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Don Silsbe

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Everything posted by Don Silsbe

  1. And now the port side. I sure do love Russell Brown’s epoxy techniques.
  2. Thanks for sharing this sketch. It has several ideas I’d like to use in my refurb of an old 17.
  3. The starboard side has been sheathed in 4oz. now.
  4. That is exactly right! Here I am, trimming.
  5. You made the right decision. Graham told me a story a year or so ago. It was about the winning record of the Spindrift in local races. He said that one sailor came along with a stiffer mast, and started winning the races. Graham investigated, and discovered that the sail shape was better with this stiffer mast. He had sized the mast sections purely on ultimate strength, rather than sail shape. Once they upped the stiffness of the mast sections, that sailor’s advantage disappeared. So you are doing the right thing by going away from that flexible mast.
  6. Here’s a tour of the vaka construction. Brodie and I also flipped the vaka, and trimmed the c/b trunk.
  7. @Aphers— A sail with a bolt rope must be either up or down. You can’t stack it on the boom, like you’d do when (whilst) reefing or flaking it on the boom.
  8. The cockpit floor has now been glued down. The motor mount has also been glued in. It will also be filleted and taped to the aft deck.
  9. Today, I had to glue up a bunch of parts. I don’t like pumping, mixing, thickening, and mixing some more. I prefer to mix one big gob of goo. The problem is, of course, that a big gob of epoxy “exotherms”, and goes off before you can use it. I snagged a tip from a Russell Brown video. He employs an epoxy pallet. It is simply a scrap piece of plywood onto which he smears the goo. The stuff gets to spread out, and not get hot. His videos are on Offcenterharbor.com, which is a website I pay a subscription to. Brown has a series on working with epoxy that is excellent. There are many other videos that I watch again and again. It’s expensive, but worth it to me.
  10. I was just poking at you. I know how you feel about the Sea Pearl, the plusses and minuses.
  11. @Andy B— OR, maybe they are simply faster boats! If it were just a matter of sailing skill, we’d see more of a mixed fleet, wouldn’t we?
  12. Years ago, my brother had a cute little board boat, a Mossberg Mallard. He built a nifty storage box on the trailer to store the mast. Once, he forgot to properly latch the door, and the mast escaped. I was given the useless (without a rig) boat, and it took me YEARS to get a replacement. Every time I see spars stowed on the trailer, it brings all those memories back. Just be DAMNED careful, if you stow your sprits like this. Sure, for us, we would just make a new set. But you could end up ruining some sweet sailing plans that way.
  13. Yeah. Thanks for the confirmation photo. I had thought Roo had gone down with Dawn and Allan, to socialize and work as support crew. Good to get the confirmation.
  14. Looks like SOS has moved up in the pack. Am I right?
  15. Change of plans. No Florida trip this year. Sorry! But those videos should help.
  16. The stem got glued on today, as did some reinforcements for the deck in the bow of the vaka. The floors of the cubby bins are now glued in. The baffles at either end of the c/b trunk have been glued in place. These allow for storage at either end of the trunk, and prevent objects from rolling out of reach. I also spent some time finalizing plans for the routing of control lines. The kick-up rudder is a peculiar affair. The rudder is one solid piece. The gudgeons are mounted on a secondary transom, which is hinged at the top to the stationary transom. A control line goes forward to keep the rudder-transom down and in place. The boat will also have pedal steering in addition to a tiller.
  17. @Hirilonde— Prior to dry fitting, sometimes I make a trial piece out of foam board. The Dollar Tree has them for only $1.25. I cut out the panel sloppily, put in place, and mark where I need to add material. That way, my final piece is right on the money, or darned close. Foam board also helps with visualizing hardware placement, such as the bow fittings in my last post.
  18. Looks like that was quite a good party! What is the meaning of or the reason for choosing that name?
  19. I got the cubby bins cut out and dry-fitted. The power outlet for the electric trolling motor auxiliary is installed. Baffles have been cut to keep gear from rolling into inaccessible areas. Finally, I did a mockup of the bow area, as we are considering separating the jib furler from the forestay. Now it is time to coat bare wood with some good old B&B epoxy.
  20. It was great working with Brodie on Saturday. He’s mix and thicken a batch of epoxy, and feed it to me. Then, he’d mix up another, or wet out fiberglass tape. We glued the centerboard trunk in place. We also filleted and taped in a little baffle. This will contain the anchor rode, so the area aft (to the left in thin photo) may be used for storage.
  21. I ran out of 1/4” plywood today. I called around. Closest place was way down in Charleston, which is 3-1/2 hours from here. I guess the good life in the Appalachian foothills has its down side. I called Chick Ludwig, who lives “up the mountain” a piece. I raided his scrap pile, and now have enough to plod on. Thanks, Chick!
  22. I dry-fitted the c/b trunk prior to coating it with epoxy. Also working on the motor bracket. And determining where the power outlet should go.
  23. I’ e started using a dry microfiber cloth as a tack rag. It sucks up a lot of dust.
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