kydocfrog

Charlie Girl II has been sold. DocA

He nods to the bartender and the others in the room. raises his glass quietly, downs the toast, and says, almost to himself, a quiet ooorah and thanks. With a gesture resembling a salute, the glass hits the fireplace. With thanks, and in the style or one of the most famous of the virtual communities, Callahans. DocFrog, MAJ, OD, USAR, Ret.

The last and possibly fastest of the great tea clippers, Cutty Sark, was seriously damaged by fire in Greenwich. The fire is thought to be of suspicious origin. Damage is uncertain. She was laid up for major repairs, and all masts, spars, and rigging had been removed and stored. Damage to decks is extensive and damage to frames uncertain. Major reason for her reonnovation was corrosion damage to her iron frames. Keelhauling would seem appropriate when they catch the *&)*%#*s. DocFrog

If you are not on the forum for replies, you can contact me at arnolds@qx.net or 859-873-8456 weekends or after about 7 in the evening. DavidA

Charlie Girl II, my slot-top Weekender is for sale. I have the opportunity and my wife's blessing to pursue a somewhat larger, more stable full keel boat. CG II is constructed of marine plywood with taped seams. She is not completely glassed. I know that is heresy, but when I was building her, the goal was a boat to sail, not a boat that would outlast me. Her interior is finished to very high standards; her exterior has more dubious dings and drips, but is sound and functional. Her semi-slot top is, im my estimation, a major safety improvement, and tablernacle mast arrangement is, I think, stronger than the basic door hinge design. She needs a professional tonneau cover and new washboards for the slot top and companion way, could use real mast-hoops, and some real yacht braid lines would not hurt. She is on a trailer. Both CG II and the trailer are for sale by bill of sale only; neither are registered. KY is a non-registration state as long as no power is involved, and I have never registered her. Professionally made poly sails, extra boom, trailer, and other bits and pieces included. I want to express my appreciation to all the folks at messing-about who have guided, commented, and advised over the last -- gee, three years? --as she has come together. This is a fun group, and I hope I won't be banished. Asking $1800. Located in Versailles, Kentucky. Pictures are available in various previous posts in the main forum. DavidA aka KYDocFrog

Wait a minute...I said nice things first. DocA

I hesitate to say this, but even though she is made of --gasp -- fiberglass, that's a right attractive little boat. DocFrog

This is a touch scary. DocFrog

There have been some earlier comments occasionally about cockpit room. There have also been comments about inadequate breadth and bouyancy at the transom leading to trim problems. I'm only about 195 lb, but even at that sitting far enough sternward for wheel control, I can detetect some trim issues, and I have about 50 lb of lead in the forepeak. A tiller will help, I think, and I'm probably going to go that way. My real "do I have the nerve to do that" is not to go full open boat, but to truncate the cabin at the first roof beam and then extend the seats forward. That way there would still be a useful cuddy cabin with proportions that still look like a working Friendship. But there would also be more seating room and the basic seating positions might be better in relation to trim. I've got cockpit repairs to do anyway... DocA and Charlie Girl II

The most valuable mod that I have made on Charlie Girl II is to open the hatchway all the way forward to the second cabin beam and use a soft cover instead of a hard hatch. It is a sort of semi-slot top arrangement. This allows me to walk forward inside the cabin to a point where I can handle halyards, masthoop snarls, jib leads and halyards and, even mooring lines in some situations without having to climb on the cabin roof or the foredeck. I think this is a huge increase in comfort and safety. I stay waist deep inside the boat and the center of gravity stays lower. My pictures are a bit weak, but you can see the design approach that I used on a boat called Stornoway at www.scuffie.com It's a New Zealand boat. Go to the website, click on "The Boats", go to Stornoway Weekender and then look at the picture gallery. There are some good shots there. If I keep Charlie Girl (my wife thinks I need a bigger boat), I may actually chop the whole coach top off to that beam and then extend the cockpit seating and put on a tiller. I think that could both expand space and do a lot for trim and balance. And you are right about Adla's tiller. She does fine work. DocA

Looking nice. DocA

Cpt Jake : Do you have a better picture of that athwartship trailer bunk set up? That's really interesting... DocA

Odd. Must be a fairly common problem. I had similar at one point, with one side being more pronounced. I kind of over rode the problem by cutting away the cabin roof to the forward beam and putting in coamings for my semi-slot top. Not the normal solution, I guess. DocA

No particular heresy. I'm getting ready to start on restoring a 60's vintage 17 foot aluminum boat as a small camp cruiser. On the motor side, the best site for that is either the long running series on Duckworks or the Antique Outboard Collector's website. DocA

Having watched this project with no little awe and a huge grin and having read, I think, most of the discussion; I must have missed whatever idiotic remarks lead to smoolie's feeling this way. I don't know. Maybe they were sent to him off line or something. It just boggles the mind. Smoolie --sorry you got the cheap shots, whatever they were. If you leave, I, for one, will miss your project and will do my best to find your other link. Good luck and good hunting. Make no little plans; they have no power to stir men's blood. Daniel Burnham, Author of the original Chicago city plan and designer of the Great White City. DocFrog

Man, I like that spreader. That I think I may try. I like the saddle too; I'm still thinking about ways to do a saddle. Thanks for the pictures. DocA

Now that's an interesting idea. I gotta think on that a bit. Doc A

Well, here in the great unwashed middle it is neither hot nor cold, just mucky wet. I'd rather have real winter than this. DocA in Kentucky

I have had the same problem. In my case some of it, I confess, is that I really did not do an adequate job of rounding the mast up where the jaws sit. That's the first problem. In order to compensate, I cut my jaws a bit short, more like a saddle, which, in turn, increased their tendency to slide around and get tangled in shrouds. I altered the set of the shrouds slightly by making sure that the eye bolt on the mast was oriented horizontally rather than vertically. That seems small, but it actually made a difference in the set of the shrouds. I also tightened my parrells to keep the jaws snubbed up againts the mast a little better at max angle. Adla has a very simple and strong spreader on Morgaine. I attempted a similar one on shoestring. It failed. I will go back to something like hers or Phil's before next season. DocFrog

I am very new to this discussion, and not a naval architect, but... The Weekender, including mine, Charlie Girl II, is big daysailer with an attitude. I don't think anyone here would call it a deep water, rough water, storm sailing boat. She is not self righting. But that said, self righting is kind of a new thing... I owned a New England style cat, a Cape Dory 14 very much like a somehwhat less elegant Tidbit; a boat with a lot of beautiful photos on this board. She was a big heavy robust 14 footer, buts she wasn't self-righting. Heck, she had a mast that I swear was once the trunk of the national Christmas tree...self righting?...not without a crane. But I doubt that there are many small, wooden masted, gaff rigged sloops or catboats that are self-righting...a relative term anyway. Self righting from where? Inverted? 90 degrees? The ballast thing is more interesting. There has been a lot of talk about that and deeper, more effective centerboards or keels. Tim Diebert, who hasn't been around for a while had a Weekender, Annie, with some really well thought out modifications of ballast, deep dagger board, and much improved skeg. Annie was probably was a lot more responsive sailer and more stable in most situations. But self-righting and ballast and all the rest are not substitutes for keeping your eyes open and not mistaking Weekender for a deepwater Friendship Sloop. She's cute. She's fun. I am more taken with Charlie Girl II every time I sail her (along with swearing I will never own another gaff rig while trying to extricate myself from tangled lines that I swear are malignant, but I said that after Charlie Girl I) She's faster and more responsive than I thought she would be. But she's got limits, and anyone who sails a Weekender has to be aware of them and their own. I've never been in a two meter sea. My sailing has been lakes and the upper Chesapeak. (That doesn't look like it is spelled right) Someone else will have to carry this discussion a little furhter. DocA in Kentucky

hoohrah DocFrog

It's an old expression, most folks with military background would recognize it I suspect, for when that hard, cold edged wind comes out from whereever it was hiding... Docfrog

Well, the bottom has fallen out of the weather and the Hawk is out. Brrrr.. That's probably it for the season. I've been working at home on college accreditation audit stuff (bleah). The wind is howling straight down our street. Itls trash day there has been the most amazing river of debris and trash flowing down the street like a solid creek. I currently have two new trash cans. Winter fun. DocA

Seems to me that that picture floated (if that's the right word) around here before. Someone commented at the time "That's wrong in so many ways..." Amen. DocA

Well done! Another member of the class of 2006. DocA