Charlie Jones

bear this in mind also- you are going to HAVE to have two rowing positions because you must sit way forward when carrying a passenger. When I had a 250 pounder aboard I had to sit on the front edge of the rowing thwart. If you go too long on the oars they won't be comfortable rowing from the forward lock points. In the picture there is about 430 pounds aboard I've been using a set of aluminum oars from an inflatable to row the Mini. They are a bit too long but I've not had time to make wooden ones. I think Graham's 5 ' 10 " length is probably the best, and that's what I will most likely use. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Laura and I are about to put it on the road. Leaving the warmth of south Texas, 18 foot flatbed trailer in tow and heading for Rochester New York. There we will load the Seafarer Meridian 25 and return south. Of course we will arrive on Friday sometime and it's supposed to SNOW there on Sat while we're loading Bleah!!! We from the deep south consider snow to be a four letter word We'll be starting the trip in shorts and Tee shirts and probably wearing long johns before the week is over. UGH!! See ya'll in about ten days or so cause we ain't gonna hurry coming home. Not with 5000 pounds of sailboat in tow.

Basically to plan, but with some mods. Gotta have SOME custom stuff in a custom built boat. Right?

lol- Good eye, but no- it belongs to the folks who run the sailboat shop I share a building with. It's not running, but it's gonna have to be moved before we can put the Princess on a trailer cause we're going to have to use that door.

here's the boat with all the decking. I found that the forum limits you to 3 attachments:) [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Tabernacle and king plank, bottom of anchor locker, and some of the decking. She's all decked!!! Now I get to start interior and cockpit work- finally:) [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

A huge AMEN to that Mike. After all when you leave the shore, even if rescue is close by as it fortunately was in this case, it certainly behooves any skipper to be ready to take needed steps to ensure the safety of his crew. That rescue might not be so close when YOU need it. And rest assured - whether you are skippering a Weekender or a 35 footer, you are just as responsible for the safety of the crew as you would be on a 200 footer. That's a load you assume when you skipper a vessel. Sounds like a pretty good captain.

Same era as the early Pearson's - CCA influence. Late 50's early 60's or there abouts. The later Pearsons had a different designer and you can sure see the difference. The early Pearsons were designed by Carl Alburg who also did the Cape Dorys, at least the first and smaller ones. As I said, this one was done by Philip Rhodes. The longish overhangs were pretty typical of the era and ratings. Short waterlines when upright but heeled they gain waterline length tremendously. They aren't quite as fast as the more modern hull designs but I think they are much more sea-kindly out in the open sea. Personal opinion of course, but that's what my wife wants to do- sail offshore and we'll be sailing double handed so something this size and sailing ability is exactly what we wanted. Alburg tended to deeper draft than what I'd be comfortable with around here in the Texas bays- his Ariel at 26 feet had over 4 foot of draft. This boat has 3'3"- quite difference.

Greg- I don't haul boats as a rule- this one is for US!!! She's got most every thing we've looked for in the next boat and we aren't buying her- it's a "come and get it" deal from a friend who doesn't feel he has the time and skills to properly restore her. Tim- I really only get uncomfortable in my un air conditioned shop when the temps go much over 100. In fact I'm under strict orders from the boss lady to shut it down when the thermometer she hung behind my bench goes over 105. The heat and humidity is worth it cause we often get to sail in January and February too. Of course, I still have to mow the damned grass all year too. Here's what she looks like- Seafarer Meridian 25, designed by Philip Rhodes, built Holland 1961. Needs a LOT of work:) but the structure is sound. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Hey- can that damned snow stuff. I have to go to Rochester week after next, towing an empty flat bed trailer, to pick up a sail boat and then drive back here. The boat is on a cradle and we'll have to load it onto the trailer for the tow home. I don't need any snow:( We consider snow a four letter word. If it gets below 45 my wife puts on long john's:)

nope - no relation (that I am aware of) . I live on the coast, actually almost on Matagorda Bay., close enough I can look out my living room windows at the bay. I'm supposed to be semi retired- what that has actually meant is that I work 5 days a week instead of 6:) I build boats and run a furniture repair shop .

Greg- I can't even get to the online catalog for Sailrite, but in the 2003-2004 catalog the books are on page 51. They have a set of five (#36101) for $49 and each individual one is sold seperately. The one for the Mainsail is cat #36201 and sells for $11.95 The Jib one is #36301 and is the same price. There is one for Spinnakers, Storm trysails and Stay sails. Probably won't need those for the Weekender huh? They also list a complete home study course in sailmaking for $195 Bill- Nice looking boat. I've always thought old Sam's Titmouse was a pretty neat little boat.

LOL Ray. My wife and I leave a week from next Weds heading to New York to pick up a Seafarer Meridian 25. A Philip Rhodes design with 3'3" draft and a 2400 pound keel;) We will be doing a total refit and restoration on her and then selling our 21 footer. We're keeping the 18 foot Sharpie for sailing in shallow waters:) and I've been working with the designer to convert that boat to a tri rig. 2004 should be an interesting year

neat article- The dimensions are almost the same except for one small point- She carries 360 pounds of ballast, with 80 of that being in the centerboard. Makes a huge difference I'm afraid. Really nice to see somebody sailing simply and without a bunch of "stuff":)

SailRite has an excellent set of (small) books on sail making. Not too expensive and each one covers a different kind of sail. You could get the one covering mainsails for example. They also can supply every bit of hardware, thread, etc that you need. By the way- Sunbrella is far easier to sew then is Dacron. Also- my wife,who did sail repair, sprays silicone on the material to help the needle go through, particularly when using the sticky tape.

takes a fairly long time- some months. Would take less time down here in the summer than further north. Both, Cosmetic first, but then the epoxy eventually breaks free of the wood and sorta turns a dirty brown- gets extremely brittle. Strip canoe builders use a UV resistant varnish to protect the epoxy.Here on the Texas coast, we like Zspar 2015. It's rated very highly in UV protection.

Brent - that's not a bad idea Brent - I'll try to get a picture of the ones I use tomorrow while I'm at the shop. They are made of 1/4 ply with knobs on each end. I used old drawer pull knobs and glued and stapled them on.

In a thread below I mentioned using wooden spreader pieces inside the centerboard case to keep it spread to the right width while being glassed in and it occurred to me maybe I should pass on a small tip I've had work well for me. Any time I need a wooden clamping pad or something like the spreaders, and I want to prevent the wood from being glued where it ain't supposed to go, I use the clear plastic packing tape. It's pretty cheap, easy to roll off and stick on where it's needed, easy to trim and epoxy doesn't stick to it at all. You can also do things like easily covering the edges of temporary framing with the stuff to keep them from getting stuck. One other example of using the tape is where the mizzen mast tabernacle will eventually go, but I installed a cleat completely across when building the bulkhead. I located the position of the tabernacle and put a strip of tape under the cleat so later I can cut out the cleat as needed and not have to chip it away from the bulkhead. I didn't know at the time exactly how wide that tabernacle would be since that depends on mast diameter.

Travis is correct- I glassed the CB case in place, then cut the opening with a router and a flush trim bit after I turned the hull. Couple of points- I inserted two spreaders in the case while I was installing- they were lengths of wood the proper thickness to prevent the case from closing in .. I covered them with packing tape on each side so they wouldn't adhere to the case interior. I had them longitudinally about 2 inches up from the bottom of the case. This is quite important as if the case closes in any at all you'll have trouble with the CB later. I marked where the case opening should be and bored a hole at each end so I could insert the router bit. Once the boat is inverted, you can just run a router along the side of the case interior and cut, or you can cut the bulk of the wood away first with a saber saw, then use the router. I was using a 3 HP router, so I just cut. Remember that the hull bottom has a slant and the case is vertical(hopefully ) So you need to pack up one side of the router base so it will sit vertical on the hull bottom. A strip of wood the correct thickness can be double side taped to the base easily enough. Once I cut the opening with the trim bit, I used a cove bit to slightly round the edges- I think I used a 1/4 cove. Then sand as needed. After it's all cut, the remove the spreader strips. Have fun

you might also go to TSBB and ask Eric Jon the same question- he regel coated his old Cal 21 a few years ago. Did a quite nice job too.

Thanks- since I make my living there I do have a good sized shop. I share a quite large building with a sailboat shop. Here's a pic showing the shop from the same place, but turned to the right a bit. The boat wasn't there at the time. The lathe, compressor and shaper are out of sight to the right. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

In two places over the boat hang chain falls. On the end of those chain hooks hang a block- actually a triple block from a big boat mainsheet. I run a line through a block, around the hull and tie it to itself quite tightly right at the block. May sure they are both done the same way. Then when the hull is lifted using the chainfalls you can spin the hull in and on the rope. I pad everything and clamp extra reinforcing boards to the deck edges so the ropes won't exert point loading on the edges. This pic shows the hull hanging in the ropes ready to turn the first time. It would be turned clockwise obviously. I did find out that the handles of the clamps should be INSIDE the hull:( Otherwise they drag on the floor and you have to change them or lift the hull higher. By the way- I figure that the hull is only at about 400- 500 pounds right now. I can lift the stern off the floor with little effort. Capt Jake- the centerboard fits the case like they were made for each other- 3/16 play is all there is :wink: :wink: [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

nice website. The cruising guide to the ICW sure brought back some memories too. I've anchored in many of the places he mentions, and hope to again some day.

Actually, doing a birds mouth spar is quite quick and easy. I think easier than a box even. It's a much simpler chore to get every thing straight with the birds mouth, and quite quickly machined. Plus it glues up in a very short time. As for having blocking where hardware is attached, that's standard on any hollow mast, including aluminum if done correctly ( with a compression tube) An idea I'm working on and may just do just for drill is this. When you glue up the spar, tape off the mouths on two opposing sections. Glue and clamp the rest (the other six joints) as usual. After the glue cures, split the spar at the taped seams and you'll have two exact halves. Machine the blocking to fit where needed, glue it in and glue the spar together again using the clamps like the first time. The last ones I did I bored holes into the ends using a forstner bit and either used appropriately sized dowels or turned a round plug the size I needed on the lathe. I really don't see that a birds mouth spar would be at all weak or too limber, built according to correct stave sizes for the sail area involved. Remember - you can vary the strength by increasing or decreasing the thickness of the staves AND by offsetting the apex of the mouth slightly to the inside or outside of the center. I have a boom to build for a 25 foot boat in the some what near future and I'll most likely use the technique for that- and it will be an oval section