Craig

There is your start Renman, Caution is advised with the wwood work. Most sturucture in these things are attachehed from the outside in. Be careful with any demolition. Wood work is straight forward and there are may laminates to choose from for the replacement tasks. Contack cement hold up very well in these applications. Now beyond the seats what do youw ant to do?,

Hard to say anything right off. What kind of camper, how much space, desired capabilities etc. Any photos of the area? What is in there now? What level of handicap. We need a bit more information before we can be of much help.

Here is a bad scan of the gaff halyard bridle arangment. The little rope piece is a thimble. It is raining here now so I will send a phopt of the Saralee's gaff when it clears. The scan if from the Gaff Rig Handbook. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

I get to go to Valdosta!!!! :cry:

Jake I have never liked the way my main set at the head eyelet. I have moved the connection twice and it still doesnt lay fair at the top of the mast. Oh well, close enough. Start with the stock position and alter as required. I ran an eye bolt through the gaff and put a threaded eye on the top for the halard. I have since moved the halyard eye aft and then, finally replaced it with a bridle that works infinitly better. I also moved the bridle attachment back another inch aft. I am using saillrite sails and I suspect the angles are a bit diffrent than the Stevenson design. On the loose footed main, for my money it is the only way to go. All of my gaffer books recommend it for better power and the boat handles much better IMHO. You must use an outhaul to control the shape for differing wind conditions however.. Take your time with the ballast. The lead shot is a good idea to find the amount and trim point you need. Sail her for a year before you play with the ballest. In your area it may not really be a factor. I sail on a very big bay and the waves come with the wind. Keeping the nose down really helps. I did however make many choices that altered the design trim of the boat so the trim problem is my fault. For termination of lines and ropes I like to use the metal rope eyes( forgot the real name now) and whip the bitter end by sewing and whipping with lace cord. It doesn't snag and using a quick link or other boaty metal attachment device (clevis with a screw pin) it eliminates the chafe on the lines. I an using fairly good rope and want to maximize the service life. That said however, closeline rope will get you started.

#2 is on the way....

Check your e-mail Jake.

Thank you both for the very informative references. No the boat is glass and about as wide as it is long. From the Maco site and the Wooden Boat link it looks like this would be a valid method. Tom has a bunch of things going up on that top, AC, Sat Comm, Sat TV etc, I am confident that we will have sufficient strength with a large margin of error. There are lighter ways to do this but it is his boat so.... FCI suggests a T-170 something exotic cloth for super strength at little weight. It is about the same price as 8 oz cloth. Do you know what this is? We were going to do the glass by hand so the project is a bit more simple than Warthog's. Nice work there. I like that finish left on the surface. As we were just using the vacuum for clamping pressure I was going to leave 8-10" all around and just let the squeeze out run into that area. The article Oyster lead me to was excellent. I suspect for my use a couple of old refer compressors would do fine. Sure cheaper than some of the comercial stuff. Thanks again for the help.

I could use some help with a new project I will be starting soon. A friend has talked me into helping him make a hard top for his 52-foot cruiser. The top will be 16'x10'. It was initially to be a bit curved from side to side, however the tubular support frame is dead flat so the curve is out. We have 1/4" ply to layup by hand to accommodate the curvature. The idea was to screw the top layers to the bottom layers one at a time over a curved frame and to remove the screws after the epoxy cured. Lots of pieces and even more screws. With the structure now basically flat I think this is a good candidate for vacuum bagging. The whole assembly could be put together in one operation. I used this method on a hatch cover once and it worked well, however, this is a whole lot bigger piece. I was thinking about heavy construction plastic sealed with duct tape and a long piece of copper tube running in under the plastic on top of the assy. Do any of you have experience with this technique? Your thoughts please....

You guys haven't delt with the FAA's unions have you. This is nothing!!!

Simon that is because you are always upside down and the food falls out of your mouth. Bend half way over and wash it down with a couple oil cans.

Tom your comments have much merit. The Boloxi Schooners that we were discussing use the arrangement that you describe. Trey must move the pivot point back a bit as he will move the center of effort of the total rig aft The the boat should pivot somewhere near this CE point to function correctly. I suspect many of the places Trey uses his boat there is less than 36" of water. In the open bays the center board would be a better choice. Part of our problems with modifying these boats is like the government buying a new aircraft. We are not sure what it should look like, but it has to do everything! Any changes to these craft, regardless of the type, is a study in practical, compromise engineering. Difficult sometimes, but oh so much fun!! Actually the ballast doesn't seem to hurt the responsiveness. It does tame the bow from wanting to wander in high winds and adds a very large stability factor to sailing in higher winds or more open waters.

Paper port. Sorry, I shuld have converted them to Jpeg. I will resend.

Sounds like fun, but a major undertaking. I need to add some more mods to my boat but promissed one of my guys that I would build him a hardtop for his cruiser and that will eat into my time. I have a lot of work coming up in Jan, Feb and March at Valdosta. Big series of flight tests on Moody's new radar. Check your e-mail...

Yes. You are right that does need to come back some. I have a profile that may give you a head start with that. I will scan it in and send it over to you in a couple minutes.

The Clements she is! She is moored in Destin about half way up the harbor. She is a nice boat. Speakng of which Eden Gardens has taken ownership of the Governer Stone from the museum at Applach. They are looking for help to keep her in shape. Sounds like fun but is a ways to go from here. Nearly to the ditch and a bit north.

Trey, I tacked the drawings you sent us up on the wall in my office. Everyone comments on how nice it looks. One of my guys walked in, looked at the drawings and loudly announced that my wife was going to kill me for building another boat! I think he knows something I don't. The proportions are perfect I think. If the ballast doesn't work for the righting moment then a switch board center board may be a better option then a longer keel. There is a big Bolixi Schooner over here that uses that method and she works very well in the strongest of winds so the master told me. She has about the same hull ratios as our boats roughly 3 to 1.

Thanks for the photos Mike. Now I see how you did this. I thought you were using a furler. Are your sheeting points Ok where you have them or would you move then closer to the house? I know what you mean about light air days. With a nice breeze I can run the hell out of the plastic boats up to about 30' but just let the wind die off and then they bring out the big sails and slowly walk away from me. It is not that I mind being left behind so bad as it is the sun. Summer down here on the water is brutal with no wind. Trey I also think adding to the keel is wasted effort. It will improve the tracking ability but will definitely make her harder to tack and jibe. The weight addition will do more for your righting moment than 4" more keel. I used to be able to put my rail in the water with a moderate breeze but since adding the ballast I need a stiff wind and have to force her down. No such thing as accidental water over the rail now. I suggest you play with the ballast first and add the wood later if you still think it would help. These boats are supposed to pivot around the deeper keel portion under the mast. Yankee boat huh?

How much sail area are you adding Capn?

Trey, I put ~260lb of lead plate in the forepeak surrounding the mast foot. It brought the trim down to where she floats level in the water with myself and one other pax (120lb) in the cockpit. I doubt it made a 1/2 inch difference in the overall draft, however the trim is very noticably improved. She sets slightly low in the nose with one person aboard. I love your motor mount. I would like to get that big Honda off my transom but there is no way without a major redesign.

It seems like I did read that Stuart got hurt. I hope he is OK. Nice concepts Trey! Are you going to add more length? The drawings are lovely. Will you still trailer her or leave her in the water? I still need to get over to your place to sail with you. Congratulations on the invitation. I am mulling the addition of a top mast for the Saralee and a sprit mod to add a yankee. I suppose a lapper is necessary as well but don't mention this in front of Saralee the Mate. She knows what the cost of sail cloth is. I am not sure how to handle the top mast. A fidded mast and halyards are neat but I suspect too much on a small boat such as these. A permenently mounted top mast gives a bit much overhang while on the trailer I think, although if held to 4 ft or so you might get away with a perminent mount. The conventional shroud arrangement is problematic for a small boat as well. This needs more thought and possibly some expirementation to see how light one could go. Mike's lazy jack point is well made as one must restrain the sail when it is lowered or take it all the way off. Mike how did you rig the sheets for your lapper? I don't think I ever saw that mod. Did you extend the sprit or just use the stock length with the larger sail? Too long a sprit causes more poroblems than it solves. Some kind of running rigging may be the solution. Every thing in the book is very clear and rational on a 40 or 50 ft boat but turns strange fast at 22 ft. Let's talk about some of these ideas and see what we can come up with. It worked well with the ballest issue. Arr, what say ye mates?

Funny you should post this today Three Horse. Lately I have been reading the Gaff Rig Handbook, looking at the top sails and cutter rigs again. In the middle of a telecon this affternoon I started thinking about Stuart and wondering how far along he is. As I recall he was behind on his photo record also. Stuart how goes it Mate???? ( Other than cold and snowy.) :wink:

Jim I am using clam cleats for everything coming over the roof. I put mediun sized black plastic horn cleats just behind the corners of the splash coming.( see the photos on my site) When sailing I take a main sheet loop on the outboard horn on my side of the boat and bring the bitter end over the rail to my hand , under a leg, or just hold it with the sheet over my thigh and hold it with my toes or under a foot. It is very easy to release and runs freely over the coming. It's a bit hard on the paint but what the hell it is only latex. I will cover that part of the coming with copper or brass sheeting when I find some. I am still using the stock sized jib with the club. I keep dreaming about cutter rigs and a top sail but I suppose that is just much more work than it is worth and would absolutly rule out single handing with all that sail to work. Still..... You might want to go to a smaller jib and a club for single handing.

Don't be bummed Jim. This just means you need another boat! Something a bit easier for one to handle. I am OK once off the trailer. Loading and launching are problematic with a boat this size. Have you thought of re rigging her of single handing? In addition to the Saralee a 16-18 ft Snipe would be just right for those "no crew days".

C, Nice job! She is a beaut. Don't depend on those fenders for much. They look nice but don't really function very well. They tend to roll away on these boats leaving the rail exposed to the dock or post you are moored to.