Lynn Watson

And just saved about 80% of the price of a Ronstan block. Is it going to be permanently enclosed in the case once the side goes on? Lynn

Great pictures, brilliant post, Rolando! Thank you so much for your account of the building process. This is most encouraging -- I bought the plans recently and you make them come alive. Q: do you mark the CB slot location from the inside at this point? Looking forward to the next installment of the story, Lynn

Thanks for the heads up on that, Edward, I'll be looking forward to hearing his talk. See you at the Palooza, Lynn

Is there a sense of what ideal mast flex is? It would be great to know what I'm working toward... Maybe we could run up a set of measurements of mast bend, with the lower mast (i.e. bury) supported on a bench and a weight at the tip. Graham's design with stepped aluminum tubes would be the exemplar, and deflection at midpoint and tip could be optimized for different materials. Or has that already been done? I'd also like to hear about what people are doing with fat head and square top sails (lots of light wind around here...) thanks, Lynn

Lovely video -- thanks for posting! It's nice to see Andy getting some credit for what he does. You can see a few of their projects on the website: Emeraldmarine.com Andy has a great story about bringing Wind Song back from Alaska in horrid conditions and having the mast step fail, with lurid details of watching the mast jump around trying to punch a hole in the bottom. If you get the chance to visit, check out the new mast step; it's skookum! For those interested in sail-and-oar travelling, see James's account of a Barkley Sound trip on Woodenboat Forum: http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?150964-Bandwagon-Big-Food-Hornpipe-amp-Rowan-do-Barkley-Sound cheers, Lynn

Yes, thanks a lot, Rolando; great pictures. I like the biaxial cloth, too! Lynn

Okay, that sounds like plenty of support to hold everything straight and fair, got it. Squaring up the bulkheads with diagonals is essential! Thinner ply for easier bending makes sense, but -- so many rocks and dead snags around here. I suppose there are things people do to beef up the bottom in front; I'll do a search in the archives about that. Thanks for your advice, Rolando Lynn

So a good cradle would be there to hold the hull panels straight when the hull is light and floppy, then support it evenly later, when it gets heavy, right? What's the best spacing for the supports for, say, a Belhaven? I like the carts that were discussed earlier, but they look a bit sparse... And while I'm asking, could someone explain the 3/8" -- 1/4" bottom panel setup? I'm a little confused about that. Thanks, Lynn

Nice video, Pete -- thanks for posting. What lovely light you have there! Those are useful numbers you gave; we can work with them. Let's say that, with a 5-1/2 minute head start, the J80 caught you just at the end of the race. That's 330 seconds over 2.5 miles, or 132 seconds/mile. This is the exact format that phrf is measured in, so you can just add that to the J80's rating to get 252 for your boat. It looks like your rating of 261 is pretty close, and you should do well with it. I'd love to see what happens when it's blowing 15 or so and you can get up on plane -- there could be some red faces on the J boat, huh? It looks so warm in your video; can't wait for tshirt sailing in the Salish Sea... Lynn

I'm glad to hear that it worked out okay for you guys; bailing at the weather mark was certainly good risk management. And it was very good of you to go back out and offer help to the other folks. We had all the fun we wanted on Step'n Annie, a thirty foot keelboat, and were happy to finish in good shape. That was a reminder to tune up our sail change and reefing drills. What an entertaining day! I hope you can make it to some of the other events this summer when it's a little calmer and chase the zephyrs with us. cheers, Lynn

"I want to participate in things like the Classic Mariners Regatta coming up in Pt. Townsend through Wooden Boat Foundation and they all require smaller boats to register with PHRF which sucks." It looks like that, but isn't quite the case. I've been involved in the CMR for several years now, and have raced my centerboard double-ender a few times. The race organizers originally used their own system of ratings, but got so many complaints they gave up and went to phrf about eight years ago. This worked for the motivated keelboat racers, but left the casual participants behind because phrf costs money and is too much hassle for a lot of people. The small boat fleet was completely out of luck because phrf is made for keelboats with cabins; open centerboard boats aren't even rateable under the rules. To get around this, boats in the inshore fleet were given "faux phrf" ratings that allowed them to race more-or-less evenly with the smaller, slower keel boats. This has worked, sort of, for the few small boats that regularly come out for the Mariner's. If you want to come and race in this year's regatta, that's great! We'll find a way to fold you in somehow, and try to come up with a rating that makes a degree of sense. Depending on how many little boats show up, either there will be a separate Inshore Division, or we'll get put in with the C (Cruising) division. Win or lose, it's still a fun party in a nice place with nice people and pretty boats out on the bay... I'll be glad to answer any questions that I can... cheers, Lynn s/v Katie Mae

Steep wind waves are tough to deal with in most small boats -- mine bangs into a 3' wave, stops dead, and sort of staggers off until she builds some speed back up; not much fun. But getting to weather in a snotty blow is critical sometimes, when running off isn't an option. I would think that a fine entrance, with flare higher in the bow, would cut into the walls 'o water and let the boat keep moving without too much solid green stuff on the foredeck. Like the bow shape on a CS, maybe? btw, who has run their boat through the SCA seaworthiness test? They would fare pretty well, no? I'd love to hear any insights that people have gotten from that test. Here's the link: http://smallcraftadvisor.com/sca-seaworthiness-test ...still thinking about a Belhaven... Lynn

Thanks for the input and encouragement, guys - it's just what I needed. The Belhaven is looking more and more like the next boat; or rather the one after the next boat (working on an upsized Bolger Cartopper right now). When I get the plans and work out a model, I'll post some pix and see what you think. Excellent chat on the phone, Scott, I appreciate the advice a lot. cheers, Lynn

Thanks for the input, and the welcome, Scott. It's valuable to hear from someone who knows the boat. I don't want to fall into the trap of putting a big ugly cabin on a pretty little boat, even though the idea of comfy lounging below is very attractive. If I do settle on this design, I'll get the plans and use them to build a model first. That way, I can work out details and make mistakes for cheap. And would certainly check with the designer on any structural changes. Thanks again, Lynn

Hello all, I've been looking around for the next little cruising boat, and the B19 seems like the best bet so far -- relatively simple build, roomy, potential for performance, easily trailerable and singlehandable, good support from the designer and the community. Especially the last part. The high level of willingness to help and general tolerance of people's foibles in this forum is admirable. The last is important, 'cause I have a few foibles of my own; notably the inability to leave a good thing alone. So I'd like to run a few ideas past you, and see what you think. The main item on my list of Belhaven mods is the cabin: I'm not a great fan of side decks on smallish boats like this, and tend to begrudge the space lost below. Being able to lean up against the side of the cabin, not hunched over, is very attractive. I would plan on going forward over the housetop anyway. Another factor would be the somewhat increased flotation/righting moment of a raised deck house in a knockdown. There would be some loss in lateral stiffness at the sheer that would have to be made up, somehow. Has anyone done this on one of these boats yet? Considered it? Dismissed it? Attached are a couple of pix showing attractive raised decks, and one, well, not so much :-) I particularly like the Chebacco model. Thanks in advance, Lynn Watson btw, there's a picture of my present boat in the Main Forum, under Test Post..., she's the green double ender.

...some beautiful pictures... Thank you. They're just some local shots of some local boats (local is Port Townsend/ Puget Sound). The white double ender is Ernie Baird's Crotch Island Pinky; the "extreme" one from Chappelle's American Small Sailing Craft. The green double ender is my boat Katie Mae, a much-modified Drascombe PeterBoat. The sunset photo is in the Skagit Delta grasslands, taken on a cruise around Whidbey Island; lovely, lovely place. There were a couple of other pix that failed to post; not sure why. Does anyone know what a 500 error is? cheers, Lynn

Howdy folks, Just dipping my toe in the water before I start asking questions about a possible Belhaven build. I'll try posting a few boat pix, just for grins. cheers, Lynn Watson