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W. Micawber

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Everything posted by W. Micawber

  1. It is time for me to build another boat and I am selling my CS 15 because I have no room for all the boats I wish to build and own. This boat was built in 2009-2010. It sits on a galvanized Genesis Trailer http://genesistrailers.com/ which was bought new in 2010. It has never been in salt water. Both boat and trailer have been garage stored whenever they have not been in use. Sails were made by Brad Hunter of Gambell and Hunter in Maine. They have no reef points. I used the 3rd mast step as my reef point. I am asking $4K or near offer. If you are interested, please email Dennis -- thedumbox(at)att.net. Put CS15 #14 in the subject line. This will help me avoid dealing with scammers. Here is a link to my Flickr site. It will take you to her launch day photos. You will note that I do not have the standard rig in those pictures, the cat-ketch rig was added the following year. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fattylumpkin/sets/72157621908842357/ Here she is at the dock getting ready to take us out for the first sail of the season (May 6, 2013).
  2. Very nice indeed! Thanks for posting the pics.
  3. Rob, I like it. I've often thought an optional sloop rig for my CS 15 would be a lot of fun.
  4. Tom, My foils are probably shaped crudely indeed. I have no background in racing and can't say I understand foil shape. I did give them some shape as per the plan set, and these seem to work well enough. I am more a wood butcher than a craftsman. My sailing and woodworking have been learned while doing them (especially building boats). Ten years ago my wife laughed at the idea I could build a boat since "I couldn't hang a curtain rod," according to her. I've built 4 boats in 10 years and have learned a thing or two. The cat-ketch is a new rig to me, so I am still learning its secrets. I imagine I will discover many more in the future. As far as setting the mizzen, I am still experimenting. It does not take much adjustment on the sheet to induce weather helm, and given the speed and handiness with which she sails, I am not convinced that I have pinched the mizzen in too much. Nevertheless, you have given me much to think about and I will attend more carefully to setting the sails in light of your observations and see if there is any improvement.
  5. Tom, PAR and Ray: Thanks for the observations. I doubt my sprits are the trouble. They come nowhere near engaging the block when I have them pulled in hard. I had not thought about harder set sprits and flatter sails in light air. I will try that next time I'm out and about. I ought to sail with those 9 yr old Opti skippers more often. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two.
  6. Tom, In steady winds, 10-20mph, I trim the main until the aft end of the boom is nearly over the inside of the inwale/deck and then trim the mizzen in until the tell tales stream aft. This will be quite a bit inboard in comparison to the main -- the mizzen boom is situated midway between the inner side deck and the c/l of the transom. In this configuration, I get consistent speeds to windward between 6 and 7 mph. She goes so nicely and with such little fuss that you hardly feel it, unless you are going into a good chop and getting a face full of spray. By the time the wind has hit 20, I have hardened the snotter up as much as it will go for it will be time to reef soon (if single handing I reef around 15; when I have crew I reef between 20-25). I have very little weather helm at this point, in fact, it is so slight that I would be tempted to call it neutral. I cannot say that even in winds up to 30mph (reefed of course), that I have had to wrestle the helm. This is the most pleasant boat, handling wise, that I have ever sailed. In gusty conditions and during a gust, the boat wants to drive closer to the wind, if I am already sailing close hauled, all I need to do is make some slight adjustments on the tiller. Very little sail trim is necessary here. Fiddling with snotter tension during such flukey winds between light and gusty gets too exacting and finding a sprit tension that is not too loose and not too tight for the conditions is what I seek and then just leave it there. In light winds up to 10 mph, I generally have the snotters eased to induce more draft and I do ease the main boom out over the side deck some and ease the mizzen to suit. Thinking about my local conditions (the inland lakes of Western Michigan and Lake Michigan), once the wind is under 10, it is rarely steady and very capricious. So I am always adjusting the tiller and the sails looking for the sweet spot. I can't say I have, as light air sailing is one of my greatest frustrations. In these kinds of conditions, I have neutral helm to lee helm. Trimming the mizzen in takes care of the lee helm. Some say you can get the cat-ketch to self steer, but I haven't found the magic for that for very long. Left over chop or boat wakes do not make it easy, in my estimation. The feeling of the helm does not change much from light to heavy winds and I sense no difference in the feeling of the helm on either tack. NB: When reefed, I sail with the main in the third mast step. Helm balance is no different than with the two sail configuration in light to moderate winds. As I noted in another thread, I bet I could put the mizzen in the reefed position in winds above 30 and sail comfortably and confidently into the 40 mph range.
  7. Tom, I have found in my CS 15 that when winds are below 10, it does not point as well as when it gets to 10+. I don't know if it is the rig or the skipper's lack of knowledge with respect to sail trim in lighter conditions. But once in the 10+ wind range, look out! My boat can sail pretty darn close to 45deg off the wind. It is remarkable to me how the gusts tell the difference. As I recall, I did not have the luxury of the gust while sailing with the Optimist fleet. I do not think that the cat-ketch can out point a main and jib boat, and it certainly can't outpoint a well sailed Optimist in the conditions I experienced yesterday. Of course, it could be that I was just sailing in dirty wind caused by the Opti as I was leeward of him.
  8. Well, let's see -- I had full sail up on my CS 15. The winds were flukey blowing around 8 mph and gusting to 15 on occasion. I was pretty close to the Optis as my course took me right through their practice course and a bunch of us were on the same heading. I noted that the Optis were pointing about 5 degrees higher than I was, but when I tried to adjust my course and sail to theirs, I would start to luff. We could not have been more than 20ft apart at the time. Seeing this, I bore off and tried to get out of there as fast as possible and hoped the 7-8 yr old skippers did not notice. I did notice and was impressed by how weatherly that little boat was.
  9. Outpointed by an Optimist Pram. Where can I sign up for the Ray Frechette School for Remedial Sail Training?
  10. Wes and PAR, thanks for your replies. I will have to consider the matter further. One of the challenges of rigging the cat-ketch for the CS 15 is to make the sail controls easily accessible while providing optimum space for crew. The set-up detailed on the plans is fine for single handing, but room and accessibility are concerns when sailing with a mate.
  11. The base upon which the cleat and block would be attached would then ride on a piece of HDPE mounted on the thwart.
  12. Nope, just the base. Cleat and block will be attached to them.
  13. Dave, I ran across a discussion about alternate mainsheet rigging on the CS 17 by PAR, who made his own out of stainless. I thought such an arrangement would work on my CS 15. One of the problems I have with the CS 15 standard rigging lay out is that clam cleats and other gear clutter the washboard where you want to plant your butt to hike out. Further, when you have crew along, the crew is sitting in the way of the mainsheet cleat and makes it difficult to get at with dispatch, especially in a good breeze. So, I thought I would try to make a swivel block and clam cleat out of red oak. My concern is strength. I don't want it disintegrating under a load. The main on the CS 15 is 59 sq ft.
  14. Is it possible to make the bases for these from wood? If not, what kind of metal stock would I need to fashion the bases. Thanks.
  15. I was thinking about this yesterday. After 12 hours on the boat and a crick in my next from peering under the lee side sails, I wonder why the foot of the sail was not cut on more of a diagonal toward the clew and the spritboom rigged horizontally as on some sharpie sails I have seen.
  16. The gunn'l guard was a necessity. I can't seem to keep paint on it and it tends to get dinged up quite a bit rubbing up against docks and such. That piece adds a bit of weight, but it allows me to greet new docks with impunity!
  17. It is hotter than blue blazes in the wilds of Western Michigan. I thought I would head out to the Lake early to try and cool things off. I was in the water by 7:30 a.m. or so and the winds were already blowing 15-20 mph. I did not know that until I got out of the semi-protected launch area. When I realized I was overpowered, I headed back into the dock and "threw in a reef" (i.e., moved the foresail to the reefing step and stowed and lashed the mizzen in the boat.) I spent the next four hours sailing with the 59 sq ft main. The boat handled very well and unlike last time I tried sailing with the "reefed" configuration, I had no trouble getting to windward. Whitecaps and two foot waves meant a wet slog to windward, but when it is 90 degrees at 10 a.m., the dousing was welcome, although it makes smoking rather difficult. I had the gps with me and consistently logged 6-7 mph on a windward course. This is very satisfying, I must say, especially since the windward performance of the boat seemed no different reefed than with the full rig. The winds increased to 25 and were gusting to thirty by noon and still the boat handled very nicely and did not seem overpressed. Indeed, I think today is the first time I've had her out when she got up on a plane. I was on a close reach about 2 miles from the dock and heading in when she just decided leg it. We were doing 9mph according to the gps. It was amazing to me to be going so fast and yet sailing so effortlessly. The helm was very light, the boat amazingling manageable and we did not seem to be bothered at all by the 2 foot waves that were hitting her on the beam. It was the fastest two miles I've ever sailed, I can tell you, and a pure delight. After today's experience, I don't think there is anything this boat can't handle with grace. Well, I'll forego testing her out in the "gales of November", but I bet that if the wind got much stronger, I could have replaced the main with the mizzen and sailed comfortably in 35 - 40 mph winds. I'll let you know when I get around to it. I do think that 15 mph winds are about the limit for single handing before putting in a reef. If my wife had been along for the ride, I could have carried full sail well into the 20mph range. I do need to figure a way to stow the mizzen out of the way in the event that reefing takes place on the water. I imagine I could just dismantle the mast and roll the sail up and stow it in one of the lockers. That still leaves an awful lot of tubing to stow, but the shorter lengths would be less obtrusive, perhaps. This is only the second time in 3 years that I have had to reef while sailing, so I think that not adding reef points and sailtrack was still a good decision. Those who can afford that convenience, however, will be repaid the first time you need to reef on the water. Now that I've sailed a few hours with the reefed configuration, I have a good idea where to put the sheeting arrangement for the main or mizzen when reefed. I used the normal main sheeting arrangement. The angle off the boom was pretty acute and distorted the sail a bit. She would have probably performed even better with a proper "reefed" sheeting arrangement. Here is a pic of the boat at the dock at the end of the sail. You can see how the mizzen was in the way. It was not too bothersome as I was perching on the rail most of the time. Nevertheless, if I had my wife with me, we would have been fighting for space. The CS15 is a great boat!
  18. PAR, I had the centerboard raised slightly and the mainsail was furled and standing in its step (I don't know if the latter had any effect, but I mention it just in case it becomes a factor because of wind resistance.)
  19. Hi, Folks. First sail of the season required I reef. This is the first time I've used the mizzen in the 3rd mast position. Windward performance was not so good. I could not tack worth a hill of beans and going to windward was more than iffy. Perhaps I should have used the main instead. I think I would have had better luck. I have sailed this boat reefed down with 62 sq ft quadrilateral spritsail in 30 mph winds with good result although it was a very wet ride and probably could have used another set of reef points in that wind situation. I'm not so sure the 45 sq ft mizzen was enough sail for this amount of wind.. The good news was that reefing kept me dry and eliminated any risk of capsize. Under full sail, the water was very cold (50!) and Spray was flying everywhere!!!!! The bad news was that getting back to the dock was touchy. What techniques do I need to keep in mind when sailing in this reefed mode?
  20. Is anyone else here unable to access the search tool on this site? The forum window does not fit my screen and no matter how I try to manipulate the size, I cannot get the thing to fit. I tried emailing the moderator, but he is not receiving any new messages.
  21. I sailed my CS 15 with a square Spritsail sloop rig for the first year or so after building the boat. The main was 86 sq ft and the jib was 21 sq ft. I liked the rig because I could set the jib flying without worrying about stays or shrouds. The main and jib worked very well from the reefing mast step position and the combined COE was nearly identical to the specified cat-ketch rig. First reef was lowering the jib. The boat sailed very well under main alone. The main reefed to 62 sq ft. I only did that once and sailed in 25-30mph winds. The boat flew, the spray flew, and it was a heck of a lot of fun. This year, I sailed with the rig spec'd for the boat. I must say that it is one of the easiest rigs I have ever used! I do not have reef points in the sail and will reef by using the third mast step. I do miss the spritsail sloop rig because it gives a slightly different sailing experience. I'm tempted to try a balanced lug sail of 105 sq ft or so and sail the boat cat rigged. While I enjoy the cat-ketch, I've got more boat jewelry to make her go than you can shake a stick at and I'm not a fan of all the clutter. I am attracted by the simplicity of the single sail, in this case, the balanced lug. For the 15, I have also thought that retrofitting to a dagger board would give more room in the boat to loll around in. I think that for the area I sail in such a thing would work well.
  22. Wes, thank you for the link to your pics. Very interesting. The CS15 will require a different solution than you and Dale have arrived at. There is a huge difference between the CS 15 and CS 20 and the way they are laid out. Your cockpit is much roomier and deep enough to "hang" a danforth. I'll have to give more consideration to the problem. I do not have to arrive at one this summer and winter will give me plenty of time to come up with something -- or so I hope.
  23. Hi Randy, I don't have to worry about tides and current where I sail, although the wind and chop can be very strong. I am wondering if a 3 lb folding grapnel type anchor would be more appropriate for daysailing use. It would certainly be easier to stow, but would it effectively hold me in a 20 mph breeze and 2 ft chop? I could save the danforth type for camp cruising, which would give more security than than the grapnel.
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