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MikeStevenson

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Everything posted by MikeStevenson

  1. I would say it's entirely possible to go sailing without them, but they do perform a useful function. You will get wetter without them, but that's not a big deal for a sail or two. Mike
  2. DANG! It's maybe a good thing no one sees our prototypes...Very nice work. The old Weekender has been getting more and more beautiful versions made of it lately than in the past. Far beyond what we had imagined years ago. Thanks, Mike
  3. Well done Tyler! Very fast work; it took us about six weeks last time we did a Weekender, and we've done this sort of thing before! You got it in four months, which is really comendable. I'll make sure Peter sees this. Now you're one of the "old salts" on the forums: You've actully finished! What sort of machine next, I wonder? A Mini-Max? I always thought that'd be a fun project, if one wanted to make a flying machine. Once again, great work! Mike Stevenson
  4. As usual, Frank's note is right on the money. Gather things up, keep them from getting tangled, but don't sweat it: Next time you raise the mast all the lines sort themselves out miraculously (except for the occaisonal snag of the t-buckles, which has got us in the habit of pre-setting them facing outboard and ahead just a little so that as the mast goes up they don't catch on anythin gand just swing up tight. Mike
  5. Our keelbox (I like that term; we never came up with anything other than "the slot thing on the trailer") is very narrow. Probably about the same "finger-width" clearance. It works great. Sometimes one can get the keel up on a side, but swishing the bowsprit around a bit will drop the keel in the slot. Someone was asking about the Wooden Boat Trailer plans a week or so ago. I was sorry to have to tell him that we didn't have any more of those plans, and that the modern road rules probably wouldn't smile favorably on wood trailers anyway. It's too bad, as the idea was pretty good. And not our own I might add, so I can say that... Mike
  6. Cool: A mini-Weeeknder! You've come at the problem in much the same way we did, and ended up with similar solutions. We had to go to the jacknife centerboard on the original Weekenders as we didn't want a daggerboard in the middle of the cabin. It would stil be in the plans if it were enough of an added advantage. In your twelve footer you may find it's still worthwhile. Nice work. I'll show this to Peter as I'm sure he'll want to know about your new concept. Mike (added bit) As far as the Super-Skipjack goes, I don't know what we'll do. We did do a whole new boat about a year ago. We're undecided about it. Peter doesn't like it much, I'm not sure. It was really fast in the short test sail day we had it out, but insanely tender. We ended up with a sailing canoe. I had said I wanted to make something like this, so I think we erred on the slippy and skinny side subconsciously. I'll give it more tests at some point, but we don't have any time to spare for the next couple of months.
  7. Is a Flymo one of those hovercraft lawnmowers? I always thought that was a fun idea. Now that I have my own lawn, as opposed to mowing the parent's lawn, I'm more conscious of cutting it right. I ended up opting for a reel mower to make clean cuts. Plus it's a little excersie... Mike
  8. I don't have a set of the first Weekender plans at hand, but I think we did top-opening seat hatches in the beginning and went to the fron=opening ones later. Why I can't remember. It might have been to avoid rain infiltration. Mike
  9. Another fun trick is to lay up glass as usual, then after you've wet out the glass you place a piece of clear Mylar on top. Work this down smooth and peel off after the resin's set. (we've used polyester for this; I don't know if epoxy would stick to the Mylar) Another thing to be aware of is that Mylar will not stretch, so it makes a flat surface, not a compound curve. This is OK for our boats, as we have flat curves due to the plywood. Mike
  10. The B-24 came through Monterey Airport two or three weeks ago. I didn't get out to see it, but have in years past (when we were still down south). Did you get to see the planes flying? When we were still living down in San Diego the B-24 and its companion B-17 came through town. They spent several days flying up and down the coast in front of our house. It was really impressive: especially when they'd do low passes just along the surf line! Thundering machines shaking the house...pretty cool. I wanted to take a ride then, but they were asking $150. Now it's $350 or something. Glad they're still around, and not being used to bomb brush fires any longer. That was thrillling to watch but a waste of historic machines, particularly when better planes exist to do the job. Mike
  11. I remember an East Coast small cat race called the Worrell 1000, or something like that. It sounded like a great idea for an adventure: Sail all day, everybody beaches (I assume times were taken as to when you beached), then off again in the morning for more racing to the next beach. If someone kept a record of when everyone beched, they could then figure out who won the race at a big party on the last beach. Is this the race you were thinnking of? It reminds me a bit of Double-Twelve races which used to be held at Brooklands in the early 1930's: A 24hour car race split into two twelve hour bits with the cars stored in a locked paddock overnight. Very civilised. This could be done with our boats if the right location could be found. Mike
  12. How little catalyst could you get away with? I don't like it when it's too hot, but it's sure nice to know it's going to go off no matter what happens! Mike
  13. Very cool...As stated, "we love this stuff"! You've made great speed with this project. We have a friend who teaches a tech-ed class at a local high school; she needs to see this. Thanks for all the information, and for doing all of this so well in the first place. Mike
  14. It's great to hear of another Sea Scout Project! These are such great projects for getting young builders involved. We just got a great packet of photos from a High School in Kentucky whic just finished their Weekender. I hope to get pictures up soon. I don't know if you've been in touch with the Shawbridge Sea Scouts, but they may have some ideas which might be useful Their link is below: http://www3.sympatico.ca/tigermusky/Cub.htm Mike
  15. I miss the old Mini-Cup...It was the one of our boats on which I probably had the most fun. We tended to not get much of a chance to use our boats, as the next one was usually being prepared for the next article. For some reason we actually got a chance to use the Mini-Cup a bit. It, the sailcars, and the Weekender were the boats we really got to know well. I don't know which boat we'll use if/when we do a "small boat" videotape, but it'd be fun to do the Mini-Cup. Mike
  16. Wow, it sounds like Florin had a tough time of it. I'm sorry no one asked these questions before. I thought we covered this in the plans and/or tape, but I'll have to check to make sure we did. Having grown up in SoCal, and been deep in the surfboard and boat building communities, the resin details have become second nature to us. First off: There are very valid reasons why we specify "boat resin". This is the generic term for a pre-promoted, self-curing (waxed) resin. It doesn't need any help to work right, but you DO need to sand before applying a second coat to get a good bond (or at the very least wipe with MEK, Acetone, or better yet Styrene Monomer. That said, be careful of both the MEK and the Styrene Monomer; both are nasty and the Styrene can become unstable after a period of time (becoming like a low-grade nitroglycerine.) Can you begin to see why we tell people to use Boat Resin and just sand between coats? This is simple, safe, and works great. The reason for the un-waxed stuff is to keep it from going off on the surface. This is allows subsequent layers of resin to form a good secondary bond without having to do any sanding or wiping with solvents/styrene. When the next later is applied, it kicks the first off as well and a new sticky surface is created. This first type of resin (unwaxed) is generally called Surfboard Laminating resin. Surfboards are made this way. It's a critical part of the process for them. The process is brought to a close by applying a layer of Surfacing Resin which does have wax. Then this is sanded smooth and Finishing Resin is applied to give the boards a super-glossy clear finish (this resin is buffed to get the polished look). Someone who's done a board in the last decade or so might be able to correct any of these steps, as it's been nearly twenty years since I last went through the process with anyone. It might have changed in the meantime, though the last time I went to a board supply place about a year ago it looked like the same stuff was still being carried. Gel-Coat is really supposed to be used inside a well prepared mold. This is why you only see it on production fiberglass boats. It can be patched if damaged, but this is usually done with a sheet of Mylar or similar to form a smooth surface (like the inside of the mold). This is why we NEVER have mentioned gel-coat as a potential surface finish. This is also why so many good boat paints have been developed: To come up with an externally applied finish which looks like gel-coat and stands up well to weather. Buy the LPU boat finishes (which cost about $100 for the Weekender) and you'll end up with a great looking finish which will last a very long time. Overall, the fiberglassing and finishing process should work OK if you stick to the boat stuff. This can be tough if you don't have a boat community around to draw from. Happily, one can get supplies by mail from West Marine. Also: West's full catalog is a huge source of information about all sorts of boating processes and equipment. If you don't have one, you should go to their site and get one. Once again, our condolences to Florin for his agonising fiberglassing experience. I'm afraid even the most experienced can get caught in the soup though: A member of our extended family who is one of the most able plastics men anyone will find (the creator of the fiberglass tennis racket, designer of very high-tech cored composite boats from dinghys to 120', etc.) got sold a drum (yes, 55 Gal) of bad resin. It was old, which makes it go off too fast. He didn't check it and got way into a layup over a male mold. It started to go off way too soon and he had to pull all the glass off and trash everything! I can't remember what he did to save the mold; I think it had to have what resin was still stuck to it sanded off and the whole thing rechecked to get back to the shape he wanted. Bad. This does address the shelf-life question: about a year to a year-and-a-half is usually what we've seen over the decades. Old drums of resin will start to get "growths" in them as the plastic begins to polymerise/crystalise on its own. At this point most would toss the resin, but we've been known to use the stuff even after the point at which we have to strain out chunks (mostly because it was al the resin we had at the time...) It will work, but it's super-sensitive to catalyst at that point and I have no idea how strong it is. This is not recommended. Mike
  17. That's why I always pulled measurements off the right and left edges of the chart w/the dividers... :wink: Sorry, I couldn't help being smart-aleck-ey. The coffee's strong this morning. As far as my personal comfort level with Imperial measures, I grew up with my father building all of these machines, so I got a big dose of fractions at an early age. They've never bothered me, but it is wierd watching people struggle with everyday things like "Okay...half of 2 5/8ths is???? " The thing about fractions is: They're still around, even in a decimal system. Measurements aside, there are times when one needs to be able to work with fractions. I suddenly realised though, this may be a moot point for those of you in other countries where basic education still exists. Angles I agree about: Radians make a lot of sense. I guess it depends on the application. Temperature I like Fahrenheit, as the divisions are smaller. It's not a big deal, but I've noticed that our car hasa digital thermometer in it and even F
  18. I don't want to start a whole wrangle about the Metric system (which I don't particularly like for everyday use, but which I remember enjoying for science classes), but I can't agree with the statement that the Metric system is "superior in every aspect". For navigating, the Nautical Mile is far more useful and reality-based. It's a minute of a degree at the Equator. What this means is that if you're taking a reading with a sextant, all of the stuff you work out ends up being easily translated on to your charts. I know no one uses a sextant anymore, but there it is. A real-life basis for one of our measurements. Personally, I'm quite happy with the Imperial system. Mike
  19. I meant that I hoped I wouldn't take too long to get the DVD project ready. We are limited to four hours though, so we can't add too much footage. The Spragues would love to sell CD's. They never really sold many of their earlier ones, unfortunately. They're outstandingly nice people and it's a shame they didn't sell more. I think Peter Sprague was working on a new disc when I last spoke with Hall. http://petersprague.com/ Mike
  20. I guess you like the idea! :wink: OK, It will be some time before we do this. I suspect late Summer maybe. I do want to do chapter entries so that building steps are found easily (I tried to do this via time marks for the tapes in the plans). No regional zones; I think that was a nasty thing to add to the DVD format. Why should only one continent get to see something? I know: regional profits, but I don't have to like it. There are a few films I'd love to have over here which are only available in Europe... Certainly we'll figure a deal for prior videotape purchasers; that's only fair. All of the sudden I know why it took nearly two years to get our DVD of Legend: I keep thinking of stuff to add! Since we're doing this, why not tape some new sailing stuff, maybe some added details, etc. I'll try to not take too long! Mike
  21. I'm thinking about transferring the 3 1/2 hour video to DVD format. We held off because our old master tape is pre-digital format and the place which stores it wanted an even grand to transfer it. Since then we've re-acquired our master tape and we may need a new Mac soon (the one I'm using is about six or seven years old and showing signs of finally croaking...) Anyway...If we do a DVD I may be able to add some bloopers from the shooting if I can find the original shooting tapes. Also: The family member of ours who designed the canoe below will be visiting next week. Anyone think I should try to talk him into doing plans? It's pretty similar to the B&B canoes/kayaks, so I don't know if he'd be up for doing the plans, but I'll see if people think it's warranted. I forgot to mention that he did each side of bow (sides and hull bottom) out of one piece of plywood each. If you take a close look at the bow, you can see that he somehow folded the 1/4" to form the sides and bottom. Interesting. Thanks, Mike
  22. Well I don't know about needles, as Monterey Bay has some of the cleanest waters I 've ever seen, but the cold thing id sure true: Our average water temp here is about 54
  23. Actually, we've wondered about this question before (many times over the decades...): Why are there so few boats from California? There are a lot of people here, and we sell a fair amount of plans here (though not as much proportionally as we did in the past), but not too many finished boats. Part of the problem is the size of the state. Even if we did have a lot of boats here, they'd be spread all over (same problem for Texas though). Another problem is the lack of places to sail as compared to Back East. The SFO bay is big, and has some great places to sail, as do the other big cities (San Diego, L.A.), but most of the coast is crashing waves and big rocks or long lee shores. Not too great for our little boats. The lakes are frequently overrun with power stuff, so that's a problem too. Trailering your boat anywhere (which is pretty much a given) means longish distances (approx. 150 miles to Tomales Bay from here, 110 to Sausalito, etc.) We think these are some of the reasons why we don't see more CA builders. None of the problems are really that discouraging by themselves, but altogether they may be enough to dissuade potential builders. Mike
  24. We're strong proponents of well-galvanised hardware. It's hard to find places which sell the really heavily galvanised parts, but if you can find them, they're cheaper than stainless and might just out last the stainless parts. Mike
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