T. Nelson Surbrook

Welcome aboard, you are going to have a lot of fun building the boat. I am in Spokane so we are almost neighbors. Their is a Weekend owner in Grand Forks too. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. There is a substantial amount of knowledge and experience here.

The rope that is used for a anchor is called the "rode". When setting an anchor it is recomended that a chain is used from the anchor to the rode and the amount of rode used is called the "scope". For most anchoring a scope of 7:1 is used. That is to say that if you are in 10 feet of water you should use 70 feet of rode. If you are in calm non-flowing water you might get away with a scope of 5:1, if in a fast flowing river a scope of 10 or even 15:1 may be needed. Now this is a general rule of thumb and you can apply it as needed but it gives you a starting point. One other thing that may be of intrest is the end of the rode that is tied to the boat is called "the bitter end". If it's not tied off when you set the anchor the name will become true for you.

If it was me I would make a new bulkhead that doesn't have the cut away parts on the sides. This way you would have the water tight cabin. You don't want water that gets into the cockpit going into the cabin. The slat seat idea sound like a good one to me.

I have had some trouble keeping the line in it's place as well. Generally it just takes a little attention when setting up and for all the convenance it provides while sailing the work required when setting it up is worth it. When I think of the modifications that have made the biggest difference it would be raising the boom and the roller/furler. The modification I came up with for the steering has been used a bunch of times and I don't think of it much because I have no trouble with it and it is hidden. I did rig up a guide to hold the line going on and coming off the spool and it helps. Tom

I am glad to hear you are happy with the steering setup. I have been using it for over2 1/5 years with no problems. Good luck with your boat.

I have been following this for the last 2 years and Paul is the only one who knows what is up with this. Arnie is telling the truth, he paid for the sails and has never recieved them. It makes me feel like a sucker for recomending his sails. Come on Paul, this ain't right.

Go to the link below to see how I did it. IMHO it is eaiser to do before the side is put on. http:/www.surbrook.org/nelson/steering.htm

I sailed for 12 hours on Saturday and I still haven't fully recoveed. When in doubt, always choose sailing!

Why not just go all the way and install roller furler? I started out using the rig as discribed in the plans. After trial and error I have ended up with a system that works really good. It just takes a while.

That reminds me of when my boat was freshly painted and looked all shiny. Oh well, I would rather go sailing, the painting will wait.

Plywood keels have been made before. Special attention must be given to attaching the bottom to the keel as the end grain of the plywood does not have the holding ability of solid wood. I think it was Joel in Seattle that documented the process. The allum. strip on the edge sounds ok to me. Good luck with the boat.

I have been experimenting with 160 lbs of lead in ingots and moving them around. I find that it makes loading and unloading the boat from the trailer much harder and doesn't do all that much to prevent healing. It does add to the stability when at anchor and it keeps the bow down and reduces pounding somewhat. It's a trade off at best and at this point I am not too sure it is something I need.

I often sail "on the edge" this is just for fun. If I was racing, flatter is better in the weekenders. Ray is right on in his assesment of the hull design.

Ray is right about the cost of the larger hardware and one other thing to consider is the color of the line. If you can, it makes it very nice to have the halyards and sheets different colors. When you have guests aboard you just have to tell them "pull on the red line or let out the blue line". I don't think the 3/8" line would be too big to handle.

What a wonderful thing to share the experiance with children. We have special programs for teaching boating safety to kids. Being a good influence with the small ones is part of being a big one.

What a show off, man that looks just beautiful. What is the tempture like in the daytime now? Alaska is a awesome place for sure.

I think 220 is what you want to use. The 120 will leave scratches that will be too deep. You could even use 320 to prep. the varnish.

Let's make this happen.

Beautiful Mike, just beautiful. Your Vacationer is looking good too.

I like it, any way to help save time and money is just the kind of idea we are looking for. Hey, anybody can do it the hard way!

Craig the vang doesn't prevent the accidental jibe. It only serves to tighten up the main when running to wind. The flatter sail gives better windward performance. I have run a line from the boom to the forward chain plate before to keep the main in place while placing the boat-hook without a handle on it over a post at the bottom of the mast and out to the clew of the genoa to form this huge wing on wing configuration. You don't go real fast but it looks really cool. Andrew, to answer your question, the jib or genoa when run with two jib sheets(lines) just wraps around the mast when you change tacks and fills on the other side. It works quite well and it just requires that you handle the lines when tacking. When you get used to it, no problem. I hope this helps.

Steve is right about this and to give the proper answer, the boat is just a little more tender but not enough to make any real differance.

Not to worry about the increased risk of capsize. The truth about capsizing is that if you know what you are doing you won't. The only people who go turtle are poor sailors who don't pay attention to the water. Also some good sailors who get drunk and lose their situational awareness. I raised the cabin by 3 inches and the boom by 14 inches. She sails very nice and doesn't worry me a bit about turning over.

Good job, the big fun is just around the cornor.

I took this while on Lake Coeur d' Alene this afternoon. Bigger is better! :wink: [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]