JeffM

Beautiful house! Congratulations! May you inaugurate that garage properly in a few years.

Are you designing it yourself for fun, or are you looking for some important feature not found in the many available stock plans?

Nice work, Daniel! It seems you have a boating family. Where do you do your boating?

Narragansett Bay can be pretty choppy and my 20 is very wet going to weather even in 10-15mph--or at least it was until I added a cabin. My boys are smart--they didn't like keeping Dad dry, once they caught on. Since I'm often out for a couple days at a time, being wet gets old. I fooled around a little with spray rails made of split pvc, but never finished testing them. I think Ray is right on the source of the spray, so for rails to work they would have to deflect water down to keep it lower than the gunwales.

Howard, steering to the apparent wind is how I read it, too. Rather a surprise to sleep at such a time given the experience he has. Having said that, my experience is very limited, so I'm not a good judge. I wondered also how much fatigue may have factored in, since he'd been fighting squalls. Still, if I needed a nap, I'd set an alarm so as not to leave the helm unattended too long that close inshore.

Light helm means little force needed to steer. Results from a narrow, deep rudder or a rudder with some of the blade ahead of the pintles, like this one. I can't imagine a little more ahead of the pintles would hurt.

A heart-stopper, Joe. There's a thread on the Main Forum with links.

I found out about Charlie's boat and plans thru John Welsford's page on Duckworks, and have followed his build for about the last year. I'd been waiting for news as his began his trip to Hawaii, and almost fell out of my chair when I read his last post on his Tokyo West Blog http://tokyowest.typepad.com/charlies_blog/2008/06/resolution-is-no-more.html. What will he do now, I wonder-- two and a half years of loving work and $80,000 gone forever, 66 years old, and no boat? I haven't been able to get it out of my mind.

Actually, I had problems with the thwart being too tight, also. Just took a rasp and made it a bit bigger. Same with the hole through the deck for the mainmast: used a 3" hole saw and then enlarged it 'til the tube fit snugly. Last time out it was the step that caused me some sweat: I think the the epoxy has worn of both plug and step and they've gotten wet and swollen a bit. Maintenance time...

It's never occurred to me to weight the board to keep it down. Mine (doug fir) floats high in the trunk when left to itself. I have it on a two-part downhaul with a releasing clam cleat, so it pops up automatically when I touch. Sailing to weather in close quarters I have to jump to the board, pop the cleat back in place and pull the board back down. It might be nice to have it float lower so I don't need to tend it right away. On the other hand, I'd have to remember to cleat the uphaul before I winch the boat on the trailer or the heavier board would drag over the frame and rollers...

Pretty cool! How does it handle?

I think you'll have to climb inside. I positioned a wide support just where I expected to be working, then moved it along as needed. Once I didn't do it right and broke half-a-dozen tabs--a little upsetting, but no lasting damage after I re-tabbed.

I've made plenty of similar mistakes. I'd go for the second option: butt blocks are ugly, but trustworthy.

Any photos yet?

Thanks, all! That M34 looks like a good radio. I wonder if its possible to get a spare battery pack in case I can't recharge for a few days? Of course, if I get it, I'll buy it through the messing-about store.

Check the little signature photo.

Anybody got a good recommendation on a handheld waterproof vhs radio? Or, alternatively, good ones to stay away from? I'm planning a longish trip in open water for the middle of the summer. (Right now my last-ditch safety plan involves the cell phone strapped to my lifejacket in a waterproof box.)

Tom, very good points. I didn't rig the cb lines as per plans, partly because they would have made it impossible to close off both footwells with berths. I have a two-part downhaul on a releasing clam cleat (Duckworks) --got one on the rudder downhaul, too, after once getting the rudder stuck good on a sandbar. I like that I can relax, knowing the cb and rudder will both take care of themselves with little help from me. I also rigged about 8' of line to the midship gussets that I can trail overboard if I'm worried. Haven't used them yet. On the other hand, I just got back from a father-son weekend with 7-yr-old Stephen. He was learning to sail to weather in the 10kt wind when he zigged instead of zagging. 10-15 gallons in the bilge and sloshing over the seats before I got the mainsheet off and tiller back. Would have been more if my pop-top cabin hadn't reduced the amount of coaming exposed. My fault, of course. Scared Stephen so much he swore never to touch the tiller again as long as he lived--an oath he didn't take back for the whole rest of the first day. Graham's idea to make the experiment is a great one. I capsized her deliberately the first season (empty), exposing my leaky So-Pac hatches and showing it took nearly all my weight to get it upright quickly. And I have so much loose stuff when I'm out for a weekend that I probably couldn't right the boat at all if it went over. I'll have to find a way to secure the heavier stuff low down whether or not I ever decide to do ballast. With all the uncertainties, I've got to choose my weather for open water trips carefully. A quote from Charles Stock's book comes to mind: "if at first you don't succeed, quit immediately!" And I've got to get me a waterproof vhs radio I can keep on my person. Thanks, all!

Read your post, Ray--amazing! My comfort limit is not much above a steady 15mi/hr when I'm alone--and that's reefed. Even so, I want to run the numbers. Like many of my ideas it probably won't go anywhere. (Ideas that don't generally shouldn't.) But I do cruise this boat more often than daysail, and I'm planning a trip from New Bedford to Nantucket (both major players in maritime history). (Fan's of Moby Dick may recall that Ismael and Queequeg sailed that way by packet before joining the Pequod.) There's a fair amount of open water along the way, although shelter isn't too hard to find.

Off-and-on toying with the idea of ballast. Mainly with idea of resistance to knockdowns, easier righting. Anyone know how to calculate the difference weight makes to righting force at floor level compared to low in centerboard? I'm wondering what (say) 50lb lead in end of cb would do. I'm guessing I measure a lever arm from somewhere around waterline, but that probably varies with heel angle in a hard chine hull. Anyone know how to do the math??

Wes, looks very good! I'm curious how you're going to do the forward seat.

nifty thing about the Sureform (besides my not minding abusing it) is that it has so many "blades"--one pass equals a good many with a plane. Picture a file or rasp, but with blades in place of ridges. I'm going to look on Amazon--my local box store stopped carrying the one that handles like a plane.

Hi, Brett! Let us know when you're done procrastinating. Who are these kids who are "new to the marine environment?"

Whoa! A little back story, please, Ken. Where did you launch from? Who are these sailing partners, and what are they sailing? Is there a passage involved here? Anyhow, this is a cool adventure!

More photos: 6. passing the narrow opening in the Cole River. The spit that closes it has a town beach and boat ramp. A sign warns mariners of the rocks. 7. Bed time. Stephen is scooted half under the foredeck because his berth is shortened to make room for a footwell. 8. The little island is alive with birds. We never went ashore to avoid disturbing nesting. 9. A swan came to investigate. Later, three made a swooping flight around the boat--too fast for pictures. 10. The skipper. 11 & 12. Spar Island