Ken_Potts

Just a personal aesthetic opinion: I love the look of wood grain but I like the look of a veneer much more on a piece of furniture than on the outside of a boat (it's pretty, but I just don't think it looks quite right). I prefer to paint plywood and leave some nice clear wood highlights on things like coamings and hatch covers. When I first saw how beautiful the grain was on the okume ply I used to build my CS17 I hesitated a bit about painting over it but I went ahead and painted and I never regretted it. I built hatch covers and a coaming that had nice alternating patterns of ash and walnut and pretty much left it at that.

And don't forget that "red right returning" is a bad idea pretty much everywhere except the US! I still wonder how us Murkins got that one backwards (or whether it was intentional).

Chick haven't you figured out yet that buying old motors makes you move somewhere else? Are you going to move back to the coast now?

I should add that I don't think my idea is any better than yours - I'm just adding the sketch to give a better picture of what I described yesterday. Whatever works for you is the best way to do it.

Here's a sketch of the way I was picturing it. The process will be quicker if you find a way to release the mast from the crutch without climbing onto the boat. You might use a boat hook to release a loop of bungee cord or you could come up with a tricky knot that can be released by pulling on a release line, etc. Then the process would be: 1. Carry snacks from the truck to the cockpit. While you're next to the cockpit, release the mast from the crutch. 2. Walk back to the truck to get the sail bags and on the way stop and pull on the mast raising line to bring the mast vertical. Cleat the raising line off to secure the mast temporarily. 3. Bring the sails to the cockpit and take the rudder cover off. 4. Climb aboard and take the main sail to the forward hatch. 5. Secure the base of the main mast and untie the raising line. 6. Set up the mainsail. 7. go back and rig the mizzen mast and sail. 8. etc. As you rig the boat more often you'll find a good sequence so you'll be making as few trips from the boat to the truck as possible and you'll always be getting ready for the next task while you're doing the task at hand. I was eventually able to rig my CS17 (Mark I) in 11 minutes without rushing as long as I didn't have anyone helping.

The 91 degrees would have made it extra tough to work on rigging while looking at all that cool water over your shoulder. I think you should first look at any tasks that were uncomfortable (heavy lifting) and sort those out. If you extend the post that holds your winch so it ends a few feet above the deck you could put a block on it so you can haul the main mast up while standing on the ground - The line for hauling up the mast could be tied around the mast at a height that is easy to reach when the mast is up and you are standing in the forward hatch. If there's not enough mechanical advantage you can add blocks until it's easy. Let me know if I'm not explaining this well - I can post a sketch. You can leave this mast raising line rigged (but slack) while trailering the boat so you don't have to set it up to use it. Once you've got the strenuous tasks fixed you can turn your attention to making other things faster and easier. The first thing that comes to mind is sail bags. If you're using the bags that the sails came in you are spending time unfolding the sail and figuring out which end is up, etc. I made long skinny bags for my current boat's sails. The bags zip along their length and the ends of the bags are sealed with velcro. When I finish sailing I drop the sails and zip the bags on before I take them off the sail track or the outhaul. That way they are ready to deploy again next time - It's just a matter of putting the slides on the track, connecting the clew to the outhaul and unzipping the bag. Each time you go out you can find something that will make the process a little quicker and easier. Sometimes it's just a matter of leaving a knot tied or replacing a knot with a soft shackle. Experience will also allow you to order your tasks so you don't climb onto the boat or crawl through the cabin more times than absolutely necessary. One thing that I think is really nice is that the more times I sail a boat, the easier and faster it is to rig. It's just one more excuse to go sailing

Happy Anniversary! I hope my wife and I will celebrate our 58th also, but I better not hold my breath as we're only approaching our 7th now.

Chick and Paul, Unless the plans have changed (and they may have) the stringers that Batman is talking about are installed parallel to the center line of the boat. The straight stringers that are installed on a diagonal are forward of the forward bulkhead. The ones Batman is having trouble with are aft of the forward bulkhead. Batman, I wish I could remember how I dealt with that part of the build but it's been too long. I remember looking at it and thinking about it but I don't remember how I did it. Most likely I scribed the curve onto a straight piece of lumber by cutting the straight piece to length and sitting it in place so it was only resting on its ends. If you use a spacer or a compass that is set equal to the largest part of the gap you can scribe a line that tapers from cutting nothing in the middle of the piece to cutting a lot at each end. The spacer follows the bottom of the boat so you'll automatically compensate for the bump where the thin forward panel meets the thicker bottom panel. That might get you most of the way to a piece that fits but you may have to knock a little off here or there. I wish I could remember if that's the way I actually did it.

So... Did you at least enjoy the swim?

A lower towing point will usually result in less wandering of the dinghy under tow. If you've got a bow eye for trailering that will probably be the best point for towing, too. Having said that, if Graham has recommended a deck-level painter for towing, listen to his advice instead of mine. He's towed dinghies a lot farther than I have.

Now that's a masking job!

Never say no more canoes

I couldn't believe it when you let that boat go!

I haven't been up in a biplane - That must have been a blast! I didn't see the lower wing on your shirt (I might have been distracted by your expression) so I thought the plane was a parasol. I've had the pleasure of brief flights in the front cockpits of two Pietenpol Aircampers on pretty much opposite sides of the planet (North Carolina and Western Australia) but I haven't had the fun of flying behind a big radial engine in an open cockpit yet. I'm entertaining the idea of returning to the US long enough to get a private pilot license because I could probably get it for less money (including travel) than if I get a license here, but for now I'm having a good time playing with boats. There are some really beautiful classic planes near here but there aren't many airstrips to fly to. There's lots of water to sail, though.

Hmmm... Nope - I'm specifically NOT addicted to bunny suits and respirators (and sanding!) What little progress I make in life is made in spite of things like that. If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone who's seen my work. Is that a Pietenpol on your shirt?

Congratulations on the new acquisition! I'm a true believer of having a boat that is easy to get on and off the water. If you can launch and retrieve the boat quickly and painlessly you'll go out more often. It's a good feeling to throw the boat in the water after work and cruise around for an hour without having to work too hard. On the difficult storage situation: There are some powered tools that are used for moving small airplanes - A three-second search turned up this one: http://www.powertow.com/Buyers-Guide_ep_28.html I'm not suggesting you buy aircraft tools because they are invariably expensive, but the concept might be good for a home-built project. You could probably come up with something similar that has a trailer hitch on it.

I'll agree that a slick white finish is faster than a pebbly yellow finish but that's as far as I'm willing to go! Some slight credit is probably also due the captain and crew - Congratulations Taylor and Alan! Unless Alan has made a change, the sails have luff sleeves and no battens. From your description of the weather, that first beam reach along the North end of Cedar Island may have been a blast or a real pain (smooth water, lots of wind blowing from the beach?) I hope Alan adds some detail.

I think my last post was incorrect. I was talking about the difference in magnetic declination between Germany and North Carolina but that's not what those compensation screws are for. They are to compensate for compass readings that deviate from magnetic North due to magnetic fields on the boat. They aren't to compensate for the difference between true North and Magnetic North in a given locality. If I've still gotten it wrong, somebody please correct me!

Don - If that compass was set up for Germany it will be something like 12 degrees off in North Carolina.

3D printing has come a very long way. They're even using it to make rocket engines these days: http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/commercial/rocket-lab-electron-rutherford-peter-beck-started-first-place/ I'm looking forward to the story of "Jazz Hands", too.

The Honda also has an extension to convert a short shaft into a long shaft. The Suzuki engine bracket (like the Honda) has an adjustable tilt. If you can't get enough tilt with the adjustment you can add a pad to the transom to adjust the motor angle so there won't be interference when you try to reverse. I don't think (and I'm prepared to be jumped on over this ) that the angle of the motor is incredibly important when we're putting along at four knots so why not adjust the tilt of the motor forward far enough to get rid of the problem?

When I get a file clogged up with aluminium I clean it by running a piece of copper pipe along the teeth of the file (not across the teeth in the cutting direction but along the teeth - sideways to the cutting direction). I haven't tried that yet with a grinder but it might work.

Chick that's a racing oar - I'm not sure Dubs wants to race. Dubs - Would it be helpful if someone (of multiple someones) posted a close-up of an oar, its lock, and the gunwhale all fit together? It wouldn't clear up all the myriad combinations possible but it would show a proven setup that you could copy or modify to suit. I would post the aforementioned photo if I had a good setup to show off but mine's actually fairly similar to Chick's at the moment.

I've only used peel ply once but from now on I'm going to use it whenever I can.

Congratulations! Sounds like a great first day out. Andersen bailers normally behave a bit better than that. In my experience there would be a small amount of water flowing in when the boat was going slow but the water would get sucked out nicely when moving faster, so I would usually only open the bailer when I was sailing fast enough to take spray on board.