JeffM

Congratulations, Tom! I'd like to see the photo, but can't find it (assume its on your website). Jeff

All of the above--and in light winds and a way to tie-off the tiller, a good book and a cup of hot coffed close at hand!

I keep a Sevylor "Tahiti" inflatable kayak rolled up together with a pump and breakdown paddle under the berth of my Core Sound 20, and use it a fair amount. It's out of the way, out of sight, out of mind until I need it. It paddles a lot better, I think, than the cheap inflatable rowboat (more like a pool toy) I bought to replace the previous "Tahiti" that I'd lost. (Tried to use the pool toy one time--immediately put it away and bought a new Tahiti.) The Sevylor Tahiti is the oldest and cheapest of Sevylor's inflatable kayaks at $100 or so on sale. It carries two (maybe three if two are smallish children). I use it whenever I weekend with crew and can't beach the big boat. (More often I tow a more-convenient cheap single-seat hard kayak to carry myself alone.) The Sevylor pumps up in about ten minutes, but takes longer to deflate fully. It's nice and stable; goes through the water okay if not as effortlessly as a proper kayak. The only annoying thing about it (other than trying to squeeze out all the air to put it away) is that it's hard to avoid a wet butt: any water in the boat will migrate to the lowest place: where you're sitting. I often put a boat cushion under my seat to keep out of the wet. If I really had to move myself and two other people to and from shore all at once (say, if it was a long distance and I didn't want to relay), I'd use both the Sevylor and my single-seater together. I have no desire for any other tenders.

I was looking at the case again today, and thinking that a box might not obstuct seating as much as i'd thought. Then it occurred to me that the opening for the downhaul would probably still spit water. Which suddenly made me wonder if the right place for a flexible boot might be the BOTTOM of the trunk, so it keeps the trunk from scooping up so much water in the first place... Might help keep sand out, as well!

Wes, your idea would work but would take away my starboard seating inside the cabin (since I filled the space between seat and trunk to make my berth flat). But it is an idea I hadn't considered, and it avoids doing violence to cb I might regret later. Maybe if I made the box to follow the arc of swing of the the cb horn... Joe, it did get windy about halfway back, but only became an issue once inside the pond and trying to sail to weather (put the coaming under briefly, prompting youngest son to hide in cabin!). It was all downhill from BI--wing-and-wing, in fact. I was not about to reef out there, in any event! I think your profile needs updating: it has you in Virginia! Thanks very much for the drawing--it's quite clear. Does the EC cb have an uphaul as well as a downhaul? How do you get positive control?

Just finished a beautiful trip from Pt Judith, Rhode Island to Block Island, 8nm or so out. A near-flawless trip (very rare for me) but with one exception: my backpack was soaked--even books in a plastic bag were damaged--by water spitting from trunk as we flew back to the mainland with 15kt of wind behind us. This has been a recurring problem that takes my nice dry cabin and makes it almost an open boat again! Sponges stuck in strategic places helps, but is a chore to keep up with. I want to close the trunk, and am trying to decide the best way. I see two options: first, turn upper end of board into a grooved semicircle, and run downhaul around this and out front of case, around block and back to cockpit; second, weight the board and use an uphaul that runs from low on trailing edge up through back of case to cockpit. The first option is more elegant, but also (I'm guessing) more trouble-prone: if downhaul gets off track it could jam the board; also it leaves an opening (though very small) in the cabin. The second would be simple to execute and has the helpful side effect of leaving no cb tackle passing through the cabin*, but leaves an uphaul line dragging in the water, and may cost some adjustability if I want the board lower and the weight is not enough to get it down--especially under press of sail. (I do like the positive control of cb angle I have now.) Either way, I will need to get at the cb sometimes, as I seem always to be jamming it with sand when I beach! What do you-all think? Jeff CS20 #65 Beatrice Ann *[in a boat crowded with boys and gear, I'm forever yelling "clear the centerboard tackle!"]

Graham and Carla seem to get pounded pretty regularly. Time to plan a move to New England??? (You'd be closer to Mystic!) At least Irene will be a lot weaker when it gets here!

Thanks, Edward. I find the mast tube drain as designed (draining out the side of the bow above the waterline) is completely trouble-free. I haven't had any leaks, clogs or anything.

Ed, what are the holes I see in your forward bulkhead (usually hidden in your photos by the shop vac)?

I was surprised at Alan's post also--but for another reason. When my CS20 was brand-new, Graham commented in response to sail trim questions that, to weather, the main should be sheeted in with the clew about 20 inches off centerline, advice I have ever since followed pretty religiously. I just double-checked my boat to make sure: that puts the end of the sprit considerably inboard of the coaming. Even sheeted in this way, I still can't tack through less than 120-130 degrees, course made good as measured by gps. (But judging by the performance of others, that's probably my lack of boat-building skill.) Jeff

I suppose I'm not a rower. I like poking into little bits of water, and think a kayak unbeatable for that. Anyway, we're talking MUCH simpler than a minipaw! (Did I mention we're doing this on a shoestring? As in 2-3 sheets exterior ply, some glue, some latex paint?)

I will be running a 4-week day camp this July for maybe a dozen upper-elementary kids. We will be doing boat science and building. I have already gotten a lot of good advice from the Duckworks forum, and am now ready to decide on a boat design. I want a very simple paddling boat that holds two kids or a kid and parent, is stable, safe, performs well enough not to be frustrating, and is easy to cartop. I had purchased plans for Storer's Quick Canoe, but in looking about decided a wiser choice would be a straight-cuts boat. My models are Joe Tribulato's Le Petit Bateau My link, the Wacky Lassie My link, and the Lazy Weekend Canoe My link. Of these, the Wackie Lassie it too small, the Lazy too big and wide, and the Bateau a bit low, so I am thinking of messing about with design myself. I am figuring a 13 foot boat would be about rignt, with maybe a 26 inch beam at the chine. A few questions for those in the know: (1) it seems that the greater the flare, the greater the rocker with a constant-flair straight-cuts design. Assuming this will be a double-ender, how important is it that the ends be clear of the water when the boat is on her lines? Since I want a boat that is no more than about 13 feet long and a beam at the chine of maybe 26 inches, the fully-loaded boat might well have both ends in the water. (2) Is there any way short of model-building to estimate the capacity of a such a boat without a table of offsets? (3) Does anyone have any experience of a Quick Canoe to tell me if the immersed ends really help with tracking? If so, I could add them to my boat. (4) How reasonable would it be to increase the capacity of the boat while keeping the length simply by increasing the width of the sides to give more freeboard?

Couple of random comments. My CS 20 is commonly pretty heavily loaded, partly because of the added cabin, partly because I seldom daysail, and partly because I can't leave well enough alone. I know this slows me down, but comfort wins. I tried putting reserve freshwater (maybe 5 or 6 gallons) in the forepeak awhile back, and even this little weight so far forward made the bow plow in waves. Now the forepeak is just anchors and air. Two deep cycle batteries under the thwart give my boat positive righting moment (sans crew) to almost 90 degrees. Needing ballast for a new boat just built, I tried cannibalizing old car batteries (yes, that was a stupid idea--nothing but gray sludge and metal screen--and acid!--inside). After making a toxic mess with nothing to show for it, I figured to use intact batteries, but after weighing one and working out the (quite modest) density, bought a bag of pea gravel instead.

Talk to Graham. I can't imagine him staying a mast without a good reason, since many of his designs have unstayed masts.

Whoops! Missed that post, Paul. At 9lb, must be one of those lithium-ion jobs.

I'm guessing your electronics and nav lights draw very little, so its the motor you need to buy the battery for. My understanding is that the main difference between a car battery and a deep cycle battery is this. The car battery must deliver a lot of amperage to turn the motor, but only for a short time, so it's made with lead plates that are spongy to expose maximum surface area. It is not safe to discharge such a battery very deeply, since that will kill the battery very quickly. A deep-cycle battery uses solid lead plates, which cannot deliver as much amperage as a car battery, but can deliver its energy over a longer period because it can be discharged to a greater extent (say, to 50%) without unduly shortening the life of the battery. So yes, it seems to me you can't easily avoid buying a couple of these. (I usually carry two for my trolling motor, since it's not a good idea to be without a motor you were counting on at a critical moment.) I hope someday to be able to afford a gas outboard, which has fewer limitations.

Peter, I guess I'm just lazy. Why shouldn't Ed go with his plan of loosening those big blocks until he has fair curves? I'd do so, trace the curve on paper and reverse to make sure both sides are the same, then glue&screw spare inwale pieces under the inwales crossing the butt to make it permanent without the blocks. Is it really that easy to scarf pieces into and inwale already in place? I can't imagine getting fair curves that way without the same sort of fiddling that he's already having to do.

Who's your sailmaker? The same suit for my CS20 cost a good deal more, if I remember correctly.

Sorry to hear of your predicament, Jim. Just lost my job also--fortunately not with a build in progress. Good luck!

I've used three types of stoves, so far. When I first started overnighting, I dug an old Coleman 2-burner gasoline/white gas stove out of the basement. When that got too rusty, I did a little research and got an Indonesian "butterfly" kerosene circular wick stove: I was impressed with the high flash point (so its hard to set it alight if it spills) and the high energy density (best of any liquid fuel, if memory serves). (I had used a pressurized kero stove many years ago and liked it, but found it a bit too fussy to maintain and light.) The wick stove turned out to be rather unwieldly (too tall) and hard to find a place for, and too easy to spill if the stove got knocked over. Most impressive was the way it went out: you turned the wick down as far as it would go, and the flame would gradually die out while kero continued to vaporize in the hot mantle; then all at once at some random moment the fuel vapor would usually ignite with a whoosh! and a flame would shoot several feet in the air. Made me cautious about eyeballing the inside to see if it was safe to put the stove away yet. Lost some hair at times, too. I was not too sad when that stove went overboard on the Nantucket trip that saw my boat drag ashore and get banged up. In between times, I tried out alcohol stoves homemade out of tuna cans, etc. These are very small and easy to use but throw little heat and burn for a very short time, and the alcohol spills and ignites very easily. I still keep a couple aboard tucked away just in case. I'm now back to the original type: I got a single-burner pump-up gasoline stove that lights with little fuss, and burns hot and long. It's cheap and compact and well- and simply-made. I see no point in gimballing since I wouldn't use it underway in any but the lightest air, but I do put it in a weighted frame that keeps it from tipping easily and doubles as a pot-keeper so my saucepans don't slide off if a boat wake comes along. I use it in and out of the cabin, depending on wind and cold and whether I want my morning coffee before I get out of the sleeping bag. I'm happy, and done looking for stoves.

I went out overnight a couple of weeks ago in my Jewelbox Jr. just to see what it would be like. (I'm not interested in taking the CS20 out in the cold.) The JB Jr. is a Michalak 15-footer with a birdwatcher-style cabin: close it all up to stay warm(er) and dry while sailing from inside. I had it out in the Taunton River here. Frost on the cabin top at night. Made tea to warm up as I was getting ready for bed, then closed the last dropboard just after I extinguished the gasoline stove, discovering that it belches a big cloud of unburned gasoline vapor at that point--cabin stunk all night, but I was otherwise comfortable in my heavy bag. Next day was beautiful and fairly mild. A down jacket and gloves for comfort. Hot food and drink at all meals. A good little excursion.

Randy, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by a wear strip, but if you beach the boat, or anchor or moor so she will dry out, beware of doing anything that will obstruct your cb slot. I have several times been faced with a board jammed by sand and pebbles washed up into the trunk by small waves when the boat was grounded. (It's a real bummer to be suddenly unable to sail to weather). After nearly destroying the edge of the board hammering it out of the slot, I actually imbedded a machine screw into the trailing edge of the board near the lower end so I could hammer the board loose without destroying that thin edge. I am not sure whether your wear strip would be a benefit by keeping stuff out of the slot, or be detrimental by holding stuff in the slot, but on balance I suspect the latter.

One version of my pre-solid-cabin roof had a weird pop-up feature: the front of the solid-top/cloth-sides cabin raised to give full sitting headroom in nearly the whole space. I went to a fair amount of trouble to make it possible, then used it only on the shake-down cruise: pain in the neck, and mostly not needed. Now I believe the best headroom is a big, open main hatch. Much better view, too. I still toy with the idea of better headroom in bad weather, with swarming mosquitoes, etc, but will probably not mess with the cabin any further.

Dehydrated boat--aha: water ballast! Actually, my CS20 Beatrice Ann is my first boat, and I've built only smaller since. But it's still the Beatrice Ann that's used the most, and has the big adventures. So far, I have no desire for anything bigger.

Building a boat is such a huge expensive job, I'd say buy the Tanzer and gut the interior.