Hirilonde
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Posts posted by Hirilonde
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I built the boat exactly to plans with only cosmetic changes and my sheets are rigged to swivel blocks/cam cleats on the center thwart. I made birdsmouth masts and used bronze track. I glassed nothing, but did a continous bronze chafe strip on the keel. I have yet to rig reefing lines. I have reefed a couple times before setting sail. It is another thing to rig at the ramp. I think going to all the tedium of building wooden spars and then covering them in a luff sleeve is kind of a waste. I also used 2 full battens and 2 partials. Sail shape has always been my #1 concern. I can get her rigged in about 15 minutes at the ramp. I ordered 2 of the sheets of 6mil in Sapele instead of Okoume, for the deck and transom. It is a nice touch for varnishing.
I wouldn't change anything I did. Probably better to ask specific questions, either now, and /or as you get going.
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13 hours ago, Aleksandr Pasechnik said:
All that is also helped by having a topping lift (to keep the boom up over my head while rowing with the sail lowered and lashed), but that I have found can be static. If I really need to raise the end of the boom a bit, I can wrap the topping lift line around the end of the boom a couple of times.
Might experiment with some lazy jacks, too, though maybe that would be too much? =]
If your topping lift comes down from the mast and goes through a cheek block, oposite the one for the outhaul, and then to a jamb cleat, it will be adjustable. On bigger boats a 2:1 system is used, but not needed on a Spindrift.
I think lazy jacks is getting carried away. But then I didn't use them on my 27 foot Renegade either.
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Why do you want to depower?
If it is an issue with wind and waves, then don't go dead down wind. Tack down wind, that is, sail at 135° TWA and gybe back and forth. There will be little or no tendency to roll when off the wind a bit. If you can plane the boat, it will actually be faster than 180° down wind.
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On 9/20/2021 at 9:52 AM, Thrillsbe said:
I wish someone would compile a bunch of cat ketch sailing tips for sailors new to the rig.
Permanent archives have been discussed here and in other forums. They are almost always dismissed. Not just because some one has to do it, but learning things by reading, before you have even tried, is not sought by many people. Trying and asking specific questions is the choice of most, and a living/ongoing forum does that well. People can respond to exactly what the learner is asking, which can be much more meaningful. Anyway, that is my 2¢
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12 hours ago, Murray said:
I'll make up a steam box and steam the false stem.
Why? Just cope one out, use 2 pieces if you have to and scarf together. It is just decoration and maybe a bumper, depending on how you sail. Almost all stems, even in the day, were cut on band saws.
I would varnish the tramsom. Actually, I did, but mine was Sapele though. You can always sand and paint if you don't like it. Flat surfaces at least are easy.
Looking good.
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9 hours ago, Thrillsbe said:
I’m looking for a little better upwind performance.
Sail shape is the key to this. Battens play a much larger role than just supporting extra sail area.
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Any DC bilge pump that fits will work. The issue is how good your solar charger is, and how much the boat leaks and how much it rains. Google "small DC bilge pump" and you will get many that will work.
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2 hours ago, Aleksandr Pasechnik said:
So if I wanted to go out already reefed in a stiffer breeze, do I just attach the outhaul to the reefeing clew and the tack to the gooseneck attachment? \
Bunching up the sail with the reef point lines is nice too, but that's how I do it.
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Well, you could, um, errr, build a Spindrift.
In all seriousness, it isn't just the 9% more sail area. It is significantly better sail shape. It's all a compromise, and your damned because it is all related.
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I had a similar issue with my wooden masts one year. I took a paddle and my main sheet and created a lever to twist the mast as I pulled it out. Then I went and solved the problem,
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No personal info on this, but it popped up on my Facebook feed and thought it might interest some.
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Small electrics are already practical, though pricey compared to petrol. The larger ones are starting to catch on, but they don't seem to have a great range/run time and are very expensive. Technology in DC electric and storage of it are moving fast. It may well come down in price over the next few years.
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Andy, the step of a Spindrift mast is shaped to keep the mast from rotating.
Tim, you will need some really sexy bushings or bearings for the mast to spin on for any hope of a furling line to work. You will also have to remove the boom or put the bushings/bearings above the goose neck. I can't imagine either working. I would just raise the sail and go sailing.
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Dealing with the gap is the easy part. Is the side with the gap now higher than the other? Does it protrude out beyond the topsides? Do you have to trim the top of one cabin side now to match the other? Do you need to dress down anything sticking out too far? These would be my concern.
BTW, you have no shear strake on your boat. You do have a shear, and that gap is in it.
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22 minutes ago, PadrePoint said:
I haven’t gotten around yet to making pockets that would neaten up the lines.
I find pockets for sheets cause more tangles than loose spaghetti on the cockpit sole. I coil my mizzen haylyard and tuck it behind where it leads down to the cleat. My main halyard leads aft to the thwart on the port side deck and I let it spill just forward out of the way of my aft cockpit. If I had a balasted cruising boat I might do differently.
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I am only 68, but I am beginning to appreciate your decision Pete. I am getting close to making aluminum or wood/carbon masts as my birdsmouth Douglas Fir masts are getting harder to step. Short sails in my Spindrif 9N on the small pond in front of my house are amusing, but I would not want a Spindrift as my only boat. Best to you on your new boat.
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I carry a paddle in brackets on the wide side of the centerboard trunk as well as my auxilliary oars. The paddle is for getting away from or to the dock, etc., and the oars for no wind.
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I let my sheets lay in the aft cockpit in my Lapwing. Once in a while someone could have there foot on one. Other than that it is an extemely passenger friendly boat.
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You may want to reenforce your aft deck, or at least add a good sized backer for that. The load is to rip it up and out as well as shear it forward. The nice thing about that style is you can easily remove everything 'cept the small part that mounts semi-permanently. I like it when indications of a motor can go away. The down side is that you can't lock your motor on as the mount and motor can be removed together and the height doesn't adjust. Tilting your motor is the only adjustment you have.
Oh, and I like bronze. Gonna keep this item in mind should I ever go auxilliary.
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Alan, when I bought my Lapwing sheets and hardware you suggested, and I wanted anyway, swivel blocks with the cam cleat part of the hardware. Do you not recommend or carry them now?
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35 minutes ago, Paul356 said:
Not only does it help me keep them straight, it's much easier to tell guests (like at the family sailing extravaganza last week), "pull that blue rope." Or more importantly, "keep your butt off that red rope." Stuff can happen too fast on a dinghy to stand on ceremony.
LOL, but yeah, I hadn't thought of this one.
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I think all main sheets on small boats are over sized. They are way stronger than needed. It is done for comfort. I can't imagine you need larger.
I would never add more advantage to a pulley system than is absolutley needed. It doesn't just create a larger pile of spaghetti in the boat, but slows down trimming.
I rarely sail with the sprit forward of abeam. But I like that I can and that I can slow down making a down wind beach landing by dropping the mizzen and dumping the main by sheeting out to forward of a beam.
I use the soft braid B&B sells. Randy, have you tried marking the lines with colored tape or markers to tell them apart? It took me a year or more to stop making my sheets shorter. I was afraid to make them too short. But I didn't want any more line in the cockpit than necessary. I leave my sheets rigged to the sprits when I break down at the boat ramp. Less to do next time and solves the problem of which is which.
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5 hours ago, Steve W said:
Is that mizzen sheet double ended? If so, I like that, When hiked up on Skeena, it's tricky to adjust the mizzen sheet, but that would solve things......
Nothing beats having both main and mizzen sheets going to the center thwart and a swivel block/cam cleat for hiking out. The sheets are always in front of you, with a swivel they allow leading directly at you, the elevation matches hiking for easy cleating and uncleating. The main sheet can be in your lap for quick release. My mizzen is single ended and uses a traveller. My main sheet is double ended with each swivel out board of the mizzen mast on the thwart to provide the same effect as a traveller and it gives me the 2:1 advantage. With experience, if it didn't bother me to have the only end some times to lee, and some times to whether, single ended would be fine. It works well from both ends on both tacks.
When the wind picks up, nothing makes me feel more comfortable than having the main sheet in my lap, cept maybe my toes under the hiking straps. Even if I don't use either, it is knowing how quickly I can react that gives me the comfort.
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23 hours ago, Paul356 said:
I wont argue that, except I had a terrible time with my lightweight brass keel strip buckling as applied so wish I'd put something heavier on.
Bending half round or half oval is tricky. Hollow is even trickier. It wants to kink. I bend my pieces over a mold before drilling holes. This helps a lot!! I bet a 3/4" flat stock would work well too. Just file the exposed corners a little after installing.
https://www.mcmaster.com/bronze/easy-to-machine-architectural-385-brass-bars/
Lapwing #20 aka Hirilondë
in B & B Yachts Forum
Posted
Hey Kenneee,
I built both masts the same, cept for length. I believe they are 18 and 17 feet long. I did 6' of full diameter and then tapered to the end of both. I made them almost a foot long so that when I cut the ends it came out neat. I only plugged the ends. The only reason to block a hallow mast is for structural attachements like a gooseneck for a boom, or where spreaders join. I did the birdsmouth cuts on my table saw and then tapered them. 1 1/4 tapered to 3/4 gives you a mast just a tad under 3". I then made thin glass bushing at the butt and at the partner to remove the slop from my 3" ID tube or hole in thwart.