meester

The picture with the big pot makes me wonder - did you name him "Stu?"

I don't know if encapsulated screws actually cause problems. However, If you worry about them, that's a good reason to take them out. The boat's supposed to make you forget your worries, right? The usual method for gluing is to coat the pieces with clear epoxy, then add the thickened stuff and clamp when everything is still wet. The thin stuff penetrates the wood fibers better. If you let the clear coat cure, then there's an opening for other problems such as the dreaded amine blush and weaker bonding.

Gorgeous. I especially like the color scheme (grin) Bob

Hi Alex, I'm happy with the lug rig. It points well and I haven't experienced the death roll downwind that a few posted concerns about. I was out near Kent Island in 15 kt winds a couple of weekends ago with two reefs tucked in. Wife and I were kicking up spray and grinning. I just replaced my yard with something beefier. The old one was 1.5" diameter max at about 1/3 the length, with tapers. I realized that by the time I had enough downhaul to smooth out the creases, the upper triangle of the sail was dead flat. The new one is 2" diameter and it's much stiffer. I just rigged it today, and it looks much better, but I havent tested it yet. I think the main drawback is that when people ask what kind of boat it is, it's a long answer. Hey Graham and Alan - can I just say it's a Core Sound? Here are a couple of pictures from 1st launch day. I thought I had posted them earlier -- sorry!

Since we're on the topic, this showed up in the newspaper today:

I'll also be there at the MASCF with my CS15*. Looking forward to meeting you guys. Bob

Congrats Paul. Your contented sigh at the end of the video made me grin. Ahhhh! Bob

A few weeks ago I launched the Core-Sound 15 that I've been building for the last couple of years, and that I had also been planning and scheming for a couple of years before that. I have to say I'm really proud of that boat. I like the color scheme I picked. White on the bottom, interior and deck, dark blue topsides and a grey bootstripe. Somehow, I have always been drawn to dark hulls. Years ago, I used to get SAIL magazine, and I would lust after the alerion express 28 with that dark hull. And now, there was my boat on the water, the one that I myself had built and sanded and painted dark blue, taking on the life of the blue sky and green ripples that reflected off of its hull. One of the first parts of the build was the birdsmouth mast that I made out of fir. The fir was a super-lucky buy at a local box store: a close-grained, nearly clear 16' board with a crack and a chunk broken off that put it into the bin of shame with all the knotty stuff. I've checked back there, but I've never seen anything like it since. A skilled woodworker examining my mast would certainly notice plenty of epoxy filling gaps in that mast, but rounded, sanded down smooth, and finished bright, the natural beauty of the wood covered my sins. On the water, the rich reddish tint of the fir caught my eye as it warmed the deep greens and greys of the forest ringing the reservoir where I had just launched her. All of these thoughts came to me as I admired my work, and I felt a deep sense of satisfaction and pride. Maybe I should have taken a picture, but at the time, it was not a moment that I wanted to share or even a moment that I wanted to record. As I watched her gliding on the water in just a breath of air, I was reminded of how I got there, looking longingly out from the shore, reminded by the length of line in one hand and a life vest in the other. I really wish I had tied off both ends of that painter.

Oh yeah. Looks great.

Rdubs -- Check out the motor canoe thread. Paint has been discussed recently. -- Bob

If you buy ring-shaped oar locks rather than the open, U-shaped ones, It's important that the opening is big enough to slide onto the oar from the handle end. Don't ask me why I know this.

Nice job.

Nice suggestion, Don. Will do.

Splash! Had a great first sail today, and I'm still grinning. I went to a local reservoir for the first sail, and I wanted to test out how much of the rigging I could do on the water, so I launched with just the main mast up. I rowed out a ways and then rigged the rudder and raised the mizzen on its mast. Pushed out the boomkin and lashed down the inboard end. Then the exciting part, when I went forward to raise the main. I thought things were going to be very tippy with my weight up forward, but it turned to be not exciting at all. Main sail goes up, downhaul tight, and we're off! I'm very happy and relieved to report that I got the sail balance right. The helm is neutral, with slight weather helm when heeling. Graham's rudder design is amazing. It takes such a light touch, it's as if there was power steering. I think that the sail plan points well and tacks through a respectable angle, but I won't swear by it. The reservoir I went to has crazy winds that change direction by the second. A couple of times I tacked through 90 deg and ended on the same tack! If I had it to do over again, I think I'd skip the Anderson bailer. It let more water in than it took out. With the bailer open, there were two little fountains of water coming in along weld seams on the aft edge. Maybe it's defective. I tried out heaving to, which means flattening out the mizzen with a tight snotter to keep it from flogging and sheeting it in. The boat points into the wind. I take the main sail down, and as I get moving just a little bit backwards, I put the tiller over to rest against the mizzen mast. The boat settles down with the bow about 30 deg off the wind and it goes very slowly backwards. The breeze was pretty light at that point (5 kt?). It'll be fun to test again in stronger wind. Gotta go. Time to roast some hot dogs! Bob

Getting closer! A little varnish needs to dry and the biggest thing is to slip the centerboard into its spot. I'm hoping that my Memorial Day launch won't get spoiled by weather.

I rigged my little mizzen* today, and here's how I set up the snotter. There's a single loop around the mast, held up by an eyestrap on the aft side of the mast. The block is lashed to the loop with some fine high-tech string, and the end of the snotter is also anchored to the loop with a bowline. The line line goes through a smooth hole in the sprit off the left side of the photo, back through the block and down to the cleat. Bob * it's a little mizzen because I have an unconventional sail plan.

Hi Chick, I used Interlux perfection, a 2-party polyurethane over most of my boat. It has a lot of solvent fumes, so I used a gas-mask style 3M respirator with organic fume filters. I could sure smell the fumes when I took the mask off. I'm happy with the results, but it's not perfect. I also used some Rustoleum for some detail and also on my previous build, a puddle duck. The Rustoleum enamel is an alkyd, even their marine enamel, so it's a step below single-part polyurethane. There's a paint-thinner smell, but not bad. What about repairs? The Interlux perfection has a shelf life of about 2 years. There's no way I'm going to buy a whole pint of that expensive stuff to make a repair 2 years from now. The rustoleum shelf life is 5 years and it's cheap. I'd have no problem buying a can to fix up a beach-scraped bottom. Bob

Don, I agree!

Hi All, I put up the sails for a mock-up of the rigging and here's what she looks like. That's Miss Melanie, and the boat is named "MellieMac." Still lots to do before we're ready for the water. Bob

Here's an online calculator that can shed some light on the topic, at least for screws in wood. It's from the American Wood Council (whoever that is). http://www.awc.org/codes-standards/calculators-software/connectioncalc I ran a couple of calculations for a 1" #10 wood screw connecting 20-gauge steel to "mixed southern pine." For shear load, the ASD capacity (whatever that is) is 115 lbs. For pull-out, the ASD capacity is 95 lbs, which is basically the same. Agree to agree? Having the line go around the mast will take a lot of the load off of the eyes. With the line around the mast, all the eyes do is to keep the line from sliding up and down the mast. I'm going to use something like this for my mizzen. The primitive snotter I tested this morning turned out to be a pain. Bob

I think she maybe just got named. I like "Cover Girl."

Hi Stbd, That's gorgeous work. I think mine is going to look a little less refined.

HI Paul, Thanks for the tapered end idea. I think that might look nice near the stern. I'd like to cover the tip of the bow because, um, it's an ugly spot where the glassing went a little wonky. Hi Walt, My CS15 hasn't been splashed yet, but I made a polytarp sail for my puddle duck, and it pointed upwind pretty well. I used the sail design from Mick Storer's OzDuck plans. It certainly was good enough to go upwind without being frustrating. Mick's reallysimplesails.com website has a ton of info on lug rigging. Ross Lillistone has a few youtube videos detailing his lug rig and reefing that are worth checking out. Hope this helps. Bob

Getting closer! I dry fitted my rub rails, and I really like the way they look. They're white oak with linseed oil finish. I still need to tidy up the ends. Can anybody point me to a nice way to finish off the bow? Next is hardware installation and rigging.

Pete, I like the idea of the cover - rudder sling thing. Red ribbon on the end, and tiller to port so that your tailgater sees the side of the rudder instead of seeing it end on. But what to call this thing? Dock strap? Rudder udder?