Brent

Scott, I must add my congratulations on the lauching of "Raindrops". The pictures look great. It has been rewarding to watch the progress of your boat all along the way. Welcome to the sailing side of this obsession. Great winds always Brent

Jeff, Lowering your mast height is going to greatly improve heavy weather performance. The center of force on the sails will be lowered, hence reducing the healing force on the boat. When the wind picks up I often lower the sail height on the masts (using mast tracks) before actually reducing sail area. Lowering the center of force by even 6 inches has a calming effect on the boat. If your boat is like mine you will find that sailing the boat on her feet reefed sacrifices very little speed compared to sailing the boat heavily heeled under full sail in a blow.

Beautiful! I love those strip built canoes. Got three of them, and use them regularly. I know you will enjoy every stroke of the paddle in this one.

Dale, Hope Charlie's reply addressed your question. If there is something else I can add don't hesitate to ask. The PIKL event was great fun, and the people were just wonderful. Kentucky Lake was a good venue for a get together.

Welcome to the double digit club! It is always a thrill. I really enjoy getting these boats up on plane. 10-20 mph winds sound like a perfect sea trial for your new boat. Above 20 mph I find it gets to be less fun and more hard work... except for those downwind runs.

We took our boat to the Party In Ketucky Lake event last week. This was a get together by the folks over on the TSBB http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums Kentucky Lake is big place, and the best sailing lake I know of in the area. The western shore is developed with lots of resorts and places to pull into for a meal and a boat slip. The eastern shore is the forest service land known and Land Between the Lakes. The group arranged for an entire campground with boat ramp and sheltered harbor to be reserved for the exclusive use of the TSBB group. Very sweet. We camped on the shore and sailed, sailed, sailed.

A good bit turning at low speed with some 30w oil got the job done. Wernt that hard

Thanks for all the thoughts. The lower mast section joint is not as tight as I would like. As a result the missen can wobble abit. Getting at the sleeve joint requires taking the sail track off the lower mast section, then the top two sections can slide away from the bottom section...or at least that is the plan. I was thinking I might add another layer of cloth and epoxy to that joint, then reassemble the whole thing. I went with SS rivets because I didn't like the quality of aluminum rivet I was finding. So educate me on what a good quality aluminum rivet looks like and where to obtiain such. Aluminum is much easier to work with for sure. I find no evidence of corrosion, but I prefer to go back with the best materials choices I can. I suppose there might be other methods to tighten up that mast sleeve joint...like run some epoxy down between the mast tube and the fibreglass buildup on the inner mast. Maybe sink a set of screws through the outer mast and into the inner mast. Need to think about that some more, and get your ideas on that as well.

I am considering a modification to the mizzen mast that will require removal and reattachment of the sail track. The sail track is attached with stainless rivets. What is a good technique for removing stainless rivets? Saw, Drill, Grind ?

I just pulled the graphite coated center board out of my boat for an inspection. After three years of hard use the board is as slick as the day it went into the boat. There are a couple of dings in the board which will get addressed. The poly rope epoxied into the leading edge of the board did exactly as intended, taking the abuse of hitting an occasional rock or mud bank, while leaving the rest of the boards unscathed.

John, A precious picture of your monkeys! You have some wonderful boat memories to make in their near future. Many people with young children use netting to keep the young ones from going over the side unintentionally- a baby siene. The netting is not hard to make - enough for a 24 foot boat might take a couple evenings using nylon twine. The same method can be used to make hammocks as well. http://www.bertaut.com/netmaking.html

I have been doing trailer work also. For some time I have felt I was running to much tongue weight, but changing the axles on this trailer is complicated enough that I put off modification, but today the boat will slide back on the trailer with a modified setup that should result in a lower tongue weight. It all started with the decision to touch up the paint on my trailer. But then when picking paint I decided to use a new color...so instead of a bit of paint here and a bit there the entire trailer got a couple of coats of new paint. While I was at it the axle moved forward, and new wiring too.

Dale, I rigged my sheets a similar way. A line drilled through the sprit connects the sprit to the sheet block. Simple and reliable. On Graham's boat the extra block between sprit and sheet block is for the stays'l sheet. On my boat a caribener and block combination clips in a the same location. I unclip the caribener and tack it and the sheet around together, reclipping on the opposite side. Works better for me than rethreading the sheet. Personal preference. Brent

Looking Good Dale! You are soooo close to getting this boat in the water! Cool!

Congratulations Kidd. Welcome to the world of sailing a boat crafted by your own hand.

Congratulations Joe! It is beautiful to see your boat under sail. Here is best wishes for many happy adventures onboard your Core Sound. ---Brent

A small hole drilled in the forward end of the main sprit will hold a coat hanger size wire about 20" long with a small "L" bent in the far end. On the end of this wire is tied a length of audio tape. The resulting wind indicator will see clean air in front of the main, and is much easier to keep an eye on than a streamer at the mast head.

Congratulations Joe! Welcome to the sailing side of this hobby! These are indeed sweet boats, and your will bring you years of pleasure. ---Brent

Joe, The CS cat ketch rig points best with the sprits well away from the centerline of the boat. On the racing sloop we pull the boom in very close and very tight when pointing in a breeze, this is the WRONG thing for the CS cat ketch sprit rig. The boat points best with the main sprit running well away from the centerline...on my boat this is 18-28" from the centerline. The mizzen will probably be at its best running closer to the centerline than the main. Experiment with the sails set at different distances from centerline, and see what works best. My boat seems to point up as the boat speed increases, so I focus on keeping the sails drawing powerfully to get the best distance made good to windward. The sprit controls the luff shape. Play with the snotter to get a sail shape that breaks evenly the entire length of the luff. You will feel the boat surge when the setting is made right. I set luff shape first using the snotter , then control sail draft with the downhaul.

Dale, While we are waiting for Joe to get his CS20 out under sail how about showing us some progress photos of your CS17 construction?

Joe, What is the latest story on the launch of your new boat?

Jeff, Thanks for detailing your adventure here, and letting us share in it with you. What you did is exactly what I love to do with my CS, when I am not out on these explorations I am thinking about my last one or planning my next one. Sharing in yours was inspirational. ---Brent

Garry, this boat is a very interesting addition to Graham's fleet. As the design develops please keep us informed. I hope the design means your other boat now has a good new home, and life is settling in for you in your new location. Through my own experiences I have become totally sold on the cat ketch concept for it ease of handling and total performance. I find my CS20 is very easy to singlehand, and quite maneuverable. It will be interesting to see how this scales up in a much bigger and heavier boat. I see some salty experience translated into the preliminary design. This does look like a good islands boat. I suspect the cat ketch concept will allow for accomodations that feel like a much larger boat, due to no reguiring extensive bulkheads and structural reinforcement in the middle of the cabin compared to a sloop. Cedar stripped construction will result in a beautiful hull - and a very nice view from inside the boat. I really enjoy cedar strip construction - it offers a most satisfying zen for the builder.

The snotter to mast connection location on my boat is set per Graham's design, and working just fine. To set snotter tension I go for keeping the battens approximately parrallel to each other and the sail not to flat. I watch the leach streamers very closely, and if one is swirling more than the the others that indicates a possible opportunity for a snotter adjustment. I like to run the fullest sail possible for maximum power. When really pushing for speed I will flatten the sail slightly when pointing versus the setting for a reach or run. The boat responds very quickly to snotter tension adjustments, so it is easy to figure out if I did the right thing. In high winds I go with a flatter sail, as you do.

The sprits need a little tension to stay in the loops at the end of the sail. If the snotters are let go the sprit and sail can disconnect. The snotters on my boat are run back to the helm - and I tweak them frquently. The snotters and downhaul (cunningham) control the sail shape. I find that snotter tension has a very large influence on the power I get from the sail. One trick I use when docking in a breeze is to get the boat in close and then let the snotters fly. This quickly depowers the sail and helps with a nice smooth approach to the dock. Thought that might help as you consider snotter length.