Designer

Chick, It seems like you know me too well.

I have been absent without leave for about three weeks leaving Alan to fend for himself. He appears to have done such a good job I might have to sail more. The owner of the big power cat that we built, called me and asked if I would like to help him bring her back home from the Exumas. It too several nanoseconds to say yes. His intended crew had injured himself and had to return home. I was able to delay my departure to see the first two days of the Family Island Regatta at Georgetown. It is the biggest sporting event in the Bahamas. The Prime Minister and Governor General among other notable dignitaries attend the awards ceremony. I never did find out what the design rules were but the theme was to install the tallest mast that they could get away with and if you want more sail area just make the boom longer and add foot round until it drags in the water. I understand that they now have to return with all of the crew that they left with but they appear to adjust the number of crew for each race to the expected wind strength. The fleets were big and I think that there were four classes. I do not think that #5 would pass the Coast Guard level flotation rules. I was pleased to see that the Osprey's were doing well. There were not that many in Florida or Georgia but the Carolinas had lots of nests with chicks looking like they were almost ready to fledge.

Hi David, Thanks, I always appreciate the compliment and that the boat works for the way that you use it. People are always asking me "which design is my favorite". I usually answer "all of them". I get to recall all the effort, compromise and development that went into each design and the modifications and improvements that have been made along the way. Marissa is up there as one of my best. After designing and going through the prototyping of the Ocracoke 20 I thought that a lot more people would like a smaller cheaper, simpler and quicker build that would be very economical to run. It turned out that I was totally wrong. There have been quite a few built but the Ocracoke 20 sells better. I built the prototype to prove that the our new chine flat construction method worked and that she would perform as calculated. The chine flat method worked so well that I redesigned all of the Ocracoke and OB series to incorporated it. As for performance, I used Savitsky's method with the Blount modifier for the performance curve. In reality she turned out better at the top end and worse in the hump. As nobody should run in the hump range (9 - 14 knots) it turned out well. It is just a curiosity as blount was added to improve hump speed calculations. I recently sold my Marissa, much to the dismay of my granddaughter (her namesake) because I don't have enough space for any new boats. The good news is that she has only moved next door and I get to see her whenever I want and get to ride on her occasionally.

Len, That Z shape is norml. If the chine flat was horizontal, the WL would be perpendicular to the CL or kicked forward if the flats were angled up instead of down. Just tape to your laser line.

Hey Beacher, I do not know anything about iceboats. I understand that the people who live in the frozen north get so bored in the winter that they become brave enough to face the cold and go sailing. Where I come from, ice is put to the more serious task of cooling drinks. Is it a boat if it does not float? Just kidding, but seriously I do not know anything about iceboats. I think that it would be had to beat a DN.

What Ken is talking about is what I call the winch pylon.

Steve, This is a good idea to keep the trailer talk in one place. As has been discussed, dealers are used to big heavy boats with a big outboard on the transom. This trailer will cost more, add a heavier load on the tow vehicle and result in lower gas mileage and give the boat a harsher ride not to mention being a lot harder to man handle. My trailer has been under many boats. It was originally built for a 20' cat which meant that it had to have a narrow wheel base to fit inside the hulls. The advantages are maneuvering is tight spaces is great and the trailer is long and supporting more of the boat. The main disadvantage is that the boat is high for climbing on board. I used to have 13" wheels but found that 12" rims fit on the same hubs. This does not seem like a lot but the tire thickness reduction as well as the smaller rim lowered the boat about 3". Carlita was towed 13 -14 k miles last year without any wheel or bearing issues. I prefer to not put the bearings and electrics in the water. This means that the boat needs to roll off the trailer easily. To achieve this, you need lots of smooth running rollers down the keel line. I watched Joe launch his EC22 at the messabout and she rolled off perfectly. At least 5 sets of keel rollers. This is also kinder to the boat. The next consideration is the bunks. They need to be set at the lowest point of the hull which is about midships on our boats at their transverse position. This is not always easy on powerboat trailers as they are usually set too far aft. If the bunks are not at of the lowest part of the hull, they will lift the keel off of the rollers causing lots of friction as the boat rolls aft. The transverse position for the bunks is not that critical in the mk3's as there is plenty of structure above the bunks. I would just locate them above the trailer frame. I like all of the boat to be carried on the keel follers and use the bunks just to stop the boat from tipping. I do not think that roller bunks are necessary on a boat this light but I am going to switch my carpet to starboard. I think that properly set up you do not need a tilt trailer.

Whoa Chick. Has that cold mountain air gotten to you! If I did not know you better I would be wondering if you have gotten a little close to some of that moonshine.

Fred, I will work on it. I am also updating the dodger plans for you. I have been working on being able to produce the adapter swivel at an affordable price. I am planning on being able to CNC cut the swivel body from UHMW plastic. I have built a cutter for machining the races and will make up a new swivel and give it a good testing.

Ken, Comparing the specs on the two engines, they are identical except that the VMax has a bigger gear ratio and 4 valves per cylinder instead of two. Because you will be pushing a big heavy boat compared to say a bass boat, the taller gear will allow you to have a bigger prop which would be more efficient in your performance range. As you will mostly be operating at around 3500 - 4500 rpm you may not notice the difference with the two extra valves per cylinder. Both motors will do the job well but if the price difference is not too great I would want the bigger gear. As this is a new motor and therefore has no reliability history yet, you will have to trust Yamaha's reputation and their three year warranty. They do have some history with the VMax in the bigger range so I guess that they have it sorted out so you should be good.

Tom, I would have doubled your salary if you had asked.

Mehmet, I do not know much about the vacationer but the blue line is intended to be the LWL. That said I would paint the water line above the blue line as it looks a bit optimistic to my eye that it would float that light in it's normal operating load with people on board. Remember that the water is rarely flat and small boats are rarely in perfect trim.

Hi Matt You are right, it is a lot of stuff. Wind pressure goes up or down by the square with wind speed. For instance if 16 knots of wind is perfect, then you are only getting 1/4 of wind force at 8 knots. If you can add more sail in light air it can add a lot your performance. When the wind gets lighter still, say 4 knots you are only getting 1/16 of the wind force. Sometimes the boat just feels stuck, what is happening is that the sails are stalled and it is hard to feel what is going on. Adding more sail can sometimes get you out of this stalled situation and move the apparent wind forward and get you moving really well. It can sometimes mean the difference between not moving at all to coaching 3- 4 knots out of the boat instead of being stopped. To answer your question, the spinnaker is bigger and has more effect over a staysail. The staysail has less stuff to get and is all inboard. It just depends on what you want to achieve. When the wind is way forward, the spinnaker will give you some lee helm. You can lower the board all of the way which helps. This is not a problem in light air but is can get heavy in strong winds. When this happens you can bear away and solve the problem but if you have to sail that course, then it is time to furl it up. I have never tried to fly both at the same time, feeling that the staysail might rob more from the main and mizzen than it gives and just concentrate on making the spinnaker work as efficiently as I can.

Well, it did not make Dawn Patrol any faster, they already had the spinnaker but the top down furler certainly made spinnaker hoisting and dousing quick and easy so that they could use it even on short legs where they might not normally feel that it would be worth the effort or use it in more marginal conditions knowing that they could easily get rid of it. I have been lusting for a top down furler for a long time as I usually sail Carlita solo or with my dog. Mandy does not seem to care about that pretty red, white and blue asymmetric spinnaker. It was the price tag of around $1000.00 that discouraged me. They have been in use for large short handed boats for some time now but it appears that manufacture's cannot be bothered with those of us who sail small boats. I started to design one for myself. As I delved into how I was going to make double concentric ball races it occurred to me that I could just make a swivel and insert it into Ronstan's bottom up 60 series furler. I showed the drawing to Alan and said that I would make one for him for the EC, he just happened to have an R60 on Mosquito. We ordered up some torlon balls and I got to work on the lathe. What makes the top down furler different is that the furling drum does not connect to the tack of the sail. The drum is connected to a torque line that turns the top swivel so the top of the sail winds up first and starts removing that extra cloth from the middle of the sail before the foot of the sail starts to wind up. . The tack is attached to the second swivel which makes it independent of the furling drum. Bottom up furlers work okay for relatively flat cut sails but top down works better for spinnakers. The first picture shows our shop built swivel waiting for the torlon balls to arrive. I got lucky as we tried a spare length of dacron braid that just happened to be twice the length of the hoist. We tied it as a double line and it seemed to be about right. The shackle showed that it might foul or at least chafe on the sail as it rotated. I rounded out the shackle hole to reduce chafe and replaced the shackle for multiple wraps with a light lashing and eliminated the problem. Drum furlers won't work because they cannot hold enough line. You need the endless line that just has a single turn around the drum giving unlimited turns. They are also less sensitive to line alignment which allows the drum to out-hauled to the end of the bowsprit or in-hauled as needed. Here is the email that Alan sent the first night of the EC. spinnaker flying all day furler works like a dream. 14knots recorded. heard a sea pearl capsized have no more details. having fun. Boat feels old hat at this.

Steve, Here is the link to where I was glassing Carlita. https://messing-about.com/forums/topic/9098-cs17-mk3-hull-3-carlita/?do=findComment&comment=89411 I was in a hurry and glassed the hull in one shot. I was lucky because Beth volunteered to help me. If I was doing it normally I would do one section at a time as you and chick have discussed, feathering the edges before doing the next section. I opted to lap my transom in the center for expedience because the rudder would break up the surface and the print through at join would not be as obvoius . I would normally do it first in one piece and the feather the edges before the bottom and sides. I see that you are fretting about glassing up hand on the transom. While it is always preferred to glass down hand, it is not that hard. Just use a paint roller and roll resin onto the glass until it is wet out and squeegee the excess resin just like you normally do. I elected not to glass the sheer strake because I was in hurry. I have not had any issues so far but it is safer to do so

Lennie, I saw this post from Paula the race director yesterday. It is all that I know. Well rats. Swimboy’s Core Sound 17 flipped, both masts broken. He is OK and safe at a marina but done with his FCC 1600 mile quest. Anyone in North Miami Beach area? Message me

Ralph, I have lost a couple of boats off of roof racks over the years and I feel your pain. Although I have not seen any pics I think that I have a pretty good idea of the damage. I am just talking about the forward hull. The first thing is to remove the rest of the gunwales, they are mostly gone and it is nearly impossible to scarf in partial gunwales under tension and get them fair. I have had good success with a mini grinder with 36 grit 4" or 4 1/2". It will kick up some dust but it will remove the rest of the wood without stressing the already damaged hull and you will be amazed at the precision that will get just gently working the disc along the old gunwale. You can finish up with an 80 grit disc. If you do not have one, Harbor Freight often has them for under $20.00. It is really important that you get the forward gunwales to fair to the aft half. I would make up the new gunwales with three layers just like you did when you built the boat but I would make them a foot to a foot longer than you need. The extra length is to give you the ability to apply some force behind the forward half just like you had when you put the gunwales on the first time. After you clamp the gunwales around the fwd. half you can apply a spanish windlass to the back of the overhanging gunwales until the width at the spanish windlass matches the width at the same point at the aft hull. Drill and partially drive in a screw to stop the windlass from slipping off of the end. After you clean up the gunwales you should be able to fix the cracks in the hull. This can be achieved with butt blocks 1/4" thick and 3"- 4" wide or with glass tape sandwiching both sides of the boat in the ply has created a peak, you can put plastic over the wet glass tape and put a block of 3/4" ply with a slightly larger footprint than the glass tape on both sides of the crack. Pre-drill the outside block and draw the whole sandwich together with screws and wait for it to cure. You can fill the screw holes later.

She is looking good. The only thing that I can see that might be a problem is the mast collar. I specify gluing layers of ply together rather solid wood because of the likelyhood that it will crack across the short grain at the mast hole. All is not lost because the top will be covered by the ply deck. I would put another layer of ply under the mast collar aft of the bulkhead and call it good. Before you cut the foredeck it might help you to know why the aft edge is shaped the way it is. The shape prevents the painter from fouling around the mast collar. It can be annoying when every time you grab the painter from the bottom of the boat near the bow and it is wrapped around the mast collar.

Hi Will, I am sorry to hear of your misadventure. The elements can be unforgiving but I am really glad that you got her back. One of the things that I love about this construction is that you can carve out the damaged areas carefully and piece it back together and if you put some time into the cosmetics you, should not be able to tell that anything happened to the boat and be just as strong. I suspect that the mast partially came out of the step to do the damage that it did. There is no damage to the heel which is reinforced to take those forces. Ditto to what Tom said but with some exceptions. As you do not show us the big picture I can only assume that there is no other damage to the bow area. If so I do not see the need to take the whole foredeck off the boat because it is nearly 6' long not counting the radius into the side deck. It appears that the king plank is damaged back to the forehatch and is shot. As you will have to remove it, you will need to get into the hatch coamings. I would cut the fore deck along the red line and glue a 1/4" ply 4" wide butt block (magenta), half under the original deck and start rebuilding the deck forward from there. The grain of the ply butt block should be fore and aft. It goes without saying that all of the surfaces that you are going to epoxy to should have paint or crud removed and freshly sanded so that your bond can achieve full strength.

This is the fun part for me. Florida Bay is always the wild card in this race. It can be gentle or it can beat you up. As Alan said, "the wind has turned east and boats are starting to go back west and then south around the bay". I looked at Windy last night and it showed that the wind was going to switch to south east this morning. If you look at Half Baked's position you will see that he is way south and has lost a lot of ground. Michael (Greybeard) in the CS17 mk3 has just cleared Tin Can Pass and is now in relatively deep water (3') and can go wherever he wants until he reaches Dump Keys.

Dave, We have been able to talk the dealer into letting us have the engine with the promise that we will return the rig to him to look over the installation and check everything out and he gets to do the first start after making sure that everything is up to his satisfaction. If they say "what if you do not do it right" I say that they then get to fix whatever I do wrong and charge me for it. There is no reason why you cannot bolt the engine to the transom, run the harness and wiring, mount the gauges, set up the steering and run the fuel lines. I like to over drill the mounting bolt holes and resin bush them and add some extra glass on both sides of the busing to keep the water out of the transom. Dealers do not have the time to do that properly. They are in the business to sell motors and maybe Evenrude and Suzuki are hungrier.

Paul, I think that the time of 13 hours and 40 minutes was a typo. It should have a day added to the time. That said, Dawn Patrol's time was incredible beating their old record by 5 minutes. There has been some drama again this year. The Chief just reported the death of "Blue Jay" who was a class 1 entrant paddling a Kruger canoe. The Chief said that he was found near his boat on shore. He had not activated any of his emergency gear. Randy Smyth was plucked off of his capsized trimaran south of Sanibel Island on Saturday night. I heard that a Seapearl had capsized and that the winning monohull capsized twice during Saturday night but were able to self rescue. I am sure that a lot more stories will come out in time.

After a weather delay they were off at 9:00 am. The tracking map is a fair bit behind, Alan's position at 9:41 was shown as still on the beach whereas his personal track shows him well across the bay. Here is Alan's tracker https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0FC5PhdSOiOyGgJsaGUSRcytU5pqZjOtL

I was pleased that they honoured Meade Gougeon at the beach today. His tribal name was Sawhorse, so they set up a sawhorse and V carved one of his popular quotes.