PadrePoint

So, what makes the DeWalt make a smoother, better cut…. (since I use a similar Craftsman that I got for $5 from a church rummage sale.)

Nice design. Brian Weber and a few others are spending a week in the Northern Channel of Lake Huron. This is one of the boats.

Don Silsbe visited me last week and took Norma T out on my local lake to see how it sails. I sailed Avocet, my CS17m3, and tried out a third sail someone gave me… just experimenting. The winds were VERY light… not exciting but we had a nice time and got some photos. It’s the first time I had both boats sailing near each other to take photos. I made a little video of our afternoon:

I had made both of my sprits long… and discovered that the mizzen sprit, with one reef, extended forward enough that it caught the mainsail during a tack and caused a lot of heeling for a moment. We didn’t capsize in the event but I did cut a few inches off each longer sprit. I tested whether this would occur again by rigging everything at home. All is good… and I’m aware of that one unique possible problem.

I was able to check out some speeds on my CS17 with my Honda 5 hp motor. Nothing scientific here, just using my Navionics app with a few throttle levels. With the throttle at “start” position the app speedometer showed about 5+ mph. Increasing from “start” to half way to full moved the speed to just over 7 mph. There wasn’t much more speed increase when when I went all the way to full throttle… reaching about 8 or so mph. But, that is sufficient for me to get away from or back to a dock. I’d think it would be enough to get to a fishing spot on a lake. As mentioned, I mount my motor on the bracket that came on the boat. The motor is angled back from vertical and the prop is just low enough in the water (it works well enough for my purposes.) I would think that a better motor placement would improve performance somewhat. My boat might be a little heavier than yours since it is the version with a cabin. And, as mentioned, the 5 hp motor has a more comfortable sound to my ears than that of my 2.3 hp. Hope this helps.

Here is one person’s attempts.

I bought a 5hp Honda for my CS17m3 (Avocet). I place it on a bracket that extends about 10 inches past the transom. I’ve not used full throttle in it and have mostly brought it to about hull speed or maybe 5-7 mph. The noise is a little less “irritating” than my 2.3 hp Honda. The transom bracket is square to the transom and isn’t a good angle, tilting up too much… I can’t modify the bracket. Next time I use my CS17 I shall try to remember to test these things… actual speed and some effects of weight distribution in the boat (I normally sit in the back of the boat when motoring, which is likely inefficient in terms of speed. (Since the weather is looking OK, perhaps I can do this tomorrow.)

You’ve got a good looking crew with you.

This area is inside the bulkhead that will be placed later, so inside aesthetics aren’t important. Note: I am no expert in all this, I just offer a thought as to how I might approach this.) The hull in the bow area should now be formed to the desired shape. I’d be inclined to place a layer of glass onto the inside to back up the crack (and split) area. I might then back that up with a four inch wide 1/4” piece of plywood that could be pulled in in with a few Sheetrock screws. I’d likely do both at the same time. I think I’d feel confident with a repair like this. When flipped over for glassing the outside, I would think that any bump on the outside of the hull could be sanded out to be even and fair. (Any screw holes can be filled then.) By the way, The Weezer put in an 8” sealing port into the bow bulkhead for inspection and maybe to store something. Getting the cover off with the mast in place might be a little tight; I don’t know if she tried to do this. Again, just my thought on this.

Been there; done that, leading The Weezer’s S10 build to its first error… and learning to “transfer lines.” . No idea how I managed to do this, but do it I did. At least the kit can be forgiving. And, a satisfying ultimate success was the end result.

I busted my prop and am replacing it. Meanwhile, I decided to have a second prop with less pitch that might be more effective with pulling up a skier (15” compared with 17” pitch.) Nice immediate pickup of speed.

As I recall, I taped the keel joint down the center on the inside, letting it cure before I added the keel batten. I recall from Alan’s video series on this process (check it if you haven’t already… I always viewed the appropriate video again before starting another step.). I think the keel batten was somewhere in part 4 or 5 of the series. 2nd video link on this page: https://bandbyachtdesigns.com/cs15 Anyway, for the keel batten I made a LOT of thickened epoxy, a “mush” as Alan called it.

Nice. You’ll have good success. I helped my neighbor (9th grade girl) build her Spindrift 10. If you hit some snags or questions, people are quite free on the forum to offer experience and solutions. Be sure to spend time on Alan’s CS15 video series for all KINDS of detail and help in building. 2nd video on this page: https://bandbyachtdesigns.com/cs15

The Wheezer’s boat… she works SO much but has taken some opportunities to sail in her boat and in mine. Family camp with my three boats… and other watercraft.

With purchasing Avocet (CS17m3) I got a great method to keep the doused mainsail nicely wrapped up at the height if the foot of the mainsail when it’s fully raised. For the mizzen, I use a second halyard attached to an eye around the half way point on the sprit and tie the sail t it in a nice bundle, again at least as high as the foot of the mizzen sail when up all the way. When I take the slack out if the sheets the sails are completely out of the way to board, motor, or just be anchored. Visibility is clear. At anchor in this photo my main is tied up and the mizzen is being a wind vane.