Docpal

Lotus, It's been a pleasure watching your build from start, to splash.....Congratulations!!!

Tom, Thanks for the kudos, I don't mind admitting that the journey from the image in my mind to the actual cabin shape was not as easy as I'd anticipated.... I also added a bunch of features which are obviously over kill for a boat of this size, but so far they have all been successful. As odd as it may sound I have literally thousands of pix of the building process, but I haven't taken the time to take any of her since I launched! I'm still really not 'finished"as I have built hand rails, toe rails, etc. which will get installed on my next trip down to Florida. I kept meaning to start a blog, and it hasn't happened, yet..... Here are a few early shots of the cabin,and cockpit. I'll have to make it a point to catch up on my documentation when I see her again...

Thrillsbe, I agree, and since I only have a few more 'events' on the Winter calendar- Cayo Costa, and Cedar Key, I may just wait until I trailer her home and do a transom notch to accommodate the existing setup. I really like the Duckworks mount as it is removable,light, and strong...

David, Since there were multiple thicknesses in my masts ( lower section-.125" then the joins which were thicker due to the cloth/epoxy transitions, and then the upper sections which were .0625" I believe) I bought a few different lengths of SS pop rivets from McMaster-Carr. Then I "made" a simple thickness gauge out of a paper clip which I bent into an "L"shape. I then inserted it into each pre-drilled rivet hole to find the appropriate depth for riveting each hole. Seemed to work fine... PS- If you don't already have one, buy a cheap pneumatic riveter from Harbor Freight! It will save you a lot of time and wrist pain....

Tom, Graham and I refer to her as a "Mark 1.5" CS 17..... I think I've got the best of both worlds, a B & B hull with a classic cabin ! The lee helm was probably caused by my latest experiment: I finally got a removable motor mount from Duckworks for my 2.5 HP Suzuki outboard ( http://www.duckworksbbs.com/hardware/motor/mount/index.htm).Bracket is beautifully built, but it's too close to the transom to allow the motor to tilt all the way up so I was sailing with about 5 inches of the motor dragging in the water. I have seen how Graham has 'notched' the transom on Carlita and was thinking about a similar approach but since I'm not in a place where I have a shop to do so, I thought I'd try to find a bracket that would work before doing surgery. And it's not easy determining the effect of a bracket without actually installing it on the boat.I like the removable part as well since almost ALL of the "tilt up" brackets are clunky. Saw THIS one recently and while pricey (at this point in the game my credit card is numb anyway...) https://www.pyacht.com/cgi-bin/pagegen.pl?pr+ed951010, it looks like it would do the job, but it might place the motor controls TOO far aft. I'd be curious to see how others are mounting similar motors on THEIR boats....

Joe, No I wasn't. Since most of the WCTSS live in the area they obviously know about the winged warriors of Flamingo, and they don't schedule any events down there. A friend came along for the trip and we were both trying out video cameras we had bought recently. He has a steady hand,but my videos require a shot of Dramamine before watching them...

Quick video of sailing out of Flamingo....

Tom, I have been storing Petunia down at the Charlotte RV storage yard ( 150 Rio Villa Dr, Punta Gorda,FL. 941-575-7473) for the Winter. . They have a large yard with both boats, and RV's . Very well protected (keypad gate entry, and security on the premises, 24 hour access....) and there must be over ten million dollars worth of large RV'sin the yard so I feel pretty secure in leaving her down there for weeks at a time without my presence. NO amenities (such as water,electricity, or bathrooms) although they DO have a flush out station ($5) for when you bring a boat back in after a day on the gulf. They charge $69.44 per month (taxes make up the odd number) . It's right on Route 41 so getting to/from most places is easy. And I've been able to get away with doing light maintenance work on the boat since I do much of it with hand and battery powered tools. I'll attach two shots to show you what it looks like.

Joe, It's not just the Skeeters, the "no- see- ums" were brutal! If the breeze is off the mangroves, anchor FAR out...!!!!

Joe, Your thoughts about Florida Bay and the mud flats were right on target ! I just got back from a week camping/sailing out of Flamingo and we ran the full gamut from temps in the upper 30's with 30+ mph Northers which were blowing tents across the campground, to warmer temps which brought out the entire insect population of the planet who ALL seem to be Wintering in the 'Glades as well. When the temps rose, we got out and had some incredible sailing from Flamingo to East Cape Sable. Then as the high built the winds started to die again (but not the bugs) and we were constantly being driven across the channels by the tides, rather than wind. I don't think I'd make Flamingo a "base camp " again. Just posted this picture on the Water Tribe/Facebook page to remind people to bring whatever repellant they think the bugs won't lick off them before chowing down.

Lenny, The coaming and toe rails look great! You're getting VERY close......Cayo Costa maybe?

This might be over kill, (or not even possible), but what about TIG/MIG welding aluminum angle iron to the hull where you want to connect things?

Thrillsbe, I think the picture you think is a centerboard trunk is really our bending blocks which were then screwed into a piece of 3/4" Fir plywood to make up the bending jig for the coaming laminations

Yup, That was me...And I'm still working on her, only she's in Florida for the Winter which makes it all possible... PS- After seeing your 2.5 HP Suzuki at the Messabout I called Porta Bote and ordered on myself...Nice motor, now I need to find a bracket to hold her...

Chick, I got them at- www.marinepartdepot.com http://www.marinepartdepot.com/ststpuhileha.html Left handed hinges are-MPD_6630a Right handed are_- MPD_ 6630 Let me guess, you're going to buy the hinges and design a boat to fit them (?)

Len, Here are the take apart hinges I used on Petunia. You need at least a few inches on the hatch which will be straight to allow both hinges to work in tandem (unless you decide to go with only one of them). I had bought a few sets over the years (major advantage of taking SO long to complete a build is you occasionally forget what you have previously bought...). I gave Doug Cameron a set down at the Messabout, and if you'd also like a set let me know and I'll drop them off while I'm in the area this week. It is a nice feature to be able to get the hatch out of the way when you want access to the aft compartment....

The trailer they used to launch her was pretty special too. The wind was honking pretty good all through the process as they launched and hand lined her to the dock too !

Sounds like a few folks will be in the area on/off much of the winter. I'm going to drive to NC tomorrow, pick up Petunia and leave for Punta Gorda,FL Tuesday AM. I found a storage yard there for the Winter so I'm hoping to be a part time snow bird this Winter. If everything is in place I'll be back down to do the WCTSS Ten Thousand island cruise in early Jan, and then I'm going to meet some friends in the Everglades in Mid February. We'll stay at the Flamingo camp ground for a week, and then in March I'm hoping to do the Cayo Costa cruise with the WCTSS. the plan is to do about ten days in FL, ten days in the NE, etc. weather permitting. I'll also be looking up Lennie G. and hopefully be around for the launching of his boat. If anyone will be in the SW Florida area this Winter drop a note here and maybe we can try to connect.

Doug, The idea would be to do this well before Cedar Key, and maybe give a few people the chance to 'tune up' their boats before the EC. Lennie, It's going to happen, just trying to find out how many people will be there...

During the Messabout I spoke with Graham about the idea of (loosely) organizing a group cruise of a stretch of SW Florida this Winter. Unlike the Everglades Challenge this trip's purpose would be to actually SEE some of the local waters and coastline without having the pressure, and anxiety of a race environment. But at the same time using the safety guidelines of both the Water Tribe, and the Dinghy Cruising Association as benchmarks for all those participating. I spoke to a number of people at the Messabout and there seemed to be a lot of interest in the idea. So far some of the thoughts that were kicked around were; doing daylight sailing, with evening destinations planned in advance. That would allow some people who wanted to go further/faster the option of joining the group before evening, or just catching up another day. Another thought was to use the campgrounds at the Flamingo campsite of Everglades national park as they have a LOT of room for camping, and great launching facilities as well. This would let people arrive/leave when they chose. AND it might make family sailing/camping more possible as well. And racing or not, it would still be nice to have someone else in the area ,just in case.... With this framework in mind, I contacted Dale Neimann and he had a great idea which was to connect with the West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron as they also have monthly trips scheduled, and a lot of local knowledge. In fact I just sent in a check to join them as I hope to be spending a good portion of next Winter exploring the area in Petunia. We thought that including everyone,not just B & B boats, would make a lot of sense. In fact I would think that the more people we include would add to this event. The time frame, and location is up in the air. Some people might be down in Florida headed for the EC, and others might want to use this trip as a "scouting run" to learn the route for later adventures. I'm posting this idea on the Forum to see if there's any interest in giving this a shot. It might also be a nice complement to the Messabout so we could have TWO events a year for people to bring their boats to, and it would also serve as a great escape for those of us in Northern climes who don't want to give up sailing due to our lousy latitude.... ALL ideas/comments/thoughts/suggestions on this are welcome.....

I'd also like to add my thanks to Graham,Carla,Beth, and Alan for their hospitality, and assistance during the last week. This year's weather was pretty spectacular, and the boats that showed up were all great! A number of people asked me to post the contact info for the water based coating I used to "bronze"my ports and running lights. It's called "Sculpt Nouveau" http://www.sculptnouveau.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=42&category=6. I've been using it for years to coat foam statues, and they have been exposed to Northern weather for over ten years with no damage to the finish, In fact the coating will actually start to show a patina similar to the real metals. The ports are actually 3/8 " plywood, and the "glass" is 3/16" polycarbonate. The running light shown was actually a stamped metal chrome fixture (Sea Dog brand) which I roughed up with some 180 grit, and then applied the Sculpt Nouveau over it. They have a wide assortment of metallic finishes and patinas that will make anything look like metal...

Finally got to launch CS 17 # 204 "Petunia" today at the Messabout ! I spent most of the past week at Graham's shop getting her ready for the big splash, and she was christened with a 40 year old bottle of wine made by my Grand father 40 years ago.....Plenty of wind to give her a good trial run, and she handled beautifully. Hopefully some of the other folks taking pix can post some so I'll get to see what she looked like on the water.

Paul, It's the 16 foot Load Rite. I looked at the next size down and it would have meant the stern hung over that trailer more than 3 feet, so I went with the next size up. PAR, After thinking it over I added the cloth, just because....There's not really much cabin top left once the hatches are installed ...

Finally found a trailer. After going through all of the Craig's list scenarios ( "great trailer, needs some work, NO paper work or registration, etc.,etc" ) I bit the bullet and found a new one to be a lot less expensive than I feared,( $650 in NJ...). Got her almost fitted to it, and am now frantically trying to button her up ( hatches,etc.) in time for the ride South to the Messabout. Still somewhat limited by a bum leg/nerve damage so I'm going to be finishing her AT the Messabout it looks like. In the attached picture you can see that I need a little help with striking a real waterline, etc., but unless the leg falls off completely Petunia, and I WILL be there this year....

Belt and suspenders technique: use a fitted backing plate which is shaped to the interior of the stem. This adds some "meat" to your backer and as suggested above means you will have strength in almost any direction. This is just a piece of Purple heart saturated in epoxy.