kydocfrog

That's pretty impressive! DocA

That was wonderful... DocA

Winds hit 30 to 35 here today. Charlie Girl II, last seen sitting quietly on her new trailer on the driveway in my last post decided she really wanted to go sailing and was not going to wait for details like me or water. When I came home this evening, the wind had stripped my shiny new blue tarp partially off, apparently bellied it out on the shock cords like a bit of a low slung spinaker, and CG II had spun, trailer and all, 180 degrees across the wind and trundled off into the front yard garden until the jackstand wheel thing bogged down in the mud. She was just sitting there on the trailer, proud as she could be and, I'm sure a smart alec grin. Gone sailing without me. DocA

On Greg's comment: Oddly enough, the trailer has adjustable brackets for the bunks. Just not adjustable enough. Was obviously intended for a much flatter hull, bass boat or john boat sort of thing. Anyway, gotta make new ones. She does look sorta good...at least under the 50 meter / galloping horse rule. I like her. DocA

Well, I'm so new I never had a calendar before anyway. I can, though, feel your pain. Sitting here trying to get the semester started this week (had two classes without instructors until 9.00 on the morning of the first day), polish off a major grant due out by 5.00pm today, make two off-site visits this morning, participate in the strategic planning committee with a straight face, finish a full annual college-wide faculty files review, and get my bathroom remodeled, I know how it all sneaks up on you. The crowning blow on the bathroom came when I smashed the main flange area on the toilet (not the tank, mind you) while remounting the tank immediately after finally finishing -- and a damn fine job too -- fitting the new floor. Great. Now the toilet has to be replaced, mucking up the floor tiles, etc. etc. etc..... You know something, I came out of the house this morning at 0-dark-thirty and discovered some sort of unfinished boat under a big plastic tarp in my driveway. I'm trying to remember how it got there.... :? DocA in disarray...

This project just remains so weirdly cool I can't wait to see what happens next. I will be very interested in seeing how you rig the square sail sails. I've daydreamed about a captain's handkerchief sort of thing myself. Of course, I'd better worry about getting in the water first. DocA

There was some discussion a while back about the stuff as a bottom treatment. Durable I guess, but discussion centered around amount of drag it would create. DocA

Well, thanks to a fair amount of huffing and puffing on the part of my outstanding trailer loading crew on Christmas afternoon, CG II is up and on the trailer. The hearty crew includes, from left to right Ellen the ABD medieval historian from U of Minn; Klint the Starbucks manager here in Lexington, and James the project manager who works in Baltimore area for Cal Ripken's baseball firm. Pretty high powered crew for a small boat. And in the forefront is Cobber the Pirate Dog who looks a bit put out. The old guy with the beard is the Captain. At least he says he is... I did hit a bit of a problem. The vertical adjustment brackets on the side bunks are too short. The bunks won't reach the bottom of the hull. She's wedged up on blocks on the trailer right now. I'm going to have to either redesign the bunks or get taller, stronger vertical brackets. Odd. I pulled the mast out right before taking the pictures. Need to rework the hinges and cheeks. Anyway, she's out of the garage and I have working space again. Best of the new year to all. Doc A in KY

Well, there was a holiday message from someone else on here a minute ago, but it went away... Best wishes for all the joy of the season and the new year to one and all. Among the activities planned at the Arnold's relating to Santa, good times, and too much food and football is a plan to dragoon my two strapping young sons into helping me get Charlie Girl II up on the trailer. That should be a merry event to watch. Best to all from the Arnolds DocA

You know, for a boat that used stock dimension lumber for framing, that stuff might be interesting. I wonder how it bends when ripped down from the 2x dimensions that it is normally sold in. Like you say, heavy, but darn near indestructible. DocA

There is a neat article on Duckworks Mag from a father and son who are building a Welsford Rifleman. Heck of an article, but I also noticed one really clever detail. They have cut a cockpit grate out of what appears to be the white plastic trellis/screen sort of stuff you get at the big box stores. It may be temporary for them during construction, but actually it looks kind of neat and professional. Not as thick as a full blown teak and all, but hey... Meanwhile, winter and all that has forced Charlie Girl II into the garage for the nonce. Sigh. DocA

If you can scrunch in one more foot and probably a significant bit more money, Welsford's Penguin comes a lot closer to your family of four criteria and has to be one of his best looking designs. Take a look at some Atkins designs too; an older catalot and style but still wonderful, no nonsense boats. DocA

That's a cool looking little boat. It reminds me of the Adelie 14 and 16 designs on Bateau.com but less radical. I've always been fond of the raised deck format. DocA

I'm going to be very interested in the replies to this. I'm still sketching various sheet arrangements for Charlie Girl II that would work for a boomless main. DocA

Thanks! Doc A

If you are going to build, take a look at Red Onion; an Atkins design of great simplicty. 18' overall of record, but that includes the bowspr't and rudder, I think. Similar in someways to Weekender but with swing keel CB and a more workable trunk cabin and berthing arrangement for overnighting. Gaff or Bermuda rig. Easily adaptable for plywood since she is flat bottomed and straight forward side pannels and sheer. Doc A

Okay, this is sounding reasonable and doable. Talk to me about thickend epoxy. The two part stuff liquid hull coating stuff mixed with a filler or are we talking a separate product or mix here? DocFrog

Almost done with rehab of my trailer. Next exciting act will probably be to get CGII out of building cradle and up on the trailer. What experience do folks have with the eyebolt in the stem? Best solution I guess is to run a bold or threaded rod all the way through and backplate it on the back side of the stem, but all that stuff from the bits seems to be in the way of where I would want to drive it. Also seems to involve hiring a very small person to stand on their head in the forepeak... Has anyone used simply a 4 or five inch eye screw driven in and set in epoxy or whatever? Is that a strong enough solution? Doc A.

That's neat. Both of these are neat. Gotta do some thinking on this. Thanks guys. DocA

Wow. What more can be said. DocA

I used a fairly high-end oilbased exterior primer that seemed more intended for wood, etc. rather than the Rustoleum one. Seems to be doing okay. Had a couple of spots blister, but that was from bad epoxy. DocFrog.

Well, work on CG II is in abeyance for the moment while I go off to Murell's Inlet for a week off. However, I do plan on staying busy by converting several long pieces of rope into little short pieces of rope as I attempt to relearn the art of throwing a decent eye splice...a bit out of form, I am... :oops: I'm off. Cheers to all. DocA not in Kentucky next week...

Well, I got the mast assembled this weekend. Shrouds and eyebolts, etc. But the hinge arrangement was less than ideal. The hinge on the folding side (aft) has an alarming amount of lateral slop in it. Its a big galvanized gate hinge, and the slop is in the hinge itself, not the lag screws etc. I haven't been able to find a second hinge with a removable pin as in the plans (or figured out how to make one removable), so I tried a sliding bolt arrangement. Total failure. That's a really big, heavy stick... What have folks tried for the front lock that is stable enough to hold the mast while trying to get the forestay rigged? I'm assuming that the forestay and shrouds actually take the final load when the mast is actually up; the second hinge/pin rig is for stabilzation. In a related question, does anyone use a turnbuckle or other adjustment on the forestay? Thanks. DocA

Good afternoon, Jacob. This is a difficult question, but not an impossible one even for the Weekender. The immediately available variations on the Weekender would be to go with a standing lug or a boomless gaff closely resembling a standing lug. The possiblility of a small sprits'l mizzen also occurs, at least if you like a lot of strings everywhere. (See www.scruffie.com) For boats similar in size and construction complexity to Weekender with alternate rigs, check out John Michalak's designs on www.duckworksmagazine.com, particularly the AF4. I'm still thinking on this, although I have completed the hardware on CharlieGirl II's mast this weekend, and I have allowed for the standard rig. I am still seriously considering at least a single halyard rig with a vang and a boomless gaff. DocA

Thanks! I'm pleased with the colors too, but I have to concede that the finish looks a lot better in the digital at a distance mode than it does with the mark-one eyeball at docking distance. I'm afraid my claim to perfecting the dog food finish technique, dribbles and drips, does hold true in some cases. As to the slot top; I'm pleased with it so far. I am having some difficulty with the details where the the coamings come together with the companionway coamings. Its a difficult detail to start with when it wasn't part of the original design. The forward end is easy enough; it is cut at the forward overhead beam. The inner companionway coaming was installed to design by previous owner. If this had been done from scatch, the companion way coamings would have extended to the same height as the hatch coamings, making a much easier detail. And, as NASA says, cumulative error is a bear... Eventually it will have probably both a snap-fit toneau style cover and maybe a little soft sitting heighth camping top. I had hoped to be in the water by the end of this month, but I'm not sure now.