Frank Hagan

I'm working on the accessibility issues with the forum, and changed the highlight on the scroll bar. Is it more prominent now for you? I know you had trouble seeing it before.

It is a lot of coastline. It would be hard to put enough ships out there to track it all, but it would be nice if there was some kind of technological answer to the problem. Something like Norad for the sea.

Welcome to the Cuban Coasties! But hey, shouldn't we have at least known they were there? Maybe we need to give Tom Ridge a pair of binoculars and a 18' Sea Ray runabout and have him at least patrol SOMETHING! :wink:

Wow! Very nice, TT. You are right, the majority of the time you're making 90 cross cuts or rips. I guess with your set up you would have to build a jig to angle the stock and feed it through.

Sure. You will have screws going down through it to hold the bottom on, so it might be better to laminate them horizontally rather than vertically (but I suspect even vertically would work OK).

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I also live near the beach, and fought rust on my old table saw. Bought that expensive spray-on aircraft preservative and everything. Then someone told me about Johnson's Paste Floor Wax, and a little jingle to remember. You apply it once a day for a week then once a week for a month. And then once a month for life. Works well, and I must admit I don't get to it every month. But it works well just the same.

Look for used Delta, Jet or Powermatic "contractor saws". I bought a new Jet contractor saw which I absolutely love, but new its just above your $400 price ($549 or something like that). If you can find them used, they will be about 20% less than that (they hold their value well.) I had a 70's era Craftsman, and they are junk. The trunnions on the bottom, that hold the cast iron table to the saw itself, are aluminum, and the bolts creep constantly. If I took the time to set up the saw with the blade parallel to the miter slot each time I used it, it worked fine. I built my entertainment center that way. I even upgraded it with a kit to align it easier ... some hardened steel studs and brackets that allowed you to use an allen screw to move the table slightly. It made it easier, but it was still a pain. Just not worth it. CAUTION: PERSONAL OPINION AHEAD! Delta, Jet and Powermatic make good saws. Grizzly has some slightly less expensive, and I've heard good things about them, but I haven't had personal experience with them. If you run into an old Rockwell, check it out and buy it if its in good shape (they are the forerunner to Delta, and very well made ... but they are about 40 years old now). Stay away from anything by Ryobi, Craftsman (now made by Ryobi, I think), Ridgid (made by Emerson, who used to make Craftsman) and any of the cheaper "table top" saws by anyone. They aren't worth it. The contractor grade saws are pretty good from the three I mentioned. I bought the cheapest contractor saw from Jet, as it has the pressed steel side tables. It works great for my purposes, but I could have spent another $200 or so to get cast iron side tables. I just don't think its worth it at that level (its not quite like putting a fur coat on a pig ... which doesn't make the pig any prettier or happier ... but close, in my opinion). It is well balanced, the blade was within .005 of being true, the table top flat, and you can balance a nickel on end and turn it on and the nickel will stay there while the saw runs. It can cut 8/4 hardwood stock without a problem, but you may get some bogging down ripping long boards, especially if you aren't using a rip blade. The sawing capabilities I have with the Jet JWTS-10 (I think that's the model number) are duplicated in the Delta and Powermatic of the same size. (All three have cheaper "home" or "hobby" saws with 1 hp motors which are not worth the trouble ... they run in the high $300 range, but are no better than the saw you gave away, IMHO.) BTW - my brother also has my old Craftsman.

Tom, are your jib sheets outside of the shrouds in this configuration? I'm thinking of getting one of these as an alternative to my standard jib, and installing a $15 roller furler with it.

Can you try it again? Maybe try one sized just below the 600 x 400 size, and then one just over it. It might be that the software isn't picking up the sizes correctly. I did notice that if I have the settings set one way, the post takes the settings and keeps them, so I can't change the settings and make the picture display. But for any posted currently, they should display if they are 600 x 400 or below.

Scary thought! But sometimes I think its the simple things we tend to miss. And shaking it all about might just be what its all about.

You had me going right up until the end! Thanks for a much needed laugh this evening.

By the way, your English is much better than my French! I'm strictly a mono-lingual type of guy (and some say I'm not too hot at my native tongue either.)

Hi Denis, The stem tip is confusing. I hope I can explain it correctly (and that I remember it correctly too!) In the drawing below, I have rotated the lower drawing 45 degrees to the left, and placed it up against the edge it will be glued to when completed. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this (I'm at work still!), but I think this is how it fits together. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

I've heard of a similar concept, using "boiler punches" which were cast iron scraps embedded in concrete. It had to be sealed well against the water, as the cast iron would rust, causing the concrete to crumble as it corroded away. The epoxy idea sounds like it solves at least part of that problem, and lead the other part. A lot of guys use old tire weights from the local tire shops as a source of lead when they pour castings. I wonder if they would work in epoxy as a substitute to buying lead shot?

I extended the tiller up over the transom, but that required changing how the rigging is set up. Not hard to do, but does require a longer main sheet which could get expensive. I like it because you can make it so your tiller swivels up out of the way, and put a hatch in the lazarette top. The pic below is first of the tiller set up, and then how I arranged a 4-part main sheet set up to accommodate having a tiller: Several have done the tiller through the lazarette, so let's hope they join in and let you know how its done. When I asked Mike Stevenson about it, he said they just recommend extending the tiller through the same hole in the transom, and making the hole for the wheel shaft into a horizontal slot. Seems like that would make a pretty big slot, from seat edge to seat edge.

Looks good ... every time I see a Vacationer, it looks so big! I have to get one to sail near so I can see the difference up close. I added your site to the "Stevenson Projects Links" portion of our site; feel free to add your discussion forum to the appropriate category there if you want ... Favorite Links