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Ray Frechette Jr

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Everything posted by Ray Frechette Jr

  1. The downside to open oar locks is that you need to keep your hands on the oars. A moments inattention atttending to other issues and you can be "Up the creek without a paddle" so to speak.
  2. That's the kicker for me. If I could only have one boat the Cs 20 Mk2 would be on the very short list. But i have a CS 20 MK1 now with a set of race sails and a set of No Roach sails, and the idea of a Belhaven which will be able to use the same sails appeals to me. More cabin space and a nice complement ot the Mk1.
  3. Without a doubt it is tempting. The CS 20 MK2 is very close to a Belhaven in functionality. If it was a Belhaven though I would have been on the phone to you yesterday making arrangements....
  4. That is an awfully attractive price Chik. Are you sure you wouldn't like to build a nice Bellhaven and take it out for a few sails??
  5. Yeah but lost of fine dust gets past filters... I have a fan forced hot water heater mounted to ceiling to heat shop in winter. It gets a fair amount of dust in the crevices. I plan on hosing it out next spring again....
  6. I think you really ought to build a Bellhaven Next Chick. I wish I had known about your Princess 22 you sold. Build a Bellhaven. Sail it 4-5 times and then give me a call. I will gladly by it from you...
  7. No AC in shop here. Can't ever see installing it either. Weeks like this past one is fairly rare. Yeah we get weather like that for 2-3 days, but 7 is rare. I gotta wonder on AC'd shops, How on earth do you handle all the dust drawn into the heat exchanger?
  8. It has been the pits working in the shop all this week with sweat running down my back, nose, forehead dripping on my glasses.... I don't know how those in the south deal with this all summer....
  9. Woo Hoo. 10:23 at night and air temps down to 68 Degrees. Dew point down to 58! Last night it was 85 degrees at 10:30. dew point was 75.
  10. To any of our Canadian members. Thank you so much for sending the Canadian High pressure front down to Maine. Past week has been highs in the 90's with high humidity and Dew Points in the upper 70's. Over past hour the air has noticeably dried out and the temp has dropped 8 degrees already.!! Geesh, it was feeling like North Carolina here all week! Blech.
  11. 1 coat of cheap white paint lasts 5 times longer than 5 coats of quality marine varnish...
  12. Most production sea kayaks have bulkheaded compartments which provide air tank floatation. Hard thing to get with a SOF Kayak... Having crew compartment bulkheaded off from fore and aft compartments ads a lot of security. If the cockpit gets flooded it is a whole lot less water to removes rahter than entire vessel.
  13. If nothing else if you can get seat of your pants closer to hull bottom that will help more than you might guess. 2 inches of height reduction makes a world of difference in stability. Looking at pics you look to be sitting kind of high...
  14. It sure sounds like you are exceeding the weight design for the boat based on what you are experiencing. How much lighter is your loving Bride? Under 150? I know I am setting you up for very dangerous water here. Whatever you do do not answer the question out loud or in print. But If she is in the 150 range I am willing to bet that she will find it quite comfortable and you will have your answer and she will have a nice Kayak. Length is not sole determiner of stability as you found out with Old Town 12.5 . Length is a major determiner of speed though. Likely if you measure the width of the two the Old town is substantially wider.... and slower and heavier than the skin on frame. Like I said it will probably be a great fit for your wife. You on the other hand might want to check out Kudzu craft and see what else it out there for skin on frame kayaks that would be a better fit for you. http://kudzucraft.com/ So, on the p[erfect 1/2 eskimo roll thing, were you doing the hard half or the easy half??
  15. In all fairness to the sellers and dealers... If you do not specify a brand name BS1088, and simply ask for BS 1088 Okoume,,, Well.... I always specify brand name myself. The hull of the boat is no place to compromise....
  16. I would not put my labor into a boat other than with name brand ply such as SHelman, Joubert or Brunzeel. Yeah you pay a premium for it, but that is just my opinion...
  17. Merranti splinters burn in your skin too and fester in a few days if you miss it.
  18. If Okoume was too dear, I might consider Merranti Hydroteck at about half the price. While 20% heavier it has added benefit of increased rot resistance over Okoume. But again, upgrading to lighter Okoume at a later point once the boat was built would be difficult....
  19. Given that quality name brand BS1088 Ply costs roughly 15% of the total material and consumable cost of most sail boats I have a very hard time understanding the desire to economize with Chinese BS1088 marine ply. I simply have no confidence in Chinese ply. It may look the same and it might work well. but face it. If the Chinese manufacturere took shortcuts you can not see, and it proves substantial later on, How Catastophic will it be? How hard will it be to correct? What will it cost to upgrade the ply later on? Will it be worth saving even half on the ply? I would never ever consider ever using Chinese ply on any boat I build. The downside is to great. I would shave somewhere else. Something that can be upgraded easier later on... I would opt for less riggin early on that I can easier upgrade later.
  20. Is it Name Brand Okoume or Chinese BS 1088? Shellman and Joubert that I have played with have had noticeably thinner outer plies , but certainly not paper thin. They were meaty enough, but they were noticeable thinner than the core plies.
  21. If nothing else having a Horn set as backup would certainly nbot be a waste of money... In emergency preparedeness a common saying is if you got two, you got one. And if you got one, you got none. Meaning things go wrong and things break.... The only time I ever wished for an outboard was trying to get off the beach when the wind was blowing right down onto it. We made progress with rowing, but by golly we worked for that first 50 feet to clear past the dock.!
  22. OK, I see the round oarlock twists off the shaft by the oar leveraging the round top. IE open horn oralocks would pose no problemas the oar would simply pop out in that instance... I was thinking the shaft itself sheared off from too strong a stroke... I could just see the firctional losses building up and smoke pouring from the shaft as Wes is pulling for dear life and a fire getting ready to build in the wood surrounding the socket...
  23. Hell's Bells Wes, You twisted off 1/2 inch bronze?I might have to rethink that whole Pantywaist thing. Whatthe heck do you need an outboard fro if you can shear off 1/2 inch bronze!
  24. For several years I have worked Seasonally at L.L.Bean as a customer service Representative answering phone calls. A little over a year ago I was aksed to stay on year round. I find my hours increasing there and my responsibilities and compensation expanding to the point that it makes more sense than Building boats for Customers. Also Rental property market is improving and it makes more sense to spend time on upgrades and improvmeents there and tending to that investment than it does to continue making boats for customers. I have turned down at least one CS 17 build recently adn have had some customers look elsewhere as I could not devote time necessary to build an OB 20 in time desired. There is continuing good will with the company name and it seems a crying shame to simply close it out completely. Past several years several poeople have mentioned interest in various boats but felt the need to wait until the economy firmed up a bit... If someone was interested in building for hire part time as a sideline, you could garner some residual interest quickly this way by buying domain and having a welcome page by me advising that I have shut down operation but reccomend people to inquire at XYZ Boat building ....
  25. I am closing down the shop as other business interests are taking precedence. If anyone is interrsted in buying the domain name from me along with good will that came form years of advertising I will be happy to sell it for far less than 3 months of adsvertising in any trade publication.. Feel free to contact at refent01@yahoo.com if interested.
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