PadrePoint

Looking at some photos of another person’s boat build made me think of all kinds of little details that I might do differently if repeating my work, especially on the same project. The differences might make things flow more effectively and produce a better end result. A repeated build could be very satisfying, I am thinking. I am hoping that is the case for your upcoming CS17m3 project, Spoonbill. Please know that I REALLY enjoy having your previous build, Avocet, in my life and in my family’s life. Even while my boats are in winter storage I find myself thinking about them frequently.

Just to inspire you with some photos of a well built CS17m3.

Really neat to do these kinds of things with a kid. So, might he develop an interest in building something for himself? He’d have a great mentor. Good idea on the screws. Edit: I noticed that my post started a new page. Be sure to go all the way through page one… some interesting posts.

Whose Line is it Anyway… Things you can say about building boats that you cannot (EVVVER!!) say about your spouse. (What can I say… it popped into my brain.) C’mon… just a joke. Ok, heading to the doghouse.

This was Don some time ago. But now is happy as can be.

Interesting… and I suppose the same principles are at work with river currents. It was hellful to see the boat movements of the video as he left the dock. This is worth keeping in mind. My current sailing places on Wisconsin River flowages (pardon the puns) have no discernible water movement like this but other places I hope to visit certainly could. While watching the video I noted the size of the cockpit space, and it made me appreciate yet again the amount of space for guests in my Core Sounds.

Harbor Freight boxes of 36 worked well for me (good brushes were used for paint and varnish.) Once in a while I taped two brushes together by the handles for a “heftier” brush when working with epoxy. They cleaned up well in acetone for reuse. (I usually had three 4” covered jars; the first jar was discarded when the acetone got too “thick” and I’d start a new third jar with fresh acetone.) I could use the “disposable” brushes for some repeated use before discarding. Good ideas on using a vacuum and trimming the bristles. Yes, I have some bristles permanently in the epoxy of my boat.

I appreciate Richard’s additions to his building of Avocet, CS17m3 hull #6 (I bought it from him in late 2021.) He had placed two round six inch sealing ports (with screens on the outside) in the forward bulkhead and fashioned a cloth air scoop that can stand over the anchor locker to capture breeze coming into the bow when anchoring. Don used this air scoop last winter when he sailed with Avocet in Florida. Here’s a photo with the yellow air scoop… (he also apparently likes to fly his pants (I did not do any over nights on-board this year… work kinda gave “the boot” to much of this year’s sailing plans.) Richard also installed two rectangular window-ports on each side of the cabin that tightly seal but also can be opened, again having permanent screens on the outside. He made a large square screen for the companionway… I believe it is in for the above photo. All of this provides lots of potential for air movement through Avocet’s cabin. I plan to make good use of this ventilation next season. Graham, I continue to increasingly like and appreciate both of my Core Sounds, even as they are sitting in winter storage. Thank you for creating your business, designing great boats, and making it possible for amateurs like me to successfully build them at home. My family enjoyed playing with “the fleet” last summer:

A lot of stuff. Nice support of B&B.

I note the mizzen mast is moved to the forward position.

One solution for oars.

I am still really attracted to this SR20 design, although I continue appreciating my CS15 and CS17.3 more all the time.

Nice write up, Jay. Thanks. Though I don’t have much of anything to do with boat electronics and pathetically little experience with camping aboard (I do have some hopes/plans for next season) your comments are helpful… and lift my already high appreciation of my Core Sound 17mk3. Edward, you seem to be a very capable person with building, sailing, your vocation, etc. I offer only novice level thoughts: I appreciated the CNC foils I got with my B&B kit (CS15 Norma T). They made the tasks of “building” the quality centerboard and rudder an easy project. My purchased CS17 mk3 is the #6 hull. My friend, Don Silsbe, sailed it with me and thought the centerboard being moved forward by 10 inches or so would benefit the boat’s handling, He offered to do the project for me, since I let him use the boat for six months (thank you, Don). He found it made a positive difference. I think I notice it somewhat as well. Doing this moved the centerboard trunk into the cabin along the side of the port bunk (about ten inches.) I understand that plans and kits were changed to include the modification. (Graham indicates that many design details are compromises… the original placement to keep the trunk completely out of the cabin might be an example.) I am playing with a small jib as a staysail (I got two for free) and I think I feel a power difference sometimes (again, I’m not a very perceptive sailor) so I’ll keep experimenting with this. Trying the sail ahead of my mainsail (a short “bowsprit” for the purpose of experimenting) seemed less effective with the mainsprit impeding moving the tack from one side to the other. Also, it seems to me I saw that the jib/bowsprit approach can override the centerboard’s effect to some degree. Graham experimented with installing in his mk3 an additional small “centerboard” forward of the regular one to manage this… as I recall. I like my experience playing with the jib as a staysail and will keep experimenting. One guy indicates a staysail’s usefulness in low wind conditions. As I recall, a few folks cut down the coaming in the Mark 3 a few inches to accommodate rowing, sort of a notch. That’s the little bit I have to offer. Ted

Last Sail on Norma T for the Year I did not do nearly the amount of sailing that I’d been thinking about in the off season. Two reasons: I went back to work last December (and concluded at the end of August) and I traveled most of June out to Lake Tahoe. We will do that again next June but I don’t plan to work. Considering this, I am satisfied with how much I was on the water with my three boats (and kayaks and canoe). I’m already thinking about better and more adventuresome things for next year. (I decided that I couldn’t get to the 2023 Messabout, so I’m placing this long post instead. ) I am describing here my last two times out. One was a 2023 “bucket list” I had of getting onto another of the Wisconsin River’s lakes, which is the second largest lake in Wisconsin. The other sailing afternoon was this past week to try out the on-board camping set up I have fashioned for Norma T. I did not actually camp, other than to have some afternoon resting… but I’m getting more confident in the setup. I timed a few things in my little venture. It was 4 minutes to uncover, move the boat from its storage place and hook it onto my little car. The CS15 is easily pulled around my yard. It was a half-hour drive to the landing at the Wisconsin River’s Lake DuBay and 7 minutes to rig it for launching (perhaps my quickest launch site setup.) Another 4 minutes and it was rolled off the trailer into the water. I raised the mizzen and mainsail (with extra halyards) so I could row a while. One method I found quite successful is to use a single oar on one side and the rudder for steering. I can sit on the seat itself for this since the thwart has the mizzen mast and stuff. I first tried my hand again at sculling off the back… no forward movement was generated… gotta develop this skill. I recently put in a second set of oarlocks in the bow area letting me sit on the forward thwart. I tried that out on a very windy day a weekend ago… worked great. And I fashioned a better way to tuck the two-piece oars under the aft part of the side decks, getting them completely out of the way. After some rowing, I beached the boat and got out to tie a line from the bow eye to a log, even keeping my shoes dry (as I did with the launch and recovery). Then, I rowed out to the end of the line and threw out an anchor attached to my bungee Anchor Buddy. I really haven’t tried it out yet. I pulled myself back to shore, got out, and let the boat get pulled out again by the Anchor Buddy, just to try it out. I have a short video (takes a while to load.) IMG_1996.mov Then, I re-boarded to set up my tent system while being anchored. All of my cockpit platform pieces and my tent stuff nicely fit in the space between the centerboard trunk and the forward seat. I had also recently added a couple eyes on the transom that I can use to lash the corners of the tent to the boat (nope, tent stakes don’t work in a boat.). I did this thinking of what some wind could do to relieve the boat of the set-up tent. I think it better to not use a tent like this if winds are significant… that’ll require some good forecasting for these overnight ventures. The egg-crate platform support came together more easily than my first couple of times. (I did some shaving of the interlocking areas for a looser fit… I had made it too tight.) (You know… as I looked at this photo of the egg crate platform support, I decided to add stringers across the middle of the two long spaces when I get the pieces out of winter storage next spring, just to make things more firm. . Always something new to try out or add to a system.) Then, my 3-piece folding platform… with duct tape hinges… was laid in. It makes a good sized platform, even for my 6’ 5” body. The $27 red tent went up, again more easily than before… the purpose of practice, I guess. No sleeping bag on this trip, just a mattress and pillow for a little nap. A couple photos from the shore. After getting everything back in order, and a little lunch, I did some sailing in the gentle wind, placed the boat back onto the trailer, and made the trip back home. The take-down and making everything ready for the road took me 14 minutes. I returned home and got the boat back in its storing place alongside my house A side note, The Weezer, my neighbor girl who built a pink Spindrift 10 in her 9th and 10th grade years, got a little gift from me and her church youth person. A lamp was found at the church rummage sale and I painted it pink for her (kind of as a joke… but she said she loves it.) I bring this up because I used the leftover pink spray paint on the brick I use for the back tire of my trailer and it makes it a lot easier to aim the boat as I push it into place. Another side note… The Weezer is now a high school senior and recently received acceptance into one of our Lutheran colleges, Gustavus Adolphus. I can’t believe the annual costs of private colleges these days, but she received a whopping scholarship of over well over half. Yay!! —————————————— The following photos were from the previous week’s venture onto Lake Petenwell, a little further down the Wisconsin River. It was my first time on the lake so I needed to use an unfamiliar boat ramp. What a beautiful county park with a beach, campground, facilities, and a great launch site. It’s a place I will use next year, maybe even with family. The morning had low winds but things picked up a lot in the afternoon. I experimented with using a small jib as a staysail. Someone gave me two of these jibs and a larger mainsail. The mainsail is too big for a staysail, but maybe I can cut it down for an appropriate staysail for my 17’ Avocet. Though I’m experimenting with this, I think the jibs have some promise for both of my sailboats and I will fashion quicker and better ways to use them next year. I felt like the extra sail made a difference. So, now Norma T and Avocet are both in storage downstate. The storage space is heated to 40 degrees and I think the price is good for the six months. I still need to winterize my ski boat motor and get the boat nestled into my garage for the next 6 months. I keep the garage at 40 degrees with a space heater… it seems adequate… and my wife will have room to park her car next to it. P.S. I got Joe the 15’ ski boat I finished building in 2022 tucked away in the garage for six months (the day before our first snowfall.) I unbolted the seats and put them under the deck. That gave plenty of space to place all four of our bicycles, saving a lot of floor space. That left room for my motorcycles and the snowblower. All is well now. I run a space heater at 40 degrees during winter… just enough to melt ice in the garage.

The Wheezer placed 4” inspection ports in the each flotation tank. She also put an 8” or 10” port in the forward bulkhead (not really accessible if the mast is in place), but it can provide some storage potential.) This shows the installed port in the bow: Here is The Weezer’s build blog: AND, just to say it, that once 9th grade girl just let me know the other night that she has been accepted into Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran College in Minnesota and is receiving a whopping scholarship of well over HALF the annual cost. Bravo for that young boatbuilder!! (Sorry about deflecting from the subject a bit… I kinda do that sometimes.)

I can’t see a photo… Paul, I am curious about this part of your setup; I don’t think I’ve seen it yet.

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.