Cricket

Hi Folks, I'll weigh in here. Last year I did my research, and ended up buying a Honda 30 for our club's Boston Whaler. The choice was between the Yamaha 25, Honda 25-30, and Evinrude 25 (fuel injected 2 stroke, a different technology). The Yamaha dealer wanted to sell me one of his last 2 strokes, because of the light weight. He was worried about the extra weight and not enough power in the top end with the 4. I went with the Honda largely because I felt like it would stand up better to a lot of low speed maneuvering. I use it primarily as a race committee boat, and support boat. Also, all of the police and park RIB's use the Honda. We felt it would be better over the long haul. After two season's use (though only 50 hrs), I have no complaints at all. Its quiet, powerful, reliable. One note: the only difference in the 25 and 30 is the carburetor. I'll take the extra five at the top end any day. Yamaha did not have a 30. Jim Luton

Trailer damage is definitely the #1 culprit of bailer damage. I'm pretty careful with my boats, but I have forgotten to close the bailers on my sharpie twice now (even with a sign hanging on the winch that says close the bailers!). The last time was on launching for an overnight camping trip in the Chesapeake, and one bailer leaked the whole time making for a very wet bilge. I've decided to take out the Andersens, and replace them with Perko garboard drains (screw out). Its too bad because I like the Andersens and have always used them. The hole you cut in the plywood for the bailer should also be very thoroughly sealed with epoxy and painted. Jim Luton

Greg and all, If you're looking for a good hvlp system, I have used the Fuji Q3 for about 6 years in my cabinet shop. It is a real workhorse. I share the turbine with my neighbor in the same spray booth (he has his own gun), and the unit is running all the time between the two of us. We spray exclusively waterborne lacquers, both clear and opaque, and so called wb pre cats, and it does a great job. I have not sprayed system 3 with it, but might well try it on the peapod that is coming along. Jim Luton

Hi folks, Thanks to everyone for your input. There is a lot of experience out there to draw from. I took a trip out to the dealer this weekend. They sell Evinrude/Johnson and Honda. After talking with him a bit, I decided to go with a 30hp Honda. The E-tec is still appealing, but he thought that the Honda might hold up better over the long haul with the amount of slow speed operation that we will encounter, coaching sailing, regattas, accompanying kayakers, etc. Their yard skiff is a 15' whaler with a beat up Honda 50, still going strong. I think it is very true that all of them have issues. I've read of several Honda problems of various sorts on some other forums. You makes your choice and takes your chances. There are a few dealers a little closer in, but this one was recommended by a mechanic I trust. Its still only about 30 min. away from my club. Anywhere you have to go in NYC with a trailer is a pain. I hope to have the unit installed next week. I'll report back when I launch. thanks again! Jim

Having built a few birdsmouth spars myself, I can't imagine using anything BUT epoxy. I found hose clamps to be a pretty good way to clamp the mess. And it is pretty messy. Jim Luton

Thanks for the replies. A local dealer has the E-Tec in stock right now, and I've gotten a quote from him. I'm expecting a fax soon from a Honda guy out on LI, and I'll compare specs and weights. The E-Tec is listed at 156 lb for the manual tilt/trim, 20" shaft. The Honda is 178 I think. I'll see what the quote from Honda is. The Evinrude is running a little less than 5k installed, with new controls. I wish I was powering a new Ocracoke 20, or Simmons Sea Skiff, but its a '79 Whaler, alas. Still a good boat though. Jim

Hi Folks, I am soon going to purchase a new outboard for my club's 13' Whaler, and would like any input from experienced boaters on the new models (the boat originally had a 40hp Merc, but was overpowered for our needs). I've looked around a bit, have gotten some prices etc. In my area, Brooklyn NY, Mercury dealers seem to proliferate. I've gotten negative feedback from some folks on Mercs, but don't know how well founded this is. I found an Evinrude guy close by, and I have to admit the new fuel injected E-Tec 25 or 30 looks pretty appealing from a weight standpoint. The E-Tecs are 2 stroke, fuel injected. The 30hp manual tilt/trim 20" shaft is a good 25 to 30 lbs lighter than a comparable Yamaha 4 stroke. The Yamaha dealer said that I would get as good or better performance from the lighter 20 hp than from the 25. I am concerned of course about environmental issues, and there seems to be some confusion about the new regs as of 2010. I haven't talked to a Honda guy yet. We use the boat as a safety/yard skiff/regatta RC boat. Don't need a high top end speed, but do want to plane with 3 aboard! Any help or opinions would be appreciated. Jim Luton Sailing Co-Chair Sebago Canoe Club

Hi Folks, This topic was mentioned on another thread, but I wanted to put it up front to encourage the core sounders to consider going up to Maine for next year's event. It was a really fabulous event, with all kinds of weather and great sailing. Applications will come out online later in the year at http://www.woodenboat.com/smallreach/index.html I wrote up an article, with photos on my blog at http://sailingskiffs.blogspot.com/ Good sailing! Jim Luton Windward skiff Cricket

I use a stock cover from Hamilton Marine http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse.cfm/4,25446.html made for power boats. The fit is not perfect, but it is fairly rugged, and breathable. I built a light weight ladder type A frame that is supported by a crutch in the mast hole, and sits on a foam block on the aft deck. This sheds rain and snow here in NYC. I'm sure Defender has similar covers. A custom fit is best by far, but expensive! This one is $117.00 I also have a pair of Andersen bailers that I keep open on land to drain any stray water that finds its way in, and bails the boat on a reach as well of course. Jim Luton

Howard, Go back and buy every stick of cedar he's got at that price! That's a real find. I think you are right that there is much variation in product inventory from store to store in the same chain. Why my particular Lowes carries the fir I don't know. Also, it's halfway between my house and my shop, so very convenient. Tom suggested poplar, which remains one of the great deals in domestic lumber. It's a staple in my cabinet shop for paint grade work, and I've bought hundreds of board feet of it. I can order rough 4/4 and 5/4 in long lengths for well under $2 a board foot, and always have a pile on the rack. A question for Tom. Did you publish a manual on composite construction of the Windmill? I bought this a few years ago and found it exceptional. I don't have it at my fingertips, so I can't check the title, but will look when I get home. Have you enjoyed the glued lap construction? I have built a few myself, and found it to be a great way to build. I'd love to see a Lapwing type in the size range of the CS 17 and 20! Good luck on your lumber search Jim, and happy boat building. Jim Luton

I don't think you're going to build your spars from the "scrap pile", unless your pile is pretty select. There is a lot of work that goes into a birdsmouth mast and boom, for example, and I wouldn't want anything but clear doug fir or spruce. And in defense of my choice of Lowes, I bought all the fir for the mast and boom for Cricket there, and paid $18 for a clear 1x6 vg fir. That's $3 a board foot. In this day and time, not a bad price. In my experience, the big structural stuff is grown so fast, that the growth rings are are too widely spaced for spar work. Great for thicker pieces where needed (and there's always aluminum). But Tom is certainly right about the interior structural components of a composite structure like the Core Sounds. I buy lumber from a very many sources; ply ,veneer, exotics, and I choose what is appropriate for the task. Jim Luton

Hi Jim, I don't know what your location is, but I have had good luck at my local Lowes with dimensioned 1x4 and 1x6 clear fir. 12 footers are the longest I find, but I just scarf up a 12 and an 8, straight-line one edge with a router, then rip out the strips. If they do carry the fir, you may have to make periodic visits to snatch the best stuff. There is a supplier of boat quality timber just upstate from me in NYC, but the prices are shocking. To think I used to buy clear sitka spruce from them for $4 a board foot! As for cypress, I used some for glued up hiking rails on a sailing canoe, and though pretty, I found it kind of wanky and twisty. Buying anything in long (20') clear lengths is hard nowadays, and very pricey. Some folks like to buy air dried structural fir in 2x or 3x thicknesses which is cheap, and rip out around the knots. I've found this to be a good solution for heftier chunks, like stem aprons and skegs on more trad. boats, but this won't apply to the Core Sound types. I wouldn't discount the box stores, as they sometimes have what you need and have the buying clout to provide it pretty cheap. Jim Luton

Beautiful job Jan, I think the sheer stripe and rubbing wale add a lot to the visual impact of the boat, and seems to create "lift" in the sheer. I noticed that too on the boat Ray built for Phil Milinski (sp?), the one with the nice photos from Maine. You've also done a bristol job of fitting out the interior. Good, yacht quality construction. Time to go sailing! Jim Luton

Hi folks, As an alternative to melting lead (with the associated fumes and splatter), I've used sheet lead left over from shower pan installations. Cut out enough pieces to equal the thickness you want, hammer them all flat together (no need to glue them), and drop this brick into a mortise in the board. Don't cut the mortise all the way through. Then goosh the brick down into thickened epoxy, and glass and fair as normal. My board on Cricket achieves neutral buoyancy just as it reaches the correct max down position. Pure luck, as I didn't even weigh the brick! I've also used bungee downhauls on light weight boats, and it works well too. Jim Luton

For what its worth, I have used stainless steel tubing let into the leading edge of both rudders and centerboards, then glassed (9oz or so biax) over that after fairing. Small diameter tubing or rod seems right for the shape of a leading edge small boat foil, like a 0012. It has worked very well in preserving the edges from gouges and dings, though eventually you'll need to re-glass. Looks like you're moving right along with the boat. Wish I could work that fast! Jim Luton

Greg, I glued up 1x6 planks w/ a scarf, trued an edge, then ripped out the staves. Then thicknessed, vee grooved 1 edge, then tapered. Jim

Sorry, I forgot to say that I was trying to build a nice parabolic taper in the mast, and it was difficult to figure, and to cut the curve for each teeny, whippy 22 foot long stave, so that the net effect was the parabolic curve I was after. Jim

The time consuming part for me was the tapering of all the strips, and once I popped it together dry I found I wasn't happy with the shape, so I re-tapered all the strips before gluing. I've built several solid spars where you glue up two pieces, then saw out the profile and 8 side, etc. and I found this to be quicker. But I have heard many people say the birdsmouth is fast. It pays to be fastidious about the cleanup of glue while wet. Its pretty brutal to powerplane all the gobs of epoxy. I did build the boom this way too, and though fairly robust in section, its wicked light. I too, think that there are worlds of possibility for building structures this way. You could build in some bend, for example, or multihull cross beams. Ovals are no problem. I'd build porch columns this way too. It could be I'll be faster next time around, now that I know some of the design pitfalls. One question though. Why (besides the storage issues) are people building multi section alu sticks. Are the lower and upper sections independently engineered for controlled bend like in a Laser mast? If sails are being purchased off the shelf, I would be careful to match the mast bend to the luff curve. This might be harder to do with a wood stick. You won't know till its all done! I once had a racing sail for a C Class sailing canoe made, and the sailmaker used a heavier stick to bend for checking the curve than what I used for the boat. Consequently, my mast was too soft, and in light air just halyard tension made the sail too flat. This was a full batten sail. Here is another duckworks article on staved spars. http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/articles/birdsmouth/index.cfm After all this, I meant to say that I really like the CS17. Its definitely in the running for my next project. I might just squeeze it into my freight elevator. Jim

Hi Folks, I built birdsmouth spars for my Windward sharpie http://www.jimluton.com/boatsand while it produced beautiful, light. sticks, I found it very time consuming. I ran the vee groove on my shaper with a stock feeder. I used 5/8" stainless sail track from Defender to good result. One thing I would say, is be sure to use vertical grain or at least quarter sawn fir for the staves. Flat sawn stock is hard to plane and sand smooth w/o waves due to soft grain/hard grain. Bendiness is another issue. My mast is very stiff, maybe stiffer than is good for spilling air, but I erred on the side of heavier rather than lighter scantlings. A good website for birdsmouth spars is http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/03/r/articles/birdsmouth/mast.htm Cheers, Jim Luton