Steve Day

I have completed the repair on the dinghy and have one coat of finish paint on it. Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. Pics to follow in a day or so. Steve

That's a pretty nice modification. Looks like you got the tapered end and a small skeg at the same time. Nice work! Steve

Retired just means that you are busier than you were when you were working for a living. However, the plus side of this is now I am much busier doing things that I love to do. ;D ;D Steve

Kudzu, She looks pretty good! When are you going to bring it down and paddle with us? Steve

Sorry Guys, I won't be able to make it to either the Texas 200 or the messabout. Too much other stuff going on these days. I wanted to do the BEER cruise in Pensacola, but my boat is chartered. Gina and I are thinking about going over to the "opening" dinner to meet all of the folks, but I'm not too keen on doing the cruise in the Hobie Cat or the Spindrift. Maybe next year! Steve

Mike, The fix has already been accomplished. I have the "tear" epoxied together and reinforcing tape epoxied over both sides of the repair. All that remains is to fair in the tape and put the final finish on it. Pictures will be sent in the next day or so. As to the unintended swim, my only problem was swimming with the jellyfish. Fortunately, they and I did not cross paths while I was in the water. I'll still take the lightweight "Stitch and Glue" construction over traditional. Particularly when we are hoisting the boat aboard to store it on deck. ;D ;D Have a good one, Steve

Charlie, Congrats on the successful conversion. Looks like you made a "right nice" boat for having fun. It's always good to see a smile on the better half whilst sailing. I'll be interested to see how the Texas 200 turns out for y'all. Steve

It's too bad that we keep finding those elitists in every walk of life. They seem to be everywhere. Thanks for the humor, Ray. I think Wes has the right idea. If we build them, we ought to be able to fix them ourselves. I'll keep y'all posted on the progress. Steve

Gang, It is not my intention to continue to fall on the gunwhale! I hit on my hind parts, so it didn't hurt me (lots of padding back there), but I don't want to do that again. I should have had video of the incident and put it on U-Tube. The outside of the joint was taped, but the force of the impact just ripped the tape. The failure was definitly in the 6mm plywood. From my size and the direction of the impact, I would have been surprised if it had not broken. BTW, the fillet and the tape on the inside of the joint are totally undisturbed. If you note the pictures, the "tear" surfaced outside of the interior tape. I soaked the broken portion in epoxy and have clamped it in place, squeezing out some of the epoxy, but not all. After that cures, I intend to add tape (or cloth) to reinforce the joint. My bet is that you will not be able to tell the repair is there after I get through with it. Ain't life Grand?? Steve

Hey folks! We were out this past weekend in Big Lagoon (just west of Pensacola Inlet) with the big boat, the Hobie cat, and my Spindrift. We had a great weekend and it was quite uneventful, except for one incident. As usual, there were hundreds of power boats churning up the waters running from one end of the lagoon toward the other and back again. > They give no thought at all to the wakes they are kicking up when they do that. Normally, when we are at anchor with the Beneteau, the wakes are not a problem. However, when we are rigging the Hobie or the Spindrift for sailing, it does get a bit interesting. ;D We thought we had a lull in the wakes when I was de-rigging the Spindrift and I was on the little boat getting ready to take the mast off when a wake hit and I lost my balance. I fell onto the gunwhale just forward of the nesting joint on the port side and started shipping water, so I rolled off the boat and into the water. :-[ I didn't notice it then, but as I got out of the water onto the big boat, I saw the crack in the hull on the Spindrift. We made a couple of final trips to the beach with the motor and hoisted the nesting halves aboard the big boat for the trip home. Here are some pics of the damage taken this morning in the garage. I'm thinking that I will epoxy this back together and then reinforce with fiberglass tape. IMHO this is not a design/construction flaw as the load of a 225+ pound guy hitting the gunwhale in this manner could not have been anticipated as a normal load for the boat. Steve

Charlie, That looks really good! It should be a really nice boat to sail in those skinny waters down there. Steve

Greg, Sorry about the confusion. Dave, If you have any further questions, please ask. I hope my explanation above is sufficient. Steve

Greg, I had occasion to turn my S10N upside down on the foredeck of the big boat without taking it apart last week. With my added seats along the sides of the boat and the bolts holding them in position, the athwartships seat over the joint was held in position just fine. This tells me that the only seat that is liable to float away is the one across the floatation chambers at the stern. One or two 1/4" x 20 bolts would hold that in position just fine. I put the extra seats along the sides to allow me to move fore and aft for balance while sailing. Without them, there is no place to park your hindparts in the proper place for balance other than the gunwhale (ouch ), or the bottom of the boat. I am on a computer that does not have a picture of the arrangement. If you would like to see one, let me know. Just thought I would let you know. Steve

Mike, Nice shots of the show. It looks like there were some pretty cool boats there. I especially liked the steam launch with the small cannon on it. I missed the Perdido Wooden Boat Festival this year as I was in DC. Drat - I hate that! > We are hoping to get some more time on the water in the coming weeks. Steve

Greg & Crew, There are two removable seats on the 10N in the plans configuration- one across the joint midships and one that spans between the two floatation chambers/seats in the stern. Both have to be taken out of position to take the boat apart and nest it. Steve

Man, what a deal! Just sail, drink beer, eat, and let the guides do all the work. I could get into that! ;D Glad to see that you had a great trip. We are planning to go over that way in the near future on our big boat. Steve

I truly love the Bahamas! Any time you can make it over to those waters it is good. Is that your boat, or did you rent them over there? If it was your boat, how did you get it over there? Beach camping is also a cool thing. How did you determine where to camp? The last time we went over, we had lobster for at least two meals a day for a week with conch fritters for a side dish. I wish I was with you folks. Thanks for the cool inspiration, Steve

Hey Gang, We've been doing a bit of sailing here in Mobile. I went with the Sea Scouts to give them a little "tacking drill" last week in 15 - 18 knot winds on their Bristol 40. They were really tired, but had a blast! I had a couple of trips up into the delta with the Delta Explorer taking upwards of 50 people on each trip looking at Ospreys, Alligators and other wildlife. We also took Day's Dream down to the mouth of Mobile Bay to enjoy the weather and the clean water down there. I took the opportunity to clean the barnacles off the prop while at anchor. We saw at least a dozen porpoise in several pods during the day. To sum it up, the weather has been great and we are out enjoying it. I hope all of you are enjoying it as much as you can. Steve

For what it's worth, I taped mine for durability. Steve

Actually, I had the self-bailing bilge fittings, so it was going out almost as fast as it was coming in, but it was interesting to look back at the boat with water slopping over the top of the daggerboard slot with a LOT of water. As soon as I got back home, I made the plug! It is good that you can benefit from our experience. Steve

I made my plug just like Garry describes and it works great! If you try to tow the boat without a plug, you will have a boat full of water in just a few minutes. Steve

Greg, I sent you an e-mail off line to describe what I did on the Spindrift (and the Garvey). The laminated method, in my mind, is just as good, easier to do, and looks quite nice. Oyster and I are of like mind on this. BTW, Mike, did you make it home yet, or are you still in Texas? Steve

Greg, What I can remember from my Spindrift is that there is a lot of stress on that area. I also saw some separation on that joint. If it is getting too bad, you can screw a reinforcing block in that area to relieve some of the stress, but it appears you got there without having to use the reinforcing block. I didn't have to use it either, but I was a mite worried for a while. After everything gets a set in it, you can re-glass that part of the joint without too much trouble and it will be fine. Congratulations on getting her 3D!! ;D You now have a "boat shaped" piece of plywood in the shed. The next step is to get her to where she will keep the water out. Steve

Greg, It's always so much fun when you go 3-D! All of a sudden, you have a boat shaped thing. Lot's of work left, but really cool to see where you are going. Glad to see that Spindrift finally under way. Steve

OK. Looking forward to it. Steve