Paul356

not sure on ice out. we're not true "up nort". late april, maybe?

Water 60s maybe? So was the air. Brian W organized. This is the group that has sailed together in FL, Rainy Lake, MN, and Turtle Flambeau Flowage, WI.

One of the "Legends" up here organized "The Big Blow Sailing Extravaganza." There were 6 sailboats and a whole bunch of friends, food and refreshments. Lac Le Belle, at Oconomowoc, Wis.

Good work and good news, Graham. Will be following, for sure.

Here are a couple of pictures. The boat is in a bit of shambles now, recovering from the trip, but I'll try to make it clear. The mizzen sheet leads aft from the cam/swivel in the foreground of the first picture to a large single block in the back, just in front of the transom. That block is held upright by a spring. The cam/swivel is, if I recall correctly, from Ronstan. The single block in the back is from Garhauer. The sheet comes out of the cam/swivel at a convenient location where I can set it from the usual helm seat just aft of the main thwart. Then the sheet goes up to another single Garhauer block, also on a spring, mounted on the top rail of the transom, then up to a single block with a snap hook that attaches to the sprit. In this photo, the snap hook is just latched onto one of the mast halyards, for illustration only, since the masts were lying on the boat and the sprit was elsewhere. Normally that block with the snap hook would be a few feet up in the air, along with the end of the sprit, instead of drooping down as it is in this picture. As you can see, the snap hook is on a little dynema tail I made, simply because the snap hook itself wouldn't fit into the sheet block shackle. From there, the sheet goes back down through a mirror-image set of blocks on the port side so that I have double-ended sheeting. I've seen other systems, include one that Alan uses on his 17 that is probably a bit simpler. This works for me. I like having the heavier braid for the sheets, just to have something to hold on to, and I like having the cleat close to where I sit. I usually sail with the mizzen cleated and hold the main sheet in my hand, uncleated, ready for quick dumping if needed, especially beating into the wind. Let me know if you have any questions!

We relied heavily on info from that video. Recommended for anyone traipsing that way.

One more, a video of the "fleet." I was in back...but not for long sailing in FL.mp4

Here are a few photos of my recent trip in CarrieB to the 10,000 Islands along the Florida Gulf Coast. Also in the fleet were a Sea Pearl 21, with two aboard, and another solo sailor on a Scamp. The Scamp sailor and I slept on our boats all 11 nights; the two on the Sea Pearl camped shoreside a few nights. We launched and recovered at the Rod & Gun Club in Everglades City, highly recommended; $20 to launch and $10/night for parking, plus a great "Old Florida" feel at the lodge and in the town. CS 17 is a great boat.

I've had very good experience with the Shopsmith discs. They are gray, available at Lowe's and sometimes at my local Ace. They seem to last forever. They are a bit pricey, but my rough guesstimate is that they come out ahead on a cost/disc basis since they last so long. They also perform well. Recently, tho, based on something I read either here or on WoodenBoat, I ordered a 50 pack Dura-Gold Premium - Variety Pack - 5" Gold Sanding Discs on Amazon. The 50-pack has 10 each of 60, 80, 120, 220 and 320 grit (180 might be nice, but whatever). I have used a half dozen so far on ply and 'glas, and they seem to be holding up petty well, or even better than that. They may be close to the Shopsmith. They certainly do not throw grit like the cheapo discs. Given that the cost for 50 is about the same as the cost for 10 or so of the Shopsmith discs, I probably will continue with the Dura-Gold. I'm using the lighter-weight Bosch 5" sander, and I am able to get both a quick cut and a fine finish with the grits provided.

Hi, Andy. I'd say iffy. We pondered both bridges and couldn't quite tell if the CS 17 masts would fit beneath them. The water was still a little high last summer, so maybe if it falls again this summer the clearance will be more obvious. Mona Lake is at Lake Michigan level. West of the second bridge is a channel before the lake, so there's an area where you could pull up and put up masts if you wanted to motor out first and then rig after the bridges. Mona was pretty good for sailing, especially in the middle pool, where the ramp is. The ramp, in the park on the north shore, was fine, and there was a sandy beach next to the ramp to pull up and rig or get the car, etc. Two slots at the ramp. I just tried to check NOAA charts and there isn't one for Mona Lake, which you have probably discovered already. The overall Lake Michigan chart that is available does not even show the bridges.

Finally found the link to Alan's mod that I was thinking of (I did a number of searches on the forum. This came up on the second page of results for "outboard well 17")

Here's one solution, involving a motor mount that had been available from Duckworks. I'm not sure it is available any more. I use that motor mount, with some modifications, and just pull the motor up as hard as I can and it locks.

Alan of B&B ran a series of posts on this site a couple years ago showing a motor well he added to his boat. I tried searching and couldn't find it. I imagine Alan will weigh in at some point. It wasn't the youtube shown above, which is a well in the interior of the 20. The one I'm thinking of involved putting a sort of box in the transom of the 17. It took Alan about 3 hours. Would take me about 3 weeks.