Tom Lathrop

Ah yes, now I can actually reply to messages when I have something to say, unlike now. ;D

Lapwing will have side decks for comfort while hiking but also for dryness in rougher water.

Longboarding, HA! It is more accurately known as a tortue board and with good reason. I don't use no stinkin tortue board. I have Greek friend named Arthritis that takes care of the excuses.

Ricardo, Did you ever solve your problem with availability of good plywood? Keep trying, there must be some inexpensive way to get your CS17 to your new home. Good wind, good water and beautiful scenery in one place calls for a sailboat.

Frank, I got the same response when I suggesting naming the Bluejacket 24 after Liz. She normally names all the boats I build for birds. Loon, Merlin, Harbinger, Rooster, Birder, Chirp, Scoter and Lapwing. The last four are Graham's designs. I got to name the Scamp. I let it sit for a while and brought it up now and again during the building of the boat. Finally when she saw that I was serious, she relented and now is proud of both the boat and the thought behind the name. Now calls it the "Liz" boat and couldn't be happier with it. Stick to your guns and see what happens.

I expect to bring the Lapwing in at 220 lbs, or hopefully less. I base this estimate on several similar boats that I have built. One such boat is the first one on this page: http://www.bluejacketboats.com/sail%20gallery.htm This is a racing Windmill of 15' 6" length with 9mm bottom, 6mm side planking, full length air tanks & decks and two thwarts. Weight of finished hull W/O rudder, daggerboard or rigging other than permanently attached hardware was 189 lbs. Needed to add 9 lbs lead to meet Windmill Class minimum weight limit. The Lapwing will have greater beam but I intend to use 6mm ply for all strakes unless Graham insists on 9mm for the garboard and second strake. The fixed centerboard will add some weight to the Lapwing over the Windmill. I see no reason for the CS 15 to be heavier than the Lapwing and also think the listed 300 lbs is bogus. My BRS 15 was not that heavy and it was built like a tank.

To kick in on the weight of the Lapwing, I have built several sailboats of 15' 6" LOA. All have come in at under 200 lbs. My BRS "Loon" was heavier but it was built take a 10hp motor and plane. I am thinking that the Lapwing can be under 220 lbs but Graham may have a better idea on that. We are both busy with other things right now and Graham wants to cut the molds with the new CNC machine when it gets here. Somebody has to be the beta model.

Cedar Key proved an excellent place for a small boat gathering. For an event that bills itself as having no organization, this event seemed to work extremely well with the boats showing up were they were "supposed" to in good order. The Saturday evening feast was great and all were fed or overfed with fine food. The thunderstorm waited until we were packing up to leave on Sunday and was pretty mild even then. A great time was had by all. Some veterans said that this year was a new record for number of boats. The town and everyone we met were very cordial and laid back, including the dock/ramp master who volunteered to go check on his boat while we did something a bit out of order with Southern Skimmer. The launch ramp and parking area was a new experience on Saturday when we were inundated with more fishing boats than we could count beginning at about 5:00AM and continued for several hours. Great opportunity to meet Matt Layden, Jan and Meade Gougeon and Sven Yrvind, the exploits of whom many of us have followed for years.

It would be helpful to know just which 40% of the tape you are referring to. If you are just referring to the edges of the tape, all is probably well. If you actually sanded on the seam of the plywood joint, then that is another story as Graham said. The glass at the center of the the tape seam should never be touched with sandpaper. That destroys all integrity of the joint. Only fair that part of the tape after it is completely submerged in epoxy or fairing compound. These tape seam joints are much more robust than most think and a failure is rare but you have to leave the glass fibers in the seam area unmolested.

Don't feel bad Dale. After we decided how the snotter would be rigged on Southern Skimmer, I had to scarf an additional length on the the mainsail sprit. A snap will make rigging/unrigging quicker and easier but a simple knot will do for Cedar Key. No excuses. Bring the boat. Rigging was not completed (well not fully completed even then) on Southern Skimmer until it got to Florida.

I feel your pain Tom. For about 25 years I've followed Ian's work and still have some plan sheets from the first 18' TrailerTri somewhere. Last year my oldest son had the thought that dad might build him an F22 so I got on Ian's mailing list for updates on it. Ultimately, I decided that this dog was to old for that much of a new trick and declined to take on such a big project. He then bought a used F24 to join his stable of boats including a Chris White 20 footer. The F22 looks like a fine boat in the Farrier trimaran tradition. However, I suspect you could build a CS17 during coffee breaks while building the F22. I do like speed in a sailboat but also find that I like a boat that heels a bit and am drawn more to monohulls. As was said, horses for courses and good luck to you.

Guess what those boys will be telling their sons about.

An ultimate gift, Steve. Best of good fortune to you and your son. Members of this forum are supporting you and admire you for this gift of love.

Last year when I bottom painted my powerboat in the boathouse, I needed to remove the trailer to gain decent access. Not enough interior height to do that so I used the old trick of deflating the tires. Worked fine. You can gain a couple inches clearance that way.

Ray, That is cheaper than 1/4 exterior fir at the local building supply.

$17.30 for 1/4" 4X8 :!: Never seen it at that price - ever. What is going on?

Yes, He trailers it. I can probably find out his name for you.

i know of one Parker 27' sharpie that shows up at boat shows regularly. Wins a lot of trophies because it is beautifully built. He does not sail it much though and reports that it is pretty tender and probably over canvased. Stepping the mast is an issue also. He built a tripod rig to raise it but I have seen that fall down with the mast . Pretty boat but probably not an easy daysailer.

Yeah Gordy, I was going to say 8 to 9 kts. I hid my wet shoes behind a side panel on our van and did not find them until we got home. That was one of the roughest runs in a small powerboat that I have had the displeasure of making Only the companionable company of you and Bentley made it worthwhile. I think Bentley took it in stride. What was the diagnosis of the steering problem?

Expert? Heck no. It's just that I have sailed the coasts in question several times, been stuck on a sea island beach when misjudging the rate that tide goes out and sailed both types of boats we are talking about. Done that enough to have opinions based on other than hearsay. Still, they are only my opinions.

Having done most of my sailing in one design racing sloops where we are almost obsessed with sail shape and constantly search for a slight advantage in rigging, I was just as skeptical of the simple sprit as you. Since my first cat ketch was looked upon as a daysailer with no pretense to racing, I decided to go the simple route. Another BRS was built at the same time but built with half wishbone sprits. Graham and I may be better sailors, but our otherwise identical boats were always faster. The complexity of rigging and maintaining control of the wishbone made launching take at least twice as long. Full wishbones must remain on the mast since they loop around it. You can't take them off and store them away without taking the mast down. Full wishbone sprits would undoubtedly make for better sail shape. Still, I will stick with the simple rig until I see some necessity to change. It's kind of like high tech (read very expensive) Kevlar or carbon sails. Until I see someone beating me and can honestly blame it on sails, I will stay with my old dacron.

Sailing the GA and SC coast near you is not like lakes at all. Lots of tide and current, rapidly changing water levels that cover or expose dragons lurking on the bottom. Very interesting though when you accept the differences. A chart and depthsounder will be in constant use, less so in SC than in GA. As much as 9' tide that can run swift in some chanels. Beautiful areas of marsh and water open enough for great sailing. Some of the prettiest areas on the east cost, especially between Savanah and Charleston. Something smaller and still very capable would be the 18' Belhaven.

What Brent said.