Gira Gira

G’day I use a jig saw with a laminate blade. It cuts Okoume really cleanly so I cut to the line, no finishing required. Also most panels are duplicated port & starboard so stack the plywood sheets & cut two panels at once. I marked out & cut all the hull panels & bulkheads for my CS17 in one day. cheers John

Hi Robert, this is what I use to minimise the mizzen sheet fouling the motor. It’s electrical conduit with dyneema running through the middle. The main sheet system is a “German” sheet set up the sheet runs back to the mizzen mast then down to the thwart. it mostly works well. Cheers John

Beautiful boat. I wish I could make it to the messabout , maybe one day. It might be a bit hard to bring my boat, though I’d love to have a sail with you guys. Cheers John

Mate, beautiful job.

Yeah, I’ve missed a few Sydney Raid trips lately. My wife & I were out in central Australia on a month long camping road trip, in my other great distraction an old Land Rover Defender Ute (pickup). We have a good thing going with Sydney Raid, great bunch of people & some fun trips in company.

Don, good idea. I’ll have to play around with that system.

G’day, Yeah it was a good trip, completed over 10 days 2 day drive north from Sydney 1500km ( about 950 miles) 6 days on the water. We visited remote areas 35miles off shore but only accessible to shallow draught vessels. The areas a marine sanctuary so the fisherman don’t go there. We were the only ones at the coral cays, which was a real privilege. Sail back to the mainland & then 2 days drive home. And yeah my CS 17 is pretty much always faster than the O’day in all conditions. I build the CS to do these kinds of trips. The boat has exceeded my expectations, it’s a capable, fast and a safe cruising boat. Cheers John

It was originally was just a dyneema rope yoke to get the mizzen sheet up above the motor. However it kept fouling on the motor. So I added the pvc conduit to hold the mizzen sheet block up. The conduit is stiff enough that it doesn't bend side to side. Because it is a rope attachment it’s free to move fore & aft to align with the angle of the mizzen sheet. It works well & cost me nothing. Also I run a “German “ mizzen sheet & wishbone boom so the sheet emerges at the mizzen mast beside the main sheet.

Mate, it’s PVC electrical conduit with dyneema rope through the middle. it helps stop the mizzen sheet tangling on the outboard motor.

This is what I did

She looks great mate

She looks great mate.

I had a bit of a tinker in the shed & came up with this.

You might be onto something there, great visibility when reefed. It reminds me of a time sailing in a state championship race, we got a great start, rounded the top mark first, then hoisted the spinnaker upside down…it happens to all of us…

Mark, the wishbone booms are old sailboard booms that I extended with aluminium tube. Now I know the wishbones work, I intend to laminate some timber ones…some day… I like the wishbones simply because they interfere less with the sail shape. I come from sailing high performance boats and having the sail drape over the sprit would have irritated me every time I looked at the sails, (I realise the performance gain is minimal). The wishbone booms are more hassle when raising & lowering the sails as the battens tend to get caught in the wishbones. The wishbones also take up more room in the boat when the sails are lowered and weigh more than straight sprits.

I think the straight sprits are fine, I think it makes very little difference to the performance having wishbone booms I like the look of the wishbone booms, however they are more hassle. The wishbones are old sailboard booms extended out to the same length as the sprit booms. They are meant to be prototypes…one day I’ll laminate some nice timber ones… I looked at a few wishbone setups & cobbled those ones together.

Yep that’s me. My mate Bruce is sailing beside me in his O’day daysailer Poke About, which is a rare boat in Australia. Bruce & I solo ocean raced against each other in complicated big boats years ago. We recently caught up again through the Sydney Raid group. We both agree we are having way more fun sailing small boats. By the way your artwork is great on those floats.

Hi PadrePoint, Thanks for your advice. When I built the mast, I built and and installed a mounting system for a float (similar to the B&B mount) just never got around to building the float part. It’s not so much the cost of shipping as the time it will take to reach me. I’ve got a big coastal cruise coming up in a few weeks and wouldn’t mind having the float for that, as I will sailing in a area where I will have to self rescue .True to form I’ve left it to the last minute to sort things out so will need to build the float myself. I’ve shaped a few surfboards so I think I should be right shaping the float I’ll check the dimensions with B&B. cheers John

Thanks stjoeguy,

G’day, I want to build a mast head float for my CS 17 mk1. The B&B kits look great but I’m in Australia so ordering a kit isn't realistic. Does anyone have the dimensions of the small size float (I think that’s the size for my boat)? Thanks John

Mate, that’s excellent

Nick, and yeah I recon you are on the right track making new masts as specified by the designer. Basically the masts & sails (with roaches) on my boat were built to plan. The masts work so well with the sails, giving both great performance and excellent gust response. It’s a pleasure to sail the boat having the unstayed rigs work so perfectly… a real credit to the designer. Cheers John

Nick, I sourced the tube for my CS17 from Calm aluminium in Minto NSW. They import tube for ultralight aircraft & the only supplier I could find. It was expensive, about $450 from memory and the tubes aren’t quiet the specified size. The top and middle section join was fine. But I had to sand a small amount out of the bottom tube. I then warmed the bottom tube with a heat gun & chilled the middle section in a ice bath…you only have one go & they are never coming apart. cheers John

Nice work mate ?