Thrillsbe

What a shock. I will miss his very technical explanations.

I’d love to see a photo of your bimini, Drew. And don’t forget about soft shackles. They are handy, cheap, light, and strong.

My Mk1 has only seen a 5hp motor, so I cannot comment on using anything larger. This photo was included in my set of plans, however.

Have the cyber gods answered you yet, Chick. If so, clue me in. Anyway, I visited Chick today. His boat is looking very nice. The cabin floor/bed has all those storage bins in it. It’s gonna be a sweet ride.

Just don’t shoot it with a gun, unless you have a robust bailing system.

Mike, This sort of threading is allowed with this size. You would be correct, if it were an Orbit 20. But these are 30’s. The 30’s have more configurations available than their baby brother. You can even use a shackle with these, but I prefer lashings.

My mainsheet system is simpler, but more costly. I use Buzz Line for it, too. There is only one block on the line. it has a clip lashed to it, for attaching to the clew of the mainsail. The other ends thread through a pair of Ronstan RF-58's on the middle seat. I've tried other ways of securing the mainsheet, but these work best for me.

My good friend Amos Swogger is about to embark on the rigging of his CS20.3. I wanted to share a couple of thoughts with him and the rest of the forum about how I rigged my boat. I hope that you all will bring forward some of your own ideas here, so Amos can have a good idea pool to draw from. For my Bay River Skiff, the two objectives in designing the rigging were 1) ease of set-up and 2) minimization of the use of stainless fittings. My previous boat took nearly an hour to rig at the launch site. It now takes me about 10 minutes. Stainless steel is nice, and all,, but it is noisy, and hard on painted surfaces. I favor the use of Spectra lines and lashing blocks. The following photos are how I executed my mizzen sheet system. I used Buzz Line, because it is easy on the hands. The yellow balls at the ends of the pigtails are my attachment system to the transom. On the transom, I have some wire-formed eye straps. (Don't use the other kind, as they are hard on the line.) To attach, I simply make a loop, and pass the ball through. To relase, I yank on the tail (last photo), to open up the loop. I clip the SS snap to a soft hackle loop that is on the mizzen's clew. The whole rig terminates using B&B's fairlead/clamcleat system.

I get that first message all the tome, Chick. It goes away, if I reduce the photo’s size.

Sacrificial zincs on a trailer. That’s actually funny... in a sad way.

Tempting...

I agree with you, Beacher. The sport could use a little high-tech shot in the arm. But I don’t think these southern boys at B and B are willing to do the cold-weather research. I went into a very well-equipped fishing tackle shop in South Carolina. I told the owner he was lacking in one area— ice fishing tackle. He just gave me a blank stare. Frozen lakes are outside the realm of reality down in these parts.

By a stroke of “good luck”, I’ll be camping on Thursday, and will miss the flip. DARN!

NOW YOU TELL ME!!!

Once, I did a poor job of tying the boat to the trailer. I backed the boat into the water, hit the brakes sharply (to launch it), and watched my 17’ bass boat slowly float away. The good news was that there were no other boaters around to witness my embarrassment. The bad news was that there were no other boaters around to retrieve my boat! I had to go for a swim. So, Chick is right about tying iff to something.