PadrePoint

Well, Don, I s’pose to bring the mast down, just lift it straight up out of the hole, tip it over a little bit and let it go, it should come down fairly quickly. You really don’t need to make a tabernacle. You might need a new mast among other repairs, but you seem to enjoy boatbuilding.

And, I really appreciate those access ports in the sole of the cockpit. A few cups of water get into the compartments during a season but I’m easily able to sop the water out by reaching in with a rag. I leave the ports open during winter storage.

I will say that an aspect of my purchasing a full kit from B&B was the personal satisfaction of supporting a small business that supports some great people. AND, I found that every CNC cut piece fit correctly. And, I appreciated having the FULL kit with all the parts needed (other than screws and bolts). Having the FULL kit tremendously sped up the building process and it was the finished product I enjoy much more than the building part.

I built the 15’ from full kit. I’m glad I did. I finished the hull itself in three months. I then bought a 17’ mark 3 built by another. I enjoy both for various reasons. The CS17m3 can handle a lot more weather and is a joy to sail and use for overnights. The CS15 handles a lot of weather as well, but not as much (to my comfort/skill level) and I’ve camped aboard (with a tent) a few times… that works ok. I might feel challenged with the 17’ build as the mark 3 has a lot of extra work for the extra nice features… I’m glad I chose to build the 15’; THAT I could do. Interestingly, the open cockpit of the 15’ can manage a lot of people for a couple hours of sailing on a lake. I’ve had six adults and a kid or two in the 15’ and I thought it felt comfortable. It’s great to give people an opportunity to try their hand at sailing it. The CS15 has one reef and a third mast step (to move the mizzen forward as a single sail) for heavier winds; the CS17m3 has two reefs and water ballast. With both reefs in I found 20+ mph wind almost “boring” and let one out. So, again, I’m happy I chose the full kit approach of the Core Sound 15 as my build and enjoy it as much as my CS17, especially for its ease of trailering/setup/launch. I can be backing the rigged boat in 10-15 minutes upon arriving at the launch… it simply takes me longer with the 17’. My family seems to like the 15’ more for a few hours on the water. They say they feel closer and more connected with the water in the 15’ Core Sound. Don’t know if this helps.

I finished building and painting the hull of my Core Sound 15 from a full kit in less than 3 months. (My sails took a while due to COVID supply chain issues.) I paid attention to all the videos of Alan’s as he built the CS15. That was my primary source of information. It’s doable to someone with basic abilities and willingness. (I learned my body doesn’t like epoxy but effective precautions made it possible for me to build another epoxy boat the following year.) I could mention that a ninth grade girl across the street successfully built herself a Spindrift 10 from a B&B kit. I coached but SHE did the work.) My build blog:

I put a second pair of oarlocks into my CS15 such that I can sit on the forward thwart to row. I haven’t done that much, just enough to let me know it was a reasonable thing to do.

https://a.co/d/6hi5JhZ Seems pricy to me.

Excellent, Don!! Great to see you get your boat into the water this year. I know you enjoy the tinkering and building, but I’m hoping that you get all KINDS of sailing time and adventures with Windepenent. I just put Avocet into storage today for the winter.

Samantha, Nice ideas with the extra lines to keep the sails out of the way when they are lowered. I might try out the extra uphaul approach to raise the front of the mainsail to the sprit level… I usually lower the front of the mainsprit to a foot or so above the cabin and raise the clew end as you’ve done… potato/potahto. In August, I sailed Avocet in a local lake to test out the boarding ladder I had installed and I played around a bit with a canopy over the companionway and forward cockpit area. I plan to refine this next year by making another canopy with more appropriate materials. (The horizontal support widens the canopy nicely but is too low… I have some ideas.) My wife and I returned Sept 30 from our 40-day 50th Anniversary road trip, doing a circuit from our Wisconsin home to visit places we’ve not been to before, like Voyageur’s NP, Glacier NP, Olympia NP (we spent 4 nights in Lacey), most of US Hwy 101, Palm Springs, Galveston, New Orleans, and up the Mississippi Great River Road, seeing as many parks, monuments and wildlife areas as we could. We did the Olympia to Port Townsend trip like you guys… but in our car… I didn’t bring Avocet. By the way, when looking out at the water in downtown Port Townsend, I saw one sailboat going by… of all the boats it could have been, it was a Core Sound. Our extensive fall trip and our month-long June trip with our two grand-girls (spending two of the weeks in Lake Tahoe) took up a LOT of the sailing season this year. I placed Avocet just this afternoon (after not using it since mid-August) into its winter storage place. So, some of my plans for this year are being placed on a “to-do” list for next year, and I have all winter to plan them.

(Samantha wasn’t succeeding in posting a Word document and I offered to give it a shot. I am just doing a cut-and-paste and making screenshot photos from the document. Sam and Dave drove to a Messabout and were able to board and experience some of the visiting boats, including mine — Avocet, a CS17m3. I briefly showed them basic processes and turned everything over to these very able sailors. I enjoyed our time together on Avocet and in conversations and I’m so happy to see the result of their boat-building work.) From Samantha: We started building our Core Sound 17 Mark 3 in January 2022 and finished it in July 2024. I knew nothing about boat building when we started, but can now make a decent fillet, know a machine screw from a tapping screw, and can tip and roll with the best of them. Dave, my husband, was a reasonably patient teacher, and taught me many things-including that when I think a surface is smooth, it always needs more sanding. In the final analysis, all the hours in the shop were worth it. Our boat is beautiful. I am quite proud of our boat, named Good Morning. We had her christening and launch in mid-July, then shortly thereafter sailed her in the Salish 100 from Olympia up to Port Townsend, Washington, a distance of about 100 miles. Then we turned around and sailed her home. Since her launch, we have sailed about 350- 400 miles, and she has performed admirably. We generally take our 70 pound dog JoJo with us on our outings, and there is enough room in the cabin for all of us to get a good night's sleep. (In our previous boat, a beloved Scamp, nobody slept much when Jojo came along.) We live on Henderson Inlet in the south of Puget Sound. The boat is moored at our little dock, and she sits in the mud when the water recedes with the 16 foot daily tide swings. That hasn't seemed to bother her. The bottom paint has stopped growth of barnacles, and she seems to be handling the time in the water well. We have not had much experience towing her, although we hope to do so in the future so we can explore other bodies of water. We have changed a few things. We increased the length of the main sprit and we put two openings in the combings for more easy storage. For the main, we have an uphaul line attached to the tack, which lifts the bottom of the sail up to the sprit. There is also a topping lift attached to the back of the main sprit, which keeps the sprit from falling onto the deck when the sail is lowered. There's a line on the mizzen mast that can be looped over the back of the main sprit to lift the sprit to the height we want. For the mizzen, we move the halyard to the back of the mizzen sprit and use it to lift the mizzen sail up out of the way. With this setup, when we are done sailing, we can have the sails lifted out of the way, but ready to go the next time we want to head out. I know many people with a Core Sound 17 mostly go for day sails, but we tend to go out for overnight or multi-day cruises. Since we are used to the 12 foot Scamp, the space on the CS17 seems plenty roomy to us. When at the dock, the boat looks like this: Our motor is an EP Carry, a small electric motor that isn't very powerful, but is very reliable. We have a solar panel that can charge it, or we can plug in at the dock. We try to use it as little as possible. Although boats with gas motors can go a lot faster and farther, we like the fact that this motor always starts, is relatively quiet, doesn't pollute, and is kind of like having a rower on board. One more innovation: our dinghy. With a dog on board, it's important to be able to get the pup to shore. We have an inflatable canoe, made more stable by adding a little outrigger, which consists of a yellow roller. When towed, the dinghy doesn't slow the boat down much, and Jojo can jump into or out of the dinghy without turning the whole thing over. Granted, we have only used it in calm weather, but so far, so good. Thus far, out boat has seen us through days with LOTS of wind, including an unanticipated thunder and lightning storm, with 40 mile an hour gusts. We've also had days with very little wind. During those times, we sometimes read aloud to each other. The current book is Flotsam and Jetsam by Robb White. I encourage you to read it. One great line from that book: "The important thing ain't comfort, it's joy." I am very grateful to Graham for designing this wonderful boat, and to Alan for helping us as questions came up with the build. i am also grateful to the people we met when we went to a B and B Messabout in 2022. Thanks, Padre Point, who gave us a sail on Avocet, and thanks to the owner of Blue Duck. What a great boat!

This tape measure is about 15” in from the outside. Might this help? And, my motor is a long shaft.

Wow… nice work. Hope the boat meets your needs and hopes. ? I like the mizzen tabernacle… boomkin… and what I think is your connecting halyard to sheets when masts are down. All interesting. I use my Honda 2.3 on both my CS15 and CS17m3 since it’s light and easy to move and mount. (I mostly do day sailing on inland lakes.) BUT, it needs rotation for reverse since it doesn’t have F-N-R shifting like the Honda 5 I bought for the 17’. I prefer the way the 5hp runs and comfortably powers the 17’ with less noise than the air cooled Honda 3.2. What? No yellow accents like my Avocet? ?

Pick up by the owner coming soon?? It REALLY looks nice, Don.

Right… she realized it just before leaving shore… we decided it wouldn’t be an issue this time… another detail to remember. All part of the learning process… learning from noticing mistakes or errors. There are still a couple little things she needs to do, like a bungee around the dagger board since it kind of floats up a few inches without it. ?