Craig

Interesting comment Jan. I am not sure if I like the building better than the sailing myself. I built the Saralee because I loved the looks and couldn't justify having one built at the prices here. Also, boat slips start at ~$3 per foot plus all the bottom work every year. Besides, I needed a project right about then. In my work it may take years and years to complete something so having a large project I control is a great stress reliever. Now that the boat is complete I am enjoying modifying it to suit my tastes and need to expirement. Now if I had just not saved the $100 and used that damned SYP for the keel all would be roses. :?

She is well found! I looked at your blue antiskid and thought Oh Oh! Then I see you are in Washington. My white decks can burn you down here. She looks great!

She will love the Honda Bob. Mine is the berries! The last Seagull I was associated with was on Marty Nick's brother

Nce photos Phil. Did you ever get my private message? I love the "white water over the rail" photo.

Mike that tarp may be too heavy for light air. I have been told that 4oz per yard is about the limit for those big headsails. Try making a Yankee for the moderate wind days. Make it the same size as your working jib and fly it high on the stay. I remember reading some where that Peter Stevenson purposely under canvassed these boats for safety reasons.

It is funny how they get the scheme phase and we get the do phase in all of their projects. Then they act like they are doing us a big favor. 8)

Your wife or the boat?

MIke I had the whole bunch in my boat over the 4th. 6 adults, food, drinks ,ice, and all the junk the girls had to take. She sailed like a pig! Too much weight and too low in the water. Couldn't very well trim cause everyone was wandering around all the time. I finally had to tell the girlfriend to sit her ass down and stay put. Almost hit a channel marker cause she makes a better door than a window. Can't get to the high side cause the bench is full of people. Actually with the Vac as drawn, 4 is a boat load.

I don't know which boat you are building; however, my new sail will be ~17' on the foot so I have allowed ~ 48' betweeen the forestays. Wolf used a sail nearly the same size and had much less clearance. I don't know if there is a rule of thumb for this. I guess it is what ever you can get through the slot. There are various ways of moving the lapper from one side to the other depending on your situation. I suspect that with a slot of ~30% of the sail foot length, and no sheet induced snags on the inner forestay, she should tack just fine and the wind will blow the lapper through the slot freely.

All of your boats look fantastic! It looks like a grand time was had by all. It is so great to see multiple boats together in one place. Thanks for sharing the video.

Both I think Florin. The boys, wife, girlfriend and grand dogs, plus the deaf cat where here for the 4th. We took the boat to the fire works last night. Damn near got run down but some rich ass ___e in a big twin-engine sport boat. Couldn't have been 30 yards between us when he saw our cabin and anchor lights. My daughter-in-law's eyes were as big as saucers. Not a damn thing to do but yell. He flung something about anchoring in a channel as he went by and then them made a sharp left to stay off the shallows when he saw the channel marker 200

I too have an eye on a piece of ready rod going through the keel at the lower bobstay mount. The end of the rod is bent up at about 30 degrees from jacking the boat with it and from the normal pull of the winch when I am not quite in the water far enough. I am thinking about converting this to a U shaped mount that straddles the stem. I will use a SS bolt to mount the bobstay and two bolts through the stem. It has to be changed anyway when re-rig the bobstay for the cutter rig and I get one less hole on the boat. I

What is the water temp in that lake today Mike?

Bondo shrinks over time and wicks water. This is why it will never stay in your fenders. It is my experience that large areas of bondo are to be avoided at all cost. Fillets, large dents, or major repairs made with bondo will eventually fail. Especially is the is any possibility of thermal expansion or mechanical movement between the adjcent pieces. A better method is to use thickened epoxy for all major work on your boat. Small screw holes may be filled with bondo but why bother. The epoxy is right there anyway and it only takes a small amount. I used bondo for the keel fillets and am slowly but surely replacing them all. After four years of use the I find bondo under most everything that needs to be reworked on my boat.

Florin, with the keel box you must just let her slide on the keel at the front. Remember the soap and water. After the nose is on the trailer you use two jacks at the back with a 4x4 between them and the aft part of the keel on the 4x4. The trailer must be attached to the truck or car and the work surface must be concrete or asphalt for the jacks to roll. Make you keel box to overhang the trailer by 1

Florin, here is a link with a couple of photos. Unfortunatly they only show the start of the process. I will look for the rest on the disks at home. http://members.cox.net/~bb343/baptism.html

With the keel box Florin you get the nose of the forefoot started in the box and move you jacks to the rear to remove the cradel. Then have helpers stabilize the boat and winch he in letteing the jacks and the 4x4 follow along. Go slow and watch everything close. She will want to jerk along as opposed to a smooth pull. the trip sounds nice. I worked all weekend. I am still not caught up with everything I missed while working up in Valdosta.

She looks great! Nice work....

Frank the St Augy area is nice and fewer tourests that time of year. St Pete is hard to get around in. Both are about 1 street long and two wide. I don't know about the schools. Food is better in St Augustine.

I got the marine carpet for trailer bunks from West Marine. $20 USa roll as I recall. It doesn't eat the paint ad you are floating the boat on for most of its length. Much more than an 18" of winching and you are not doing it right. What ever you use to lift the boat should be well padded to protect the paint. A old terrycloth towel worked for me. Are you using a keel box? Rollers? Anything??? ANothe more work way is to use two sets of jacks and lift the boat clear of the trailer and keep moving the front jack under the trailer till you have the baot all the way on. Remember to soak and soap the bunks to make them slick. Send a sketch of your trailer FLorin so I can see what the configuration is and I can better tell you how to do this. Or, for a 12 pack of Blue I'll be up to help. YOu know beer and pizza and you can get enough guys to lift her by the rails and walk it up! You know why I didn't worry about the paint on mine. That blue has held up very very well. I can't say the same for the white on the top sides. Next repaint I may go hog wild, splurge and buy some deck and proch enamal for the white [/i]

Good advice all. Minimize the use of bondo. In time the stuff shrinks and if you are going to have glass problems it will be in the bondoed areas. Use epoxy and microballoons for fairing.

No. I just float her in and winch the last 18" or so after I get the trailer out of the water. After you get her on the trailer it is pretty easy.

Yes you can. First soak the bunk carpets well with the hose. A bit of dish soap here helps as well. I raised the keel with a 4x4 and two small hydraulic floor Jacks. After lifting the keel clear of the keel box you set your winch on low and crank some of the boat onto the trailer. The floor jacks will follow the boat. When the jacks & 4x4 are near the rear trailer cross member, stop and let the jacks down to rest the keel in the box. Reposition the jacks and repeat the process. When the cradle is next to the trailer, move your jacks to the rear of the keel and remove the cradle. You want the boat to rest on the keel in the front and the last 2/3 of the hull to rest on the bunks. This will keep her tilted back a bit for drainage and also keep your tow vehicle out of the water on launch and recovery. Back the trailer in till she floats but is still resting lightly on the forefoot (deepest part) of the keel. (If you are not using the keel box then the front of the bunks will have to rise to meet the hull. That method requires the trailer to be deeper in the water to launch and they are very hard to get off those bunks with full length contact.) Loose the lines and shove her off the trailer. Oh ya, have Barb hold the mooring lines as you shove the boat away

Never a charge for that Mke.... Now our OBGYN Clinic on Mondays.......

We are getting the same stuff up here. It rains on the way to work, looks OK all day, then rains like hell just as I am wanling out to the truck. Thats siummer in Florida.