Andrew_Butchart

On the surface the drawing looks an awful lot like a cabinet door catch.

You're a pretty handy gal Adla - you should rig up a cargo whip and just hoist that beast on and off

On my Toyota Echo (which I have a roof rack for) I added some tie-downs at the front and back - see blurry picture below. For the front tie-down' date=' I used the bolts that hold the fenders to the front grill to also hold down a metal loop that I tie the front of the boat to. I open the hood, hook on the ropes, close the hood and then tie them off to the front of the boat. At the back, I added eye-bolts to the outside of the trailer hitch. When car-topping anything long, your main secure points are on top of the vehicle itself - I strap things down quite securely using ratchet straps. Without a roof rack, you can probably run them through the door opening and then close the doors on them. The attachment at the front and back - especially at the front - keeps the rig from turning sideways on you. What I'm trying to get to is that if you can secure your mast to the front of the car to keep it from swinging side-to side, just put a red rag on the back as a safety flag and you'll probably be fine without the hassle of having a two piece mast. [img']http://www.floatingbear.ca/pix/echo002.jpg[/img]

For a small boat like a Weekender one of my concerns is deploying the anchor from the bow. My boat is very far from being complete so I can't be sure, but being a fairly big guy going up on the foredeck in bouncy conditions will be complicated enough. Then comes rooting around in the forepeak for the bucket with the anchor in it, attaching the bitter end to the boat and then deploying it. All while looking like I know what I'm doing and not falling in. Part of what I've done is to have a very solid bow eye which I've thought I could clip the bitter end to but haven't figured out how to do this. Perhaps I could attach it before leaving dock but then I have the line leading back into the forepeak and wouldn't be able to close that hatch. All this needs to be done of course while looking good How do other Weekender sailors do this?

I built my dolly mostly out of scrap lumber. It's about 8' X 4'. I took a couple of pictures of it yesterday. I lucked out on the wheels - my younger brother had a box full of old heavy-duty casters in his barn.

For my yet to be assembled Weekender I have drilled a hole in the keel as the Stevenson Projects site suggest. For the drain itself, I pieced together some 1/4" galvanized pipe along with a expander nipple. For a plug I picked up some plastic plugs although I've found that the cork from a bottle of Scotch also fits (empty bottle first :-D ) I'm using galvanized since the boat will sit on a trailer most of the time, never see salt water, and the keel strip is also steel. I'm using a plastic plug so that it can't possibly rust in place - I have spares so if necessary I can just twist the thing out. Keep in mind that I haven't even assembled this unit and was able to drill my holes easily with the keel off the boat.

Thanks Phil. I may try for a few of those myself. I have some elm that should work well.

Phil - I quite like the look of those fairleads - do you have any notes on how you made them or attached them?

On the MiniCup I used a rig that Charlie showed me attached at the end of the gaff way out at the bow of the boat and attached old cassette tape as a streamer. With it right in front of me and in front of the boat it was easy to monitor. Has anyone ever thought of putting a wind indicator at the end of the bowsprit? If you look closely you can see the one I used on the MiniCup:

Just rig some netting up at the heads - actually that could be an entertaining prop :-D

Florin - I've found it very easy to make oars using just my table saw and then stationary sander to shape the blades. You should be able to make a pair of 9' oars from a single 11' spruce 2X4 in an afternoon - just make sure to get straight-grained lumber. Barry beat me in posting the link. http://www.floatingbear.ca/Oars.htm Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

For ballast I've melted down some lead using my soldering torch into 15 and 30 pound weights with eye-bolts embedded in them. The plan is to install a ballast box in the forepeak for them. The eyebolts should allow me to bolt them into place (not sure how yet) or to use them as a "lunch hook". Personally I wouldn't want to add the weight to the keel. Not only would it add stress to that joint, but it would change the keel profile. I also want the option of "not" having ballast in - especially when moving the boat around by myself.

How did you get the curve on the gaff jaws? They look a bit thick for steam-bending.

The guy I bought my fiberglass from uses that same sort of tool.

My son and I had some more fun with it today - we tried using wood flour to create some smoke but it didn't work all that well. We're going to start experimenting ways to make up preloaded charges that we can easily load into the cannon on the boat rather than pouring powder into a ladle.

Some ABS pipe - scrap lumber - calcium carbide. Lots of fun for the whole family - now just how to figure out how to mount it to the Weekender! Thank you to smoolie671 for the inspiration. http://www.floatingbear.ca/cannon.htm

What about cedar? I have some nice straight-grained cedar that I was thinking of using for this. I was also planning on not putting a finish on it since cedar is naturally rot resistant and with the grating getting wet a finish would just peel off anyway.

My car comes with a screw-in tow loop at the front - I wonder if I could put a ball on it? When I'm done with the Weekender I'm going to experiment with pulling it with my Toyota Echo - 1.5litre - 108hp If it works out OK I can avoid spending the money to put a hitch on my wife's vehicle.

Buck - I like the way your oars seem to work. How long are they and how do you store them when not in use? Do you have a bridge-deck in front of the companion-way to use as a rowing seat?

There's also a copy on AbeBooks in a book shop in Miami - search for Amphora and Boat http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=546097813

I use Butler cleats made out of elm from that page on my pirogue and am quite happy with them.

Instead of attaching the blocks to the bottom of the mast (which might foul the boom or gaff), or to the cabin top (which would need reinforcing), what about attaching a piece of angle iron to the bottom of the mast and putting the blocks on it?

Now marked down to $250!!! I can't sell it much cheaper since I want a new flagpole and the aluminum spars would do that. The boat's in fine shape with all hardware and rigging.

I'm not really sure where he is, but from things he's posted I believe he's with the British embassy in Phuket in southern Thailand.