Brent

U.S. Composites http://www.shopmaninc.com/fillers.html make a SM fairing compound that works great. Mix it to your liking with epoxy resin. Good sag resistance and its easy to sand. Fairing the hull on a weekender will require about 5 qts, setting you back a whole 10 bucks.

That previous post seems to say it all. If the Bellhaven works for you now, go with it. For many of us the building process is as enjoyable as the sailing. Worst case is that after sailing the Bellhaven for a while you decide to build another boat. How bad is that?

Charlie, Pat, and others with reefing sails on sail track, Does the position of the snotter on the mast need to change as the sail is reefed? Is it important to be able to adjust up or down the point where the snotter connects to the mast?

Ric, This is one of the those terminology issues. I mistakenly used the word "sculper" when I should have used the term "bailer". So I was politely notified of the error by my fellow board members. If your boat is like mine there is no drain pipe. By the way, it is nice to hear from you. I presume the fact that we haven't heard from you in a while is due to your being so busy teaching the new baby to sail and fish. :wink: Cheers Brent

Ed, I have been thinking along the same line. I dont quite follow the comment about "done properly (back an forth instead of spiral wound)". I was thinking that spiral wound would help the sail make it over the diameter changes in the mast. Please clarify if you see some concerns with spiral lacing. When it come to reefing I was concerned that maybe the lacing would become loose due to the slack in the reefed and stowed section of sail. I thought this might be addressed by hooking the downhaul to the lacing when reefed to keep all tight. I like the idea of a laced sail with reefing capability...If it can be made to work decently.

Rob, If I read your post correctly you are planning to keep the sprits, but are considering putting a reefing option on the mizzen. Correct me if I did not get that right. Be aware that reefing only the mizzen, wether the main stays up or gets furled, may result in the boat helm being out of balance. In a blow this could get tricky, the boat will want to bear off if the main is still up and drawing. If the main is down the boat will want to head up. Makes for a long trip home in a blow. I am thinking that if reefing is used it should be used proportionally on both main and mizzen.

Anybody have a good source for sculpers? How about suggestions for where to place them so that they drain the cockpit nicely.

Thanks for the input! I think I might avoid the seat over the centerboard horn. Fortunately there are pioneers going before me to help me with the learning process. :wink:

Welcome to the support group for people building boats in confined spaces. We are all on the road to recovery.

Thanks for the info and reference Frank. I found the Glen-L site informative. I am going to keep looking for gunwale woods. I might try to locate some ash or white oak. There is an interesting discussion on the main forum about keel protection. I like the sacrificial wood strip concept to protect the keel from damage.

If I read the prints correctly, the oar locks are located so that rower can sit on the thwart. However that would require removing the missen to make way to sit. Just wondering how practical this works out in the real world. Pulling the mast seems like it could be enough trouble to make rowing a rare event. The CS 20 seems to be on the large size for a rowing dory, I am wondering if people find rowing moves the boat well enough.

I have got my eye on some maple for possible use for the gunwale. What do the wood workers think of maple for exposed wood on a boat? If maple is not a good choice, what would you recommend?

I have had a very difficult time locating a source for this aluminum tubing. Local suppliers are all 2x. I was delighted to hear in your note about Shapiro Supply...they are relatively close to me. I will be interested to hear the view if the 0.065 in 3" is strong enough. My guess is it will be ok, but maybe slightly more bendy.

When strip building canoes I have had some success making decorative designs by using different color strips forming something of a wood strip fresco. This is different from veneering in that there is no underlying support wood to move at a different rate than the surface wood. Additionally, while the woods used may be different species, all have the grain oriented in the same direction so that they tend to move together instead of in opposition. I am confident this approach could be used to make a very nice hatch. Some builders will build the entire deck out of one wood (maybe western red cedar) then build a large panel out of another wood (mahogony or cherry). A curved design is cut in the second panel, then this design is scribed into the original deck and a cut out made to the same shape as the curved design (keep the grains running parrallel) All is epoxied in place.

Thanks for the pictures! Its always interesting to how other people do this boat building thing.

Rob, A few thought from a another boat in progress... I figure I spend most of my sailing time sitting on the rail, so I made the side decks about 6" wide at the minimum. This shortened up the seat space, which I made about an inch wider. The wider side decks put alot of lever arm on the hull side, causing flex when I sat on the deck, so I built gussets that run from deck to the bottom of the hull in three places. The deck is plenty stiff now. I am planning inserts to span the gap between the seats and the centerboard trunk turning the entire front of the cockpit into a flat space useful for lounging around or sleeping.

Wow! Very nice.

Oops, I forgot to logon for that last reply. Something I learned along the way...the white epoxy filler is probably cabosil or some similiar silica product. These are great for making those hidden fillets. There are blends of cobosil, microspheres, and wood flour that make fillets that are much easier to sand. I get 5 litre pails for about $10 versus $6 for cabosil. I used this stuff on the fillets that end up visible from the cockpit. The microspheres are a little more prone to absorb moisture, so I made sure they got a good couple of coats of epoxy over them.

Just for fun here is a web site showing some large cat ketch boats. I found the details of the sail plan interesting. http://www.tantonyachts.com/tanton43images2.htm

The screws were in jeopardy already, and these comments from my esteem peers have sealed their fate. They are coming out! I knew there would be some movement due to thermal expansion, but I had not considered the moisture migration issue. All the more reason! I will leave a few up front as Graham suggests, and maybe a couple near other high stress points, like the mast tube positions.

Anyone care to suggest a technique to make sure the stainless screws holding the decks on my CS20 dont show through after the deck is epoxy coated, primed and painted? The decks are epoxied in place and secured with countersunk stainless steel screws on 6 inch centers. I was thinking of removing the screws now that the epoxy at the deck to hull seam is cured. Any pros and cons?

Rob - congratulations. It is marvelous fun to just look at these boat while they are coming together. Keep us posted on progress.

Perhaps this is the point I should join in this discussion. First I have to mention how I have enjoyed hearing from the of south Texas armada. In years past I kept a boat under the Rainbow Bridge just off Sabine Lake, where my kids went sailing at a very young age. I cant count the nights we spent out on the lake, or in the adjoining gulf waterways. Matagorda bay, Port Lavaca, Aransas pass..lots of good sailing memories. These shallow draft cat ketches will be great on those waters. On the reefing...what you describe Travis is very close to what I am planing for my now underconstruction CS20. *To reef horizontally the sail must have lacing or sail track. I am leaning to sail track because this allows the sprit to remain attached to the mast. *The reefing maneuver begins by easing the halyard. It may be necessary to ease the snotter also. *A line run along the sprit to a pulley and up to a reefing clew gathers the reefed sail at the end of the sprit. *The down haul is repositioned to the reefing crinkle at the luff and tightened. *The idle sail can now be gathered and tied together forming a line of rolled sail from the bottom the luff to the end of the sprit.

Used to own and 87 Mercedes 300. Very nice car. Then my 16 year old daugher killed it. Still in morning. :cry:

Jake, if you are concerned about lateral forces, build a second bracket and mount the two brackets side by side maybe 8" apart. This would look alot like some common commercial mounts. Eye ball engineering says what you got will work fine unless the motor gets turned to either side, potentially putting on some large lateral forces. Looks to me like there is plenty of cross sectional areas to spread the forward force across...more area than on the commercial brackets I have seen. On my boat I am more concerned about making sure the plywood is plenty stiff to take the forces from the motor.