T. Nelson Surbrook

What's that old saying...if it sounds too good to be true, it is!

This is just what we need, more boats in the Northwest. I don't know what the count is but we have quite a few Weekenders in Washington. I have the eastern edge covered and the west is up to you guys.

I have been using the back and forth method for some time and it works fine. Easy to do and it's "old time" as well.

My Weekender starts shipping water at 35 degrees. That's real life, if there is such a thing.

So John, when is the launch date? If you don't get your sail you can always just use the trolling motor! Actually, I have an extra main sail that Paul made long ago. It is the first one made for a Weekender and is cut a little to full but will work pretty good. I sailed with it for some time. Come to think about it I have a jib as well. If you need them let me know and we will work something out.

Don't worry, poly will work fine and if you do it right will last for many years.

I know that we have expressed our thanks for all your hard work before and at the risk of repeating please allow me to say thank you for the site and your countless hours in putting this together. You have done a fine job with this project and it is appreciated.

How very exciting for you to be approaching the launch and the first tug on the main sheet. As I have said before, building is great fun, sailing is much more than fun. No need to worry friend, soon you will be floating on the wind.

My wife got sick and spent one day in hospital the bill is over 3,000. The medical industry in my opinion is a total rip-off and without integrity. They are without shame and prey on the misfortunes of others. However, God is not mocked and did you know that doctors live on average only 54 years. Maybe that says something about the knowledge that they have as well. If they really knew so much why do they die so young? I just send a little every month and by the time I get them paid off they will be dead!

Thanks for sharing the story and the pics of the sailing day. It looks so strange to me to not see mountians in the photos. Living here in the Northwest we always have a nice background of beautiful mountians and your photos look very flat!

What a beautiful boat, man she looks great. One idea that I see is that you need to tape off the ends of the shrouds so you don't have those sharp ends of the steel rope exposed. Get a bigger battery.

Not to worry, after doing the main measurements with the boat a lot of it is built by fitting the next piece in place. That's one of the things that give our little boats such character.

Man what a show off! That is one awesome job. I will think about it while I am on the water....If I only had it to do over....

Ray you probably already know this but for the sake of those who may not, the weight of the tongue should be not less than 5% of the total trailer(loaded). If you have less than 5% it can cause the trailer to fishtail. We recommend balancing the tongue out to between 5-7%. Some say 10% is ok but for me it's a little heavy to lift.

What a welth of information! These guys that build boats are very clever.

Very cool pictures, thanks for sharing them.

Abe, I think this is a pretty good idea and one that will work ok. There are several differant ways to elimate the "u" bolts and I think your design gives another option. Good Idea!

Mike I don't see why some form of my modification will not work for the Vacationer. I would just keep in mind that the Vacationer is a much larger vessel and upgrade the parts accordingly. My second rudder was way better than the first one I made. Oh yes, and please post pictures! LOL

Barry you really should make the trip over and enjoy the inland lakes. Cd'A is just beautiful and plenty big enough for our boats.

My experiances agree with the lines sorting themselves out when you step the mast. I use the deadeye option so nothing hangs up when setting up. 15 minutes is on the long side of set up time.

Wonderful Tyler, A job well done and she looks great on the water. Be sure to take lots of pics and share them with us.

The morning dawned clear and windy on Lake Ceour d' Alene. My plan was to sail as far as I could in one day, spend the night and return the next day. I have had the boat for three years now and I have never spent the night in her. I started out at 7am from the marina at the resort and headed down the lake. After 12 hours of sailing into a head wind I had gone 26.4nm according to the GPS. I found a nice spot to anchor for the night and after making the boat fast to the shore and the anchor I broke out the coffee and watched a spectacular sunset. Now I am 6' 2" and a full 200lbs so you could say I am kind of a big guy. I won't try to sleep on the Weekender again because I like to stretch out while reclining and this can't be done on the boat. So I didn't get a real good nights sleep. When I awoke this morning I prepared to take off and got things set. I figured if it took 12 hours to get there I should get a early start back. At 5am I started back and when I got in the main part of the lake the wind was howling with nice waves. It was abaft all the way back and I was able to set wing on wing with the genoa, it was beautiful and a few times the GPS read 6.3kts. I think this is the fastest I have had the boat. Most of the sail back was between 5.5 and 5.8kts. I made it back in 2 1/2 hours. It turns out that I was only about 10 nm down the lake because the total for the trip was 36.4 nm. All in all it was a fun weekend in the Weekender but for us big guys it was not real good to sleep on.

I think the splash combing was the hardest part of building the boat. It took me two tries to get it and when I was done there was so much filler and repair work to get it fair I just pinted the things. I was wishing I had the use of a bandsaw to cut them out. Next time it will be differant.

Good idea Charlie, I like finding ways to save money and be thrifty.

Nice Konrad, just wait till you have grandchildren! Imagine that, grandpa Konrad!!!