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ecgossett

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Everything posted by ecgossett

  1. Are you putting any type of drain on the cooler with a valve? Will the cooler interfere with placement of a motor mount, and or the u bolds in the corners of the transom?
  2. www.fisheriessupply.com for seadog stuff http://www.theolympian.com/2014/11/16/3424028/a-race-a-sailor-and-a-communitys.html This boat sank up here, and has made a couple of us Core Sound owners a little paranoid about hatches. The coast guard said the front hatch popped off, and that is why the boat sank filled up and sank. I know a lot of guys in Gig Harbor with there wooden boats who are rethinking how hatches are locked down.
  3. I did the exact same thing with bungees... Normally i just have one on there, and the other end is wrapped around my tubes for oar handles. The bungees are long yellow ones with hooks that can be easily disconnected. However, I did just upgrade with a strap across the top anchored on both ends by a washer and screw. The strap is connected with plastic buckle. I upgraded it for rough weather in case the bow was underwater a lot. For my seat hatches, I bought some black bungee cord 1/4" or something, and did two holes an inch apart on the front of the hatches. Behind it you have 1/8" of room because of your spacer for the waterway. Down about two inches below the hatch I installed plastic knobs from duckworks, port is red, and stbd is green. Just be careful sizing the line, so when you install SS staples/clips (available at kayak shops, or west marine) for bungee cord, you have a good tight fit on the shockcore around the knobs. Also, make sure when cinching the stable down that both SS ends are tucked in well, as I did a small gouge in my inner waterway wall due to a rough end. In the attached photo you can see the bungee cord, if you need photos I'll go take some.
  4. If you are near Jacksonville FL in your travels, stop by Pat's Canvas on Pier 17 off Roosevelt. They are good people, and have extra frames laying about that could be modified to fit your boat, and will usually let you have them cheap to get them off there hands. Pat and Mike will also usually explain how to modify the frame for your needs such as cutting a middle section out of a pre-bent frame to shorten it, and using a vice on that to create an insert/stiffener for the middle. The biggest thing that would be nice for me after the R2AK, is being able to fold down the dodger, but have the sunbrella that comes off the back for a tent, be able to be rolled into/over front 1/3 of cockpit to keep anything under or protruding from the overhang dry. I think I saw this done on one of the Core Sound 20's, but not sure which one other then it was dark green I think. My fix I did before the race, was caulking with 4200 some naughahide over the centerboard trunk, with a slit in the middle and flap over it for the centerboard to move; this actually kept water from shooting up into cockpit very nicely.
  5. What about a good dodger that matches your coaming curves for the frame, and can fold down?
  6. Thanks Rick, Team Seawolf in an amazing 17' Rave Hydrofoiling trimaran, abandoned ship this morning. 15' breaking seas washing the boat with every wave, and 40+knots of wind. Unable to get enough speed for the rudder to be effective, or change course and a rocky lee shore coming up, they called the Canadian Coast Guard for rescue.
  7. Post your needs!! Believe me you'll get some ideas from the good people on this forum, and the designer aka Graham will drop in routinely and comment.
  8. The tracking is actually provided by swiftsure.org and a dedicated team of volunteers who put the program together. The other three things I would do different after hearing the coast guard talk is: 1) Put a Radio antenna on my mast, and seriously consider a fixed base unit. Single Side-band might be overkill, but not a more effective VHF. 2) I would also for a very low cost rent a satellite phone with pelican case for a month. I noticed the texts from there program are free to me, and the weather package is $5 a month to get updates for location. 3) Think seriously about a jackline system with harness, or a point for a jackline in the boat, especially for at night when team member is sleeping. Was very glad I had two mustang suits on board, and a SOS marine/hiking survival bivy in abandonboat kit, as this could help increase survival time. Background on Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard Western Sector fleet includes 7 ships, 7 cutters, 6 helicopters, 1 airplane and 10 Coast Guard station boats working various locations along the West Coast of British Columbia. Rescue Brief my Cliff-notes @ Captions meeting in Victoria CMDR Joanne McNish (if I have name wrong, sorry) Director of Fleet Western Sector Dept National Defense has one helicopter for entire coast. No helicopter rescue likely on race route Ten 47' lifeboats with a top speed of 48knots spaced 4-8 hours apart (in US they are 2 hours). The message was THIN coverage, and you might have some time to enjoy the icy water. Ganges, BC French Creek Campbell RIver Telegraph Cove (78 miles to next) Port Hardie Bella Bella Prince Rubert Johnson Straight - Wind against tide, and 9ft waves For anyone that is questioning issues, or having ANY second thoughts, turn around at Campbell River, after that assistance, services, and humanity is scarce. Van Eyle 360 Race going on at same time (they stop as group every night), 52 sailboats Search Procedures (10 degree C which is 50 degree F water) With the RIGHT gear on you have 6 hours. Recommend getting out of water, and or planning on helping yourself until rescue shows. Realistically with heavy gear 3.1 hours survival time 3.1 - 9.8 with life jacket Search time takes these numbers and doubles before being called off. If they know you where prepared it lengthens search. Call Early - even if it's a small leak that you can fix, CG prefers to help then rescue. Or will be on way when situation gets more serious. CG wants report of ANY ISSUE no matter how small, so if you fail to check in they can expedite rescue party. CH 16 VHF repeaters are good up coast BUY a PLB, they work everywhere the SPOTS don't. Risk level assigned for searching for you based on info like having PLB. USE Vessel Tracking Services (VTS), they are helpful, and could save your life. Now for the biggest shocker: Unlike what BoatUS claims for the free MMSI registration (and my 100ton captains class), the Canadian Coast Guard does recognize ANY MMSI number and uses US Database for ones they don't know. If you have a foreign made DCS radio, or free MMSI number on the Canadia coast guard site where you register your boat for being in country in Comments put the number and what type of radio. Don't worry, they'll make sure it's entered right on their end. If you don't know what area WHISKEY-GULF is in the Straight of Georgia you need to Google it or read your chart notes. The Coast Guard likes this group because of the level of emergency info provided for each boater, and safety network provided by tracking and local people checking on boats along the way. They would have preferred rescue be sent after 9 hours of no contact not 48 as the race does, but are ok with 48. Had walked docks already, and was thankful for the high level of professional, and high quality boats (yes she said she had experience sailing on a sailboat to Tahiti). Last but not least thanked group for no "box boats".
  9. Longshaft Mercury 3.5 four stroke (new motor in 2012). The weight is decent compared to other motors, and the fuel consumption at 2/3 throttle is less then two stroke fully open with same hull speed. Before that I used a 2hp air cooled honda. The extra length of the longshaft has been annoying a couple times moving it around, however in waves really pays for it's self. It's annoying filling up the gas every 50min at full speed, or 60-70 min slightly backed off. Noise could be better but is ok, and the warranty is amazing. The oil seal was replaced under warranty as well as bolts that rusted on heads.
  10. You could always keep the aft deck, and use a bunk board under tiller for your feet to lazily stretch out across . I like the thought of having a lot of flotation volume in a boat, and that aft compartment has come in handy twice. Once when trailering with waves coming straight onto ramp, over aft of boat and almost all way up aft deck, and another time with waves from behind when sailing that where slightly higher, it seemed like they never quite made it all the way up the aft deck before the boat jumped up higher.
  11. I attached a photo of us coming into Victoria in light wind with Clover Hill Point Lighthouse in background. This was an hour or so before I turned and tacked out. Let's start with I'm willing to take bets on what team will finish in the top three for the final race. There are some very professional racers in the group who do nothing but race in varies events around the US. 1) Water - Several boats where taking on significant amounts of water through homemade hatches similar to mine. The SeaRunners where pumping out most of the way over from what I understood. Another cat with soft plastic hatches had both hulls half filled with water. The CAT with stars and stripes started sinking on one side at the Victoria Dock. They pulled out the hull, and could not find the leak, as of leaving this morning that side was still filling up. Other boats that had homemade boxes on CAT decks, etc for electronics or storage had a lot of water in them. With CS17's hatch waterways I had no problem, especially with the two hatches that I never put weather stripping in. 2) Upgrades - Hatch bungees worked great, and the red color beads on STBD, and GREEN on port to put bungee's around helped me when I was tired remembering colors. On the aft STBD seat hatch, the SS shockcord C-clamp I used to crimp the bungee, I didn't crimp enough and one of the ends cut into the inner hatch waterway. Reefing, I uninstalled the cheek blocks on the one boom, until I can get with Graham and Alyn to improve the solution. Bunk boards, I wish I had done these SOONER!! The vertical grain FIR worked great for strength and standing upon. Oars, they worked great though the PORT oar seemed like it had trouble always getting in the water far enough with out "skipping" over top. I need to improve the angle. FWD oar station worked AMAZING, so did the Douglas Oar Locks. Tiller Tamer, I can't stress enough how great this was, or the resistance occasionally to take the load off my arm. 3) Sleeping - Sail tent over raised FWD boom worked GREAT!! It beat sleeping on the dock rolled up in a bivy bag like some of the smaller boats. I like the CS17/20 MKIII design of having enough sleeping for the entire crew. Those boats that had only enough bunks for off watch personnel had to find other accommodations for sleeping in port. IT would suck if you pulled into a remote place to anchor for the night. 4) Storage - FWD CMPT Sleeping bags, and one mustang suit, aft CMPT personal bags/extra water/foam pads/one sleeping bag, under forward bulkhead mustang suit/dry suit/throw cushion/staysail/water resistant phone, FWD of centerboard trunk bumpers/fuel, alongside trunk 5gallon bucket, paddles, seat storage: PORT FWD Seat Tank; extra Lines and tool bag PORT AFT Seat Tank; Empty STBD FWD Seat Tank; Empty STBD AFT Seat Tank; Food, water bottles, emergency box, battery and backup electronic box. Basically the CS17 has GREAT storage capability, and we didn't even use all of it. 5) Electronics - Garmin handheld GPSMAP 76CSX (with no loaded charts, I didn't want to pay so I pre-load waypoints), Navionics US & Canada on my phone which worked great, Nexus 6 smartphone which is also water resistant (charge wasn't lasting until I figured out on airline mode, the chartplotter mode could work all day), $21 lithium battery cell phone charger w/solar panel in clear dry bag (worked great), handheld floating VHF radio (reception was spotty, and so was communicating, considering future external antenna on mast to boost range, or non-handheld VHF radio). 6) Spot Tracker - Boy do I wish we didn't have to use someone else's, I mean the waterproof bags where great and all, but there was no backup that was programmed into the system. If we had personal spots I could have had two with one ready to go as backup. Several teams complained of spot issues on provided, outages etc, and wished they could have had a backup. Royal Victorian Yacht Club said they have a 99% uptime on there fleet of 200 spots for races. 7) Clothing - I wore nylon long underwear, boy scout nylon hiking shorts, heavy wool hiking socks, two fleece jackets, nylon rain pants, individual hip waders, wool hat, Columbia waterproof jacket w/hood, lifejacket, floating safety sunglasses and non West Marine sailing fingerless sailing gloves. Even with the warm socks, my feet got cold against bottom of boat, on the way back across I used 10hr foot warmers. At some point from waves breaking over, I got water in arms of jacket, the double fleece kept me warm even when wet. On the way back I wore the drysuit Randy loaned me, and learned I should have worn both fleeces in it, not just one. There where times crossing I really wished that I was in a drysuit or survival suit. My teammates clothes stayed pretty dry except for arms on raingear, and West Marine Insulated "DRY" sailing gloves. Monday I will be taking them back, and throwing them at the store manager as they failed in under an hour. As for other teams what they wore seemed to be all over the place for brands. Several teams went to stores and said please help us, and got significant discounts on Columbia and similar fowl weather gear. 8) Reefing / Sails- Initially we where unreefed and dingy sailing the boat, before passing the Point Wilson Point I noticed most boats where not reefed, we made the decision before getting into rougher water to reef. Unfotently reefing took 15 minutes, partly because we where getting wind from west, and NW because of the hill by Fort Wilson doing weird things, and the sails kept filling as wind changed, it took both of us holding/fighting mizzen sail for hour to get it on boom, mainsail was easy. Additional downhaul lines for forward sail running aft really helped!! We unreefed after Hine Bank, and then put the staysail up after the wind died. I need to find a better way to control the staysail as we used a pin from the oarlock like a winch to take some force off my hand. One team had there sail blow in half, because the guy who made it forgot to stitch one of the panels, they got it fixed in Victoria. 9) Repairs - Several of my older aluminum rivets sheared lower on the mainmast sail track, this was due to a downhaul being installed incorrectly and I didn't catch it until later. Basically the down-haul wasn't tied down on other side of sail, and instead looped under, this created stress pulling away from mast. The marina in Victoria on Friday looked like a shipyard with all the repairs done on almost all boats which included welding. I walked over to an amazing shop called "Capital Iron" and picked up SS 1/8" wide rivets and some 1/4" aluminum rivets for a cat which had loaned me a drill and rivet gun. Several boats had to replace fuses and other parts of electrical systems, due to damage, or things breaking. I won't go into the plethora of repairs other to say that multi hulls take a lot of spare parts for a reason, and the more complicated you make it, well you know. I am a personal fan of the F-27's. Some of the macgyver repairs being done where interesting... 10) Overall - After listening to the Canadian Coast Guard presentation and taking a look at other small very open boats, I'm not sure the Core Sound 17 is the right boat for the entire R2AK. The MKIII would VERY appropriate, or the CS20MKIII, there needs to be a good DRY way to get out of the weather (or for other crewmate) which my open cockpit boat does not provide. The guys that spent most of the 36 hour crossing in small boats with really no shelter looked utterly miserable upon getting into port. Vessel Traffic Control was easy to work with, for when I departed, and I notified upon my arrival that I was clear of the crossing back, also called Race Boss (not req) to let them know I left and returned. On the radio I actually heard VTC seattle telling a freighter passing Port Angeles that a 17' green sailboat was in there area. The cruise ship arriving in Victoria as I was leaving was very polite/professional when I called on 16 to verify they where pulling in, and let them know I was going to pass aft. I would also point out that the waterballesting compartments on a long trip could make some great coolers to store things like beer, steak (dry ice), etc. The rafts going down the Colorado and through Grand Canyon for two weeks use foam coolers with dry ice and sealed up with duck tape. On average they keep the food frozen for two weeks, because they only open each cooler as they need the food in it.
  12. Looks like us.. What a skippers meeting, the Canadian Commander of this province for Coast Guard spoke very frankly to group. I'll share notes offline, you would never here this from US officials who have lawyers write PowerPoint presentations. In a lot of places along this Island there are only lifeboats and they are usually two hours away at full speed.
  13. Canadian Safety boat came along side and ordered us closer to shore because we where in a shipping lane and big ship was supposedly coming along at 15 knots. We never saw a ship, and course change put us into Nasty near shore current. Deepzoom.com shows good animation of those currents. Pushed backward was us tacking and sailing away from rocks. It face is better vector in, but against current where doing 1 knot. Sure from wake we where 5. Current ended by big concrete harbor marker, what a burst of speed as we crossed bubbly line.
  14. Rough and wet until lunch. That was first water I drank most of day, and salt had contaminated my drinking pouch, so it was a mouthful. I considered at one point breaking out dry suit or mustang suits, when arms of rain gear finally got cold water in. Layers of fleece jackets under really helped. Never NEVER buy the WORTHLESS West Marine Insulated sailing gloves that where soaked through in first hour....... Moisture, no standing water in tanks, even from waves. Fwd compartment had half cup of water, and aft comp ac few drops. My mainsheet track will be getting reriveted, a couple of fasteners are in iffy shape after some of lift we where getting off waves then crashing down. I need a better system for controlling staysail, my small light control line is uncomfortable, and I used a rowing pin to assist me in holding line. We had staysail up for last couple hours. It was the only reason we made progress against 4.5 current. We did not intend to wind up over hirch back, and the blender that it was (if the curious read the cg pilot chart that describes straight and that bank). Our plan leaving Port Townsend was to go hard west as wind would allow then ride incoming current into victoria.. We could point further to nw but where jumping crashing through big waves. We have it up for the comfortable angled approach. On r2ak.com site you can view track, and replay. Questions?
  15. http://tracker.r2ak.com/ Race tracker Also, Wen 3rd of June, from 1200pm - 7pm in downtown Port Towsend at waterfront park all boats and crews will on display.
  16. I made extra big bases for oarlocks that are very comfortable to sit on. Now that I have forward and aft oarlock sockets, I have great seating.. We also modified a throwable foam seat from Wal-Mart to fit over the coaming and around the blocks for longer trips.
  17. We tested out the oars and everything else today. Video and photos are http://www.foggysailing.com/2015/05/r2ak-1st-day-of-practice.html My only problem was an extreme low tide at the end and running out of boat ramp, and two year old steering. I will be rigging some simple control lines through the eye bolts for the tiller tamer and lead them forward to let me do some small rudder tweaks when rowing to compensate for wind, etc. That would beat asking a little girl to do it for me, and having her get mad and putting us hard to PORT versus STBD.
  18. http://www.amazon.com/Amarine-made-Stainless-Steel-Anchor-Roller/dp/B00GVLA85Y/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1431739237&sr=8-5&keywords=anchor+roller This is the one I used, because it looked great with the bow pulpit I made. Some of the shorter and much cheap anchor rollers had bolt holes that where WAY to close to the bow, and hard to impossible access from below for nuts. This one I measured and all the holes are far enough back to easily access through the FWD hatch. I attached a photo of pulpit and what the bolt holes for that roller look like in relation to the placement of the FWD mast. I took the pin off above the roller, and because of the length have never had an issued with an anchor line jumping out, even in bad waves. Usually I use the FWD mast to tie the line off to, and up here in WA use the bow u-boat to run a clothesline anchor system through, with the anchor off my bow as a backup line.
  19. I attached a photo of the syringe I've been using for filleting.. Its $1 each at Wal-Mart in the pharmacy, and normally for flushing wounds. It works fine with cotten based fillers and doesn't jam up, I clean it our with a little acetone, and resuse. Holds 2 ounces of liquid which it turns out is a lot of epoxy. I can use the west system plastic stir sticks and complety get them inside the syringe for getting epoxy off. Basically it's really fast to load compared to other products. This is a great alternative to epoxy caulk guns. I found these behind the counter at the pharmacy, when you ask for them and they ask "What for" I just said boat and left it at that. The pharmacist made a comment about well stocked first aid kit and I didn't correct him. Oh they also have a nice little cap for the business end of the syringe.
  20. Alright guys, My main oarlocks are 62.5 inches to center apart. For the forward ones, will it hurt them if they are 63.5" will this make switching rowing stations awkward? I need a little extra room for lines that run aft. See photo
  21. I finally settled on using a anchor hitch to the blocks off the booms. I drilled a hole that was oversized then filled with epoxy and drilled out again. The spectra is tied to the block then through the hole with a stevedore stopper knot to finish it off, and both tails are whipped. I tested this configuration under a lot of load using a wratchet, and then I was able to undo both knots. The spectra once tied well does not slip. I also used Wes's tiller lock plans from roguepaddler.com which turned out great!
  22. Tiller handle is varnished and back together, anchor roller support is revarnished. Oars are glassed on tip, and have had two coats of epoxy applied on blades. I'm going to test them out tomorrow, then next week after they have cured hard sand and apply a third coat. Does anyone know a good stopper knot for 3/16 12 strand spectra rope?? For the blocks on the boom, I've tried the ashley, and stevedore knot and am worried they slip to much under load with slippery rope, am considering the EStar Stopper however it supposedly will not ever come undone after a load has been applied which could be bad if I have to take anything apart. I don't mind doing whipping on the trailing end to prevent slippage for the right knot. I'm using the spectra because of the strength, even after knots have been tied, I had a thicker line before, but it didn't rotate well in the hole, and the blocks need the ability to spin if the kids or I set the boat up wrong.
  23. I believe Graham's plans show fastners in many key spots such as where the bottom of the mizzen mast goes into, or on certain pieces of deck framing connect to others. I do use bronze fasteners I get through Tacoma Screw (they have an amazing selection), For exposed traditional look I would go with bronze, for anything hidden I would use SS, especially since the cost is usually cheaper.
  24. Before I cut the wood for base, can I get some feedback on the oar socket placement 18" forward of the mizzen mast?
  25. It might be the people questioning who've actually read the coast guard pilot for these waters.. http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/coastpilot/files/cp7/CPB7_E47_C12_20150505_0645_WEB.pdf My favorite quote from the Coast Pilot: In few parts of the world is the vigilance of the mariner more called upon than when entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Just some of the weather descriptions of different situations have made me write down some careful escape plans. Tasks complete: 1) Oars, tips scraped, bleached, sanded, and then holes drilled in length wise and epoxy inserted with syringe then ends relaminated. 3" 6oz tape of glass folded over tip for reinforcement. 2) Jenn hand sewed new leather for me to project thwart from mast chafing. 3) Leather ready to be sewn in place on booms for chaff protection from masts. 4) Tiller stained, and first coat of varnish applied. Upcoming: 1) Another coat of varnish on tiller and spars. 2) More varnish on anchor roller board, I don't intend on redoing it anytime soon. 3) Drilling oversized holes and filling with epoxy on boom, then installing cheek blocks and camcleats on each boom for easier double reefing then taking the end of the sail off of it. 4) Installing two pulley's for main down hull, running aft to make it easier. 5) Installing rudder lock system, to assist with single handing 6) Reinstall board, and anchor roller. Use 3m 4200 under it, and bolt back in place. This weekend in Gig Harbor: 1) At Gig Harbor boat shop find some meranti or similiar scraps (2) 8x4x1 for forward oar socket mounts. I enjoy the 1" height so they are same level as coaming and comfortable to sit on. 2) Rig the 9' 8" oar locks to proper positions. 3) Bend some copper sheet scraps for chafe protection on aft deck from mizzen sheet cleats.
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