Dave Ruedel

Hamilton Marine (Don't have their web site handy) also has reasonably priced tarps designed to fit boats - they are long, and relatively narrow, so you dont't have yards of tarp hanging off the sides of the boat. I bought one long enough to cover the Vacationer from all but 1 ft of bowsprit to the end of the mast when laid down for about 25 bucks.

Know that feeling. I love emailing pictures of the us out on the Vac to my brother in Germany. He saw it in the rough, before sanding and glassing, and said it would never be finished, or float if it was. Way to go!!!

And I envy you, because you are getting close to that fanastic feeling when you see it roll into the water and float off the trailer for the first time. It almost makes me want to start a new boat. Almost, but no quite.

That's upwind uphill!! Congratulations. Now you know why you did it. Fair winds and smooth seas.

Way to go. Fair winds and good sailing to you.

Well. it sounds like you are about ready to hit the waternow. Congratulations on the sail.

Or the two guys who decided to go down to Mexico and open a new Bungee jump franchise. After a crowd gathered at the platform, one guy went up to demonstrate to them. A few minutes later he came back with 2 black eyes, a bloody nose, and welts all over his body. "Make the cord too long?" the other guy asked. "No, cord was just right. What's a pinatta?"

No problem rolling outside, especially if the top rubrail (toe rail?) is on. old tires are good - so are blankets. The cabin roof can support the weight for a short time, but best to get it blocked under the deck.

Ah, but we build 'em to sail 'em And for the fun of it. Just think - this is you in a bit!

Happy Birthday Alexander!! And already an accomplished builder and vessel commander! I was thirteen before I learned to sail.

We had plans to go to the Green for an overnight on the boat Derby Weekend (get out of Louisville day for us natives), but you know how the weather got. Thought they might have to run the race in snowshoes instead of horse shoes. Last week my wife had commitments. We thought about today, but the rain is pouring down, and now I am off to Houston for work for a couple of weeks. It looks like 1st week in June now. I'll give a shout when we're going.

Kind of thing of been waiting for since 1950. I remember in his original proposal for a moonship Dr. von Braun's craft was a glider, and rather than thermal tiles, he would have the craft skim into the atmosphere, and then back out before it got too hot, gradually reducing speed by doing this until it was safe to come down at a reasonable speed, and this was designed with the materials in use in 1950 in consideration. He had several good proposals he put out in the old Collier's magazine, which as a kid, I read avidly. I lived across the street from a nephew of Dr Goddard, who did so much rocketry pioneering privately in the 20's and 30's. His nephew was involved in the design of our Atomic subs, but as a kid was always designing model planes and rockets, which helped fuel my intrest in them.

Congratulations on the launch. It is always nice to see a new boat hit the water, and yours looks great!. Fair winds to you.

Idyler is c combanation of Idyl : an allegoraic saga, and Idler: one who idles about, or part with no real function, but helps other parts work better (idler gear.) So its fulfilling a dream, and not going in a hurry like a speed boat.

Hey,Chris, Glad you decided to finish. Hated the thought of all that BS&T going to waste. If I was going to do a lot of blue water sailing I'd probably want something bigger, but a Vac is great for just knocking around the coast or lakes for a few days. Nice to have you back.

Have you reached the point that a cup of coffee without some fresh sawdust, epoxy dust or a few drops of acetone in it doesn't taste right? Sure sign of boat-building addiction.

Now that it finally seems to be warm enough to work outside, a few things to do. I am moving my battery to the bow for a better weight distribution, installing a solenoid valve on the fresh water line to prevent loss of water when the boat is tilted on the launch ramp, adding flag pulleys to the mast, and installing a marine radio and antenna. There are probably a few other things I will find, but nothing that can't be done between sails. Hopefully, Idyler will get its first wetting before month's end. It has been a long, wet, and cool winter here.

Wow! I left town for a couple of weeks, and you have your boat 3/4 completed!! With out of town work and winters to hamper me, it took two years to build my vacationer. (I did do the PC in 5 months, working and going to college full time.) It looks great. On Gorilla glue, I've always had good luck with it. Like noted above, I wet the surfaces. Just for kicks, I even did a few joints with the wood submersed in a tub, and it the glue set and held underwater. Just don't open more than you can use in a month, as it will harden on the shelf once it is opened.

I usually drop my gaff on top of the boom, then roll the sail up as tight as I can next to them, take a 1/4 inch line, tie off near the mast, and wrap it around the sail and spars until I get to the end, making it as tight as possible, especially towards the front. This has worked so far. At home, everything is under at tarp until I get ready to head out again. Thought about a sleeve, but then it means detaching the lines from the gaff, which always seem to get tangled up somehow when I go to reattach them. Crude, but iot seems to work.

Look on he bright side - think what it would have been like without a power screwdriver. If we had to put all these screws in by hand, we'd all have forearms like Popeye!

Always nice to see a new boat hit the water for the first time. Doubly envious since it will be about 3 more weeks before the weather will be right for us to get out again. Boat looks great. Congratulations.

One poses a question, receives several answers, and it is up to them to decide which suits them best, or none at all, and go their own way. An opinion or suggestion is not an order or a papel bull. Perhaps there is someone out there who is given 5 openions to cut a six inh hole in the bottom of there boat while on the water is a good idea, but I doubt too many. Everyone has to weigh information given them, especially when their safety is concerned.

I didn't even try to find pieces long enough to do the rail in one shot - I angle spliced mine out of two shorter pieces. There is a proper term for that but I'm having a senior moment, someone will give the poper term. If you clamp an overlap of the two boards together, then make your angle cut - I went 60 degrees, both pieces will be cut to match in one operation.. The lower rub rail is screwed from the inside. Lay out where you want it on the hull, draw a line, drill your holes every 9 inches from the outside, then go inside and do the coutersinks for the screwheads. And yes, they are glued.

Interesting cannon, but too large for the foredeck of a vacationer. I want to make something that could be used as a launch tube for those aerial shells you can get at the fireworks outlets, which only require a 11' tube, and a total length about 15 inches, hight about 6" and will mount on the foredeck - just a fun conversation item.

Maybe the deck piece falling on your head during church hours was trying to point something out. I used Gorilla Glue during construction, as along with being waterproof it has the property of expanding to fill all the crevases in the joints. Of course, you have to come back with a chisel and trim off the stuff that expands outside the joint. With the glassing on the outside I wouldn't worry about leakage, especially it the joints are glued well. The screws do contribute to holding strength, but are primarily to let you pull the wood into shape, and hold it tight while the glue sets up.