dustywaves

"Normoose" plans to use plywood for the centre lamination as well as adding some ballast - check out the discussion under "keel" on the main forum - it makes interesting reading.

apparently it has been done Jeremy, i've read a few references to guys that have laminated the keel out of plywood. No idea how durable this will be regarding water ingress. If I have to go this way i'll be epoxying a hardwood sole onto it and encapsulating the whole shebang pretty thoroughly. some guys talk about simply painting it but I put a lot more confidence in epoxy and some kind of fabric ( glass, dynel, etc) to seal it up tight. have fun.

Hey Dave, fantastic job! Dumb question: how does the hub fix to the spokes? Cheers

I think you did pretty good for your first lesson! My first day sailing was in a laser - 10 knot winds, flat sea in Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Is. (Australia) - 3 capsizes in half an hour ("are we having fun yet?") in fairly "sharky" waters - i was hopeless! 2nd lesson i managed to pitchpole an 18' cat with the added indignity of being washed ashore sideways and upside down for the ammusement of all (except the owner that is!) I've improved a bit since then (i hope) but it's all good fun! It sounds like your instructors know their stuff better than mine! Keep at it and have fun! cheers

What an awesome ship! This is my first encounter with your project and I'm blown away! Can't wait to see it launched and striking fear and terror into the critics with that cannon. By the way, where can i get one of those? I'd love to add a bow chaser to my weekender to keep the jet skiers at bay! Keep up the good work mate it's a beauty!

Hi Dave, i've just ordered plans for the weekender - not exactly the same but similar to your vacationer - this is my 3rd wooden boat (if you count the hartley kayak) - be glad to compare notes. Cheers John Mundubbera Qld

thanks guys, the cheese and kisses has her "craft room" finished now, my part of the bargain is done - so now I get to order the plans and start building!

Good plan - the last thing i want to do is to be replacing a keel any time in the future, soon or later, so the sacrificial hardwood is going on. thanks.

actually 28C/82F is pretty mild for us. Christmas time we look forward to 35+C on the coast and inland where I live 40+ is common in the dead of summer. Snow is restricted to the sub-antartic wastes of Victoria in the southern parts of Oz - the best we get here is the odd frost in winter - so believe me i'll be envying you your white stuff soon! I'll have to learn how to post pics so I can keep you all inspired through the winter - or do you sail ice boats then?

On second thoughts, scrap this idea. did some more research and found the guys here using hoop pine (arakaria) successfully. i can get this by the truck load. cheers

You guys live on the wrong side of the planet! 28 degrees (celcius not farenheit) - shorts and tshirt here and gorgeous weather for sailing! (if only my boat was finished!) stay warm? no problem! cheers from down under!

Yeah, good point. My concern was the possibility of getting caught out overnighting and the weather changing unexpectedly. But it appears the Weekender should be able to handle that under most circumstances - otherwise I'd beach it somewhere protected and wait it out. I was dismasted in my old 15' daysailer in the Hinchinbrook channel once. ( a particularly nasty bit of water in north Queensland where incoming tide meets outgoing river over shallow inlet) We were offered a tow to our destination but the weather report at 6am said 10 knots and seas to 1 metre so off we went - 7am they upgraded the report to 20knots and 2m seas - but we were already around the corner and into it. Pretty unusual event but not unheard of at certain times of the year. I think we would have been ok except a stay parted and the mast went west. All very exciting - no real harm done - we dragged the mast on board, lashed it all down and paddled back to the dock. We took the tow, did some repairs on the beach and spent a great week on one of the best coral fringed islands on the coast. Could have been a lot worse but a good sea worthy boat made all the difference.

I can't remember the site but i saw piccys of a weekender under construction with the keel laminated out of 19mm ply. I had thought of doing this myself given the difficulty and expense of suitable DFir or other timbers in my area. Aussie hardwoods are not only HARD but dang heavy too so i'm looking for a reasonable alternative. I thought of sheathing the ply keel in Dynel or fiberglas and epoxy to avoid water ingress and/or maybe adding a hardwood capping to take the bumps that go with beaching on unknown shores. The inevitability of damage that lets the water and rot into the inner core still puts some big questions over the idea for me. Anyone tried this with success or otherwise? Cheers

Any thoughts on adding bouyancy to a weekender? What sort of volume would you need to float her high enough to bail out? And where to put it without losing too much storage space?

Thanks guys, that's answered my questions - and it still looks like the weekender is just what i want. Thanks again John.

Hi folks, am about to start my weekender and got a little spooked by a boat builder mate with regards to ballast and self righting etc etc. I note that most of the photos of the boat in action are on reasonably calm waters. I plan to sail in Hervey Bay Queensland (Australia) - it's protected waters but can get a bit wild at times (seas to 2metres etc). Has anyone had any experience with the weekender in less than perfect conditions? I would appreciate your comments! Cheers from down under! john.