Mark Gudschinsky

There are lots of discussion on larger Jibs of one form or another and adding top sails, but I am wondering about increasing the main also or in lieu of other changes.. Would probably require larger Mast, boom, gaff? What would it do to weather helm? Should it be done in conjunction with a larger jib? What about center of force and all of those other technical tidbits us beginners know little about? And if we did it, how in the world will everyone else keep up with us?

I have The Flyer rigged with vinyl-coated cables for stays fastened with cable clamps. After two plus years the sun has turned the vinyl a nice golden hue and the constant rattling of the wind has apparently caused the cable clamps to finally cut their way through some of the vinyl. I had The Flyer out in a solid stiff breeze racing along at her very best just off the rails of another boat. Now the other boat was larger and carried more sail but The Flyer was doing a tremendous job holding her own. I was feeling about as good as you can with the sails stretched tight and the wires singing. Suddenly a loud bang and a jerking of rigging shook The Flyer. The starboard rear stay had let go. We were still on course and sailing fine so I pressed on with only one stay. We were still neck-n-neck with the other boat and I wasn

I was in Swimmer resting over a bit of a clear lake bottom with the anchor down, when uncle Steve runs over in his sailboat and says Dad and Laura found an anchor laying on the bottom. And Dad had taking a dunking. Apparently he was on the bow when Laura shifted sides and dad took an unexpected bath. Small model wooden boats that we had made in Homer were everywhere when I arrived. Laura and Dad set them adrift to use as markers over the lost anchor. We tried a lot with boat hooks and other items to catch the short bit of rope or chain to try to pull up the anchor. But we failed with all of our tries. Dad and Laura sailed back to the dock to get the motor boat and it’s tools. I stayed on sight with Swimmer and waited. When they came back I tried again with boat hooks and my anchor but nothing would grab the artifact. In the mean time Dad and Laura were working on a tool. They made a heavy weight with several big salmon hooks on it. It still took many tries but eventually we caught the moldy rope and hauled the treasure to the surface. After we had the load secured in Swimmer Dad and Laura towed me back across the lake while the anchor and seaweed surrounded me. After awhile Mike came by and we began to talk about price, it ranged from fifty dollars to twenty dollars. We even used the Overtons catalog for a reference. Eventually we settled on twenty dollars. I put it in my wallet with about another ten dollars. I haven’t seen my wallet since.

Swimmer and the Flier may be undersized in our next fleet. I can't belive I missed over 3 pages of posts on the main forum alone! I have searios catching up to do. Well, we know 3 almost identecal yachts on the lake one of which is called Laura Ann ll! If there were no furnature inside Swimmer might fit in one! Also its nearing hunting season and after that it's ice age time!

Since earlier this summer, the tattered remains of the Harding Lake Fleet have been bravely holding out amongst the roar and waves of swarming powerboats and the sterile commercial whiteness of artificial sailboats. As many of you will remember the fleet was decimated by greed and self-interest. What had been a glorious and growing fleet is now a shadow of itself. At its peak there was the Aurora Wolf, Mike Pennington

Well said Frank, Its a bit like letting one of your kids go. We understand, but of others who've not created a craft worthy of talking to?

Initial repairs are half done. Cosmetic touches will be complete this weekend. Next week I'm getting Friday off so we'll make it a three dayer at the lake. After doing some of the repairs I think glassing the seats and cockpit floor are in order. But it can wait till our short season is over. AND Mike, what is this about interviews already? Seams only right the fleet should be bound by conscription or some other heavy or under handed means till the mission, I mean seasons is complete! At this rate we're going to have to lure a few others into boat building and sailing. But it will be tough to add another big ol' Vacationer to the roster. Let alone captianed by someone who actually knows how to sail!

We had to pull The Flyer back from the lake last weekend for minor repairs. Cracks and blisters began to show on the seat bottoms. There we also a few small cracks and blisters in the radiuses at the cockpit floor. As all of you know who have Weekenders, the inside of the boat can spend as much time being wet as the outside. (From rain etc. while sitting on the trailer.) So I was afraid that water was seeping through the cracks and soaking the wood below. I didn't glass the topside or cockpit, but did use good paint so I've decided to do a patching now with serious repairs to come this winter. When I scraped away the paint on the seats I discovered some moisture had gotten under the finish and softened the plywood revealing several voids. The wood I used on the seats was a bit of 3/4" that was free for the taking, and it appears that I got full value. So I'll dry it out and seal it up and replace the seat this winter. What prompts this post though is the cracks and blisters at the cockpit floor. it appears that in three or four spots the bondo lost its grip on the wood and formed cracks. The worst spot (1" x 3") happened on a vertical piece of fir, two other spots were at the forward base of the cabin bulkhead. There the bondo cracked along the seam between the bottom and the bulkhead. At this point there is no rot or serious damage, and I am reminded of a post I read in which the author said he would never again use bondo as "eventually it would act as a sponge and wreck the boat." This is a young boat just starting it's third year built with Okumee. So the question becomes during this winters planed repairs what should I be planning? Simple drying out and repairs? Glassing the cockpit? Sail it with blinders on an start planning my replacement! (Unlikely).

What a great job! It is amazing how much detail and fun you are packing onto your little ship!

We've had an early morning report from Harding Lake on conditions: The lake is clear: The ice is out, the weather is warm, the breeze is blowing. Steve has had his "new" sailboat out already and reports that we are missing out. It's a week early this year! We're going out this am, and will launch at least Swimmer and put in the dock. I'll try sailing with Steve and his new bleach bottle. Next week the whole fleet is invited out, we'll be there Saturday through Monday I'll

The 2005 Alaskan Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Festival was a random disjointed affair that matches the end of the road, seaside, fishing, artsy tourist, town that Homer Alaska is. There was a loose form to the functions, but not necessarily a strict timetable for the events. It was completely devoid of commercial hype, sponsors, and marketing (except for the walking halibut, but he, she, it was entertaining, and a good conversation piece.) All in all if you happen to be anywhere within several hundred miles of the place next year about this time, stop in. You

What took you? :x I've been trying to contact you all winter! :evil: Well, to get to business, Swimmer just got her primary paint, interior and exterior. Schools only got a few weeks left. Then, kneeboarding!! Before that is the final day of the full Alaskan fleet. :cry: Johns moving to another state while Jeremy is moving in with Malina. This will be at The Homer boat show! Did I mention Skipper doesn't have time to be built for the show? Hey, :idea: maybe mom could bring the camera. P.S. Please write back :evil: :wink:

The rigging going up looks like spring to me. We're going to have to get on the ball and do the same on our side of town. We hopped to have all three boats ready for the trip to Homer for the festival, but life's events decided otherwise. Laura's Skipjack is far from finished, but is still taking up the boat shed. So with time running out we'll shift to Swimmer's repaint, and getting the rigging back on The Flyer. I may even have to catch a cold and miss a few days at work.

So anyone out there with experience with a capri 15' sailboat. It's about a 1978 for under $800. Looks to be all there with rigging, sails, etc. and sitting on a nice galvanized boat trailer. There is a bit of fiberglass checking but that only seams cosmetic. My brother Steve has taken an interest in sailing but has seen our boats going together and has decided he has an aversion to sanding.

The photo you're thinking of is in my gallery. (I don't know how to link it here) The Flyer was blown over is a sudden wind while we were up at the cabin. She wasn't floating on her side - the water was only shin deep. (I actually used that photo and reworked it for my avatar to appear to be an overhead sketch.)

A motor! This means no more rowing across the lake. Always making it to the beach for lunch and dinner. No more forced lazy mid days becalmed on the lake. Fore the rest of the fleet we won't get to see you perched up high with those long great oars driving that big ol' boat across the water. Hondas are definitely a quality product. Lately there has even been a local commercial on TV for Honda outboards mentioning that their product provided a longer more satisfying experience for men. So we expect you'll be happy with yours. There were apparently some side effect involved but we were laughing at the first half of the commercial and miss them. Now for info of use: With my electric on our Weekender it seams to be most efficient with the prop in the water so the top diameter of the prop is about two inches below the bottom at the transom.

I would at least glass the seams. Last spring we completed the Amphora Swimmer. We used good materials and quality paints. But this winter she has undergone a major set of repairs because of damage to the seams and finish. We ended up sanding off all of the pint on the bottom, the keel, and about six inches up the sides and doing epoxy patching. THEN we glassed the whole bottom and the seam with six once glass. I originally figured what the heck, its only an eight foot boat and a ten year old boy, how much upkeep could it need? There will enough upkeep and fun improvement project coming up with out risking having to roll her over to take off all of that paint to glass later. Then again, the quicker the paints on, the quicker you get to go sailing!

What a good looking boat through out. Very nice job, very nice finish! The pictures do inspire a question or two though. Just how many outboards do you have in there? And - um - have you noticed that your garage door seams to be - um - pink?

I like the look and the concept of your hatch - it has a solid salty appeal to it. For Laura's Skipjack though light, low and simple will have to do. For our Weekender The Flyer I think we'll do a hatch similar to yours.

Greg, Actually there is enough room between the mast and the bow for a 15" square hatch cover to slide forward enough to clear the open hatchway. The real problem is I'm stuck, and am probably over thinking the whole thing. There are several examples of sliding Weekender cabin hatches that others have done (mine still isn't done.) I've liked some that are out there but haven't been able to rediscover them. So it could be all that is needed is links to other's good idea. On a side note, we are finding the Skipjack to be a fairly easy and pleasing build even with several significant changes we've made to the plans.

Laura has been thinking about her hatch on her Skipjack (it's a modification - an addition to the plans) she wants a sliding hatch instead of a hinged hatch. The engineering team of Dad and Laura so far hasn't come up with a graceful, workable design. The hatch is similar in size and location to the Weekender's forward hatch. What Laura would like is a hatch that slides forward instead of hinging so a falling hatch can't slam small fingers. Any ideas send 'em in.

Winter here in the far north is proceeding as usual, which means it is wearing on and on and on and beginning to get on our boating nerves. Most of are coping by shoveling off the boats to see what winter has wrought. Some on the other hand just can't wait!

We brought the laptop out and I just played video games all the time we were out there.

Well this stirred up quite a few good opinions. We are going with Bow and stern air chambers, as well as one on each side similar to Weekender seat backs. I want this thing to bob like a cork. I have been convinced to build in inspection ports and drains for the longevity of the craft. I may also include ridged foam to counter the possibility that kids playing pirate might open a port to stash some booty rendering the floatation chamber useless. I'll have to figure how best to combine the two. We actually have done some blowdown and man over board drills. We will get more elaborate and make the crew show there worth in "emergencies" this summer. We even did swamping practice with Swimmer (an 8' Amphora.) Like all of the knock down / swamping incidences I've read with the Stevenson's crafts self rescue was basically out of the question. Alexander was able to board, and the boat floated upright and awash, but in mostly calm water he was unable to bail without dipping the rail under water. After I scoped out about five gallons worth he was able to bail successfully, but even an eight foot dingy hold a tiring amount of water. After ten hard minutes of bailing with the boat still 2/3 full he rowed over to our power boat and using his head borrowed our portable bilge pump to finish the task while he went swimming. The idea of the boarding handels is also important. When Alexander first took Swimmer to the lake, one of his tests was to see if he could get back into the boat in deeper water. He couldn't do it! That weekend, we installed the boarding step that was in the plans. Then he could board easily. So, Laura's Skipjack will also get a trasom mounted boarding ladder. This is especially important in cold water areas such as we sail in. The cold quickly saps your strength and may prevent reboarding. Also for a bit of fun next time you go sailing try jumping overboard and getting back in un assisted. It can be pretty tough especially if you have a nicely polished finish on your boat.

We have a Skipjack under construction for Capitan Laura who is eight years old. The construction consultant (Dad) has decided his little girl needs to have an unsinkable boat. So flotation chambers will be included in the list of modifications to the plans. Which leads us to the question. Should the flotation chambers be sealed tight with nothing ever to get in or out, or should there be inspection ports and drains to make sure all remain dry? Sealed tight has the advantage of there being no chance for a plug or port to be left open which would defeat the intent. Ports and drains have the advantage of improved upkeep and inspection. Ideas, opinions, experiences?