smoolie671

Hmmm, I did go on their site within the last few days. So far I haven't seen any problems with my system yet. I'll keep an eye on it though. It's always nice to see people using linux. What I love is the fact it's free, and if something did screw it up, all I have to to is wipe it and start fresh. I keep all of my files backed up on a separate drive. About 14 months ago I got so infuriated with windows and all of the virus problems. With what was left functioning on my system, I took the leap, and downloaded ubuntu. I never looked back. I have it installed on all of my computers, and none of them have had a problem yet.

I'm just gonna throw this out there. You really should switch to linux. I switched over a year ago, and have had absolutely 0 problems with infections. I can go onto any site now without fear of screwing up my computer. I can even make it look like the latest version of windows if so desired. I use the ubuntu version. There may be better versions of linux out there, but ubuntu is my favorite so far. If your just looking for a reliable way to browse the web, then this is the best. Not to mention, it's free!!!! Just my 2 cents worth.

Well I just got the boat cleared out, and I was sitting there behind the wheel...... Screw this! I'm keeping her! Got some new ideas for making her look better. I think I'm going to change the colors. I got a better and far more simple idea for the rig. Still gonna be a square rigger, but no gaff. Thinking I might put a big lateen sail on the fore mast, kinda like a xebec rig.

Sorry for the delay in responding. The boat is in basically the same shape as the last pictures indicate. It does have some blue tarp rash from the tarp that was used to cover it during the move down here.I also did lose a small wooden decoration that was on the side of the cabin area while traveling through Louisiana. Right now it's very hard to take any pictures because it's wedged into my garage. I'm asking $500.00 for boat and trailer, plus all the additional spars that I had built. I'll even throw in the $200.00 figurehead and the lanterns.

Yes It's true. I have finally given up on the idea of sailing this fine boat. I have another project that needs to get off the ground, so Morningstar has to go. I'm not looking for much for it. If your interested, please just e-mail me at smoolie671@yahoo.com. I am currently living in Vero Beach Florida. If your new to the forum, and not sure what she looks like, just do a search in this forum and you should find plenty of photos. The trailer will also be included.

I'm still around. We live in Vero Beach Florida now. I still have the Morningstar. She needs a bit of work still but I have stalled a bit because of the economy. Right now it's more important to eat and keep a roof over our heads than to spend more money on the old girl. Ulysses Stockdale

We are finally here! The Morningstar made the trip ok....sort of. I of course had to load some of our household belongings inside of her, so I wanted to put a new tarp over everything and strap it down with rope and bungees. Well after 7 days of hard driving, the tarp is a complete write-off. While I was uncovering her, I noticed that there is severe tarp rash all over the poor thing. Blue splotches everywhere that I'll have to repaint. I also noted that a rather nice bit of wood carving that I had spent allot of time on, managed to fall off and is now lost. :'( I suspect it happened somewhere in Louisiana. The roads there are horrible! They where so bad that one of the trailer fenders broke loose and caused a catastrophic yet spectacular failure of the tire. All that was left were pieces of rubber no larger than a .50$ piece. So now begins the task of finishing her and finally introducing her to Florida water.

Oh, and PAR, you got a deal!

We are coming down in mid January to scout the area. If all goes well, we will be moving a couple weeks later. We are thinking about Kissimmee, Clermont, or davenport area. Poinciana in the Kissimmee area looks good so far. We just don't want to get in an area that is less than desireable. As far as the inlaws and friends wanting to go to Disney, well I guess I just have to deal with it. I suppose those season passes that I'll be getting will get a serious workout. Oh poor me! ;D I already instituted a ban on all further winter clothes shopping, and gone so far as to buy 6 pairs of rugged shorts(you know, the ones that have all the pockets for all of your boat building tools). I'll NOT miss the cold and snow, that's for sure. I want the sun to cook my gray matter long enough to forget all about that wretched white stuff so when the word "snow" comes up in conversation, I can have this wonderfully ignorant expression on my face and say "whats that?" I apologize to those of you who like snow, but for me, I have had enough throughout my life. I don't snow ski so it ain't no skin off my hide. I'm hoping to get settled and start cranking out boats and plans for them. At least I should be taken more seriously in Florida than in Idaho. If I hear one more person say "oh, thats the potato capitol of the world", I'm gonna come unglued!

The last nail is in the coffin. My shop was broken into and robbed while we were on vacation a couple of weeks ago. I'm getting the heck out of Boise forever! Idaho does not deserve to have such a fine boat caress it's waters. They stole my generator, several small power tools and my brand new Hern Ironworks cannon!!! MY CANNON!!!!!! You take a mans cannon, and you are calling on God himself to strike you dead. Thats it. My wife and I are moving to Florida. Now I know Florida has it's issues too, but at least I can sail close to year round. And in Florida I can build the larger boat that I have been designing. I can also find a good ole boys network to get into so if some crackhead decides to steal from me we can go gator feeding. I still intend to post every now and then. By the way, any of you guys in the general Orlando area?

Thank you all for your support and advise. I have decided to just cut to the chase and go with the injury lawyer. I don"t think that even my insurance agent gives a damn about me.

Well I hate to have to admit this but I seriously doubt Morningstar will see the water this year. Last Thursday I was in a serious motorcycle accident. Some guy wasn't watching and made a left-hand turn in front of me. I locked the brakes on the bike and tried to come to a stop before hitting him. I lost control and the bike went down hard and dragged me. In the process my left arm was pulled underneath and behind me causing my back to be twisted beyond the breaking point. I broke two ribs between my shoulder blades about 2 to 3 inches from the spine. I also got bad road rash on various parts of my body. Since I'm not sure I made contact with the other drivers car, my insurance rep is saying that it's possible that his insurance won't pay for anything even though he violated traffic laws and caused the accident. I'm at a loss and don't know what to do.

Well the mast is still hinged, although at 7 ft from the bottom of the boat. There are 2 reasons I did it that way. 1. I wanted to have the shroud lines permanetly fixed so they wouldn't be flopping around when the mast is down. 2. the height of the mast needed versus the storage space at my shop dictated the height of the hinge. In other words the higher the hinge, the better she will fit. If the mast tabrenacle was too short, I would be looking for another shop. Or there would be a big hole in the back of the shop kinda like the one I put in there 2 weeks ago when I forgot to collapse the mast before rolling her in. :shock: :oops: :x

Well Let me start by saying that I have been very forgetful about taking the camera to the shop when I work on the boat.....sorry. I'l try to get some photos up here soon. I have made a big change(for the better) in the design of the masts. As much as I love the look of the traditional stepped masts, I had to consider the ability to have fun while sailing this thing. With all of the ropes to furl and unfurl the sails, it was becoming a nightmare. Not to say that I couldn't do it, I just want to enjoy the time on the water instead of constantly adjusting a small forest of rope! Salvation came when I happened across the website for the Pelican. She is a new tall ship in the final stages of sea trials. The website described the "Polacre" rigged vessel (pole masts). The masts where generaly one piece construction. This allowed all the yards to be dropped to the possition of the lowest yard just above the lower shroud lines. Plus with just a bit of re-rigging I can close haul the yards to 18 degrees allowing the boat to sail closer to the wind. All of this, and the mast design fits the overall time period that I'm shooting for. So last week, with a bit of sorrow, I removed the original masts and set them aside for later use. In the process I found that I could recycle one of the top masts and mast cap for a better bow sprit and jib boom! The last thing that has changed is she will now sport a brigantine rig instead of a brig rig(only a gaff sail on the mizzen mast). Actually it might be considered a ketch because the mizzen will be shorter than the fore mast. When I have become comfortable sailing it, I may consider converting to a brig.

Reefing of course will be practically impossible. I will have to sheet the sail up out of the wind and/or drop the yard down to the mast step. Yes I'll have several lines to control, but not so bad once you get accustomed to it.

I going to rig it as a brig, but not just any brig. 8) I have been studying the rig design from www.weatherlysquareriggers.com . If you take a look at their website you should be able to see the picture of the brig near the bottom of the page. The only real difference with mine is that I have the traditionaly stepped masts versus the pole masts mentioned in the website. As for the "action pics", well stay tuned. I should be getting her wet for the first time this spring. P.S. I have seen the Pirates of the burning sea. Looks like a really nice game.

Actually "Dustywaves" What you see pictured there is a simple "gas" cannon That I built from abs pipe components. It makes a loud bang, but comes nowhere close to the real cannon that I'm getting from Hern Ironworks here in Idaho.

Most of the comments were made directly to me off the board. Oh yes! I actually have gotten my share of "hate" mail on the subject. I won't quote them or divulge who made them. Suffice it to say, they were not of a pleasant nature. Also I just recently learned of another forum that has been armchair quarter backing this project with much the same types of comments. For all I know they could very well be the same people. You know, I was always under the impression that inbreeding was still illegal. :twisted:

Phil, you know your the first on my list when she is ready. Plan on sometime this spring.

Yes, the pin rails will be around the base of the fore mast, and at the sides of the boat for the main mast.

Ok. I'm so tired and beat down by the way people cannot treat others with decency and respect. Some people are bullet proof, I am not one of those people. I will never stop building this boat and others like it. I do happen to know what I'm doing, and by God I will finish. But it does sting really bad when someone spouts venom in my direction when they don't even care to learn about the project and how it's built. I did lash out. None of what I said is directed to those of you who actually like what I'm doing. I spent countless hours pouring over documents reading books, asking questions, and studying the overall look of the "ship" and what goes into it. I know it sounds like bragging, but at this point I know alot more than the average joe about this breed of vessel, all because I learned. It seems these days if you don't have a stupid piece of paper hanging on your wall saying that you graduated from high browed university that the general populace thinks your an idiot. I'm not. I know that the hull is borrowed from the weekender, but I'm sorry that I am not as perfect as others who can do plank on frame boats. I wanted a hull that was flat bottomed and less likely to heel over too far. I did my homework, and I still can't seem to win. I'm not building a mantle piece, I'm building something that will actually work! I've said what was on my heart. I will revisit my decision again in a few days. Perhaps then things will be a bit more clear.

A few of you have expressed the desire to know about any new developements concerning my boat, the Morningstar. I'll put this bluntly, There have been several people on this board that do not seem to like what I am doing, nor think me compitent enough to do so. These people seem to not to have learned the lesson: If you can not say something nice, then do not say anything at all. It is for this reason that this will be my final posting to this group. If you are indeed interested in what I am doing with my style of boat building, then you are more than welcome to send me a personal message. I will continue to read my messages as well as the post to this site, however I'm no longer interested in contributing. If you would like to veiw my website, you can find it listed on the links page of Phil Gowans website.

I think I understand now. Perhaps this is where I should simply part ways.

I have a question for everyone here....Is there any record of a brig-rigged vessel having a bowsprit topmast? The closest that I can find is the Nonsuch, but it is ketch rigged. I'm going to add one purely for the extra added salty look and wow factor. I just want to know if Im going to have to deal with alot of people complaining that I'm historicaly inacurate. If it is "wrong" I can tell them that I simply like the look of it. If it is correct, then I would like to have some frame of reference to defend it. I'm adding an example to give you an idea what I'm ranting about. I have been looking at the Kalmar Nyckel and really like the look. The only difference would be the lack of a mizzen mast and the addition of a jib. I doubt I would ever fly any canvas from it, but it would sure look dandy!

I thought that Phil gowans did exactly that. He coated the inside of his boat with glass and resin.