Dave R1

Hey Jan, I've been wondering if you got your mast built and how your sailing lessons went. Any chance you'd like to report in?

Glad to hear it Shane. I'm sure she'll get her head straightened out soon and give you a call.

Best wishes to you Shane and to the rest of your family. Godspeed.

Great story on Duckworks about your cruise on Okanogan. Looks like a mostly great place to sail. If I ever have an opportunity to sail up there, I'll avoid a certain beach.

Sorry about that Shane. I don't know why it would make your computer have fits. I've loaded it on three different computers without a hitch. Here's a link to another freeware thing. http://www.fookes.com/ezthumbs/ I've got this as well and it works slick for making smaller images from big ones. It is intended to create thumbnails but I use it for batch resizing to more manageable sizes for posting. The only drawback is it names the smaller images tm1, tm2, tm3, etc. No big deal but when you run the thing for the next batch it starts numbering from the beginning again. I either delete the smaller images or create a new folder for the next batch.

Jake, if you are asking me how much weight I've got in my rudder, I used two bags of decoy weights. I think it worked out to 4 pounds. I did a google search to see if I could find the same stuff I bought at the local hardware store. I didn't see the same package but they look like this: Although more expensive than free tire weights, I was happy not to have to set up to melt anything down. The epoxy works well and I don't need to worry about the lead coming loose.

Noel, I've never seen it ride up. Even at higher speeds it stays down just fine.

I put a bit of lead in my rudder so it stays down on its own. I have a brass pin with a wooden knob that I insert in a hole to keep it up when I am in shallow water, beached or launching or recovering the boat. I routed shallow recesses on both sides leaving about a 3/16" thick web in between. I under cut the edges with a dovetail bit. I laid in lead decoy weights which come in strips about an inch wide and 7 or 8" long and poured epoxy in to fill in the remaining space. After one side was done, I flopped the rudder and did the other side.

Shane, download Picasa. It's free and will let help you create smaller pictures. See this link for an example of what I do with it. http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Ian%20David/New%20Pics%2009_18_05/Ian%20on%20the%20farm/

Good for you Shane. Remember, no pictures, it didn't happen. Keep us informed, mate. Dave

Chad, I never could understand just what was going on with the design in the plans. I varied from that as have a number of folks. It doesn't show up real well in this photo but I made an H-shapped sort of thing of mahogany to support the hatch. The cross piece of the H runs across the front of the opening. There are a couple of oak runners on the top to serve as rails for the hatch to slide on and the hatch is designed to come down over the sides and front to keep water out. If you want some detail pictures from during construction I'll look for them tomorrow.

Oh to be skinny again.... Those seats do make your cockpit look bigger, that's for sure. The curve is nice as well.

I built them in as part of the cabin bulkhead and they are just wee little things. I did put trim around the cockpit but it isn't high enough to qualify as splash coaming.

Congratulations on the launch. Morgaine looks great! You'll get the hang of everything soon enough. We got out Saturday morning and I was thinking about your launch. Looks like you had a good time.

Chad, your seats look nice but you must have a tiny bum. I don't think I could sit on anything that narrow.

Chad, yes, I think a lag eye would work. I would drill a hole, drive the eye, back it out and then put some epoxy in the hole and redrive the eye. The epoxy will soak into the wood and make a stronger connection between the eye and the wood. The wood will be less likely to deform due to lateral loads applied in use. You might spray the eye with Pam or something so it can be removed and then, once the epoxy is cured, remove the eye again to add a flatwasher (better, a fender washer) which could be bedded in bedding compound or caulk to keep the water out.

Jake, I'm 6' 1" and I can just lay down in the cabin stretched out. If the cabin bulkhead was vertical at the bottom my feet would actually fit better. I've thought about doing it but have never slept in the boat.

I forgot to add, I made mahogany trim pieces for the ends of the seats. You can see the front ones in the two pictures of the finished boat. Those pieces are held in place with double stick carpet tape so there are no visible fasterners there. I can pry the pieces out easily enough it I want to remove the seats. So far, I figure the tape lasts about two sailing seasons but it is cheap and easy to replace. I always keep a roll in the shop for holding stuff I can't otherwise clamp and for making jigs.

Barry, I found the drawing I did in the Gallery which is good because I couldn't find it on my computer. I've been using this set up for three years now. There's no support under the center and I've had two 200 lb plus folks sitting on one seat with no problem. I put a drawer under the port side seat for some hardware like the bolts used to keep the mast up and the forestay turnbuckle and other stuff. I think there's an eye patch in there, too. These aren't the best photos of the seats but you can see them here. and I found a couple of shots from during construction. Maybe they'll help, too. Unfortunately I couldn't find any showing the drawer. In any case. I made the seats so their front edges are parallel. They are screwed to cleats on the cabin and laz bulkheads. There are only four screws at each end so the seats can be removed fairly easily. The two cleats under the seats that join the slats really stiffen the assembly up. I was going to use narrow slats but decided they'd flex too much when you stand on them. I believe Chad is using narrow slats but with his center support I doubt he'd see too much flex. I like not having the center support because I can stuff those inflated rubber dock bumpers under the seats while sailing. If you have any questions let me know.

Barry, I just saw this. Let me see what I can find tomorrow when I get to work. I know I've got something for you. Dave

Adla, I don't recall what the plans indicate for the forestay. I use a turnbuckle up front, though, because it makes it easier to attach the forestay. As I mentioned, I attach the jib halyard to the boweye--I use the the eye for the forestay--and put a bit of tension on it after pinning the mast up. I attach the turnbuckle with a quick link before raising the mast. Then I attach the forestay and tension the turnbuckle to remove the slack. With my longer bowsprit, the end is above my head and I'm 6'1" That makes for a tough job for me to reach up and pull on the forestay while trying to attach it to the boat. With the arrangement I have even my bride can do it while standing on the trailer tongue and she's only about 5'5".

Adla, Barry's got a good suggestion for raising the mast but I'll give you another. This won't work so well if you are sailing alone because it requires a helper. On the other hand, once your boat has all its running rigging, everything will be available for this method. Prior to raising the mast, attach the jib halyard to the eye for the forestay or for the jib club if you prefer. After you start to lift the mast have your help haul gently on the jib halyard. When you get to the point where you need help raising the mast, tell your helper to "haul with a will" until the mast is up. At that point your helper can cleat the halyard and you can install the pin, bolt or whatever you are using to secure the mast. I can raise the mast on Julie K by myself but I still use the jib halyard as a backup to the bolts in the mast until I have the forestay attached. My forestay has a long shackle that couples to the turnbuckle. The turnbuckle and a quick link live in the drawer under the seat when the mast isn't up. (You can see the shackle and the top of the turnbuckle in this picture. The forestay is wrapped in white Rig Wrap tape.) BTW, now I'm even more excited about your launch because we just set up high speed internet at home. Maybe you can do streaming video of your launch so we can see it live. Roland? You know anything about that sort of thing?

Frank, thanks for upping the allotment. That is a good thing. Especially since we have some boat launchings coming up and the rest of us would like to see the pictures. I agree with Noel. It is better to save to the camera's memory at the highest resolution and adjust the size as needed later. My 8 megapixel camera creates JPGs that average just under 4MB. That's already compressed by the camera into the JPG format. That is generally acceptable, though, even for larger prints. If I really want higher quality I adjust the camera for a non compressed image format. Noel's point about cropping is a good one. Personally, I dislike the digital zoom function on cameras because it reduces image quality by a great deal. It uses a smaller portion of the imaging chip to create the image and the effective focal length is increased to the point that it is nearly impossible to eliminate camera movement during the exposure. I prefer to crop the image at the computer instead starting with the best image my camera can create.

Looking good Adla. I'm excited to see some pictures of Morgaine in the water. I bet you're even more excited.

Cool video Roland. Thanks for sharing.