Richard Whitney CS#70

Hi John How did you attach the 'trusses' - hot glue or screws. I will watch with interest how you get on. I experimented with my spiling batten today with strake three. Roughed it out to scarf the ply together first. Feeling a bit nervous on No. 3. Still has quite a bit of twist at the stem. I am away with work all next week so will not get a chance to do anything else until next weekend. Happy to pass the batten (so to speak) and let you move into the lead.

You have caught me up. Back in town now - so may have to head down to the garage at some point to contemplate strake 3.

Well done Graham - missed the link because it was 5am our time. Nice to see a 'down under' influence being recognised over there.

John This photo should help you find us - it is the view out the window where we are staying in Queenstown.

Hi John - snaps some photos of the 'truss' method so I can wrap my head around how it works. I haven't cut my third strake yet - on holiday for a week in Queenstown - one of the idyllic spots on the South Island.

Well done John (and team) - you are pulling out to pass me on the right ( I mean left - you guys drive on the wrong side of the road)

Having built and sailed a CS17 - most of the time I sailed it on my own. There were times where it felt a bit much to launch and handle on my own. I am currently building a Lapwing. My suggestion it that that you: 1. Build a CS 17 and another small boat such as the Spindrift and have separate rigs for each 2. Build either a Core Sound 15, Lapwing or Bay River 15 all with a centre mast hole - this way you would have a slightly smaller/lighter boat to the CS 17 and cut the rig down to one mast in the centre when sailing on your own. The mast thickness etc. is specifically set up for each boat - so lifting a CS 17 rig into a smaller lighter boat would be overkill.

I am being extra careful on my shapes and the gains moving onto the next lot of strakes. I have also been doing some 'spiling' practice. I have now got two battens made of of cut offs from ply that has already been scarfed. Each batten is about 2 1/2 - 3 inches wide. Here are some shot if me practicing getting dimensions at the bulkheads for strake 7. First shot show spiling batten laid across forward bulkhead and stem.

Thats looking good John. Should be easy to get the shape of the garboard. I have to do some 'creative fitting' of the join between the garboard and 2nd strake at the stem - there is quite a bit of twist in the garboard. In the end it looks fine (unless someone turns the boat over and looks carefully)

#210 hit the stand at out local magazine store here in Auckland New Zealand. Know I have something to wave in front of my mates with John Welsford designs. Nice write up of Lapwing. Hope it bring a good amount of work your way Graham (not too much)

Looking good John - I am trying to work out the shape of the third strake this weekend.

First two strakes laid this weekend. The good thing about doing these two first is that they are on the bottom of the boat - a good place for the learning curve to happen before getting to the bit you want to look really 'fair'. The twist at the stem is tricky with these two. A few mistakes made - but with a bit of filler and paint it will be fine. Nice to have the hull 'locked together' now.

Nearly that easy. I worked out the maximum width and cut two boards that width and scarfed them so there was a straight edge to sit along the keel line. I then measure along the keel line the distance from the transom to each bulk head and marked that point on the stock and draw a 90 degree line at that point across the board. Then went back to the boat and measure the distance from the keel line to the 'notch' for each bulkhead, transom - marked these on the stock, put a small nail in each point and used a long batten to lay a curve. Then cut both bits out leaving a bit extra at the stem end because I was not sure how to get the shape there.

Hi John Graham put that in on one side to try it out and worked out he did not need it - the stem, forward bulkhead, mid bulkhead, rear bulkhead and transom give the 'contact points' necessary to give the right panel shape.

John - I am going to go as far as the first two (there is a drawing for No. 2) and then see how confident I am feeling.

Thanks for that Peter

Took a leap of faith today (with some tuition from Graham and some reading) and cut my first strakes today. Started with the Garboard which is fairly straight forward as it has a straight line along the keel. The only bit I am unsure of is how to finish it off at the bow. Graham had the measurement for strake 2 - so I am going to cut those, tack them in place and use them to work out how to finish off the bow end of the garboards. Any hints or pictures Tom of where you garboards finished at the bow. From your experience do you thing the strategy I am planing to use should work. I have been playing around with a spiling board to take measurement off the boat. Think I have the basic idea. The is a picture below with the marks you make with a compass - you then put the spiling board on your flat stock and put the point of you compass on one of the arcs on your spiling board and draw and arc on your stock. You then put the compass point on a different part of the arc on your spiling board and make another arc on your stock. Where the two arcs cross on your stock corresponds to the point on the boat you were locating.

Good to see things coming along John. I took a leap of faith and started cutting strakes today.

Good luck with the launch. Will look forward to some picture.

Great to hear the story of your first camping trip. I will now definitely 'soak my epoxy rope'.

Hi John I have been away for the weekend - so only tried to answer your email today. I have tried three times, but get bounced back as spam from your provider for some reason. Here is what I was sending Hi John Sorry not to answer sooner

Charlie - if you get on a roll and tend towards the 'longer' keep heading south and look me up when you make it to New Zealand. Have a great adventure. Building boats is a joy in itself - but they are there to carry us on adventures.

Thank Paul I must have been reading this post late last night and thought it was focused on the stays'l sheet system. I already have the gear to set my mizzen sheet up like Brent/Tom.

It may be posted somewhere else, but can someone explain (or point me to a line) the difference between Brent and Graham's mizzen sheet system - Thanks.

Hi John If it is any help the 12 sheet Graham suggested seemed to be leaning in the conservative direction (more than enough). I am not far enough alone to have a real sense of how much I would use. My sense would be if you have 12 sheet - even if you needed a little more it would be less than a sheet and you would need it for bits and pieces where the quality of ply would be less important. Just my thoughts.