Paul356

I've been leaving mine in the boat all winter, lead wires disconnected, ever since I saw the boatyard was storing the batteries it removed in an unheated area of the shed. Seems fine. I fully charge before leaving them.

So you sit on the centerboard trunk then, I guess?

Don, I ended up putting a second set of oar sockets forward. I sit on the cuddy top and row from there. Not the best, but it gets the job done, I guess. I find I want to extend the oars out too far, so need to fight that urge. I need to take shorter, less strenuous strokes. I made oars 10.5 feet long. My crew handled the rudder. Rowing from the cuddy top worked well enough to get through an adverse tide in the Everglades Challenge a couple years ago, but it is tiring. If anything got in the way, it was my life jacket, as I'd be pulling in and then dropping hands to make the recovery. My hands got caught in the front of the jacket. I did try rowing from the mizzen seat once, to see what it was like. I left the masts on shore and headed out rowing from the middle seat. I think I felt it was kind of low, as I remember propping myself up on a cushion. My verdict was that it rowed like a 400 pound boat. That is, not that swell. I had left the outboard on, and people kept stopping by, assuming I had engine trouble and was using the oars as Plan B. I guess no one rows in Wisconsin any more. Lately I've been using a canoe paddle from the side seat near the stern. In calmer water it works great. (Lock the rudder.) I haven't tried it against a full blown headwind. All in all, I have decided the best option is the outboard, even for a short haul. (I aso found the outboard works far better for steering with the rudder blade pulled up out of the water.) Maybe I should try rowing from a standup position, standing just in front of the mizzen and using the front oar sockets. But the last few trips, I haven't even brought the oars along. They are hard to store. --pb

The wind was very light, and I knew I could go on a broad reach and/or ddw for a long leg. I used the tiller lock a fair bit while I got things set up. I had all 3 sails on one side for a bit, but the greatest effect was wing on wing, main by the Lee, staysail on the opposite side from the main. Gybing no fun, since as you know, the staysail has to come all the way down and have the tack move across, as well as the halyard. But at those speeds, it worked out. Added half a knot or more. Fun effort on a perfect day for trying it.

Similar to what you did, but when I had a similar issue Graham said, just push up on it from the bottom. Duh. Worked great.

Had it made by the skilled canvas workers at the Harken shop here. I was able to stand with them and mock up several possibilities and take advantage of their good ideas.

Ah, but I didn't let the varnish go.

I epoxied all my wood, both ply and dimension. Then I varnished it all. It looks very nice and holds up well. I put on a new coat of varnish every year or two on the decks and transom, but not that often on the seats. I do a very light light sanding first, with 220 or 320. It doesn't bother me to do that varnishing, but that's me. I feel that it holds up better than it would with just varnish. I did this also on one of my big boats and had the same result: looked good and held up better than just varnish.

Here's a screen shot of the sailing I did, including some day sailing and a random trip around one of the islands for fun. Not sure how much it helps, but fwiw. The little tents are the three camps we stayed at, and "VNP Ramp" is where we launched. I forgot to make a track for the first little hop out of the ramp to R61. For scale, it's about 7 miles from R61 to R20. We had planned to go farther east, but didn't due to predicted strong, then light, westerlies and concerns about getting back to the ramp. I'm doing a writeup for SCA soon, with more deail. Rainy Lake is a great place. p.s. Always good to hear from you.

cant figure out how to add a couple of videos, so the stills will do. wish you all could have been there. i have another boat/volunteer gig during the messabout, so mess on without me. hope to see you all next year.

Some of the other "Legends" and I were sail camping up in Rainy Lake in Voyagers National Park last week, along the Minnesota/Canada border near Internatioal Falls. I had my CS 17. A few fotos follow. Moored in the lee of a rock wall in anticipation of a big blow that night. Sunset in Lost Bay My dodger and tent arrangement I even got the mizzen staysail up, singlehanded.

Pretty neat, eh?!

I'm not sure if I'm following your pix, exactly, but if you have your downhauls and reef lines anchored on one side of the mast and bring them back to be pulled tight on the other (port) side, that should work. then you can walk forward on stbd side deck. That's more or less what I have, just with the sides flipped. I added a little tent to my dodger this winter. I should have taken a picture. I'm hoping to be able to adjust anchor from cockpit, after setting anchor before I put up the canvas. Heading north for sail camping on Friday. Stay tuned.

Jeff, I rolled the boat out of the garage and stepped the mast, for other stuff. This photo shows how far the sail track extends near the deck on the main mast. A few inches.

A little sandpaper or emory paper along the under edge of the track, I think. Doesn't take much.