Captain Tim

An adult beverage would be in order right aboat now!

This may help. Tips for Spacing Slugs & Choosing Shackles for Your Mainsail (sailrite.com)

With slides you would be able to set up a reefing system more easily

With slides the sail will be able to flake more easily on to the boom if you are dropping it to go to the beach. You would need a stop at the bottom of the track so the slides stay on the track when sail comes down.

The open top on my sleeved sail works fine. It does have a zipper in the sleeve. It might be hard to bunch up the sail down at the boom with no zipper. I think a bolt rope over slides. If you go with track I think slide track like B & B makes would be easier to install.

I had planned to use a Laser Radial rig but the boom is very low so I went with the mast and sail designed for the Spindrift 11. The mast was easy to make after buying the tubes from B & B. The sail got delivered shortly after ordering it. I would check with your follow cruisers to see if one of them has a sewing machine. You could get the cloth and two sided tape to make the sleeve and then the sewing part would be quick. With a sleeved sail and no zipper you have to put the mast and sail up together. I figured that could be a little tricky out on the anchor. Could you put sail track on the mast that takes slides like the track B & B sell? Then you could easily sew slides onto the sail.

Hirilonde You are correct sir.

I'm guessing weight because West Systems says 12oz whereas Duckworks says one pint (volume). The one from Amason says one quart and also 11oz so I guess telling us the weight of the volume. I have not bought any yet, so I don't know for sure.

Price is interesting. West System 12oz = $35 at West Marine Duck Work 1 pint = $9.95 I would think plus shipping Fasco Epoxies 1qt = 110z = $18.99 at Amazon I get free shipping

What brand graphite are you using? I have found brands selling for half what West Systems sells for. Is all graphite going to be the same.

Update. Ordered this on Wednesday and it was delivered to my house on Sunday morning.

If you are like me you can have some trouble working with split rings. I heard about this handy tool from a fishing friend and thought I would share with you all here. If you have any handy tools that make your life onboard easier please add them to this post.

This is just a heads up. I found a band new Suzuki 2.5d5s short shaft for sale for $685 at Boat Max Online. Free shipping too! I have been watching the price and this has been the best I've seen. Suzuki Outboard Team had the same price. I bought one and hope to see it delivered by next week.

Love the color. What is the spacing between the nails? How long are the nails? Why nails instead of screws with finish washers?

@Don Silsbe You mentioned a lashing block. Is that the same as a shock sheaveless block by Ronstan? If so do you think it would work in place of the single block you show for your reef line? Or are you using the donut shaped lashing block for something on your boat?

Don Silsbe I see how the knot is tied but what I don't see is how you have two turns around the eye strap and the block. Do you go around both twice before making to knots ?

Don Silsbe what is the knot you are using to hold the eye strap and block together?

Just another video I made on my phone a while ago to show my brother what I was up to

I made a play list so the videos should flow better

I found a text video I had sent to my brother. Thought it was a good time to post because a few new Spindrifts are being built now and this might help someone

I looked up the Europe dinghy out of curiosity, I didn't know the boat. It seems to me the boom is very low. I even thought a Laser radial would make for a low boom. Your thoughts?

This is the way Peter McCrary did the top of his mast. As he points out it makes nesting the mast sections doable. I copied his idea and it works well. Here are a couple of photos. This pulley arrangement is an alternative to a cheek block at the head of the smallest mast section — which would prevent “nesting” of that section into the middle section of the mast assembly.

Just make sure you tell him that a "sky hook" works best with shore line

By the smile on Brodie's face I'd have to guess he knows how lucky he is to have Don Silsbe as a neighbor

Dylan Tantuico I found a text I had sent to my brother. If you look close you will see the eye bolts I glassed into blocks and then glassed to the bottom of my dinghy for davit points of attachment. I didn’t want holes through the bottom of the dinghy. The great thing about building the Spindrift is you make it your boat, so have fun building yours IMG_3278.mov