MikeStevenson

Well done! You guys have a fun summer ahead, I think! Mike

Were the other set of oarlocks ever used? Not much, but I think it was as Mark stated: If someone was sitting in the stern. I think the second boat we made only had one set, but that boat was never used with cranes, lift-pump, or any of that

Yep, slicing excess when it's cheesy is great. Ditto for scraping drips, spills, etc. with a putty knife. Adla: I know exactly what you mean about gloves. It's a nice idea, but not necc. practical in the heat of the moment. I can think of too many times when Peter and I have had to resort to the ultimate tools: bare hands fiddling the fibers into submission. We try to avoid that, as I'm sure you do too, but once inawhile that smell creeps in (the going-off scent that polyester gets as it starts to catalyse) and you get the idea that we'd better get the lead out and solve these problems post-haste! The best job though was the hulls for the 36-footer which were four layers of 24oz. bi-ax (not including the mat scrim...), over eight feet from side-to-side, and for some stupid reason it was over a hundred degrees the day we decided to glass. The resin had kicked hard about eight to ten feet behind us and we had 36 feet of hull to do. Nothing but keep going and hope for the best! Of course it was a catamaran, so that meant a whole 'nother hull afterwards to do, then the decks (we used the same male mold for both hull and deck. Then my uncle talked us into helping him pull an outrigger hull from the mold (same shape, shorter freeboard) since we had the mold all set up... I can't imagine doing that on a a serious bet now... I guess that's growing up (or getting soft...), but I don't know what Peter's excuse was, as I'm younger than he was when we did that! I guess it the getting-soft part... At any rate, we're all very impressed by the quick work. Mike

The only roller-fouling system I've been privy to was the Harken stuff we had on the Valkyrie. They were aluminum extrusions which sleeved over the forestays one the two bows. The jibs slipped up in a track slot on the extrusion, all of which turned with the drum. I don't know much about the drum-only type (which I'm assuming this is, unless I've mis-interpreted--which is certainly possible.) I was told that the foil-type were more trustworthy, but ours are such little boats, comparatively, that I imagine either would be fine. We never had any problems with the Harkens, but we never really pushed them that hard either. I will say that this was the first and only time we've had roller-furling on a boat and it was sure great. It was smooth and fun, and of course every time we tacked we had to swap sails so we had a fair amount of use with them. Mike

Great shots...I'm really impressed with the whole project so far. Nice attitude and great follow-through! What sort of other glass work have you done? Nice job with the spreader. I think for eppoxy you'd probably be right to use that. I've never done a whole lay-up with epoxy, just wing centers for R/C gliders. With polyester I do like rollers, but polyester is so much thinner as I've seen the epoxy. To everyone else's querys and sharings of protective gear use, you really don't want to see how Peter and I work with p/v-esters! Epoxy would make me think about gloves if I had to use it a lot. One boat wouldn't be too threatening though. (at least personally

I agree; It feels like the panels are the active force in a "hard-chine" boat, not the actual edge. We always think of water as a sticky, viscous liquid (which it is...) and try to make it easier for the water to get past the boat. Water likes big round shape better than sharp ones, so try to keep the radii big. Especially on inside curves like the keel fillets...water doesn't like low-pressure spots. Mike

So you really rounded your keel. We usually did ours with a little (3/8" or so) flat spot in the center. We used a Surform shaper to do ours, so the radius was freehand. This also for the chines. Mike

We do our chines and keel radii closer to 3/4", maybe 5/8" or so. Mike

It was the publisher's decision to not print any more of the book. I can see why, as a large publishing house would consider this a not-very-profitable book. In fact, I doubt it would be acepted for publishing in this market. Thirty-some years ago things were far more relaxed as to profit margins. I am scanning the book now to either have it available as a download or something. Mike

Well I can't see why you'd need a separate forum for the Amphora. For one thing, the interest will die back a little as people settle in to a bit less of a frenzy of Amphora building, and there aren't forums for each of the other boats. I can just imagine how busy the Sportfoil forum will be... :roll: Mike

We never have had a Spitfire, but we used the rear-end out of one for a project we did using bits from various sources (early '40's Fiat front end, engine and trans from a crashed Ninja, gas tank from an old outboard, etc.) It worked ok, but the chain-drive bits have never been properly sorted out. Mike

I'm assuming you must mean an MG B, as the others are pretty swoopy. We're (Peter & I) in the midst of putting a B engine in Peter's A right now. I was hoping for a test fire today, but the starter was dead-dead; now we wait until Tuesday...No "...we are go for main engine sequence start..." I'm afraid. I await the next installment of your Weekender serial with eager mouse-finger.

As to the Skipjack board, I'd certainly build it in, but see if you can get away without it at times. We always thought that it was a pretty required part of that boat. Those of you who have them right now might want to chime in with a more recent opinion (the last time I was on a Skipjack had to have been in the middle-70's.) The Triad will sail pretty well without the board down, but a little better with it. Mike

Great looking shop too. Nice and airy too. Peter won't work even in a carport if he has his way, as he likes to build out in the light and air. I think a roof is a good compromise. What's your plan for trailering the boat? I ask as NV's not that far away... Mike

Great progress indeed! I'm glad you're posting the progress shots; it's great fun to watch the speedy work. Frank's very right: Don't do much at all before glassing. You just want to knock off the high spots and get things fair, not smooth. The smooth part comes after the glass (if at all; areas under non-skid need no finishing.) I was going to write "Keep up the terrific work", but that seems hardly neccessary or polite! You're seem to have it well in hand. Mike

Surely

If you're going to swage your cables (and it's a very good way to conect them), you need to know a few things: Get the copper swaging ovals or stops, not aluminum. Oval swages are for attaching two wires (like when you make a loop around a thimble-which you should always use-and the wire backs up on itself.) Stops are just a circular sleeve which can be swaged on a wire to hold the end in a special fitting, and of almost no use on our boats (the only thing I can think of is in making ratlines.) When you swage an oval, make sure the thimble is tight in the loop, but not up against the oval (close though.) Use three "squishes" on an oval if you're doing it by hand (either using the big bolt-cutter-like swaging tool or the type where you tighten two bolts until it's smooshed.) If you have access to an hydraulic swager, those can do the whole oval in one press. If you use only two hand squishes on an oval, you may not get a good grip, and using only one squish is less secure than a cable clamp and will likely fail. If you use a vise or pliers (or any other tool than a real swaging tool), you WILL have a failure. Please squeeze these right. Swages are a one-time deal. There's no going back and it's very hard to un-do one. You'll probably mess up the wire if you try and get it out by cutting off the sleeve (oval.) Another alternative are the Norseman swageless terminals. These are cool, and we used them on the Valkyrie so we could make our own rigging without having to swage 1/2" or 3/8" wire. The terminals are made so that you open the end of the wire a little, slip in a sleeve, then tighten up the whole terminal and everything gets bent and grabbed and it's at least as strong as a swaged end. But you can take them apart and re-use the terminal (you lose the part of the wire which was bent maybe, and I think you're supposed to use a new center bit.) Useful to know about though. Mike

Nice-looking bi-ax. We use the 24, or preferablly, the 16oz for our CycleKart glassing. On the Valkyrie our lay-up was four layers of 24oz at once (w/a mat scrim on each.) I can't imagine doing that now. I think we were a little mad (and some of our wives might say more than a little...) We have really come to like the knitted bi-axial fabrics (either 0-90 or 45-45, depending on what's going on.) They're so much stronger than roving it's a joke. And best of all, they can be dry fit (shaped ahead of time to save lay-up time) amazingly; Peter made himself a vintage racing helmet as he couldn't find any which looked like what his favorite old driver used to wear. He ended up shaping a piece of knit to wrap into a complete hemisphere (but with the subtle shape he wanted.) Cool stuff.

As noted above (and proven by the beautiful resultant boat) our designs can certainly be built with Stitch-&G. We don't build this way our selves ands don't recommend it for these reasons: The screws do add strength and hold things nicely while gluing (and if you want to use urea resin glue or urethane Gorilla-type glues you have to screw-&-g), and the stringers are a very important part of fairing the hull shapes. If you don't use stringers, you're going to have to be cautious about getting really fair-looking curves on your panels ahead of time and certain points in our plans don't take stitching into account (the hull sides go on blind and get trimmed to fit.) Personally, I prefer our older concept, but either will work if you're willing to go to the extra effort for the stitching. Mike

Frank is right: Coated cable used to be good stuff from non-boating sources. Perhaps not so much now. Make sure it's really biting the cable well! Mike

Too bad about the plans, but it does make a pretty amusing pic. I don't think I've ever seen that before (heard of it, but not seen it.) E-mail me a list of the pages you need and I'll send them to you. Please include the address you'd like the sent as I may not have the order handy. The boat looks great so far, and I have little doubt it'll turn out great! Mike

We've always been partial to Danforths and Bruce Anchors. West now sells small Bruce anchors under a different name. (not as small as the one I saw at a show once which was about 3" long. It was on a little chain and in a sandbox to demonstrate the ability of the design to dig in regardless of the intial orientation

I think drain openings are probably fine. We may have drilled some in ours later. There is one consideration though: The big cuddy openings allow enough air to keep things dry, and you can reach in to sponge out any slop up in there, and (this is the big thought) you can keep your food semi-dry if you don't have drain ports. Wet feet will bring in an inevitable amount of water, which will then find its way into your chips and snacks and bread. Something to think about. Mike

Hi again Ed, I just posted to this thread on the other forum :wink: I think using the laminated stern would be better than going to a single piece. It's not too much more work and will stay much more stable and is stronger. Mike

On ours we drop the main, flake the sail a bit, then drop the mast. With everything on the boom crutch, we tighten the main sheet so things don't swing around, then wrap the whole bundle in the main sheet. If you do a sort of extended hitch along the rig, it holds everything nicely. We made a cover from a drop cloth (canvas, cheap, fast, re-doable), but it doesn't trailer well (ballons up, tears.) Mike