Craig

Thanks for the invite Bob. I'd love to come down. I will be in touch as we put this together. I hope it goes better than my trip to Michigan. Didn't get to do anything but take care of the old folks. Glad I didn't drag the boat all the way up there...

Thanks Guys. I haven't been out much this year. The motor has been in the shop (bad ignition unit, seems these 91 Honda 9.9s are a one of a kind design, figures) and lots of out of town work. This was fix all the motor vehicles and clean up the little projects in the garage weekend so I didn't get out. The Mate wants to take the MH somewhere so this coming weekend is shot, and the three day weekend will be spend flight testing at Valdosta. She also wants to go to Houston next month to see one of the kids. I might get one more weekend in before November when it starts to cool off and the winds get flakey. North wind at a steady 20 today and predicted til wed. Maybe I can sneak away one day this week....

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Another beautiful day in paradise..... [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Tom if you have decided to build a Vac we are here to help you if we can. We ae not nay sayers, we have just been down the road and wish to save you the cost and work we wasted trying unworkable mods and construction techniques. The group contains professional carpenters, cabinet makers, engineers ,housewives and everything in between. Our ages vary as well. You are in good company, or bad depending on perspective, welcome aboard.

Say when Pat!

Here are my thoughts Tom: If you are very close to your launch site a little wider will not likely get you in trouble. The real issue is the length/beam relationship. While longer and narrower is faster the tradeoff is stability. You have not mentioned how old your children are so I will assume young, thus, you are intrested in stability and safety. That being the case I can not recommend you play with overall size of the boat to much over 10-15%. That will not really give you what you are looking for and will really drive costs and build time so let's talk about modifications to the stock design that may give you a more comfortable boat. Two adults and 5.7 small children will not likely exceed the capacity of the boat, however, as designed, seating is limited and close so look for ways to increase the seating and overall comfort/utility of the design. The lockers under the seats are a waste of space and time to build. Think about open, slat type bench seats. Narrow the deck by half from the cabin bulkhead to the lazzarette. Restore the structural intregraty of the sides using 2x4 stringers and enclose these to form a box beam in the areas modified. Reduce the cabin size from 1/2 to 2/3 of the designed size increasing the cockpit size. Or just build her as an open boat with no cabin at all leaving the desks as designed. Others have done this with the smaller boat. Use a bridge deck in the front of the cockpit to maintain the rigid box frame that stabilizes the hull and to gain a little more seating. Obviously these mods will bring other problems and the redesign is not quite this simple, however, it can be done. With 6 kids I doubt you could overnight with this anyway so these mods would allow you to use the boat and still not loose much utility. Loosing the cabin will speed construction and ease costs by a small amount. Make the recommended scale models and use scale stick fiqures made from wire to estimate the size relationships for your crew members vs. the boat. If that does not look too promising then this is not the boat you need. Good luck

I am using the nylon twist hanks that came with my Sailrite kit... they work fine and hold well in a blow.

Our Vac tacks easily, however, I too end up in irons from time to time. Just throw the wheel over to the opposite side and let her back off the wind and the nose comes right over. Center the wheel and off you go. The biggest problem is light puffy winds and, as was just said, a pronounced lack of air speed...

Welcome back! Great looking boat!! When you get back down this way give me a shout. Maybe we can throw both boats in the water some Saturday(if it ever quits raining). I normally launch from the Eglin Yacht Club ramps. What did you do to get sent to Dothan??

Thanks Guys. I would love to see the photos...

That sounds like fun Pat. I did get away for an hour to tour the Silversides while up there but that was it. Too many relatives too many needs only one of me!!! The wife is still exhausted.

I am very sorry that I was unable to meet with Stuart and all the folks from Grand Rapids during my recent trip to Michigan. The situation with the old folks took a turn for the worse and there was just no time left for visiting. I regret not being able to let you know sooner. Tall Ships next month again in Muskegon I think. Photos would be nice if anyone gets to go.....

These damn storms come out of nowhere sometimes. Glad to hear you are OK Bill.

Up until yesterday I could have launched mine at the end of the driveway! It is clear and a million over here today.

Trey I was wondering if you had blown away....

It cleared off about 5 PM today and should be back to our normal 30% chance over the weekend. Friday looks poor for late afternoon but we will see. I wanted to take the boat to the fireworks this year. Years ago (shortly after the Chinese invented them) when I lived up home, the city had the fireworks at the park on Lake Michigan. We would go early and get a good spot way up on the sand dunes. Never saw better fireworks then those over the big lake. From the anchorage in Boggy Bayou we will be able to see both Niceville

We took the oldest in to the Doctor one time when he was very small. Had to have a rectal temp taken so old Dad says here, let me have him. Layed him over my lap and he promptly wet the entire front of my Class-A Blues. Had to walk out of there with my whole front wet! Two weeks into this and you will think nothing of being wet upon from all the orifices. Some times it comes from all three at once! That is always a big day... Enjoy them while they are little. It lasts but a very, very short time.

We are in that loop Russ. Two weeks ago it rained moost every day. I wnet to Norfolk for a week and it was hot as hell. Came home friday and Sat it started raining again. Last two days has been this Bob storm . We are still getting feeder bands. Reading the paper this morning I watched one of the lawn swings blow by followed closely by the BBQ cover. The wife got up and worried about everything knocked down. I told her to just leave it and I would get them back to where they belonged tonight. Came home for lunch abd everything had blown to the otherside of the yard. She just had to stand everything up again. Ah, Florida, Ah summer, ah s__t, more rain....... :roll:

Who ever the hell walked off and left the rain on can come back and shut it off now!!! The 4th is coming you know and I want to go sailing...

Yup! All the above and they don't work worth spit after 30 either...

Congratulations Konrad and Wife. You didn't do it all!

Greg please be careful if you are sailing on Michigan with these boats. While they will take more than you can that does not mean you should push them to the limits. Raising the rig by 10-16" does not greatly effect the stability, however, that said the extra couple hunderd puonds up front has a very noticable effect on stability and handling. The old schooners always loaded the fwd hold first and heaviest. It improved both the handling of the ship and the speed. I added 260 or so pounds of lead around the base of the Saralee's mast box to improve trim and handling. She still makes 6+ kts in a brisk wind and has consistantly showed 7+ coming down the back side of some waves I shouldn't have been out in. Not too shabby for a fat old man with a boat 500 lbs too heavy. Nelson how do you like that vang? I know you like to run before the wind. Has it functioned very many times. I ask because I had a jibe suprise me the other day and don't want it to happen again. With the rig at the old height the boom would have taken me off the rail. I was trying a run when my pax decided it was time to get up and move. She came over as I was trying to get them to sit down.

I remember doing that! She is looking good Florin.

Look in Fransk site for a photo of the gaff halyard bridle on the jaws. I converted mine to that ant it works much better. I seems to keep the jaws from wanting to jam on the mast when coming down. The photo is in Hand,Reef, and Steer of the Gaf Rig Handbook.