Phil Gowans

Great story, but unfortunately that one sounded too familiar, so I thought I'd check it out. As I suspected it is listed as an official urban legend on snopes.

Nice model. I like your sea rendering. I've never been much good at that. I build (used to build) models. I haven't built much for quite a while. Been too busy playing with my weekender to find time for the miniture stuff. I have posted pictures of some of my models. I've got a number I'd like to finish, but just so little time.

Andrew, I'm using the exact stuff Barry is. That English Braid is nice stuff. It is made to look classic. I replaced all my line with this 3 strand, just for looks. Of course you need 3 strand for gromets. I looked around a bit and woodenboat.org had the best supply and prices. The article that was in Duckworths is for sale on CD. The author gave me permission to use any of his pictures etc. and I copied the web pages all off. However, Duckworths may have some legal right to them. Since he gave me permission I don't think there would be a problem e-mailing them to you. Let me know if you want them. You might also try the way-back-machine. Good luck, I really love my rope stropped blocks.

I'm shocked to hear this news. I think a lot of us have been in the dark about this danger about us. Although, some of this news I think is exaggerated. I personally believe that Utah, where I live currently needs more DHMO. Certainly, my boating experience would be not near as much fun without the use of DHMO. However, we have to be careful about some of these studies. My Grandfather use to tell me that he had scientific proof that tomatoes were dangerous. He knew many people that had eaten them and many are already dead. I think his "science" was influenced by the fact that he did not like tomatoes.

Jan, sorry I'm so slow responding. I don't look at any forums on the weekend. (That's when I sail). The system I used for my steering is a slight modification of the Stevenson design. I basically added an internal turnbuckle and allowed the cable (rope now) to slide under a clamp when adjusting the center of steering. I never could understand the T Nelson system. There are so many blocks, special reinforcement required and the line seems to go all over the place, even down to the floor. Lots of people use it, but really I'm no genius and it just doesn't make any sense to me. This is a drawing of what I did. You are right, the way I attached my ropes to the tiller was to put 2 eye straps I through bolted them so there are only 2 small (less than 1/8") holes in the tiller. They also reduce any twisting motion when steering. I used some rope clamps (not shown in the picture). They are great items to attach rope back to itself.

WARNING: I used cable on my steering setup and it lasted only 1 season before it broke. It was my reasnoning that cable will last a lot longer and not stretch like rope. I bought some boat rigging cable that was intended to be used in blocks and harken mini blocks that were for use with cable. I don't know what happened but as you can see in the inset the cable wore completely throught the sheathing and the cable broke. This happened at the block. There was no binding or anyother problem that I could see. I replaced this with no stretch line and haven't had any problems with it since. Also as you can see I used oak for the spindel and tiller. There has been no problem with their strength. That's a piece of UHMW at the base of the spindle. I also put 3 pieces of UHMW in the spindle hub to reduce friction.

I set up this main sheet cleat about 4 years ago and I admit it I cleat the main almost every time I have ALOHA out. I also have not had any problems because I cleated the main. The cleat is in a very accessible location. It is easy to release the sheet, just a slight tug and the sheet is under my control. I also only use the cleat when practicable. I don't use it in strong, variable or gusty conditions - at least not for very long. I seldom ever use it on anything approaching a run. When singlehanding it is nice to set a hand free and not have the sail go wherever it wants. Believe it or not the cleat leaves me much more in control. I bring this up because just this last weekend, I found another good use for this cleat. I love sailing with my lapper. Even in strong winds the boat is better to sail with it. However singlehanding it is just more trouble to tack, because I can't use the clubfoot. I seem to need more than 2 hands (4 might be nice). In the past I would start my tack and inevitably I would end up letting go of not only the wheel, but often the main sheet in order to loosen the taut jib sheet and set the other. Sometimes I would be holding all three sheets and trying to do this in any controlled fashion would not be possible. The proverbial one-armed paperhanger comes to mind. My tacks were often a bit ineffectual. After settling down I would seldom be on the course I was after. ANYWAY, I found that while beating if right before my tack I would cleat the main, start my turn and care for the jib, I could let the wheel go and my turn would pretty much take care of itself. With the main cleated I found the boat was usually soon on the desired course and the wheel would be pretty much where I wanted it too. All in all a much more controlled tack and more efficient also. A cleated main while heading into the wind is not going to ever be a problem. I think most new sailors would be benefited by having ditched a boat once and a while. Granted I'm not about to deliberately do so with ALOHA, with an electrical system onboard and usually a cell phone, digital camera, keys, and lots of loose odds and ends to float away or sink. I think there is good reason the Boy Scouts require a small boat sailor to be able to capsize and right his boat, or for that matter they should be able to swamp and maneuver a canoe. This all builds confidence in the boat handler and teaches one what to do under such circumstances. If you have never capsized a sailboat, I seriously believe that you should. If you don't want to do so with your weekender (and I wouldn't), you might want to consider renting a small boat that you can try it with.

Wonderful! Wow that looks like great sailing. I thought I'd point out one item you might have have missed. The weekender is designed with a hole in the back of the rudder box. This is for use when the steering konks out and you need to control the rudder. Just place a rope in the hole and you can use that to move the rudder back and forth. I had to do that once and even though it wasn't the easiest thing to do it was possible to sail the boat. When winds are strong and the rudder is biting a bit it takes effort to put the rudder where you want with the rope. You will need a small rope (probably about 6 ft minimum - more is better). Tie knots on both sides of the rudder box. My cleats on either side of the aft deck helped to have a place to pull the rope from and to tie off to. Tacking is real interesting with this type of steering.

Is this what you are looking for? This is to scale as per Stevensons plans.

The most used tool I had while building my boat was a Dewalt combination drill bit with countersink / screwdriver. I can't find a picture on the net of the type I used, but this is comparable. The bit was adjustable if I wanted a different depth hole. This allowed me to predrill with countersink, in a second switch to magnetic driver and put in a screw that I could later cover with a plug. I tried to use two drills, one for the hole and one to drive, but I kept misplacing one or the other and this tool let me always have both available right in my hand. I like it so much that even though the boat is done, I keep it on my rechargable drill all the time and can set screws easily anytime around the house. It only cost about $7.

I didn't bring my jib halyard or throat halyard to the cockpit to avoid the extra lines in the cockpit. I just coil them up and hang them on the cleats at the bottom of the mast. I can reach them by stepping inside the cabin. How often do you really need to drop the jib or throat while sailing anyway? I built some little stowage compartments in the seat backs. They are great for odds and ends (sunscreen etc.) to clear the cockpit. I stow the peak in the starboard and jib sheet (when club footing) in the port. When I use the lapper I have two jib sheets and the starboard side gets two lines - this doesn't always work so well. I don't have much of a trained crew so things usually get real messy when I use the lapper. You can see how this works in this photo. I really like these little compartments. They work really nice for junk and lines that aren't being adjusted a lot. You can also observe my poor seamanship in this photo. I admit that I often don't remove the fenders. When I'm single handing or with untrained crew (which is most of the time) I really don't have time to remove the relatively hard to get to fenders and then retie them the right length when I need them latter. It's not a matter of lazy as much as efficency. I'm busy sailing which takes 2 hands - 1 for the wheel, 1 for the main sheet, 1 for the jib sheets, 1 to keep the passengers happy, 1 to apply sunscreen etc. Seamanship, Scheesmanship! Where am I going to find another hand for the fenders and where the heck are they when it pipes up and it's time to return to the dock? :roll: I'm not about to heave-to to remove the fenders so that someone thinks I'm a seaman. (Hardly noone in Utah knows what they are anyway.) - Sorry about my little tissy fit.

John, It's good to hear from you again. I thought we'd lost track of you. Your little (actually big) adventure was great to read about. This minimalist thing really has some advantages (read that challenges). This next weekend I had invited my granddaughter to go to a local lake and live (eat sleep etc.) on the boat. When word got around the family and others wanted to join us we decided to go to a closer lake and have everyone join us. Now, we will be camping and pulling the boat out every night, but a couple of the grandkids still want to sleep on the boat overnight. I guess we will be sleeping on the trailer in the parking lot. OH, well ... it still should be a bit of an adventure. I'm excited.

I couldn't resist posting some more. Here's ALOHA on the Great Salt Lake. If you look hard you can see my anchor line. This is Clear Lake CA. No boat, but I sure wish I had on that day.

As a youth growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I was fascinated with boats, especially sailboats. There were lots of models in the Maritime museum and I started building plastic ship models. From there I graduated to wood scratched built models. I'd always wanted my own sailboat but never thought it was really possible. It was when I realized I had all the skills to build a full sized boat of my own that I felt liberated. All I had to do was increase the scale of my model building. I was fairly old when I had this revelation, but it was always: "I can really do this and someday when I get some time and money, I'm going to do it." As a youth I had not been around anyone that had done anything like this, so it was really a novel idea. It took some settling into. I took a part-time job to get some funds. I always said I was saving for my boat. For about a decade there was always some more "important" place to use it. That didn't matter, I always made sure everyone knew I was working for a boat. I'm sure people grew tired of my dream, but I never did. I loved the building experience and I love having my own boat. It fits me like no one else's. One of the things that really appeals to me is that I build almost everything on her and the whole thing really functions. There's not to many people with a powerboat that can claim that. It also is a way to pit myself against nature and yet still be part of it. If you are lurking out there thinking: "I'd like to join that crowd." It can be done. --- I did it. The waters fine, come on jump in. We are a little weird, but that's ok - we're not dangerous.

Craig, No private message. I'm not used to looking for them - I've only had a couple. Perhaps I missed it, but I suspect it never came.

Barry, there are fairleeds on both sides of the cabin. As you can see below, I made my own jam cleats. I rather like them. They look really nice and hold line very well. They cleat and uncleat fast. The problem I have with them for sheets is there ought to be some sort of fairleed close to them (mabey that's what I really ought do). On a tack when loosening the tight line I have to give about 2-3 feet of slack and re-cleat there or the line will often slip all the way to the fore fairleed. This procedure takes a bit time and it's when I'm trying to manuever the wheel and main sheet to say nothing about keeping my ballast on the windward side. This and getting the other jib cleat adjusted. This is only a problem when the wind is really cranking and I'm single handing. That's when I didn't get the windward cleat tied off and the have to go searching for it. Sometimes I really appreciate making a tack with the club foot: turn the wheel, duck, sit on the other seat and you're done. You switch hands but you don't have to let go of something and go wandering around setting up the jib. Humm... putting in closer fairleeds would kind of solve two problems. I wouldn't have to take time to tie off the end of the line and I wouldn't have to go getting it out of the forward fairleed. I'll have to think about that.

Here are some lapper pictures. I was one of the lucky ones. I got a set of 3 sails from Ulta Sail, a loose footed Main, a regular Jib and a Lapper (as designed by Paul J.) This first picture is the one he put on his home page (that no longer seems to be up). You can see how much further back the Lapper comes, but it is still inside the shrouds. It is quite a bit bigger than the regular jib. I store both in bags in the cabin. The club foot comes off when I use the Lapper. I like Barry's idea of using a whisker pole. When running wing and wing it would be nice to have. However, I think it might be a bit of a bother singlehanded. I think the club foot is about the right length and already has a clip for the clue. I just need to find a way to attach it to the mast. Humm... I like sailing with the Lapper. It gives great performance when the wind is light. I even use it when with fairly high wind conditions and Aloha likes to move along with it. It requires a lot more fiddling around, especially with my jam cleats. It's always the leeward side that I have to be dealing with (the furthest away). This and trying to hold the wheel and the main sheet means that I need 3 hands when I have no crew. Even the loose sheet (upwind) must be tied off or I have to go hunting it down while tacking (thank goodness for figure eight knots on the bitter end - that way it at least stops at my fairleed). Sometimes with a crew I don't use the Lapper either. If my crew is inexperienced (grand children), doesn't want to be bothered (my wife is out for a suntan) or the cockpit crowded, I opt for the simplicity of the self tending jib. Even singlehanded I often select the smaller jib to make it easier on my self, but I do have fun when I use the Lapper. I try to select the correct jib for the day when I start. I never want to switch in the middle of sailing, but conditions change. Here you can see a good heal. The lapper makes this more "fun". I set up some fairleeds to run my sheets through. These were paced where the sail seemed to fill right. I wanted something fairly simple and this fit the bill. I cleat off to my jam cleats on each side of the cockpit. When I use the regular jib, I use the port one for my jib sheet and the starboard for my peek halyard. Cam cleats would be prefered for the Lapper, but I am trying to avoid anything I didn't make.

A sliding goose neck would be nice. Mine is the standard design and does not change position. The boom is rather low, especially with the new loose footed main. The only sliding goose neck that I recall seeing is that of Terry Crisp.

Guillermo, it might be helpful to know that tarp is short for tarpaulin. Webster says a tarpaulin is 1 : a piece of material (as durable plastic) used for protecting exposed objects or areas. I like http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr as a translator. It translated tarpaulin as encerado. I'm trying to learn spanish, but don't know if that is a good transation or not. Bablefish translated the above meaning to: un pedazo de material (como pl

Robert, The adjustable clamp is only needed if you want to center the wheel. I have a king spoke that I like to keep aligned to the middle. The clamp is simply a piece of metal with screws that allows the rope to slip under it when the screws are loosened. I also found that rope clamps work much better than the knots shown in the picture. I would also like to complement you on the fine job you did on your boats. They were a great inspiration to me.

Adla, No you don't need to tapper your mast. I think I'm about the only person who did not taper theirs. I decided that I did not want the gaff jaws to twist and have more slop as the sail was raised. The mast hoops would have the same problem. I accepted the disadvantage of more weight up high. My reason was mostly to be more traditional and have a gaffer with a non-tapered mast as it always us to be. However, I don't think on our boats it really makes much difference either way.

If you want to have the same thing that the Stevenson's designed, but without the disadvantage of adjustment bolts sticking through the rub rail, you might want to see what I did. This uses only 2 blocks and has a single turnbuckle. Instead of a knot that ties to the spindle an adjustable clamp is used. However, don't follow my bright idea of using cable. It broke after one season. I went to low stretch line and it works great.

My boom crutch is mostly like the Stevensons suggested. I sometimes had the mast hop out of the slot so recently I drilled two holes in the top and put in a line so that I can tie it down. This must have increased the forces on the boom crutch since I had the piece that fits under the taff rail get knocked off on a really bad bump in the road. (It's been fine up to now.) I beefed it all up by adding a larger piece of wood under the taff rail (2.5" as opposed to 1") and more and larger screws with finishing washers. It doesn't move around much anymore. I usually leave the boom crutch on the boat until I have it in the water. Then I throw it in the cabin, 'till I want to come back in. I often put it on before putting the boat on the trailer. The picture doesn't show it but I usually help hold it all together by wrapping part of the main sheet on either side of the crutch and then locking the sheet in my boom cleat. This can also be done without the boom crutch in place to hold the boom centered over the cockpit - a nice way to keep it from flailing about.

Barry, I believe you are thinking of Terry Crisp's boat. He has a track on his mast to allow the boom to be adjusted. Mine is pretty much the standard design, much like Jakes discussed on another thread. Here's mine: