AmosSwogger

I'll keep an eye on your location and try to join you at some point. Personally I would skip sailing the whole Norfolk area unless lots of commercial barge traffic, multiple shipyards, and biggest Navy base in the world is something you want see. This is the boat ramp I normally sail from; very little boat traffic, plenty of room to rig/unrig; locals are friendly, everything is well maintained and in good condition. I've left my truck/trailer there overnight multiple times with no issues. Doesn't matter whether you sail north or south, there are plenty of good anchorages. https://goo.gl/maps/WLnboELCzFCRQoQQ9

I'm in Chesapeake (just south of Norfolk). If you do this, I would join you after you cross the bay.

I'm available to help you out resupplying or anything else you might need. Heck, I might even try to join you when you come by my house. Winds are predominantly from the North and Southwest in October. Generally speaking, the wind is quite good in October (sometimes too good!).

Nice work! I may have to resort to a sabotage dive at night to attach an underwater parachute to slow you down. All kidding aside I appreciate the update and pics.

Thanks for posting the results of all your experiments Don. I had very similar results with Devthane; rolling and tipping wasn't worth it (maybe with other brands/types of paints it is?). Laughed at your "busking at a bus station" comment; very true.

Thanks for the update, I'm going to do this as well starting this summer (I can't have Skeena beating me upwind during the Messabout ).

Looking forward to following along; I'm available to help resupply along the northern part of your route.

Look what you have done Don, now we have to cut into our boats based on your evil influence.

Sounds like using the main halyard to get the boat on its side worked well. Good idea.

Good feedback Steve. Concerning centerboard strength after adding an extension, I would try to use a full length piece of glass that extends from the lead tip all the way to the pivot end (assuming your centerboard slot allows for the additional thickness).

Nice work Don, that boat is lucky to be in your hands. Whereabouts are you sailing in FL?

Thank you Alan. My early model 20.3 sails so well that I'm reluctant to do this modification. The helm is very balanced on all points of sail. The only time I have struggled to go upwind that wasn't due my poor technique (I learned how to sail on this boat), was an occurrence in the Chesapeake Bay when the strong wind died out, but the steep waves remained, so almost no wind with relatively big waves made it impossible to go upwind. Generally speaking, I don't get 90 degree tacks in the Chesapeake Bay, but I think that is mostly due to a light boat responding to wave action and/or my former poor upwind sailing skills. Using the upwind sailing tips Graham provided on this forum really helped and I can point a little higher using them. I did have to make new longer sprits so I could make my sails flatter, and I'm more attentive to my tell tails now. Graham did a quick informal upwind test with my boat and was able to easily get 90 degree tacks (light wind in smooth conditions). I'm sure the boat would point higher with the modification however, so it is probably worth doing. It really doesn't look that hard after you gain the courage to make that first cut, although a much easier solution would be to loan the boat out to Don next year!

I think we should promote Don to "Centerboard Trunk Modification Surgeon"; he is a little too advanced to be a mere technician. The promotion should rate him a team of nurses standing by with trays of tools and epoxy.

Ok, that makes sense. It does look better to have a straight bowsprit. Glad you answered because it sounds like I should also put a knee in place, which makes sense given the potential forces involved (and installing a knee is easy enough). I think I'll just offset the knee a little bit if I need to in order to prevent interference with the through bolts. I'll bet we're both overthinking this, but that is part of the fun!

Don, I plan on through bolting the anchor roller through the bowsprit and breasthook (I don't have a knee to work around; my breasthook is 2.5" thick and fiberglassed in). I'm a little confused on your knee thickness question: is the knee already installed or are you installing one? Is there anyway to get at least one through bolt if you angle the bowsprit a little bit more?