Robert Cox

If you spend much time talking to Larry at Raka, he will tell you to put on a pre-coat of epoxy before laying the fiberglass. I've seen dry lay-ups of fiberglass using epoxy as well as the polyester resin. I was using the 5 oz. cloth and Larry suggested pre-coating the plywood and letting that dry before applying and wetting out the fiberglass. I would suggest doing this before applying fiberglass wether using polyester or epoxy. This way you know that the wood has soaked up what it can and the resin used for wetting out the fiberglass is not being soaked into the wood. Oh, and I used two layers of 5 oz. cloth on the hull of my Vacationer. Bob

Phil, you pay my way to Texas and I'll help put your siding up for $300. I'm bored. Can you tell? :roll: Bob

Barry, the Vacationer plans show the same rudder profile. There is a basic aerodynamic reason for the shape of my rudder. When I first posted pics of the rudder I caught a lot of flack (another aeronautical refrence ) for it. I figure the worst case is it doesn't work and I make another. If it works I have a nice lite helm that takes very little pressure to counter any weather helm. Frank, the Rudder has been a much discussed topic of late. Some are going to a barndoor rudder. Others are changing the angle that the rudder hangs. All in an attempt to make it better. The biggest complaint has been the rudder being too deep and having to kick-up or excessave weather helm. I hope to have solved both. Maybe. :? If you don't have any problem with weatherhelm or kicking up I don't see any reason to change. Bob

Hi Oyster, I really can't take much credit for the rudder system. Other than the size of the rudder, it's all stock by the plans. A few people have complained about the weather helm being so bad that there is a lot of pressure on the tiller or wheel. I just did what I thought would eliminate or reduce the pressure at the wheel. Yes the Columbas day regatta is still held. The problem is the rich kids in their stinkpotters throwing such a party that the regatta is getting a bad name. The people causing the problem have nothing to do with it. The regatta just gives them an excuse to party. Bob

Well, here's the latest on Star Chaser. It may look like a simple piece but I spent two days making the rear cockpit coaming. The back has been routed so that it has a step of a 1/4 inch over the deck. Here it is with the wheel in place. This is a shot of the rudder and rudder box mounted. As you can see in the picture the rudder's leading edge is now 3 inches in front of the hinge. This was done to make it a "Balanced" rudder. This shot shows the rudder in the kicked up position. The added benefit of the wider rudder is when it's kicked up there is still alot of rudder in the water. I've still got the rigging inside the lazzarett to finish but everything else for the steering is installed. I think the taffrail will be next. It will be laminated out of teak. Bob

Barry you've got way too much time on your hands. I personally use the 1 x 2 half round sandwich. No ugly plywood laminations showing in the middle of my teak rails. :shock: Bob

Now there is a boat that looks good on the water. That was her first time in the water wasn't it? Good job. Oh, maybe a little bigger battery? :wink: Bob

Charlie, many here don't visit the B&B section of the forums (I do though) and I would love to see pics on the princess your building. Actually, the princess is one of my favorites of the B&B designs. You do beautiful work and could contribute much to some of our discusions here. Don't be afraid to show off your work. Besides, we just Love Boat Porn. Any boat porn. Bob

Very nice Chris. I like seeing the compas under the wheel. The space under the wheel is basicly unusable. I was given a $300 Richie compas by a friend and had thought the only place to mount a horizontal mounted compas was under the wheel. I'm planning to make a mount that goes between the seats and also doubles as a drink holder. 8) Bob

That's right, it was Charlie. Does he still have the Weekender or did he get it sold? That boat was beautiful. He had a couple others he was selling that made me take notice too. Bob

I would take that in a heart beat. I figured that if someone wanted to buy my Vacationer I would take 25K. $20,000 for a Weekender, take the money and run to the lumberyard and buy the material for another. Or, buy a 27-30 ft. plastic boat. Personally, I would become the owner of a Catilina 30 real quick. Here a while back someone posted a link to a professional boat builder that had built a Weekender for the Chicago Woodenboat show. They where selling it for $18,000 after the show was over. Last I knew it was still for sale. Bob 8)

The keel box on my trailer doesn't even go to the end of the trailer. I drew up the trailer with the boat in Auto-Cad and then placed a imaginary waterline at 15 degs. to see how the outfit would look at a boat ramp. The keel at the deepest point wasn't going to come into contact with the trailer until the boat was more than half way on. I agree with Knut though, that something to keep the boat centered until the keel is in the box would be nice. If you look closely at this pic. you'll see the keel box. It stops about 18 inches behind the fenders on the trailer which is approx. 36 inches from the end of the trailer. Bob

Looking good Buck. What are the deminsions of the boat? It looks small in the pictures. Bob

I was surfing the Wooden Boat Forum and came accross this essay by Roger Stouff. I've never seen or heard the afinaty for a wood boat put so susinctly. http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=001193 Bob

Congratulations Konrad. Now the real adventure begins. Bob

I'm defenatly going to have a boom tent, but I've also been thinking of a bimini as well. I've been going out sailing with a friend on his 18 ft. keel boat and after 5 or 6 hours out in this Florida sun I'm ready for some shade. I'm planning to raise the mast and boom 12 inches any way and would have room for a bimini to be used while sailing. Bob

Hey Barry. You going to go into business. If so, I would like to place my order for a boom tent for the Vacationer. Bob

I got lucky Mike. The post was before I fiberglassed the bottom. This way it wasn't a retrofit. I was able to incorporate it into the building. Sure made it a lot easier. Bob

I really can't take credit for that modification. It was quite sometime ago when we where discusing keel damage on the BYYB forum. Johanna happened to mention that the skipjacks up in her area would put a sacrificial oak rail on the bottom of their keels to save the keel from damage. They made them removable so they could be replaced when they got worn. I thought that if it's good enough for those guys then it should work for me. Bob

Oh, shucks, I'm speechless. :oops: I'm just your average guy who likes to build things and just happens to like boats. Mike, I'm not sure I understand what your asking to see. I've got some pictures of the forward locker/forpeak. Are you talking about deck support in that area. I know the deck as shown in the plans does have some give. I put extra support under mine. Is there something else your looking for. Let me know. The boat is right outside here and I could take some pictures. Bob

Bob the sails will be white. Dad and I had origanally planned on the cream color deck untill I saw those boats at the club. That's Cream Interdeck on your deck? I'll have to check out your pictures again if I can remember where they're at. Bob

That's alright Frank. You do such a great job with your site that I wasn't even upset. Just thought, "Oh well, Franks having some problems with it." and just went on about my business. Bob

I tried uploading pictures the other day and got the same error message. Wasn't trying to upload them for the avitar. Was just trying to upload them into the gallery. I find the uploading of pictures to the gallery kind of tedius. Would be nice if you could upload more than one picture at a time and also would help if you could see the picture you where wanting to upload. Just a suggestion Frank. Bob

Actually Barry, that will not be the final colar. We're planning to finish her off with Interluxs' Interdeck non-skid paint. We're debating on either the cream or Beige. Saw a couple of boats out at the yahct club Wednsday with the tan 3M stick on non-skid and I thought they look real good. So I'm kind of leaning towards the Beige. Bob

Wayne, in order to attach a sacrifial rail to the keel you do have to plan ahead. After we turned the boat over and before it was fiberglassed, we attached the rail with #8 x 1 1/2 inch screws and then took it back off. I then drilled 1 inch holes where the screws went into the keel. I then epoxied 3/4 inch birch dowels into each hole. This way if any of the screws where to leak the might rott out the dowel but the water would never get into the keel. Just make sure you have a good measurement from the stern block forward to the aft end of the rail when you attach it the first time. When the hull is done and painted you won't be able to see where you had it mounted. You want to make sure you hit the dowels when you mount it the finale time. We did kerf the rail where it bends aroung the stem. We don't have a steam box so this was the easiest way for us to get the rail to bend around the stem. We bedded the rail with 3M 101 polysulfide compound and epoxied it after it was on. Oh and the rail is a piece of Red Oak if I remember right. Bob