Kennneee

Murray- Glad you took the time to look at the video. I always appreciate constructive input. I have sailed Lula a few more times and have fine tuned some technique. I agree with Don that the mizzen doesn’t need as much attention as I would have thought. Still playing with snotter tension but haven’t messed with the battens. One of the wonderful things about sailing is you can be chill or obsessive and still have a good time. I vacillate between the two. Looking forward to your observations when you get some time on your Lapwing. Dave - Morocco sounds pretty exotic. Would like to see your boat pics when you return and hear about travel in Morocco.

Mike- Thanks for the compliments. If you do decide to take on this project I would encourage you to go for the 26. I don’t think the build would be any harder and you will appreciate the extra space. I also think, as attractive as the 24 is, the longer length adds to the beauty of the design. I do take Rosie out by myself fairly often. I did a week long trip last season by myself with not problem. It is a bit more challenging in close quarters but with good preparation it is not a problem. I have always had help getting her on and off the trailer but I think it is certainly doable solo. Most of my boating experience prior to Rosie was either very small runabouts or larger cruising sailboats. I really didn’t know what to expect from a powerboat of this size. Since she is very light weight and after reading about other peoples issues with close quarters maneuvering, I wondered if I would want a thruster. I could see an occasional situation where it would be valuable but to be honest I have not felt like I needed one. So far, knock on wood (and epoxy) I have not had any serious problems docking her. I do know that the day will come. I recently saw a reference to a thruster that only required a moderate size thruhull fitting and not a large tunnel. Can’t remember where I saw it but I am sure you can do some searching online if you want to go in that direction. Egbert Dees built a gorgeous Bluejacket and added a thruster. His work on that boat is stunning/intimidating. He has some info on his thruster installation. Building a OB 26 is a formidable undertaking. If you have the desire to build a planning powerboat of this size you won’t go wrong. There are some other designs out there that are easier to build and will leave you with a fine boat. I haven’t seen any that have all of the attributes of the OB26 and are as beautiful. That is just my opinion. Good luck and keep us posted on your build, etc. Ken

Gray Duck-I think that is a good way to go. I am now using a combination of your method and Grahams. Since my “excitement” was mostly caused by the painter jamming in the CB trunk. I have a shorter length of nylon line with a loop spliced to my stem head and another loop spliced to the trailing end. When I want a long painter (throwing to someone on shore) I tie a length of floating line to the painter. That is essentially what I had been doing except that the long length of line was nylon and didn’t float. Ken

Dave brings up a good point. The 2 part Polys do not like standing water or constant immersion. I primed the bilge area of Lula with epoxy primer and then Kiwi grip non skid to avoid that problem. I have heard stories (un verified) of boats on long passages and on one tack for extended periods of time winding up with blistered topsides. The point being this tough marine paint works great as long as it doesn’t remain submerged for long periods of time. Trying to decide on a bottom coating on Lula I went with graphite in epoxy resin. Have been using that combo of years on other day use boats. I also like the look of a contrasting black bottom that I don’t worry about scratches, etc.

Tim- That is interesting and unfortunate. It was only a year or so ago that they changed the name and the formulation of this paint. I can’t remember what they called it before but part of the reason they changed the name was because they had to use some different raw material due to supply issues. That is what they told me last year when I inquired about the name change. I hope they get it worked out since it is a good option. I would check some retail suppliers to see if they have any on the shelves. Ken

Samantha- Brightside and similar one part paints work well and are moderately durable and not hard to apply. Once you move into the 2 part Poly paints the coating is considerably more durable. The solvent based 2 part paints are nasty. The solvents are quite toxic. I used System Three Pennant on Lula which is a waterborne 2 part poly. It can be a bit fussy to apply especially in warm, dry conditions but cures to a very hard finish. It is not as glossy as the solvent based paints so it might be what you are looking for in terms of gloss. Since you are in the PNW you can find a good weather window when the humidity and temp are favorable. https://www.systemthree.com/products/pennant-topside-paint With these high tech paints keep repeating “leave it alone”. If you roll and tip the tendency is to over work the paint. As it cures many of the brush strokes shrink out. A foam “hot dog” roller and a synthetic bristle brush work well with Pennant if you roll and tip. Painting is not my favorite thing to do so using a paint that lasts has great value to me. Good luck. Ken

Anchorages and launch ramps are ARE a great source of entertainment. We all get a chance to add to the show occasionally. I always say that the one thing I am a master at is fixing screw ups since I have had lot’s of practice. I have been mentoring a few budding woodworkers and I try to instill in them that making mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of. Learning how to climb out of them is what defines all around skill in my book. I almost always wear a light weight dry suit when I sail. It is part of my cold water paddling kit. Loading and unloading Rosie and Lula on the trailer is so much easier when getting into the water is easy and comfortable. The day that I described above was a rare time when I didn’t have it on. All of these tips are great input and I think we all find some pearls of wisdom that will make us better watermen and women. Come on guys, lets expand this thread to include more “exciting” tales of terror at the ramp or on the water. We won’t tell anybody if you share. I got my cataract surgery today. They say I will feel younger. I can hardly recognize myself looking in the mirror.

Well, keeping the dumping coming. Good advice on the floating line. I have seen lines fouled in props many times and have always been pretty careful on that front. It happened to me once in a hurricane and I didn’t blame my then wife:). That said, maybe that is why we are not married anymore:). I do agree that the buck stops with the skipper. No amount of yelling and berating of crew is helpful or wise. I never thought of the CB as a brake but it is another trick to have in the bag. My biggest concern with the CB is hitting the metal of the trailer. Reacher, should the crew swim ashore or possibly use the floating line attached to them and have them act as a sea anchor off the stern? I guess whatever works. Thanks for input guys. Nice to have ideas to keep Murphy from having his way.

A few days ago I took 2 young friends out for a sail on Lula. Having young energetic crew is a wonderful tonic to an aging curmudgeon. Julian is a professional pilot and Ella is a Marine biologist and experienced Etchels racer. A competent couple for sure. We headed out on Mission Bay in San Diego and had my best sail yet aboard Lula. I handed off most of the sailing to my young friends and we all had a fabulous time. When the time came to head back Ella did a great job of sailing us up to a dock that is around 75ft ft from the launch ramp. I went ashore, backed the trailer in the water and returned to the boat. Julian went over to the trailer to catch us. The wind had come up a bit by this time and was blowing strongly on the beam. Giving good instructions is the responsibility of the captain. On this task I could have been better. I asked Ella to be ready to toss the painter to Julian as we approached the trailer and to be sure to retract the center board. I decided to use the EPropulsion outboard to get us from the dock to the ramp. The motor is mounted on the transom and the prop is barely deep enough in the water. As we approached the ramp Ella pulled up the centerboard a bit early. She was up at the bow before I realized we were now making leeway and would miss the ramp and possibly make an unwanted landfall. I instructed her to get the board down. She dropped the painter in the water and before I realized what was happening I heard Julian shouting from the shore that the painter was in the water. I immediately stopped the motor and Ella ran forward to retrieve the line. By then it had run aft and wrapped around the CB without us knowing. As we were getting close to shore I reversed the motor and and asked Ella to get the board up since the water was getting shallow. At this point the line jammed in the trunk and the board was stuck down and the painter would not come aboard. With her weight at the bow the prop was not very effective which added a bit more excitement to the moment. We managed to get Lula over to the dock and all was well except the board was firmly stuck in the down position. No amount of tugging was going to get it up. What to do? I knew I couldn’t get Lula on the trailer and had very few tools with me. Ella was feeling bad as if it was her fault (it wasn’t). After a bit of head scratching we managed to use the main Halyard to get the boat healed on it’s side and after a few attempts we got the painter out of the well. I was a happy guy at this point. Lula was flooded with water and I learned that my hatches need a bit of tune up as they leaked badly. As with many of these unwanted challenges something good comes out of it. A simple fix of better gasketing will correct the hatch problem. Better to have found out near the ramp then out in the middle of the bay with lot’s of water in the compartments after a capsize. So, the takeaway for me is with even the best of crews clear instructions are essential. Never assume everybody aboard can read your mind and intentions. Arrrrrh, another tale to tell when I get my peg leg and eye patch. The eye patch comes this week after cataract surgery. The peg leg is not in the plan. Ken

Looks like there might be a Festool Domino at work. Wonderful tool!

Don and Dave- Thanks for setting me straight. I must have heard your voices a few minutes into the video when I realized they were hanging over the side! I had just dropped Luanne off to take a few shots and didn’t take them in quick enough to claim status as an old salt. If you guys would give me a second chance I promise to be more attentive. I did tell Luanne about my transgression and that someone on the forum would notice. Her reply “tough crowd”. I love it!

On my second sail with Lula Luanne shot this video. Still playing with sail trim. It is unedited so maybe longer than you want to spend watching me do circles. https://photos.app.goo.gl/THZy9YrxSUNSBWEN9

Dave- Thinking about oars and a few questions come up for me. I placed my oarlocks according to the plans. In order to row from the center thwart I would have to move the mizzen to the forward step. Not a big deal but a bit inconvenient. I seem to remember you having added another removable rowing seat. Did you wind up moving your oarlocks? How has that worked out? Any suggestions given your experience? Ken

Hi All-A lot of bad weather in California kept me off the water more than I would have liked so far this Winter. I have only had Lula out 4 times since arriving here and have enjoyed every trip so far. Still getting to know her. So far I am really please with her performance. She ghosts along in light air and stands up to her canvas better than I would have expected when the wind pipes up. She is no slouch speed wise. The helm is nicely balanced and easy to steer with very little effort. As expected her lines seem to be a magnet for compliments. I managed to build a paddle a few days before I headed south for close quarters maneuvering but didn’t have time to build oars. I have been using my EPropulsion electric outboard that I borrowed from Rosebud, my Spindrift dinghy. I had hoped to get by with a simple transom mount but the shaft is a bit short for this application. I suppose I will hold my nose and get a commercial mount to bolt on her stern. Either that or get busy building oars and skip the motor all together. I don’t have any good pics of her under sail yet but here are a few others. One of them is with an old friend that I met while cruising in Central America 30 years ago. She was hitch hiking around the pacific on sailboats at that time. Turns out she now lives in San Diego and still loves to sail. Had a great day out on Lula reminiscing and telling tales of our past adventures. Ken

Mike- Looks really great and Skookum as they say in Canada. Keep the pics coming. Ken