willjackson

Yeah, without the support system I would not have attempted to build something like this.

Thanks to all for the kind words. We did work hard and fast but had a great time. The Stevensons did a great job with the design and plans, but were it not for this forum she would have taken MUCH longer.

I wanted to post a couple of shots of our launch day this weekend. I have not posted frequently but I have been a frequent reader/skulker of this site. I also wanted to thank everyone for the open dialogue and pictures which were so helpful in the construction over the past five months. My wife Kim and I along with our dog Graham took the Beautiful Girl out to Lake Castaic north of LA for her maiden voyage. On Sunday we drove up to the lake on a beautiful day with a STRONG breeze from the NW. She slid easily off her bunks and was easy to set up. People congregated around and wanted to help or just look and everyone had questions about her. We had a blast on the water-in fact she was a little too fast for us (at least on the first day) and we were heeled well over to the rubrails quite a few times. We had to stop and adjust the shrouds and steering line once but other than that she was maintenance-free. I have posted some shots below hopefully. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

That is a beautiful boat-you should feel really proud!

thanks for all the advice-I am hopefully attaching the hull bottom to the keel today.

Thanks for all the tips-I had figured the maintenance would be prohibitive and will probably go for a bright finish on the stem only-like the Aloha. Whats everyones favorite Varnish?

My picture didnt work, I'll try again. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Just wanted to say hello to everyone and let you know my wife and I have begun work on our weekender. We started last week and will hopefully be attaching the hull bottom to our keel this week. I had a question regarding bright work as I am new to boatbuilding and pretty new to sailing and boating as well: We got a good deal on mohogany so we have built the keel out of it and will be building lots of other parts out of it too. Lots of brightwork is tempting...what are the considerations I should keep in mind if I were to finish the keel bright? maybe just the stem? [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]