Steve Day

Good question. Wally was supposed to go over to the source and pick up the cypress for the frames yesterday. I did not hear from him last night (I was at a church meeting) and assume that got done. I scrounged up plywood left over from previous boats and that will make up the gusset plates for the frame joints. We are working on the "take offs" for the plywood and should have that order ready to place in the next few days. That being said, it appears we are ready to actually start work on the boat. We have decided to go with one thickness of the 9mm plywood (over cypress frames) to result in a lighter boat than the doubled 9mm without frames. That should be a more conventional build for us. Now - all we have to do is actually start the construction. More to come, Steve

It's nice to see what a little ingenuity and a few bucks can build. Good job! I have done something similar for my 11' Garvey, but it is a bit higher and has more "crown" in it to make sure that tree detrious does not create sags in the material and hold water. I used "Wal-Mart special" tarps, but got similar results. Great stuff. Steve

Charlie, If you can, let me know when you will be coming through the Mobile area. We should be able to join you somewhere between Pascagoula and Pensacola for a while. If we are able and you are willing, we will join y'all for some sailing and/or "hook" time. Tehani and Day's Dream would likely raft together very well for an evening. Send an e-mail directly to me at steveginaday@bellsouth.net or call me at 251-421-1847 when you can narrow down the time you'll be passing through. We enjoyed our time together at Pirate's Cove and would like to spend a little time with y'all as you pass through on your "Great Adventure." Steve & Gina

Charlie, Have fun on the trip. We are thinking about taking "Day's Dream" in that direction sometime soon. Possibly this coming winter. If we get down there while you are still there, we'll try to find you. Are you going across from Louisiana direct to Tampa, or are you going to Apalachicola and then to Tarpon Springs, or some other route? Best of luck to you on the trip. Steve & Gina

Mouse, There is an article by Bob Smaltzer in the hand tools forum on this site. As I recall it is very good. Steve

Mike, That is really looking good. I am surprised that you are going all the way to a cabin boat, but it appears you are doing an admirable job with her. I like the head under the seat. We continue to work with the preparations for the Rescue Minor, but are still not ready to get moving quite yet. Steve

Yipee! What a great looking boat. It is good to hear that you have found her and are going off on an adventure. We are looking to do something like that this next winter. If it comes to pass, we will try to link up as we pass through the Bradenton area. Steve

I hadn't thought about bagging the thing. That will require a few hours on the "thinking chair" to figure out how to bag & vacuum the thing as we add the outside layer. Thanks for the idea. Steve

Konrad, Is that Branched Oak?? It sure looks like it, and it appears you have water, too. Steve

Mike, You can't go around berating me for building a power boat. This one doesn't look too much like a sailboat to me. You are making a beautiful work of art there. Keep on keepin' on! Steve

That is wild! Makes you wonder how he got in that position. Steve

It appears that Timm Schleiff has built the RM with two layers of 3/8" plywood bonded together to make a 3/4" thickness and NOT putting in permanent frames. That makes the cleaner interior, plus it is closer to the original plans. The other option is to build it using permanent frames and using something less than the aggregate 3/4" plywood, like Mark Baynes did in his boat. An interesting question is which way will make the best finished product. I am leaning toward the "frameless" construction for the cleaner interior and stronger boat. We will try to make the boat come out as close to the Atkin plans as we can. The tumblehome looks cool, but it isn't the original design, plus it would be harder to make that with the plywood. As we get closer to the actual construction we'll be posting more. Steve

I remember Robb White talking about using his Rescue Minor over by Cedar Key to get out to his island retreat. He was always expounding on its good speed on very few horsepower and its ability to float in 6" of water and also run on the plane in similar depths. The boat really intrigued me and I always thought it might be cool to build and own one. At the Perdido Wooden Boat Festival a couple of years ago there was a fellow that had a Rescue Minor on display in the show. His was strip built and was simply beautiful. He also talked about being able to plane in very shallow water and how well the boat moved on so few horsepower. In the show this year, one of my friends and I decided we needed a joint project to while away the time this coming winter. We looked at several different ideas, but kept coming back to the Rescue Minor. We just received the plans and are now starting to get materials together to build the boat. We are going to build it in Wally's barn, where there is a nice area in which to work. The plans are a little skimpy, and we have a few questions that may be answered here. The plans call for 3/4" plywood planking and no permanent frames. We saw several of the boats being built on Atkins' Web site and it appeared they were using frames and more manageable thicknesses of plywood. If we frame the boat and use 1/2" plywood (Okume, of course), Wally and I both think we will be just fine. Particularly since we plan to fiberglass the whole hull of the boat with at least 6 oz glass. I'm sure many of you have opinions and this might be a great time to discuss this, since we have not bought any wood yet. Here is the photo page of Rescue Minor boats under construction and in the water: http://www.boat-links.com/Atkinco/Photos/RescueMinor/index.html This should be a pretty cool project and we are hoping to have the boat in the 2010 Perdido Wood Boat Show next May. ;D I know it's a power boat, but I thought you guys might have some interest and input in/for the project. 8) Steve

Mike, I like that plank down the center. I might just do that on mine. It is a little of a pain to get the strap hooked without getting your feet wet as mine is set up now. Steve

I don't know about the other guys, but I have a personal watercraft trailer under my Fast Garvey 11 footer. It is simply bunks and I have no difficulty getting the boat on or off the trailer without getting the hubs in the water. The boat doesn't weigh much with a 15 horse Johnson on it and I can heave it off the trailer easily and winch it back on with the watercraft winch. I bought the trailer at the local watercraft dealer used for $500. Not a great deal, but all I had to do was adjust the bunks a bit to fit the hull of the Garvey. Steve

I have a 10N and my 2.5 Merc is just a wee bit short on power to make it onto the plane with me (225#) on board. I'm pretty sure my son (at 150#) would be able to plane the boat with the 2.5 HP, but we haven't tried that yet. Another possibility might be me with a 3.5 HP. That should give you some reference. Steve

At church on Memorial Day weekend, the pastor asked all who were veterans to stand to be recognized. I was shocked at how few of us stood, probably around 10-15%. Konrad is correct about so few people serving. Just about every "news" program I listened to on the TV or the radio this morning had something on D-Day, which is encouraging. All too many of the people today have not served in the military. Additionally, most of the people graduating from high school and college have no concept of what happened during World War II and the importance of those events. Frankly, it makes my heart hurt. Steve

I've used Acetone, Xylene, MEK, and others to do cleanups for various applications, but you really have to be careful to make sure you don't soften the substrate with the chemicals. The Sticker-Off product did not harm the paint in any fashion. I would rather pay a little to get something I know will work and not damage the substrate, than save a few pennies and have that concern. As infrequently as I remove lettering, etc. from a boat, I probably would not remember which one of the other products worked the last time I performed the task. West Marine retail price on the Sticker-Off product is less than $6.00. Steve

I removed lettering from, and installed new lettering on, the transom of a J-28 today to re-name the boat. The old vinyl lettering was still in good shape and peeled off without damaging the underlying paint. The residue from the glue was removed with a product called "Sticker-Off!" (West Marine # 9368069). Up until this effort, I have always had to work quite hard to remove the glue residue. With the Sticker-Off!, the removal was quite easy. I highly recommend it. There was absolutely no damage to the underlying paint. When I put the new vinyl lettering onto the transom, I used the sister product "Sticker-On!" (West Marine # 9368051) to help the application. The Sticker-On! product allowed me to get any bubbles out of the letters easily. I also recommend this product. Re-naming a boat doesn't happen often in the life of a boat, but these products sure make it a lot easier. Steve

Frank, Now, don't you go claiming that Brown Pelicans are Californian. Just ain't so! They are all over the coastal US on the Gulf Coast and the east coast of Florida. It is really a hoot watching them feed using the controlled crashes. Some of them turn to where they are nearly inverted before they dive nearly straight down. Your comments about nearly losing them to DDT and such things is very true. When I was a kid back in the 50's, there was one on every piling in south Florida. They nearly disappeared, but have made a great recovery. Mobile Bay has a great rookery island and they are again "all over the place" here. We got boarded by the Coast Guard out in the middle of Mobile Bay in March and were just fine. Great group of guys and they enjoyed the "tour" of the boat. Boardings are not a problem when you have all of your required equipment. They can be a somewhat less enjoyable experience when you don't. How is the Spindrift doing? Steve

Scott, We had a great time sailing the tour with the J-28. Y'all were a great group and we enjoyed ourselves. The draft of the J-28 (5') prevented us from beaching and we were not able to get into Navarre on Friday night, so I'm sure it seemed we were a bit stand-offish. Rest assured that was not the case. Nest year we will bring our boat and the Spindrift sailing dinghy so we can get to the beach for visiting. I have a few pictures we took on the trip and will make them available as soon as I can get a little computer time. Sunday was not the best of days. We had a very nice sail across Big Lagoon and into the Perdido Cut, but the wind died while we were in the cut. That thunderstorm over the Gulf was threatening by then, so we secured the main sail and motored the rest of the way to Point Clear. As we cleared the Intracoastal "ditch" into Mobile Bay, the rains started and we were in the rain the rest of the way home (about 3 hours). It was pretty ugly coming up the Bay. Steve

Mike, You really need to bring "Popsicle" down here. That one would blow them away. Steve

Larry, Congratulations! You won second place with your Spindrift! Way to go. I believe the class was sail under 16', but I could be wrong about that. I have your trophy and will be happy to get it to you. Give me a call at 251-421-1847 and we can make arrangements to get it to you. I also won second place for the Diva 2 in the human propelled boats over 15'. Lots of compliments for the Diva and the Spindrift from the folks attending. Wally Latham got second place in the "Shiny Boats" category. That boat is the one with the '57 Johnson outboard in Larry's photos. I participated in the rowing/paddling race this afternoon and came in second. They guy in front of me was 40 years younger than me, so I don't feel bad about that at all. The little boat in Larry's pictures with the green hull won "Best in Show." A well deserved honor. All-in-All, the show was very successful and very well attended. Steve

Picture of Larry and his Spindrift at the show. Good to see you Larry! Steve

I found this guy and his Spindrift 10 at the Perdido Wood Boat Show today! Larry, you and the boat looked great and it was good to see you. We had at least three or four regular contributers at the show. The weather was great and I would call it a very good show. Lots of cool boats there. Steve