mustangermatt

I fit a pair of 8' lolid oars in the bilge on the starboard side of the cb trunk with the blades forward. There isn't as much floor space on that side anyway. But my long rowing days may be over, I am hours away from winning a british segull on ebay (of course its always in the last 5 minutes I loose) :-)

I too made this comparison and eventually wound up building the CS 17. Living the PNW I wind up rowing, alot. I have made 18 miles on a good day, and average 10. As far as sailing I can't speak for the CK but you will be hard pressed to find a better sailing boat than the CS. In the same vein finding a boat of this size and performance that is as safe in a blow is going to be hard to find. I wouldn't choose the CK based on "easier" construction because the flat bottom is only slightly simpler to build, and putting the ply hull together is not really the major building task compared to taping, finishing and rigging. When all is said and done, pride of ownership has alot of sway with me and the CS has a professionaly finished look that the CK lacks.

Without a tent my boat normally lies at anchor very nicely so it may be that you have to much windage forward. I have mooring cleats on the forward quarter each side in addition to the bow cleat. I normally use the bow cleat for anchoring, but if you have a cleat off center (like my quarter cleats) perhaps that would put your windage off to one side where it would stay put. As for rowing, I have rowed my 17 pretty far in a day with tides behind me on a flat calm day. I rowed from Mitchel bay on San Juan Island south around to Cattle Pass and then back up to Friday Harbor, about 18 miles in 10 hours. Rowing in even a slight chop or a fresh breeze will reduce my range to a small fraction of that (1-2 miles).

My current rudder has a slight forward cant as I used a high aspect foil rather than the swinging one in the coresound design. The problem I found is that at speed the rudder starts to oscillate, vibrating the entire boat. If I return it to verticle this is eliminated. Probably a combination of angle and foil shape, in any case I am building a new one :-) As far as "bouncing" the board as a depth sounder... I don't know what its like where you are but where I sail just a slight touch on those barnicle infested rocks and I am spending two days building my three layers of 8 oz cloth back up :-)

how about: CS 17 "Splash" for me. Lets see, C=1, S=2, space=3, 17space=3, "Splash"=8 1 +2 ---- 3 3 +3 ---- 6 6 +8 ---- 14 40 -14 ---- 26 Yep, that'll fit :-)

Good points. I had forgotten why I own the coresound myself. When compareded to your aluminium boat, you will think your in a luxury yacht. I sail in the northwest US and western canada, so we have alot of steep tall chop from wind and strong tides. On my last overnight trip (see post on Sucia Matia Islands) we encountered gusts to 30 and 4-6 foot "wind waves". When our destination was on a reach we just dropped the main and sailed on the mizzen in the trough. Wind pressure on the sail keeps the roll to a comfortable level, and since we weren't having to go over the seas we were moving at hull speed or better. The times we encounter these conditions and the destination is upwind, we change our destination :-) I have said it before, this boat handles weather I would never expect a 17 foot skiff to cope with, and I have made my living on ships so I have something to compare it to. All the kicker boats and fishing skiffs in the same size range are long gone before the coresound starts to get uncomfortable.

and even more pictures

more sailing

A few shots of our last overnight trip, not completely in order.

I think the Core sound COULD do what you suggest. But I think you could be alot more comfortable in a deeper heavier boat. The swell wouldn't be an issue from my experience on the coresound, but sailing into a chop of any size is slow, wet, and abrupt. Motoring is the worst since you lose the massive roll dampening of the sails as Joe Nelson could probably tell you after his Sucia trip. I have never owned a more versatile boat then my Coresound 17, but some blue water comfort is traded for performance, draft, etc. If you really want to enjoy her strong sailing abilities find 15-20 knots of wind and water as flat as you can so she can accelerate to a plane. If it is blue water you must have, invest in a mustang suit and reef points, seat belts may be a good idea too :-) Hittin a 3' chop at 8-9 knots in a 500 pound boat is like hitting the curb at 30 in your toyota celica. If you can fall off the wind a bit and ease over the chop at a shallow angle then life gets really really good! I love the way the boat feels in these conditions.

Yes, we rode the tides. We don't carry an outboard, and rowing against the tide in Rosario is not an option :-) We left Bellingham Friday at 1800 and were anchored at Sucia about 0115 Saturday. On the way home we left Matia at 1000 on Sunday and arrived in Bellingham at 2130. An outboard would cut a lot of time off in the uncooperative conditions, and I may reinforce my transome for one soon. But it is rewarding to make the trip without one. I had hoped to make it up next weekend but I don't think my schedule will work out. I am going to miss seeing your boat. Have fun!

We just came back from Sucia island with some wild conditions. Winds would be dead calm and then come up to 20 - 25 knots in ten minutes. Crossing Rosario Strait and Bellingham bay we had higher gusts and steep chop 4-5 feet. We found the best solution was simply to drop the main, slide the centerboard about half way up to move the center of lateral resistance aft a little, and go on the mizzen alone. The boat carries 10-15 degrees of weather helm, but we were only heeling about 10-15 degrees. Not pretty but very easy and effective to make a run for cover. My masts are solid spruce and about 1' shorter than the plans to keep the effort lower, I also carry about 12% more sail area than the plan. After a couple of days of this on/off wind we quit running for cover in the blows, everything the boat does is so predictable. I don't recommend seeking extreme conditions, but the coresound is capable of handling ALOT more weather than I would ever expect from a 17' skiff. p.s. hope to have pics from the trip soon

From http://www.parks.wa.gov/... Rules and Regulations * Overnight boaters must self-register and pay the fees where posted. * Facility use is first come, first served. * Leaving a dinghy at a buoy or dock does not reserve a moorage space. * Annual permits must be displayed as directed. * Continuous moorage at a facility is limited to three consecutive nights. * Rafting is permitted within posted limits. A vessel rafted to another vessel will be charged a moorage fee based on its own length. * Open flames, live coals, and combustibles must be placed on a fireproof base, away from fuel tanks and vents. * Commercial vessels are restricted to loading and unloading passenger's transported or recreational purposes. * Pets must be kept on leashes and under physical control at all times. Dispose properly of animal waste.

We have been running around the san juans and puget sound for a year and a half in my coresound 17 with up to six people and gear on board. We even took a run across the strait of juan de fuca. The boat is a lot more comfortable on the long trips with the extra weight. Slower, but more comfortable. We rarely take spray into the boat, and the weight eliminates the pounding with just one or two onboard. Short answer is in the 20 I wouldn't worry about it. By the way, what messabout is that. I would love to sail with another coresound :-)

Can't answer the reef question per say. My 17 uses main and mizzen of equal area, increasing total area about 15-20%. This also results in the mizzen boom overhanging the transom about 2'. The center board is 3.5" aft of the designed location (ran that by Graham before I did it). The trim under sail is about as perfect as it gets with a few degrees of weather helm. Short answer is I don't think you will notice that small a difference in trim, but I don't have the "reefing" step so I am only guessing based on my experience.

For what it's worth, I finished a coresound 17 last year. I spent two years building and about $5,500. No, it's not for sale. Sorry :-)

My experience with the coresound has been that when wind speeds are that low my centerboard produces a lot less lift, and I just can't point as high as when I have 10-15 knots. It's really easy to tell when my board has stalled. The little swirls start coming from under the chine abeam instead of the transom :-)

After writing the reply I got to thinking. Maybe I should get a boat big enough to use the trailer capacity. Looks like a Princess 26 would just about do it :-)

I second Ray's advice about outboard wheels. We had a -3' tide at the ramp last weekend and alot of people were pulling off the ramp with their boats still on the trailer because they couldn't reach water. I have an EZ-Loader EZ 17-20' with bunks, but it is way overkill for the CS-17. It has a capacity of 3700 lbs and weighs twice what the boat does, but I got it in excellent condition for 200 bucks. I have the axle all the way forward and the boat all the way aft, it is still a little heavy in the front but tows well anyway. I think the axle is about a foot behind the mizzen. I like the bunks over rollers because the CS just sort of plops down on them and doesn't really care where.

Over seven years with Victoria Clipper we hit logs on a VERY regular basis. The hull plating is about 3/8" aluminum and we travelled at 30-42 knots. Small logs about 1'-3' x 10'-15' would be forced down by the stem and bounce back up again to slap midship, then bounce their way aft (passengers hate that one . The longer ones would break. I only saw hull damage on one occasion where the plating was cracked ahead of the collision bulkhead. The motion dampening fins that hang 4' under each bow got torn off a number of times though.

I glassed the interior because I used fir and it checks if you don't. Also I drop things alot, the glass/epoxy prevents dents :-)

I have a high aspect CB on a coresound 17. Pull the thing up halfway and three things happen: 1. boat speed drops dramatically 2. leeway goes through the roof 3. staying on course becomes difficult The only time I pull the board at all is running straight down wind in light air. I built the board out of fiberglass/epoxy with a foam core, naca 012 foil. I have grounded it (oops) and sat on the end of it (in the shop). If I break that board I am going to want to be wearing a seat belt :-)

[quote name=" I will be sailing my PS 22 across some ocean straights (Juan de Fuca in Washington state' date=' and the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia) and it can get rough." [/quote] I have had my cs 17 on the Strait of Juan de Fuca with no problems. I am sure the p22 would also have done fine on the days I chose. I think the key is to pick your weather very carefully.

I am not sure how much difference the mast flex actually makes. I have oversized solid spruce masts, with oversized full roach sails. Even with those sails the masts only deflect maybe 2 inches at most in a stiff (20 kt) breeze. I haven't noticed any excessive tenderness. But I usually have alot of kids with me :-) It would be interesting to find another coresound up here built closer to plans and compare.

I would reiterate Rays remark about longitudinals. It seems like slight errors that you wouldn't notice along the keel joint will turn into puckers. Especially where the 3/8" meets the 1/4" on the bottom. Like Ray I spent about a week fairing this