hokeyhydro

Magnificent. I often sleep aboard my 18' runabout with nothing but the bimini overhead. Keeps the dew off me, does a fair job of keeping me dry in a light rain if the wind ain't blowing, but is wide open for those pesky skeeters. Thankfully skeeters don't like me, but love my tasty wife. A rig like your full enclosure might lure her back the campout thang . . .

stay tuned - working on a centerboard (strip built) and centerboard trunk case. Progress slow today as I had to attack black mold growth on our front load washing machine door gasket (Shoulda read the machine instructions RE wiping it down after use) and unfreezing the water line to the water dispenser on our fancy double door fridge. Honey do - honey do - boat play time reduced to near zero.

Progress. Masts stepped. In a brief moment of sanity I decided not to attempt making a 1:10 scale birdsmouth mast. Yes, I wimped out and used 1/4" birch dowels, but . . . I did create a fiberglass tube for the main mast! As per instructions, I spiral wrapped thin poly on the dowel and wrapped several layers of 3/4 oz (in RL more like 6 oz or 10oz) fiberglass with WEST resin. Worked just dandy. No problems removing the FG tube like a few have reported when doing a RL size rig. Just a thought - resins have various degrees of shrinkage when curing. Polyester is the worst, although polyester "tooling" resin has a low shrink rate. Epoxy resin is low shrink, but I'm thinking the shrink rate may vary among brands/formulations and maybe that is where the FG tube stuck on the mandrel problem lies. I'll leave that research to those with superior knowledge and experience. After setting and trimming the main mast tube with a 3 degree rake (more or less) I used 1/4" long cutoffs of fiberglass tube to make steps for the mizzen and 3rd slot mast position. 3 degrees is hard to measure without some sort of laser rig, so I used the 1" in 20" system.

From Ken: "I once (pre 9-11) talked to a guy who mentioned that he used to give his dad depleted uranium for ballasting his RC sailboats. " Actually, the AMYA (American Model Yachting Assoc.) banned depleted uranium and mercury for keels decades ago, way before 9-11. Yes, model yacht racers are just a vicious in the pursuit of a win as big boat boys. And for Scott - might be just me, but I think 25' can be made comfy. Course I do not absolutely need standing headroom. I be 6' tall but at my age reclining suits me just fine :-)

Randy, Some years ago I started to reinforcing the leading edge of my boards with epoxy soaked Nylon or Dacron line. It makes an essentially indestructable edge that will survive just about anything with no more than a scratch. Instructions are on the forum somewhere. Maybe someone can point you to it. Beefing up the outer edge of a canoe paddle with epoxy soaked nylon line does make the paddle semi-rock proof, as one can use the paddle to shove off various obstacles without splintering it. Should work on centerboards and rudders as well. "feather the trailing edge" RED flag! Foils running in water should not be "shaped" to a feather edge, but the aft flanks of aforementioned foil should be a fairly straight run and the tender edge left square. On a CS size foil one could have a square edge close to 1/8", although I tend to hit around 3/32".

Gordy does know of what he speaks. In a previous life I manufactured radio controlled model racing yacht kits and wrote the assembly and sailing manuals for same. Now I write the FAA Certification and Emergency Response manuals for the airport where I work as an Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting/Security person. I'm pretty good at that kind of stuff. So when I look at boat plans, and I have several, I usually go EEK! None of them are step 1 through whatever step organized. The B&B plans I have are very good - excellent drawings, and building hints scattered throughout. Gordy speaks the truth. Get those plans and while the snow is flying and workshop to cold to enjoy, read, and reread the plans. Make notes! They're your plans, so you write all over them. You will find that to do a particular building task you may have to refer to several pages of the plans to acquire all the info you need. And if you wind up scratching you head in confusion, the beauty about B&B is help is just a phone call away!

Some progress. Added deck beams, and seat frames. NOTE: I could not find a definitive measure for the main mast position, but scaled it off two different deck plans. Main mast hole is 24" forward of the front bulkhead, or a shade under 16" aft of the bow if all parts are located per plan. For a real build (and this miniature version) you should have at least one centerboard trunk panel to temporarily tack in place so you can make tick marks of the inner hull side for the seat stringer beam. This must of course be leveled abeam.

I believe you misread the dimension. My read on the plans is 11/16", not 1 and 1/16". Oversize, no problem. You can trim to correct size.

Of course a pop-top is feasible! That said, in my experience, boats flex. Some more than others. And many boats, especially those designed to minimize weight and maximize performance, rely on the entire structure to minimize flex. My suggestion: Sketch your design and send it to Graham to see what he thinks. You may have to add beef somewhere to keep the cabin structure from moving around to the point where the pop-top would jam.

And building it. During my last S&G build I nicknamed the boat the "porcupine" boat after sticking myself on the copper quills. True to form, the model already has blood on it.

First pic above is hull wired. On the scene tiny wire cutters, tiny pliers for twisting, roll of safety wire, and an awl actually a "spike" from my sailmaking toolbox. I used the spike to prick tiny holes for the safety wire stitches. This pic, hull seams glued up and stitches removed.

From B&B plans I am building a 1/10 scale CS-15 - a test run for the real thing. I built it according to plan, side and bottom panel butterflied with 3/4oz glass and 5 min epoxy, stitched with .020 stainless safety wire, fillets WEST resin and filler. I followed Graham's instruction on wiring, bow and forefoot tight, keel line kinda loose, fold her open and continue. Worked like a charm! Lesson learned so far - you must tack down the side and bottom panels when epoxying them together.

Having glassed a few hulls (not CS hulls, next on my build list), my sequence is glass the entire hull with 6oz cloth and then epoxy/glass the chine/keel tape strips on top of that, and THEN attach the various parts as in keels and outwales AKA rub rails. Reason: It's a bugger-bear to run a large sheet of fiberglass over a hump as in keel piece. Placing the tape on after full glassing means you can scrape and sand and fair the tape edge strip in without fear of cutting through a glass layer and compromising the strength of the layup. With full sheet glass over tape, when you scrape & sand you will cut through the top glass layer = bad do-do. Caveat: I'm leaning toward CS-15 and probably will not glass the entire hull. Why CS-15? Quote Graham: "The smaller the boat, the bigger the adventure!" Besides I will most likely be single handing and I figure a little boat will be easier to get upright when I dump it.

As plan prices go, B&B plans are very reasonable. Just go ahead and order CS-15 plans - $66. I ordered plans for the CS-15 and CS-17 last week from Carla at B&B and received them a few days later - quick service. After examining the plans I will say they are concise, informative, and get a five star rating for a first time builder. Framing lumber specs are set up for basic lumberyard fir/spruce, nothing super special. Be handy to have access to a table saw. For sheathing stick to marine ply - Okume is good. At the moment I am building a 1/10 scale model of the CS-15. Full scale project is on hold for a variety of reasons: No room to build since I have five boats in my fleet, and SWMBO has decreed I must trim the fleet before starting another boat. And I need to sell my Harley to finance the project. Dang Harley won't float.

Strange? Part A had gone solid? I've had the resin half of WEST acquire white flakes if left in the cold, freezing or near freezing, but the flakes go away when the epoxy gets back to room temp, but never had the resin thicken up or go solid, even stuff that was several years old. Anyhoo, like Tom & PAR said, scrape it off, clean it up, and try again. Might want to mix a test batch to see if the mix behaves properly.

Best ever - the G-Pad foam used under synthetic football field turf.

Earl fizzled. No major damage on our local beaches & barrier islands. Not enough wind here to blow the writing spider web apart. She still rules our deck. Hatteras Island took a few shots, Rt 12 overwashed, but 12 overwashes easy. All in all, much ado about nothing. Surfers had a good time . . .

This is called a No-Brainer - GO SAILING

We're gonna get spanked. Evac orders have been expanded to include Hatteras Island and Bogue Banks - Okracoke Island is already evacuating. I've added lines to my boat in the slip, and tonight I'll hook the trailer boat to my truck - more tonnage to toss around. Worst I've seen is Hurricane Carol in the `50s on Long Island. Winds reported up to 125 mph. After several hours of howling wind the eye passed over us. Amazing - clear blue skies above, air feather-drop still, and on the horizon BLACK. I could hear the `cane coming back before I could feel the wind . . . Mother Nature rules!

North Carolina got me. I built my daughters catamaran using metric scales since the original measures from Richard Woods (UK) were metric. And I like metrics. Dang thing came out 14' 2 1/2 " Imperial measure, and this fine Red State that taxes and has fees for everything requires registration AND a title. Sort of like my pickup truck - costs me $108/yr for a tag sticker because it has a towing capacity over 10K - little Dodge Dakota.

I got wet yesterday as well. Traveled to to Shackleford Banks and arrived at high tide, which means we had to drop the hook many yards offshore and swim/wade to the beach. Ocean water was a clear green/blue hue - perfect. Beautiful beach, very few people, and a few wild horses. I stayed wet, but when the southern ocean water temp is low 80s and the sun is shining and air temp mid-80s, all is good. :smile:

Thanks. So I reckon there would be no problem folding it up in a small two car garage space, or maybe even my workshop out back which is 14' wide if I move a bunch of stuff. No thinking required about an engine, Ray, I will have an engine. Lazy slackers do not row :smile:

The CS-15 and CS-17 are built by attaching side panels to bottom panels and then folding the entire boat up using the "butterfly" method. Question: What is the "wingspan" of the four panels in flat form before folding?

Sorry I didn't see this earlier.. Yeah, the deadrise of the hull means that the chines easily clears the wheel fenders. Adjust the keel rollers for clearance and adjsut the bunks to suit. Since I set up my trailers so that no metal ever touches the salt water , I see no reason to opt for aluminum. I never immerse the trailer in the ocean. I launch with only the rubber of the wheels kissing the salt water, and I recover the same exact way winching the boat on the trailer. Never ceases to astound boaters when you do it and they are watching. Wow - only wet tires? Wouldn't work with my two trailers since they ar "drive-on" trailers. Yep, bury those buggers in the water so just the top couple inches of the fenders stick up, then power up the boat, aim for the winch post and slide `er on! My oldest trailer is a 1983 Cox painted steel, some maintenance to battle rust which never sleeps, but she's still rolling.

Quite possible. I equipped my 23' Parker with a giga-candlepower remote control searchlight after an interesting and very slow return to dockage on a new moon night. Light works but it destroys all vision outside of the light cone. ZNow I may flick oit on to search for a specific target, as in nav mark, but turn it off so I can scope out a wide vision field.