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Randy Jones

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Everything posted by Randy Jones

  1. I'm uncertain about when to reef my CS17 when running downwind. I was out in Lake Washington on Friday when the wind picked up to about 15 knots at about the time that I needed to turn downwind and run home. Alone in an empty boat I'd need to reef for closehulled sailing, but downwind it didn't seem to matter. I continued without reefing and maintained a very happy 6+ knots with a balanced helm and without any kind of side-to-side "roll". Nothing for the record books, but I was very pleased. In the 16 months that I've had the boat I've been reefing to avoid overpowering the boat when sailing closed hulled. Now, I find myself wondering what drives the decision to reef a Cat Ketch when heading downwind, and what goes wrong when you carry too much sail downwind? Thanks
  2. I've got a 3.5hp two stroke outboard that I'm going to use on my CS17. I hope to do most of my sailing with the motor stored in the boat rather than hanging on the transom. Does horizontal storage of the motor create any problems other than the obvious potential for fuel leaks? I'm a little concerned about getting the motor to start after storing it horizontally. Are any of you storing your outboards horizontally, and do they start when needed?
  3. Not sure I understand your mast arrangement, but I can tell you that HDPE worked well for me. My flatiron skiff (sprit sail) came to me with an oversized and out of round hole in the seat where the mast is inserted. I put a length of 3" diameter copper tube over the bottom of the wooden mast and passed it through a new HDPE bearing bolted beneath the seat. At the bottom end of the mast I drilled out a hole and inserted a length of solid round HDPE sized to fit the round hole of the mast step. The friction surfaces are copper/HDPE at the seat and HDPE/wood at the step. The results are a better than expected combination of smooth rotation and no mast wobble. The boat is an old thing traditionally built from wood planks (no ply, glass, or expoxy), so it worked out nicely that the HDPE is hidden from view.
  4. That looks pretty good. I was hoping you would do a test. If your glue test passes, I think I will use the carbon fiber sail track instead of the stainless steel. Thanks for doing the dirty work.
  5. Scott, Slightly off track, but reading your post made me think of the John Welsford design named Houdini. He uses a 110 square foot sail lug sail cat rig that may interest you. Perhaps this would get you more sail area without increasing the mast length.
  6. Interesting. I didn't see anything about sail track on the referenced web site. Please post a photo let and us know how it works out.
  7. My CS 17 has a 3 inch diameter PVC mast tube for the main. I didn't built it, but it is clear that the top and bottom ends of the sleeve are completely captured by wood. The mast step block and and the wood framing at the deck appear to take the load, with the PVC sleeve acting as a vertical compression member and providing a slick waterproofing guide between the deck and the mast step. I'm guessing that the epoxy/PVC joint experiences only light loading which may be why it has worked. I don't know enough to give you a recommendation, but can report no problems with my arrangement after 1 year of operation. The slick interior surface on PVC does seem to make mast installation and removal smooth. Hope this helps.
  8. The CS17 on a trailer will fit into your garage for storage which is awfully nice. Also consider rather you are going to motor or row. I don't carry a motor as my CS17 can be rowed at 2.5 knots when needed. I've never had the chance to row a CS20 but would guess it would be a little more work to row.
  9. I found a 12 foot length of 5/8" stainless steel sail track today and discovered that it is much more flexible than I anticipated. Not inexpensive, at about $90 for 12 linear feet of track. I'm going ahead with it on the mainsail anyway with the justification that the need to reef easily is a safety issue. Seems that I can also go back to lacing if it doesn't work out. Thanks for your comments.
  10. I'm considering converting my CS17 from laced sails to sail track in order to simplify the reefing process. The laced sails perform fine and the lacing looks great on the solid wood masts but reefing the mainsail is a chore while underway, especially with hands that don't work well in the cold. These mast are laminated from 5 layers of doug fir and tappered on the upper portions to accommodate bending in wind gusts. I can't image the mast ever breaking, but they sure do bend. I'm wondering if a stainless steel sail track will flex along with the mast. Would some of you experienced with sail track provide your opinion? Thanks
  11. Hi guys, That's my Anderson bailer that won't work because it is located directly behind the centerboard. I haven't moved it yet, but I can tell you not to worry about accidently leaving it open. I've opened it several times during testing, and launched with it open a couple of times too. You'll get two inches of water into the bottom of the boat but you will not even come close to sinking. I have to bail the water out because my bailer doesn't work, but yours should drain out once you pick up some boat speed. Having sailed my CS17 for a year now without a functional bailer, I can't see where you would need more then the small model. Hope this helps.
  12. I'm happily married to my sprit boom leg-o-mutton CS17 sail rig, but occasionally wonder about alternate rigs offering more sail area as a solution to the typically light winds in my portion of Puget Sound. I have another boat with a boomless spritsail and after sailing the two, can tell you that the sprit sail seems to generate massive power but doesn't point nearly as well and also rolls when sailing downwind. I do think think that a lug sail cat ketch could be worth a look if you're looking for maximum sail area. Seems it would be a trade of more area at the expense of windward work and perhaps a few other complication that I'm not qualified to predict.
  13. Dennis, I was able to tip my bow roller toward the rear of the trailer at an angle in order to get the height where I wanted it. I placed a bolt in the bottom holes of the roller frame and then in the slotted holes at the top of the frame. I can email you a photo if needed as I can't seem to post a photo here. Regarding the bow eye, my bow eye is below the winch roller and it doesn't seem to didn't make any difference as long as I remember how to hook it up when loading the boat.
  14. Dennis, I bought a new ezloader trailer for a CS17 last year and messed around with it all winter. My boat is also lighter than intended for the stock trailer springs and it wanted to bounce off the trailer until I strapped it down quite tight across the rear bulkhead. Also, I had good luck using a bunk trailer with keel rollers added for support. The bunks keep the boat stable side-to-side while the keel rollers catch maybe half the weight. This arrangement is quite easy to launch and retrive and most importantly it feels solid when standing on the foredeck to install/remove the masts. I recommend a new or newer bunk trailer with real wheels if you intend to travel any distance at highway speed. Also, I added a hinged trailer tounge that shortens the trailer about 3 feet for easier storage. - Randy
  15. I accepted a tow to get across the puget sound shipping lanes a few weeks ago during a calm. Tested the bailer at 4 knots with the board up and it still didn't work. This reinforces the theory that it is the bailer location relative to the trunk that is the problem. I'll be moving the bailer.
  16. Thanks everyone. I might due a little testing but I'm convinced that I need to move the bailer or be satisfied with using it as drain when the boat is on the trailer. I will locate it to the side of the centerboard and under the seat as suggested once I work up the the courage to cut the hole.
  17. I've had no luck getting the anderson bailer on my CS17 (#157) to work. When opened, the water flows into the boat instead of out. I've tried it at speeds as high as 4.8 knots. Everything is clean and moving smoothy. The bailer is installed with the opening to the stern and seems to extend fully downward. The only potential cause that I see is that the bailer is installed just aft of the centerboard trunk and might be affected by turbulence from the board or the trunk opening. I would appreciate advice from those with similar experiences or sucessful installations. Thanks.
  18. Thanks guys, I like the idea of a padded board which spans the cockpit and puts the load on the edge of the deck. I'll do that and then strap it down tight.
  19. Hi everyone, looking for some trailing advice. I've noticed that the rear of my CS17 bounces (say 1/2 inch) off the trailer when hitting bumps. The trailer is a bunk trailer with front and rear keel rollers added to simplify loading. The bunks deflect under the weight of the boat and may be acting like springs. The bow eye is clipped to the front of the trailer as is typically done, and the boat is tied down at the rear of the cockpit with a padded rope. The load is secure, but apparently has room to lift off the trailer. I am a little relunctant to tie or strap it down tighter, but also concerned that the bouncing may cause problems longer term. What do the rest of you do? Do you strap them down tight using the webing and ratchet tiedowns used by power boaters?
  20. I am that "new owner" Jan mentioned. I'm having a great time with the boat. Only problem so far is that the boat attracts attention at the ramp and I have to tell people that I didn't build it.
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