MikeStevenson

Hmmm, the overhangs don't look as long to me now. Ah well; still pretty and I wouldn't pass up another if it came along.

Oddly enough, not. Too bad, really. It was white hulled, and had the old canvas deck still, painted also. Only the little cabin was varnished. All the cockpit, rig, hatches, and such were bright also (but a lovely old patina.) I got the boat from a fellow student at UCSD for $1800. (1984, but still cheap even then.) I think no one wanted it because it had no motor or sleeping capability, and required a slip as big as a boat which could be expected to sleep several and have a galley and head (neither of which this boat had.) I'll see if I can dig up a pic somewhere. Mike

This boat was a racing sloop built in Copenhagen in 1936. It had a very smooth hull, lots of little shapely ribs, and not much cabin space (not much more than a Weekender, only sitting headroom) for a 30'6" boat. It had hardly any freeboard, which worked fine because I had to paddle it if the wind was down. Nice boat though, and lots of fun to sail. It had enormous overhangs fore and aft so tacking was weird

I'm certainly not one to ask, as I've never had to re-do a boat in an authentic manner. I had what I was told was a carvel-planked boat, but it didn't have any caulk between the planks. It was more like a barrel; it relied on the tight fit of the wood and the swelling of the wood to keep everything tight. If I didn't sail it at least once every two weeks, by the third week it would have shrunk above the waterline enough that I could see light through the gaps in the hull. The it would be bail-bail-bail for an hour or so until it swelled up enough to stop leaking. So what was this type of hull called? Mike

We always wondered why more use wasn't made of industrial-type engines for freshwater boating. They start well, are cheap and light, and less "prissy" than outboards normally. I guess Briggs & Stratton thought so too: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=126828 Mike [Edit: fixed link]

Your polishing technique is much like the one I use. I keep going with the sandpaper to 1500 grit though, then use Polishing Compound (the stuff for car bodies which I usually just happen to have around), then finish with Wenol. After that I wash w/soap and warm/hot water and make sure the parts are dry before waxing them with furniture wax (if I'm leaving them bright; brass, etc.) Works prety well. I have brass and steel cap-andball revolver I left in bright steel and brass as it's a nice contrast. I wouldn't mind nickle plating the steel, but the finish is so smooth I can keep it from rusting as-is. I was intrigued by the way you filled those holes in the receiver. I'll have to remember that. Mike

Damn...That's a GOOD weekend. Have fun!

Very cool. It's fun to get to that point; It's a real boat now! One of these years we're supposed to get up to Alaska. Maybe we'll get a chance to take out your Amphora? Mike

I'm afraid we're not very close. We used to live about 1 1/2 hours south of D-land, but now we're about 6+ hours north. Mike

On the other board I addressed the fact that ours does come off for travel, storage, etc. but that Barry's idea is pretty much waht we'd considered early on. We went with the simpler solution, but either would work. See the other post for details. Mike

I can't recall exactly what the drink was, but it was Third Grade, so probably root beer. The Amphora scanning is coming along. Mike

I showed this thread to Peter and he was aghast that anyone would be willing to put up with the drag that a motor in the water all th etime would generate. Mr. Sylvester hit it right on the head: Having the motor in all the time would slow things down remarkably. Even if you could stop the prop, it would still be very noticable. Mike

It won't be long at all until you're at the lounging-and-having-a-soda point! Great work... Mike

I'm afraid I don't. I wish I did though; I had a lot of fun with that boat. It was in good shape for almost twenty years, but it was taken by a hurricane in Hawaii. We had it over there as a dinghy for our catamaran and when the storm came, the poor Amphora was never found. I suspect I'll build another someday. Mike

The Buffy is a coaster actually; no pedals. Fun though. Peter has a new Buffy-Porson he's been doing over the last couple of years (It's in the back below the banner, photo below.)

Station #7 1 1/4" from top of board to top of keel; 1 1/2" from bottom of board to bottom of keel. Station # 8: 0" at top (flush w/board), 2 3/4" at bottom. Mike

Spreaders are not meant to be cantalievered out like that. They spread the shrouds, which then attach back together further up the mast. Our rig is really not set up to have spreaders. You could go to a taller mast by a foot or 18" and then one could think about setting up a spreader. There are some remarkably high loads that spreaders and the rigging apply to things, so you should expect to break parts if you testing rigging changes which haven't been worked out. Sorry to be grumpy, but we've been seeing a lot of spreaders which have been engineered oddly. Take a long, close look at how other boats (not other Weekenders, but bigger Marconi rigs) have been set up. Mike

Hi, I thought I'd let everyone know that I'm in the process of posting the materials lists for our boats on our site. They can be found through the FAQ page. They're not all up yet, but the larger ones are. Mike

Mr. Kelly: What a nice find! A good job on the boat, it looks like (aside from the wheel needing a re-build), and I think that is the strongest open-decked version I've seen. It looks stronger than the one we built in Hawaii. As noted on another post, you may want to beef up your chainplates if you're going to stick with the single shrouds, and perhaps go with swaged fittings or Sta-Lok instead of cable clamps (I don't know how the shrouds and stay are done on your boat.) Nice project. Mike

Maybe in the Summer you will be able to get some underwater pictures with the viewer. The little dispposable cameras with housings are good too. I took some fun pictures when I was snorkelling last year. I'm sure your parents could track one down for you when you're ready to go swimming! Mike

One of the considerations of having two sets of stays is the ability to set your shroud/stay tension loose (as we designed ours to run.) Get the forestay set to the length which will set the proper rake, then tighten the backstay/shrouds just tight, not really tight. All you want is to keep the mast straight when you're on a tack. The lee shrouds may go slightly slack; this is OK. When you set the boat up this way, you're putting lighter loads on the mast hinge, etc. than when you pull everything up too tight. Mike

The Pocket Cruiser has a wider base to support the mast and the loads on the single stays are acceptable. You could certainly add a second stay for looks and as a safety measure. It wouldn't hurt anything but the angle that you could let the boom out on downwind runs. I would run the two sets of stays on the Weekender. I seem to recall that builders who've tried only the one set have had problems. Mike

I can't wait to add an Amphora builder pics page to the site! Then everyone will be able to find out what they look like, and they'll be able to check out the great boatbuilding work you've done! Mike

Pretty cool work! You guys are going to be on the water soon! Mike

I'm sure the wire you got will work great. Even though the Gels and the Optimas are different both are great and either would be a fine choice. Mike