Charlie Jones

the bow part of the bottom is inserted in a notch in the front of the keel, just over the dead wood. Those stringers must be trimmed back so the ply will slide into that notch. That is 1/2 the thickness of the keel, which is 2 1/4 inches.

hope it helped - but you should thank Travis - he scanned the page and emailed it to me- I just posted it.

Here's Travis's pics of various gallows designs - Taken from Sailors Sketch book, by Bruce Bingham [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

email them to me Travis and I'll post 'em

This was stolen from another board, written by someone who has lived in the area for many years-- "The Florida Coast has a long history of being porous. 1) The British were unsuccessful at blockading French supply ships carrying arms to the Colonials, in the Revolutionary War. 2) The British were again unsuccessful blockading against weapons movement in the war of 1812. (Even though they successfully convinced us to leave Canada alone.) 3) The Union was wholly unsuccessful blockading against the Confederacy. A few miles from my home, is a road called Military Trail. It was named that, because it was used to move troops and supplies in the Civil War. It was far enough inland, that Ships off-shore, could not see the dust kicked up by troops and supply movement. 4) The Federal Government was equally unsuccessful blockading against Rum-Runners between the Bahamas and the U.S. during the Prohibition Era. There was a concrete Liberty Ship just off Bimini that I used to dive off of. That same boat was used in the 30's to store cases of hooch, to off-load into the speedboats approaching the Florida Coast at night. 5) Uncle Sam's luck was again dismal, with Feds trying to interdict pot-runners in the 60's. 6) Ditto with the human waves of Haitians in the 70's. I happened to be working on a condo in Key Biscayne in the early 80's, when a whole boatload of them (like 40 people in a 21 foot boat) landed against a seawall and they all came spilling out. The millionaire condo owners were quite incensed. I was once doing touch and goes practicing short soft field take-offs in a fairly hefty cross-wind. While re-fueling at the FBO, a guy walks right up to me, calm as you please and says: "Good cross-wind landings, out there." "Thanks!" I replied. He handed me a card, saying: "You ever want to make 1500 bucks a night, landing on a beach, give me a call." He handed me a card that said: "Universal Exports" like right out of a James Bond movie and had phone, fax and telex numbers right on it! After he left the office I asked the guy working the counter: "Is that guy for real?" "Could be" he said, you're like, maybe the 3rd or 4th guy he's given a card to, and he hasn't given any cards to any of the students, so he knows what he's looking for." "Yeah" I said, "but what if I was a cop or something? I mean, handing over a card like that and saying something like that in broad daylight is pretty brazen, don'tcha think?" He shrugged and said: "Some guys threw the cards away, one guy kept the card." "Swell." I thought. But guess what? It's just that easy, down here. 7) The flood of cocaine in the 80's was just as successful. Me and my buddy were fishing one night, that just happened to be Operation Clean Sweep, a joint task force exercise between the U.S. Navy, the Coast Guard, the ATF, the DEA and (of course) the FBI. There were all these helicopters sweeping the area with searchlights, co-ordinating with all these military vessels and boats and whatnot, which got quite annoying, so we kept moving and even on a relatively slow sailboat, we were able to dodge the searchlights quite easily. You could see the light on the water comin' at you in a straight line, from a ways off. Other boats that did not bother to move around, preferring to stay anchored over the reef, were boarded and investigated. By simply staying out of the searchlights, we were never stopped all night. All that manpower, equipment, and fuel cost about a bazillion dollars and netted them several marijuana joints and some undersize lobsters for their efforts. 8) Haitians in yet another over-loaded boat landed in Biscayne Bay recently, as did an airplane from Cuba a few months back. And NOW you're trying to tell us, you think perhaps our coastline just MIGHT be a little porous? AND you think they should have been intercepted by the Coast Guard? Reality check time. The Coast Guard (until they get folded into Homeland Security) is under the control of the Transportation Department (not the Department of Defense, like everybody usually thinks) and are tasked with keeping the waterways marked and reasonably clear. Because they have a whole lot of boats and know how to use them, they are burdened with going out and fetching back the idiots that have gotten into a Jam, Out There. Now that there is a crisis of security in our country, they are also tasked with guarding cruise ships and protecting harbors. During the Great Rafter Exodus of some years ago, they used up so much of their budget getting PFDs, water and even diapers for Cuban balseros (rafters) they had to curtail some patrols, due to no more money in the budget for fuel. Hopefully, they'll FINALLY start getting the funding it takes to do a hard, thankless job, that some people seem to automatically think they should be on top of, already. Even though the most powerful countries on the planet (at one time or another), have never managed to achieve that for the last half a dozen centuries, or so. Food for thought"

Excellent advice Frank. The contractor saws from Delta and the other's are quite good, particularly if you can find a good used one. You may as well also look for an aftermarket fence if you get a Delta. The saws are good, but the fences leave a lot to be desired. I have an OLD Craftsman saw from sometime in the fifties- paid $150 for it. It's a great tool, but since then they pretty much turned to crap or as we call them "Crapsman" . The fence on that old saw is better than my Unisaw!! Of course, I do love my old Delta Unisaw, except for the fence - It ain't worth beans:)

correct- in fact, I used a 1/2 round over bit to do it before I put the bottom on.

Frank - The only time I can really think of would be while at anchor. I don't leave the radio on while we''re sleeping on the boat at night and I don't have it on while we are anchored for a prolonged time either. I didn't mean to indicate I didn't think it a good idea. Just didn't want the "have to have it on" thought of as an official requirement. Maintaining a radio watch is certainly a good idea and the seamanly thing to do. Of course, around here where I sail, we just may be the only radio equipped boat out there on lots of days. Cause we're almost always the ONLY sailboat for miles and miles. Of course, my wife doesn't seem to mind [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

As I was following the thread from Johannah asking for advice on VHF's, I read in Nelson Surbrooks post this quote- "The regulations require you to have the radio turned on if you have one on board. " This did not sound correct to me and it continued to bother me, so I have done some checking with the Coast Guard. I have found that there is NO requirement that a radio be turned on if onboard. The CoastGuard officer I talked with checked with boarding officers in three other districts, and went through the regs. No such requirement. This is not to say that having it on isn't a good idea, it is. It just isn't a legal requirement. However if it IS turned on, as Mr Surbrook stated, you should be monitoring Ch 16 as the hailing and distress frequency.

A good ROS machine and the long board should do nicely. I also use a redwood concrete float with sandpaper wrapped around it. Has a nice handle and is pretty easy to use one handed or two. You will also find good use for a cabinet scraper. Used correctly it can save you tons of elbow grease :wink: Sanding the epoxy, 80 through 150 should do all you need. I never go finer than 150 on any surface to be painted anyway. Even in my woodshop, prior to staining furniture we never sand beyond 150, and usually stop at 100 grit. After the finish is on, that's a different tale. THEN we go to what ever grit is needed for the finish, within reason.

Actually the idea for aluminum foil inside the mast is an idea put forth (and used by) Lin and Larry Pardey. They have used the idea on both of thier boats during the 32 years they have been full time cruising. I think they are now on their third go around. However, they don't advocate just cramming a handful in there. In "Self Sufficient Sailor" they talk of crumpling the foil, then forming a long roll and putting that roll inside the mast. They also point out that it won't work on an aluminum mast. They indicate they show up as a vessel about three times their size. Hard to argue against all the rest. Really does get thick out there and you can lose bearings very quickly. Another really good argument for a continuous DR plot too.

A tip for making it easier to fit the strips. If you will cut the strips with a very slight taper or undercut and make them just a tad wider than the slot, you can wedge them down into the slot, then sand away the tops so they are flush. Glue them before you sand, then all will fit very tightly and it won't be such a finicky job fitting them.

Here's the link- http://www.trailersailor.com/forums/trailersailor/index.cgi You'll get more answers than you ever imagined. Great bunch of very knowledgable people there, most of whom sail small trailerable boats. You'll find several I'm sure with experience with any unit you mention. And don't worry about being laughed at for asking what you think are dumb questions- they won't. Also, there are 6 or 7 women who post there regularly.

Lookin good Frank