNC cut boats because the panels are accurate and fit together without any slack. We use tapered finger joints to join our panels rather than puzzle joints like our competitors because it is a stronger joint. You do need to approach the glue-up differently. After buttering up both sets of fingers with epoxy, you can slide the joint together but leave some slack before you clamp them down flat, then tighten up the joint by hammering against a scrap of wood protecting the panel end. If you do it in the reverse order the fingers get so tight that it is hard to get the top and bottom surfaces to be in plane. When tightening the fingers I try to tap evenly across the panel to make sure that I am applying even force across the panel and do a visual check to see that the glue line is even across the sheet.

Yes you can but you need to add a piece of wood to to tie it together. See the red piece in the 2d drawing of the mast step.

I finally got around to putting a mast float on Carlita for my recent trip. https://www.sailingforparkinsons.org/home Did it do me any good? Well I did not need it on this trip, fortunately! I sure would have looked foolish if I had really needed it because, all I needed to get one was to say cut one out for me. As it turned out, I ended up out in some pretty big weather alone. I got knocked down to 40 - 50 degrees several times and it did make me feel better knowing that it was there. To improve my odds I made sure that every time I went out I dogged every hatch and port to keep all that gear locked in place and as low as I could get it. It came out at least as light as Nicks. Mine came out a bit tail heavy and I wanted mine as close as I could get to being balanced so that it would take a tiny bit less drag to keep the float pointing exactly into the wind when heeled. I cut a piece of lead and hammered in to the shape of the nose and glued it on. It still came out slightly tail heavy but it is close enough. If I can twist Alan's arm I think that we can get the cut file perfect. Who wants to add lead to a float? I was going to paint mine yellow for fun but when we had a run of white Awlgrip paint, expedience quickly won. Could I tell the difference with the float up there? In rough conditions, I imagined that the mizzen top was dancing around a bit more but I could not feel anything.

Hi Aphers, Thanks for giving us the two year review, I really enjoyed it. All too often a boat that we have watched emerge from some plan sheet and ply on this forum, just fade away without ever hearing the rest of the story. I can think of another positive, reparability after someone crashes into your Spindrift. Anyway I hope that you will keep us in the loop. Good luck with your voyaging.

Hi Robert, I can see what happened. The mast step broke out on port tack, with the mast falling over to starboard and levering up the thwart on the port side. The first thing that I would do is to check around the mast step for rot. I use a dull blade without a sharp point (you can poke a sharp point into perfectly good wood) and poke the sound wood just hard enough to not hurt it. Then use the same force on the suspect wood. If the blade does not dive into the wood it is probably okay. Over the years we have made that mast step longer and wider and widening the keel batten on the port side by way of the mast step to give a bigger connection and margin of safety especially as we had no control of the build quality. There was also supposed to be four screws thru the step down into the keel batten. If the thwart is sound and you want to be the least invasive, you could make two skilsaw cuts parallel to and by the mast hole to the port side to cur away all of that splintered wood. Fit and epoxy in a new piece. Or you could just cut out the old thwart and fit in a new one. Without seeing the rest of the boat it all looks like a very simple job. If you need any help don't hesitate to ask. We do not use a traveler on the sheets because the sprits act as traveler's. There has been much discussion on this forum on a non fouling mizzen mizzen sheet.

On May 21, 2023, I will turn 80. I plan to do a celebratory cruise in my sailboat “Carlita” around the whole of the Pamlico Sound. A distance of 500 nautical miles (see my route). It has been just over 10 years since I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I never expected to make it to 80, let alone still have the desire or feel fit enough to attempt this cruise. I believe that Rock Steady Boxing has played a big part in that. I thought it would be good to try to give something back. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause which means so much to me. Rock Steady Boxing is a non-contact, beneficial fitness class for people with Parkinson’s Disease that helps with mobility, coordination, flexibility, and voice projection in an upbeat, positive atmosphere ...surrounded by energetic and fun coaches and volunteers. Check them out on youtube here. My idea is to use social media to promote my “Sailing for Parkinson’s” cruise to raise funds and pass it all on to the New Bern chapter of Rock Steady support group which is part of the Michael J Fox Parkinsons’ foundation. Parkinson’s has been around for a long time and the rate of new diagnoses is ever increasing. There is no cure and there have been no real breakthroughs in fifty years, just treating the symptoms. Specialized and regular hard exercise is about the best that we have right now to slow the progression. In 2021 I made a cruise circumnavigating the Delmarva Peninsula. Here is the link to the trip report from that cruise. I plan to do the same for this cruise. Here is the link!

Steve, I did not bother to build a new centerboard for Carlita. I just took off the lead tip and put in a faired spacer and triple glassed the two joints and called it good. That was at least 5 years ago now. I tested it thoroughly back then and I have given it a lot of abuse since.