Peter Batchelor

Hi Dig, I have a CS17 in Melbourne, if you ever make it down this way... Always happy to talk about my boat Cheers, Peter

Hi Garry, The Gippsland Lakes are a series of lakes in the East of Victoria, Australia. They are separated from the sea by a strip of land that varies from perhaps 10km down to a few hundred metres, about 70km long. Quite shallow in places, it can get fairly rough, but there isn't anything like an ocean swell. We stayed in Paynesville, at a camping ground that backs onto a canal. It has it's own launching facilities and jetties, so most of the time once you launch there you can leave your boat in the water. We did a number of day trips - to Sperm Whale Head, Trouser Point, around Raymond Island, almost to Loch Sport, and so on. For some of the time we were in company with another boat, a Couta boat owned by friends, but they were much slower, so we did some trips on our own... Not much more to say - perfect weather, great winds, our kids had a ball! The CS17 is a great boat to use while teaching our kids to sail. Peter

Hi Garry, sorry for taking so long to reply. I've been off sailing around the Gippsland Lakes for a week in my CS17 ;D I found lots of info at http://www.racingsparrow.co.nz/. Have a look at "The Boat" section of the site. There are free plans for the various sizes, which I was able to use to extrapolate the size and weight I needed for keel, and for the size of the rudder. Peter

Hi Wes, It was Joe's boatbuilding adventures that got me thinking about doing this... It has been a great way of getting the kids familiar with tacking, gybing, trimming to keep to a set course, etc, and lots of fun as well... Peter

Hi all, In the middle of 2008 we were at the National Maritime Museum, in Falmouth, UK , where our kids enjoyed sailing radio controlled models on an indoor yacht pond. They came away full of the idea of creating scale models of Kirsty Ann, our CS17. Well, I did lots of reading about r/c model making, got out the CS17 plans and roughly worked out the figures for a 1/8th scale of the hull. I tried to keep to pretty much the same hull shape, although it now has a full deck. and several more bulkheads. Sails are pretty much to scale, though I'm contemplating reducing the size of the main. The rudder is much larger than scale, and of course there is a weighted keel, but from a distance it looks pretty good. Sails are 3/4 oz ripstop, masts are the tapered tips from fishing rods, and the mast steps (sealed at the bottom) are from a piece of graphite arrow shaft (all left over from a previous life as a professional kite maker). The two channel receiver and batteries are stored in a small sealed plastic tub, siliconed into the deck, with a hole drilled in the base for the servo wires. The servos are screwed and siliconed in place. As they are on the centreline it is unlikely that they will get particularly wet - the ballast in the keel is on the conservative side... Cheers, Peter

slightly off the topic Ken, but is that a 2hp Honda 4 stroke on the transom? How have you found it for pushing the cs17? Peter

For something a bit mre complex, have a look at this one... http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s1889951.htm It is a way of car-topping a boat while towing something else, like a caravan, or another boat, and then taking it off the roof and quickly turning the frame into a trailer. The video on the website explains it all... Or, if you are into canoes and kayaks, have a look at the Tryak, a 3-piece sit-on kayak that is pulled together by a strap tensioned through a tube running through each piece. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s1883861.htm You could probably do something similar with nesting dinghys, perhaps with a strap each side rather than one in the centre.... Cheers, Peter

I use a Minn Kota RT55 electric outboard on my CS17. It is fine for moving to and from the launch ramp. At full power it draws 50 amps, so I use a 100 amp/hour battery (32kg, or about 70lb). Because of some nifty technology in the controller, the Minn Kota varies the frequency at which it draws power from the battery, so at full power I can get about 2.5 hours running, and if I drop down to 50% power it goes up to about 6 hours. Speed at full power is about 4kts. Speed at 50% is between 2.5 and 3kts. Against a current and a stiff breeze I feel that this motor isn't really sufficient for the CS17. For short trips I'm finding that electric is fine, and the lack of noise is fantastic, but I confess that I've been looking at 3hp outboards recently, as there are times when extra speed and endurance would have been handy. The ability to extend my range, simply by adding extra fuel, is very attractive.... Peter

Hi Gordy, I kept the masts the same length. The main looks slightly taller because of the step being somewhat higher than the mizzen step. I have throught about reducing the height of the mizzen, but I'm used to the space under the sail now. If I get around to making some birdsmouth masts perhaps I'll reduce the length of both, and add a window to the main. There are certainly times when a bit more of a view forward would be handy - generally when there are extra bodies in the boat. Still, the extra people are a very useful and portable way of stopping the spray reaching me Peter

I did a fair bit of experimenting with adding dust from sanded ply to the epoxy mix to get the colour of the join to the point that I was happy with it. Even so, it loks better in the picture than it does up close and personal :? I epoxy coated everything, and then added several coats of AquaCote, an Australian epoxy-based paint, to get a low maintenance, hard wearing finish. The hull and cockpit were coated in white Aquacote, and then a couple of clear coats, and I found that this was easy to spray on, but the clear coatings over the decking just wouldn't spray smoothly, so I finished up using a piece of foam as a brush, and if you look carefully you can see ripples in the finish left by the foam... All in all though, I'd have to say that this paint gave a great finish that has the benefit of including UV protection (although Kirsty Ann is kept in a garage when not in the water, so I probably won't be repainting for quite a while). Peter

Jeff, so far I've found the hatches have been excellent. They haven't leaked a single drop, but then I haven't had the cockpit that full of water either... I started off by trying wooden hatches built into the top and side of the seats, with a drainage channel underneath, but I wasn't happy with the seal I got, so I filled in the holes and mounted the plastic hatches - I'm very happy with them... Peter

More kudos for Graham's fabulous design! On the weekend CS17 #122 Kirsty Ann received the Wooden Boat Association Victorian Branch trophy for the best wooden boat at the 2006 Melbourne Boat Show. The boat show was held in July, but the WBA traditionally makes the award during our annual Christmas lunch. Kirsty Ann certainly attracted a lot of attention at the boat show, along with the other boats from the WBA, but it was a pleasant surprise to receive the trophy! You can have a look at it at http://www.batchelors.net/personal/boat/cs17/index.html Thanks again Graham for a wonderful design to build! Peter

Hi John, I'm in Melbourne, but I'm happy to talk to a Sydneysider about boats :wink: There is a member of this group in Sydney (Dave Newell) but I haven't seen any posts from him recently. Antony Harvey is near Canberra, and is building a Princess 22. Rob Blackburn is from Queensland, and has a cs20. He's given this list lots of inspiration with the photos he's taken on his various trips. See http://homepage.mac.com/blackburns/Expeditions/Menu160.html for details. We haven't heard from him for a while either... Peter

Hi Ken, For our CS17, the axle on my trailer is about 4 - 6 inches forward of the mizzen. I looked around and the best I could find to suit (in Australia - not much help to you, but helpful for other builders in Australia and New Zealand) was a Dunbier Sports 4.7M. See http://www.dunbier.com.au/trailers_sports_series.php for details. Click on the Sports 4.4M-10 link to see the longer version as well. I couldn't go for a wider trailer, as it wouldn't fit down our side driveway. This trailer, with the boat on it, just fits diagonally into the garage I used when building the boat. The axle is movable, which was one of the real attractions to this trailer. I moved it forward so that the load in the ball was reduced. I've heard it said that around 60% of a boat's mass should be in front of the axle, and 40% behind, so when you lift the trailer at the ball you should be lifting about 20% of the total weight of the boat, plus a % of the weight of the trailer. Following this line of thought, if a CS17 has hull weight of say 450lbs, then the tow hitch should be bearing a weight of about 20% of the 450lbs - 90lbs or so. My trailer hitch comes in at 35kg, or 77lbs. I'd be interested in hearing what sort of weight other CS17 owners have on their hitches. With this weight I've found it easy to tow, no problems with sway, and easy to hitch up... Regards, Peter

I've put a pin through the centreboard case and the trailing edge of the board. The hole is about a half inch from the top of the case, from memory slightly further forward than the centreboard pivot. I let the board rest on a trailer roller when I drilled the hole through, so there isn't much stress on the board or the case, and the lower end of the board sits out of the boat the depth of the keel. I also keep the uphaul cinched tight, just in case.... Peter

Here are some photos of the dodger/cuddy that I made for CS17 #122, Kirsty Ann. We wanted something that could fold down out of the way when coming in to a dock or making our way through crowded waters, and could keep the kids out of the wind and water at a moment's notice. After a few month's thought, and a couple of abortive attempts, I finished up with a cover sewn in 4oz sailcloth, using pvc tubes shaped with a hairdryer. It works well for the kids, but I have to crouch a bit to get under it. This was a compromise - I wanted to still be able to see where I was going when it was up, so it couldn't be made too tall.

well, I can see all of the little mistakes :? For all that, each time we've been out so far we've had lots of favourable comments about her, and questions about the design... hopefully there will be a few more being built in Melbourne over the next couple of years.... We're having a ball with her - going further afield, and faster, than with our previous boat, and the kids aren't getting bored and asking to go and play on the shore. Peter

We've used the Minn Kota Riptide 55 long shaft model, which draws 50 amps/hour and delivers a maximum of 55 lbs thrust. I've only had her in the water once so far, but the motor was able to push against a 20 kt headwind without any problem. It certainly wouldn't be any good for pushing the boat up onto the trailer though.... We're planning on using it mainly for pottering around rivers, and on the days when fishing rather than than sailing is more of a priority for our 5 year old :-) Cheers, Peter

CS17 #122, Kirsty Ann, is more or less finished (just the dodger to go), and has been launched here in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. I built her in a garage that is 17' deep and 16' wide, with a verandah at the front so that I could roll the cradle out when I needed to gain access all the way around. Now that she is on her trailer, she fits diagonally into the garage, in an area 17' by 14'7", with a couple of inches to spare. Everything has had several coats of epoxy, and the hull and cockpit painted with Aquacote (an epoxy based high build undercoat that is quite easy to fair and a polyurethane topcoat that is incredibly hard). The deck has been painted with several coats of clear Aquacote, which has an ultraviolet inhibitor added to it. Both the epoxy and the paint were by Boatcraft Pacific (http://www.boatcraft.com.au/index.html). The bottom chine, and half of the upper chine, were fibreglass sheathed. Rubrails, sprits and tiller have been finished in Deks Olje. Everyone is very pleased with the results (me expecially), and we're looking forward to lots of time on the water this summer, and we are planning a couple of weeks on the Gippsland Lakes in March, which is why I need to get on with finishing the dodger... The info that I found in this forum made putting the boat together much easier - so a big thanks to all of the forum contributors. Peter

Sure is looking good Tom! I'm working on #122, but haven't got as far along as you yet - still working on seats and trying to find a source for the masts in Melbourne Australia. When my camera comes back from the repair shop I should be able to get some photos together. Have you reduced the forward decking with the intention of including a soft cuddy? Cheers, Peter

Might be a silly idea, but have you tried cooling the aluminium? Cover it with ice for a few minutes perhaps? This might shrink it just enough for you to remove the new tube. Cheers, Peter