Hirilonde

By insure do you mean liability and property damage or the boat itself? My homeowners in RI covered liability and property damage as long as the boat was under 25'. I self insured on the boat itself. I figure I will do the repair any way and in the last 5 years I have probably saved enough on premiums to buy all the materials I could need for repairs.

Sitka Spruce is my #1 choices. But price and availability are why I didn t use it as well Alaskan Yellow Cedar is great, if you can get it. When I was in RI it was available 10 minutes down the road. I made my oars for my Lapwing out of it. Here in FL no one has even heard of it. Douglas Fir is a tad heavier than ideal, but it is what I used. I made my Spindrift boom, both Lapwing masts and sprits. You can likely get some nice pieces if you are willing to create a little scrap getting the best parts even at a big box store. (cringes at the thought of big box stores) By the board wide if you have to and figure out how to get the best part of it. I am skeptical that you can bleach Poplar and lose the green. I would try it first. I like Poplar, but it is ugly. The heartwood is white, but hard to find.

I take my main sheet to the center thwart as well. But instead of a block and separate cam cleat, both are one piece of hardware, the whole thing swivels, and the cleat leads in what ever direction the sheet is pulled in. Between this and a tiller extension I can sail from almost any where. Though I do prefer just aft of the center thwart

Bah, get out of that tunnel and just keep working.

Bursts? I wanna video of a burst! ?

You need one of these Don:

And I thought Garry built an expedition Spindrift. I have never built a plug for my trunk. But then a nesting version has an angled aft slot. I did once tow it fast enough for water to come up, but she was planing at the time. So I stuffed a rag in. Does water really come up the trunk on a conventional perpendicular trunk when rowing? It may not matter much with a Spindrift, but having your winch line come up over the bow means it will be pulling down harder as you get your boat up on the trailer. I have a similar situation with my Lapwing as I didn't want a bow eye or a hole in the stem. I have to get behind my boat after I retrieve it and push it on the last few inches. I have learned to live with that as I still don't want a bow eye or hole.

I will never again epoxy anything that gets varnished on my boats, with the occassional exception of plywood. If the varnish ever breaks down, and the epoxy is yellowed or cracks, you will never get it looking good again. If it is varnish alone, and it is damaged, it is easily removed with a heat gun without damage, and then simply re-varnish. In man's efforts to make things bomb proof we some times make things worse. I just now had to repair the seat in my Spindrift. The corners burnt in the sun and the epoxy cracked at the corner and started to release. I used a chisel and removed the compromised material, sanded to smooth, Built up the bare wood area with varnish and sanded/varnished all a couple time to feather out the old to new edge. The color will never look right again. Had there been no epoxy you wouldn't see that I repaired it at all. Port Orford Cedar

I use Davis rowlocks on my Lapwing (open). I tied a chord to the hole in the bottom of the pin and tied a toggle to the other end of the chord. It passes through the socket and the toggle keeps it from coming back through. Now I can't lose my rowlocks and the chord is long enough to tuck the rowlock behind my stored oars under the side deck. I alson can't lose the insert, though if that were an issue I would do as Don says and add tape until the inserts jamb in place. On my Spindrift I use round rowlocks. (closed) With buttons on my oars the rowlocks can't fall off. If your oars are lifting out of the sockets while rowing, that is operator error. ?

Almost makes you not want to cover it up with cloth.

Other than on a classic boat of the era, I agree. There is no way reefing a gaff is easier than a sprit Marconi. And if you are looking for a sail plan for a good blow, a fully reefed main and mizzen on a cat ketch is about as short of a lever arm as you can get with a still viable rig. As to sleeping floor plan, I would do what I had to do with a well rigged sailboat.

Narragansett Bay is the best small boat sailing on the east coast. David gave you some ideas closest to you Curt.The East Passage north to Providence can be busy with ships. If you are looking for a less busy area East Greenwich has a nice ramp on the EG Cove which accesses the upper West Passage. This was my childhood sailing grounds. If you head towards the town of Narragansett and Joe Anderson, there is a ramp in Wilson Park in North Kingstown. This accessess Wickford Cove and middle West Passage and Jamestown. Once you reach Joe, you have salt pond sailing ( 6 in RI) or out into Block Island Sound.

Not for me it isn't. If the wind is blowing my auxilliary will be buried in a locker. I just wanna get home when there is no wind. Or maybe use it to crawl around exploring tight places.

That, and that they are ugly and weight in the wrong place are why I must have a removable/installable under way option. Even if the oil/fuel draining issue wasn't, dealing with spilling gas is no fun.

Don asked me to start a thread on this stuff. Can't say I am an expert, but I probably have more experience and luck with the stuff than most. A few things to consider before even using it. It will never match solvent based when it comes to gloss. If you must have a mirror, it won't satisfy you. There is a clear coat, and fanatics can do the super fine sanding with clear coats to finish. But it will still not match. But if almost as shiny, but safer seems good to you. System 3 is a lot harder than one part polys, but not quite as hard as solvent based. That being said, I like semi-gloss. This is especially so for my Lapwing which is a classic look, and planks vs. big smooth hull. The biggest plus as I see it is there are no isocyanates or Xylene. Isocyanates are the big unknown. They are proven carcinogens, organic vapors cartridge masks do not filter them out of your air, and they have no smell. Professionals wear a full suit and supplied air. There is more study needed here. Yes, they are much safer rolled and tipped vs sprayed, but no one seems to know where a safe place to put the line is. What I have learned about rolling and tipping System 3: 1. System 3 does not go on well in high humidity, humidity cures it too fast. 2. System 3 does not go on well in any amount of breeze, cures it too fast. 3. System 3 does not go on well in high temperatures, cures it too fast 4. No 2 people working together can go too fast to keep a good wet edge, they sure can go too slow. 5. The hot recoat time is fantastic. It is days down to less than an hour. So if you did want that super finish, no sanding till all the coats are done. 6. They suggest thinning it. YES!!!!!! You may get some drools during rolling, but it will have started curing so fast you will still be racing by with your tipping and it won't get a chance to drool after that. The ideal day is no wind, 50°, low humidity and cloudy. Because I paint my Lapwing 1 plank at a time, and can alternate sides, I can paint solo. I don't keep a wet edge from plank to plank, just along each plank. When I painted my Renegade it was large smooth continuous surface. This is where it gets fun. Even under those ideal conditions, and the planking all set up on both sides. It was a race to get from bow to stern without drag marks. My partner rolled vertically and moved fore to aft. I tipped horizantally and followed him as fast as I could. The result was a quite smooth semi-gloss. For tipping I used a badger hair brush and made sure not to let anything cure on it in the process. Have a bucket of water handy. A wet brush doesn't hurt, just don't slobber the water as you go. A SS wire brush helps clean the tipping brush. To say that having all these things handy before you start is a good idea would be an understatement. Anyone with experience please chime in.

As I see it, the biggest issue is running time/range for an electric. I conclude they are now a great choice for daysailors. Not so much for cruising. Unless you have a good solar charger and don't use it a lot. I look at electric motors the same way I look at water-borne 2 part LPUs. There are a few sacrifices, but health and envirnonmental concerns put both over the top.

I have never tried, but consider the physics. Due to the angle of the lines the strain on each rope is greater than 200#. Interesting idea, but I will let someone else try first. ?

I think Jeff asked the key question: why? What do you figure it will do better than paint? Besides add weight.

The characteristics of a SOF boat are related to the design and materials used. The strength comes from the fact that the frame can twist or bend and absorb impacts. The skin is pliable, so it doesn't crack when impacted. Cured epoxy is brittle and will make the skin brittle. Now when you bump something the skin cracks because it can't give. The same could happen if the frame twists or bends as well. To top it off, epoxy has no UV protection. It breaks down when exposed to the sun. You would have to paint it after epoxy any way. In total quality management quality is defined as "conforms to requirements" Paint conforms to the requirments, epoxy does not. If you want a bomb proof kayak, you want ABS plastic, or Kevlar composite.

I bet Wheezer could pull the boat up onto the trailer simply by pulling the bow painter. If mechanical advantage is needed, just tie a bowline in the painter near the bow. Once the boat is on most of the way the last bit takes but a tug. When it comes to hardware, less is better is my motto. It bangs into things, people bang into hardware. Things snag on hardware. A hole, or a knot can replace a lot of hardware. I don't use shackels at all.

I just drilled a hole 5/8" in diameter through the bow, stem and all, then flared the opening a tad. Epoxy coated the inside. No hardware, nothing to bang into things with. I did the same in my breast hook and quarter knees.

I cruised with a high cut 135 soft luff cruising genoa. Tacking was no issue, the sheets would slide over the bottom of the dinghy, nothing to get caught on. I would tow it unless I was over night sailing in open water. My wife did't approve of over night sailing, so it became moot. I like knowing I could stow it on deck. I also liked that I didn't have to.

Ooooh, airplane rides. Dang, I live in Florida, prolly too far away. Under the boom sounds like trouble on a small boat. I had a Pearson Renegade, 27' and my 9N fit well on the fore deck and not at all under the boom. Though I usually towed it. As to your other parameters, which were quite like mine, a Spindrift 9N is a superb choice. I have rowed with 4 medium adults, though in a good chop I would not have ventured to. I sailed with 2 often, mostly in harbors with a cocktail and viewing the other boats. I now use mine for mostly rowing. I row 1nm per day, 4 days a week for fun and excercise. My boat is coming up on 17 years old and in excellent condition.

A long time ago some magizine did a study on bottom paint and application. They found that the displacement boats that used just a roller, dimples and all had faster boats than those who wet sanded and burnished their bottom paint.

Same here.