PadrePoint

Pete, Hmmm… I haven’t thought about this issue (on behalf of the kid across the street — The Wheezer — who is finishing her S10 build.). My CS15 has the track and lug system and my sailing experience is very limited. I’m glad you raise the points here. I think you have a clever approach to raising the sail… might have to share that idea. Coming into a dock sounds like a logistical challenge as you describe. I would think the gooseneck would not like to have the sail going past 90 or so degrees, so it wouldn’t be enough to just let the sail fly freely with certain wind directio

HEY!! Today my son got the old 11 foot Glen-L TNT in the water and RUNNING!! (This small boat is patterned after my current Stiletto build.) I built it in 1968 while in high school. He recently replaced the deck, repainted the hull inside and out, and added seats. This year, I brought the non-working 1956 30 hp Johnson to an older marine mechanic and he fixed it. The fuel tank still needs a new pressure relief valve (soon) BUT, he got it running today in the water… the first time since about 1995. His six-year-old son was nervous about the speed but enj

Re: Videos (I could hear and see the above videos well… and there was no delay.) I had stumbled into another way to share videos in this Messing-About Forum. I’ve uploaded a video I wish to share to my YouTube channel (easy to set up, and free) and pasted a link to that video into my forum entry. An example, I uploaded to my YouTube channel this little “My Memory” video that my phone had produced (on its own) of some photos I’d taken. Below, I pasted the YouTube link into this reply and the forum itself made the picture appear. (It is of last October’s Messabout.

No Sailing Today (But, this IS where I’ve sailed the most) We’ve vacationed here in South Lake Tahoe for a lot of years. And, this is where I’ve done most of my sailing. I took a three-day ASA101 course one year, allowing me to charter a 22 foot Catalina from Sailing Ventures. I did so and took a couple friends out on Lake Tahoe for their first small sailboat adventure and my first experience as “captain”. A couple years later, my youngest son and I took a three-day sailing course in the Apostle Islands area of Lake Superior that would allow us to charter sailboats up to 35 feet f

Nope, no work on the ski-boat since the second week of May. After the trip to the Smokies we spent a few camping days along the Mississippi River. This is a popular spot on a bluff trail. Then, we flew to Reno and are settling in for three weeks at the Ridge Tahoe. My first little hike brought me to the “Bench” above Carson Valley, on which I am sitting to write this post.

Reacher, I am vacationing with family until the end of June (it was kicked down the road last year) but I have a very open calendar for July. Maybe sometime then?

Reacher, I would enjoy taking a drive over to Marinette some day this summer to meet you and see your boat. You’re about 2 1/2 hours from my home... about the same distance I drove to meet Thrillsbe (while on vacation in North Carolina last month) and to see his naval yard... (driveway).

The Boys Sail the Boat on Their Own I trailered the Norma T downstate today and met my two boys at a state park. I didn’t do a thing today and let them do the whole process of setting up, launching, sailing, etc. Well, I DID park the van and trailer... and served as ballast... which was actually helpful with the wind being brisk and blustery and the boys doing everything on their own for a first time. One son brought with him my high school boat-build that he re-decked, repainted, and spruced up. I had the 1956 motor fixed and we hoped it would run. It did... but the gas tank w

Nice work. It looks MUCH more challenging than my CS15... (of course, that’s a reason I chose it.) My son is considering building a lapwing (Phoenix 3). I think he has the patience and detail-focus likely needed. I passed along this blog to him.

I stopped on the way back home to visit my son’s family. He and my grandson played a round of disc golf where I was ahead of the little 5 year-old disc-golf-shark by only one throw. And, I took some photos of my son’s cedar-strip canoe build yet in progress. (The shop is a little tight with his second canoe in there... he removes it out the door to work.). He started filling in the two-fish design on the canoe’s bottom. (Yes, he’s still eating his ice cream cone. ) He taught himself how to make hand-caned seats and carve

Hiking all week in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a decent alternative to working on my boat. IMG_3815.MOV

Wood can be SO friendly... (and, of course, wood can also be frustrating.) Nice bit of work. (Might this be kind of like fixing the work of an overly enthusiastic mohel??? )

Great to hear this. Here, I’ve been happily vacationing and hiking and YOU’VE been a’working. Good luck on the painting. I’m looking forward to seeing it all “pretty in pink”. And, I’ll read up on the rigging details to assist with that next week when I’m back (for a few days... then it’s more vacation... from my retirement.)

Chick, Didn’t think of that. I’m on my last bag of B&B wood flour and was thinking about whether I should order more or not. I kinda like patronizing the B&B Yachts business and I like everything I’ve received from them. I’ll likely order more... plus, my son is planning to build a Phoenix 3 sailboat and I plan to see if I can get a lot of his building supplies from B&B when he’s ready to start. He wants to finish his current canoe project first. He recently made the double-fish design for the bottom into which he’ll be cutting and fitting the rest of the c

Well, the kid has essentially finished building her boat kit and is continuing to prepare the hull for painting. The varnished (bright) pieces will be installed after the hull is painted. The rudder assembly is glued up. The mast bushings have been sanded just enough to fit nicely into the larger tubes and she’ll add wider collars to stop the insertion at the correct spots. An auto body guy might be willing to help The Wheezer do the painting at his professional shop, showing her HOW and providing the tools and materials. Would that be cool or what? (I never did any spray pain