umop_apisdn

I take all my pictures with the assumption that this picture is going to be THE PICTURE that I want to keep forever. Camera memory is cheap, so I put a half gig card in my camera. After downloading to the computer they are then deleted or reduced if needed. There are a number of photo manipulation programs available for free, some of which will resize batches of photos all at once. It's easier to reduce a file that is too big than it is to blow that 800x600 "perfect picture" up to 8x10 for printing. Doing it this way also allows me to crop prior to reducing. This is expecially nice for sailing pictures, which generally have a lot of water and scenery around the boat. Sometimes you just want the boat, so you can take that 5 MB original, crop just the boat out, then reduce that to 800x600. You will have a much better picture than if you set your camera to 800x600 for the original picture. Noel.

What is the purpose of the "tumbler" in that picture? The weekender doesn't have that as part of the plans. Noel.

I can highly recommend a bear cannister from your local REI or similar outfitter. Very handy to keep unwanted visitors out of your food. Not only are they very sturdy, they are round, so don't give animals anything to grab onto to drag them off. Also, about sleeping in the boat... were you beached? or moored? If beached, how do you level the boat? If moored, how did the little buggers get out to you?

What exactly is "rolling and tipping"? Thanks, Noel.

And possibly a taller carport/garage too. :-) When I rebuilt my tabernacle, I briefly considered making it 4 inches taller as well, until it occurred to me I wouldn't be able to get it into my carport anymore. Noel

Seems to me on a small boat like this, the bell would be constantly ringing. Unless you guys silence them somehow until needed? Noel.

I'm planning out my winter projects, and all the pictures of people's halyards running over the top of their cabins makes me want to re-route my halyards too. I'd like to make a deck organizer or two to mount up there. I've found several good sites that show plans for jam-cleats, but no good plans for a deck organizer. Any ideas of what to line the holes in the organizer with, so the rope doesn't chew through them? Noel.

Ok, the rope was 1/4 nylon, from a hardwared store, several years old, but no obvious signs of wear. in one end I tied a butterfly knot to make a loop, and hooked it over the trailer hitch on my Samurai, the other end I would tie up a loop using some kind of wrapping method. That end went over the trailer ball on the Jeep. Then I gently pull until something gave. The idea being to compare which was stronger, the knot or the tied eye. yeah, there were lots of uncontrolled variables, but the results were still pretty one sided. Unless there was some mechanical connection between the standing and bitter ends of the eye, it wouldn't hold as well as a knot. There had to be some kind of splicing or stitching for the eye to hold. And thanks, Dave, for the offer to splice the line for me, but I'll do it. Although the line I am using is going to be significatly stronger than 1/8" cable anyway, so it probably wouldn't matter if I use a knot or a splice. But the splice is the better way to go, and it will be a handy thing to know how to do, anyway. Noel.

I screwed an eye bolt into the port side of my mast, about the same height as the cabin roof, and attached a double block to it. Then I attached a second double block to the aft port chainplate. This routes both main halyards back to the cockpit. I also made sure each halyard ran through the same number of blocks at the top of the mast. I don't recall how many blocks the throat halyard is supposed to use, but I made it match the peak halyard, so that both lines move at the same rate while raising and lowering the sail. That way I can pull both lines at the same rate until the throat of the gaff is fully raised, cleat that line off and keep pulling the peak hayard until it is where I want it. Noel.

When sailing my weekender, I see a stream of bubbles trailing out behind the boat. They are about a foot under water, and near the windward edge of the boat. They are very consistent in their size and location. Anyone else see these? Any idea what causes them? I am assuming that some kind of eddy or vortex near the bow of the boat is sucking air down under the boat? Noel.

This weekend I tied up several eyes in some 1/4 nylon rope using a variety of wrapping and lashing methods, and the pulled on them with my Jeep. The other end of the line was secured to the towhook on my car with a Butterfly Knot. To summarize, they didn't work too well. Even wrapping the rope for 6 inches with a tight figure 8 wrap would still pull out before the knot would break.. The only eye that held was where I sewed the eye closed with 80lb Spectra fishing line for the distance of about 4 inches. Which was as much work as a splice and way uglier. Guess I will just splice the eyes, and if they look bad, I'll wrap them to cover up the splice. Noel.

I have used a "cinching wrap" to make an eye before. I wrap the whipping cord in a figure eight around the standing and bitter ends of the line, and pull it as tight on each wrap as I can. I do this for an inch or so and tie off the whipping cord. It makes a very neat looking eye. But I have only used it for low-load applications, such as fenders and the like. I wonder how long you would have to make such a wrap to equal the breaking strength of the rope. A few stiches with some spectra fishing line would make it a lot stronger as well, I imagine. I think I will wrap up an eye or two this weekend and give them a tug with my truck, and see how they hold up. Noel

Looks like 1/8" vinyl coated wire has a tensile strength of about 2000lbs. 5/16" polyester yacht braid is a bit over 3400, and comes in every color imaginable. Even allowing for a knot (I suck at splicing 12 strand rope) I think I am still ok. Noel.

What is the working load of the shrouds? Mine are currently done with 1/2" nylon rope, and I'd like to re-do them with some nicer looking low-stretch rope. Noel

Alas, due to an almost Rube Goldbergian series of events beginning with a dead car battery and resulting in the police being summoned to my brothers home, my nephew's birthday party has been moved to Sunday at Noon. So I won't be availabe to sail until early evening. Noel.

Ok, I am looking at making a larger headsail. Several people have recommended a "lapper", which I gather is essentially greater-than-100% jib. 1) How does a lapper differ from a genoa? or are they different names for the same thing? 2) How far back should the leech of the lapper be? To the first shroud? Second shroud? even farther? 3) should the jib sheets run inside the shrouds or outside? 4) How far back on the deck should I put the fairlead that the jib sheets run through? 5) How sucessful have people been at making their own furlers? The drum looks easy enough, but I would think you would need really smooth bearings top and bottom. 6) Should I put reef points down the luff, so I can use it as a regular jib too? or should I just carry the second jib with me? Now that I thing about the question, I am going to have to lower it to reef it anyway, so it is probably just as easy to stow it and put up the smaller jib instead. Thanks all, Noel.

Ok, I am trying to clear my Sunday up. Saturday I will be out on Lk Washington for sure, but Sunday I am not sure yet what I am doing. BTW, what is the common way for communicating between boats? FRS? VHF? Should I be learing semiphore? Noel.

Mondays are always bad for me. Pretty much any Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun this month I can do.

I saw a gaff rigged boat with tan sails out by Kenmore on Saturday. It was a long way off, but it looked like a Weekender. Someone from this list maybe? Noel.

No, the guy that I got the boat from wasn't named Derek. But the boat could certainly use a good sanding. The glass was just kind of "draped" over the boat, and let harden. And then painted. No sanding was done that I can tell. The bubbles weren't even all pressed out. definitely a "workboat" finish. But it sails as is, so I am not undertaking any large tasks on it right now. That can wait until winter. I have replaced the tiller handle, tightened the rudder box, re-routed the main sheet, replaced the tabernacle to correct the mast angle, rebuilt the gaff, and made a dozen minor tweaks here and there. Lots to keep me busy. But it is nice starting out with a boat that was all ready to sail. So far I have only sailed it on Lake Washington. Noel.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Noel, and I live in Bothell, WA. I just acquired a Weekender this April from its original builder. It has kept me quite busy with repairs, corrections and upgrades. I've been lurking on this site for some time now, but wasn't able to join due to ISP issues, which are now finally resolved. Thanks to Barry for both pointing me to this site, and for taking the time to stop by my place and look at my boat and recommend a few much-needed corrections. I'm looking forward to meeting, and sailing with, the other list members in western Washington. I have especially enjoyed reading sailing/trip reports here on the list. Noel.