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Ken_Potts

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Everything posted by Ken_Potts

  1. I didn't put any finish on Southbound's masts. My thinking (which could well be incorrect) was that the process of tempering the material to T6 had already artificially aged (anodized) the surface. Since it's been a few years since I've seen the boat I can't speak for how well the masts have stood the test of time or whether the sleeve-luff sails ended up black but Alan certainly can. Hopefully he will share his observations here.
  2. If you've already got the ribs there's no reason not to give them a try. At 5/16 you'll probably get most if not all of them bent and if you do have troubles you can laminate the difficult curves as Paul suggested.
  3. You probably already know this, Scott, but you'll be able to bend those ribs into tighter curves if you use green wood that has been split along the grain and shaved/planed to size rather than lumber that's been dried and ripped to dimension.
  4. I think David's setup is the one I remember. If there's too much tension it may be a pain when you're sailing in very light wind but using a carabiner will allow you to take the bungee cord out of the system easily. Experimentation with the amount of tension and the attachment position should be a fun way to spend a day on the water (I'd try it if I still had a mizzen).
  5. If I'm picturing it right you'll have two challenges with that: You'll put a bending force on the sprit-boom and the sheet will foul the foot of the sail on at least one tack when reaching. I think I've seen that someone somewhere has dealt with the problem through the judicious application of some bungee cord but I don't remember exactly how.
  6. Yes! More to follow please!
  7. And where does Mr Bojangles fit in to this history?
  8. Rather than add weight, would it be possible to add bouyancy under the swim platform?
  9. Huh! And here I thought sweet tea was a byproduct of making barbecue sauce. Now that I think about that theory makes no sense because it doesn't explain the coexistence of fried chicken and sweet tea.
  10. Drew - I've lived in both the ACT and in North Carolina and I can tell you that Peter's trying to help and Chick is well-meaning but he's like an inadvertent siren trying to lure you onto the skeeter-infested rocks (bless his heart). The next thing you know he'll have you eating Vienna sausages for breakfast instead of the livermush that nature intended. NC is a singularly beautiful place, even in July (or maybe especially in July, as I really love NC summer) but at that time of year it ain't for the faint of heart. These days every time one (or fifty) of those little black Pilbara flies lands on my face I give myself a black eye trying to bat them off because way back in the dark corners of my brain I remember that anything that lands on my face (in NC) is trying to eat me (many of my fellow Americans think everything in Australia is dangerous but you and I know that the Aussie flies are really only looking for a drink of sweat and I'm in real danger of beating myself to death trying to get rid of them). If it's not the mosquitoes (I love that Cap'n Oyster describes them as F-15's with mylar wings) it's the horseflies - You're what's for breakfast in a North Carolina summer. So when you visit in July, make sure to take advantage of the lovely bug repellents that are available these days and also take shelter when the afternoon thunderstorms roll through. It's tempting to sail through them because sometimes they're the only wind you get but I can tell you from personal experience that lightning don't feel so good. And ask everyone where you can find good barbecue and go to every place they suggest. If you change your visit to May or October you might have a better time (unless you get an October hurricane), but if you have to visit in July it's still worth it. Just make sure you stock up on Spam so you don't have to eat Vienna sausages (I like Vienna sausages, just not as much as I like Spam). And just for perspective - I've heard tell that the bugs in NC pale in comparison to an Alaska summer but I haven't got hard evidence to support that. Actually I'm not sure anyone's ever gone to Alaska in the summertime and lived to tell the tale.
  11. I haven't started yet. Life (and sailing) keep getting in the way. That's just a fancy way to say I'm lazy. I'm still interested in the project Graham told me about, a fuel-efficient boat designed with the Beta 30 in mind, but I'm wondering if new tech is starting to make electric power a competitive option. The biggest challenge to electric propulsion in my case is that the boat might well live on a mooring so I'd have to have enough battery capacity to sustain me for a trip and enough generating capacity (solar and wind) to refuel in-between. On the other hand, my wife has mentioned an interest in maybe sailing around Australia at some point so I might stick with sailboats for a while.
  12. You'll have to make a compromise there. The gap between the prop hub and the shaft bearing should be as small as possible to reduce the bending loads on the shaft but there should be clearance between the propeller blades and the skeg. The closer the propeller blades are to the skeg (or the hull or the rudder) the more vibration will be felt. In "Propeller Handbook" Dave Gerr suggests a minimum of 0.3x the prop diameter between the blades and the skeg, but that may be too much distance between the prop hub and the bearing. I bet PAR will give you a much more definitive (and helpful) answer than I did.
  13. I case you haven't already been doing this - I liked to sail with the mizzen sheet cleated and the main sheet in my hand. Having the sheet in my hand allows very quick sheet adjustments and (for me, anyway) greater confidence. I wouldn't recommend sailing in wind that you don't enjoy. It's supposed to be fun and with experience you'll find that you are comfortable in more and more varied conditions. And towards that end, when you find a comfortable day with a moderate, steady breeze, play around with angles of heel. Sit up on one rail and see how close you can get the other rail to the water before you get uncomfortable. Don't go so far that you feel like you're going to roll the boat, just lay the boat over a bit. I found that my CS17 seemed to sail best when it was pretty upright but I was surprised how far I could heel the boat without bringing water over the coaming. I actually did get the coaming under water a few times without rolling the boat (and once I did roll the boat but that's a different story).
  14. It seems like that slot is going to get quite a lot of wear from the chain dragging through it. That might be another reason to make it removeable (replaceable). That anchor shape lends itself well to being stored on a roller instead of using a slot, too. I've really been enjoying this build thread - So many pretty pictures.
  15. I do enjoy them often. I lived in Canberra for a year. Enjoy Burley Griffin and Tidbinbilla (and Jervis Bay when you can be bothered to drive that far)
  16. And I'm another North Carolinian who married an Aussie. Plan A was that she'd move to NC. We're currently enjoying plan B.
  17. Yep - sailing backwards is a fun and useful trick. Leave the main sheet loose and push the mizzen forward of the beam and you can reach in reverse. Somewhere there's a video of Graham and his crew (Randy?) departing a checkpoint in the everglades challenge. A sail was pushed forward and the boat backed away from the dock before turning and racing away. Just like backing out of the driveway. After seeing that video I made it one of my regular maneuvers. Unfortunately the majority of the boats at my local launch site were powerboats so I didn't amaze and amuse nearly as many people as I thought I should have.
  18. It sounds (and looks) like you're having a good time with your new (very pretty) boat. Congratulations! As you get to know the boat you may find (as I did) that a breeze of 17 knots or so is about perfect for the unreefed rig (though you've got a bit more sail than I did - No battens in mine). If you start to get into irons just grab the mizzen and push it over where it's supposed to end up. It will push the stern around to get you on the next tack. Also, as you noted, once you are in irons the boat will quickly start going backwards (it's a light boat). As soon as you start going backwards you'll have to reverse the tiller to finish the tack because if you leave it where it is, it will be pushing you back onto the original tack. The more often you sail, the more automatic these things will become. And if you've got a boat like yours sitting on a mooring near your home you have a moral responsibility to sail as often as possible and post lots of pictures so the rest of us can have some vicarious joy.
  19. Get the mizzen very close to the centreline and let the main out a bit more. Try to keep the boat fairly upright and as PAR mentioned, stay far enough off the wind to keep moving at a good clip. You'll get there sooner by adding tacks and keeping the boat speed up than by trying to get as close to the wind as you can. And most importantly - Ignore anything I've said that contradicts Alan's advice Congratulations on your beautiful new boat!
  20. Looking good. Don't forget to take pictures tomorrow!
  21. From one engineer to another - I'm not sure I am understanding the problem correctly. Here's a picture of what I'm thinking - What did I miss? The angle change is quick and easy on my Honda, but I'm unfamiliar with Suzukis. On the Honda it's secured by a wing-nut of sorts so there's no tool needed.
  22. Don - I think I'd try changing the angle of the motor to get the lower unit a little farther from the transom before I started cutting anything. It looks like you've got a couple more notches left in the adjustment.
  23. What broke, the glue or the wood? Disclaimer: I'm not an expert so don't take the rest of this post as gospel. If the wood itself didn't break there may have been a problem with the glue joints. The epoxy may have not penetrated the wood enough to get a good joint. If the wood broke the problem wasn't the glue joint, it would be the bend (as you have noted). The scarfing method Don shows works with a belt sander, too. You could always do a practice joint before you commit the real parts to it.
  24. Capriosca, let me know if you need crew for the run to the messabout.
  25. Welcome Riggs! Your very first post has me stricken with shed envy. I'll try not to let that cleanliness color my opinion of you. I also can't help with the frame dimensions - If you don't get a quick enough response here you should give B&B a call. They're friendly people and would probably be quick to help. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.
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