Paul356

So who won the race?

Feelin' bad for you. I know how much you were looking forward to the MA.

Really nice.

I made some ramps with epoxy. There wasn't much to it, pretty simple, especially on the joints that had the taped gasket, since I let that run out some into the exposed section of the smaller tube. Looked nicer that way.

What fun. Great video, great boat, Steve.

Epoxy. Period.

Pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Look at that first measurement: there's an extra zero: 0.065. That's what you're looking for, something under a 10th of an inch thick. I was going to say that the same wall thickness applied to the 2d and 3d tubes, too, but i started looking up some suppliers, and their wall thicknesses were quite a bit less. And 1.5 was "nominal," actual 1.9. So, I got even more confused. Advice at this point: Call B&B. They answer their phone. I got a tube from the local supplier and they didn't bat an eyelash when I gave them the spec from B&B. Whatever it was, it was standard stuff. Fun fotos, by the way.

That's tough news, for you and for everyone hoping to see you and Chessie.

Nice. Lots of help here. Be sure to watch Alan's videos.

What are you building?

Only advice is reefing, like most maneuvers, gets smoother with practice. Seems like you're off to a good start.

Thanks as always. I always learn something. Many things.

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.

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.