Bill Heil

Since this is my boat pictured, I thought I would put in a word or two. The main word is that these boats REALLY MOVE, and strangely enougth they move better with three people on board, especially on a reach. With three people up, you can keep the boat more level and just let her go with as much wind as she will take. Our best sails have been with three people on board. It is a rush when a gust comes up and the boat just takes off, lots of power. It's good!!! Bill

that board may not be strong enough, there is quite a side load on c'boards and your one structural member may not be enough. happy experimenting!!

I used to use easypoxy a lot on my trimaran and it worked well, used to repaint every 5 years. what I liked about it was that it didn't build up a big film thickness, so a good sanding was all it needed before a recoat. On my CS17 i used awlgrip, the advantage being its toughness. good stuff.

I would not look forward to glassing a lapstrake boat. Gives me nightmares just thinking about it. Too many angle and corners.. Bill

i have to agree with john, that when using lightweight cloth it is much simpler and faster to wet out right through the cloth. Like he said, you can get the cloth to fit very well when it is dry and it will conform to a lot of shapes by moving it around and working it. It is much better to spend some time doing this and then use a squeegee when putting on the resin to ensure that the glass is wrinkle free and smooth as possible. Saves bunches of time in finishing later. Bill

Here is a picture of the aft hatch open. You can see the spreader between the arms that I previously talked about. There is the only picture I can find of the hatch closed, obviously before things were quite finished. Cheers, Bill [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

In the previous picture, the light colored block of wood is attached to the boat, up under the foredeck. The notch fits around the 3/4 by 3-1/2 piece under the deck on the centerline that you put in before putting the deck on. This block, along with the hinge arms, is screwed to the center piece, so the whole assembly can be removed. The bolt head you see is a lag screw that acts as the pivot for the arms. There is another piece not shown that goes between the free ends of the two arms. This piece is glued to the underside of the hatch and the free ends then screw to that piece. In this way, the hatch can be removed from the arms, and the arms and pivot block can also be removed. Hope this helps. Bill Heil CS17 #34

In response re hatch hinges and seat drains. i got the mold for the seat drains from graham. They are molded out of a number of layers of glass and epoxy and this is a whole lot easier than making them out of wood, which I have done before. I didn't make the glass very thick and then reinforced the flat parts with some pieces of plywood. The hinges are somewhat complicated to describe, but they essentially are similar to the hinge arms on a car trunk. They aren't dificult, just take a lot of time/different operations because there are a bunch of pieces of wood. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

we just put 8 oz. cloth on the CS-15. We were able to put all the weave filling coats on in one day, the only way to do it. Like was said previously, you need to work the cloth on with squeegees so that it is as smoothly as possible, no wrinkles, wraps etc. Then when you get the weave filled, all you have to do is sand it and you should be ready for primer, depending of course, on the level of finish you are after. As far as glass or no glass, you should at a minimum glass all the joints. All over, the glass just gives it a little more abrasion resistance, and probably some minor increase in strength. Definitely glass all the joints at a minimum. Bill CS17#34

we just use lumberyard spruce, commom 2 x4s. If you go to a place where they will let you look through the pile, you usually can find a piece that is relatively knot free. often i will buy a piece much larger than I need, it is cheap, and cut away the bad parts. Small, tight knots are o.k. Follow the plans regarding grain orientation, this is important to prevent warping. you could also build the rudder in your apt. The rudder takes a lot of time, kinda finicky.. luck, Bill

Yes, I did use plywood for the rudder blade and it seems to work fine. My previous experience was with a relatively long daggerboard, and there is just too much stress. Half the plies (at least) in a piece of plywood are runnign in the wrong direction to add any strength at all. My advice is always pick a designer you trust and then follow his plans. Bill

My only experience with a plywood centerboard was short lived. It was on a boat I bought and it broke on the first sail. i also tried to make a long rudder out of plywood once, years ago. it broke. Plywood is not strong enough for those kinds of applications. Bill (CS17)

I guess it depends on how tall you are sitting down!! you wouldn't want to make it any taller than necessary. Also, it may interfere when you sit on the deck when sailing in stronger breezes. I think you just have to experiment and work out what is best for you. Bill

I suppose you would want it right under the mizzen sail, where you are sitting most of the time when sailing. Shoudn't be too hard to do, maybe y ou can even find a ready made one that would fit, in some of the catalogs. You might have to raise the mizzen sail up to get proper headroom under the sail. I've thought about that, just make the top section of the mast taller, it is usually made out of wood anyway. Bill

When visiting Rob's site, I noticed he was building the centerboard trunk right in the boat. I never thought of that, I always built the trunks outside of the boat and then installed them. One other thing is that I fiberglass the inside of the trunk, usually with two layers. You just never want something to go wrong with the inside of a centerboard trunk after it is in the boat. i also build the board at the same time as I am building the trunk, to make sure the trunk fits the board with the proper clearance, etc. Also, when I install the trunk in the boat, it put temporary spacers in the trunk so it can't close up on me during the installation process. I also taper the plywood along the inside (where the board fits) of both sides of the trunk so I can glass the trunk to the outside of the boat bottom. The taper is enough to make up for the thickness of the glass i am putting on. This ensures a strong, leak free trunk installation. Maybe, I am a little intense about this, but I sure don't want to fool around with a centerboard trunk after the boat is built and gets some age on it. Bill

if you want a cheaper, but seviceable boat, use 1/4" exterior fir or pine plywood. It is strong, uses waterproof glue and the stuff I have used in the last few years is remarkably free of voids. Now, the problem with it is that if it is only coated with epoxy, over time it will check and split the epoxy surface and let water in. So to have a good exterior surface, you need to glass it, which increases the weight. Fir is already heavier than okume. BUT, it is a lot cheaper and if your were going to build a beater boat, or if you were just experimenting, it is a good way to go. Bill

I am posting this in case anyone is interested in a relatively cheap trailer. i had a utility trailer from harbor freight. i didn't want to own another trailer and this one is hinged, so it will pivot the boat toward the water. I thought maybe I could launch the boat without submerging the trailer and it seems to work pretty well. I did extend the tongue a bit. Bought a winch stand from a trailer supply and used an old winch I had around. I intend to keep my boat in the water a lot of the time, so it won't be stored on the trailer and I'll have use of the trailer for other things. The disadvantage is that the trailer is not galvanized, so we'll se how long it lasts/ how much maintenance it requires. Cheers Bill [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

forgeot to post the second picture. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Well, we did it today. First sail and it went very well. Graham has done a super job of designing this boat. here are some pictures. Bill [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Sorry to hear that, hope you have a quick recovery. Guess i will have to watch it, I am just finishing my CS17 (#34) and I am 67. I hope I have had all the brokens body parts for this decade. i fell off the roof two years ago and broke my upper arm. Bill

yes, it does stay open nicely, and yes it may be a bit fragile. you could make the arms out of metal, say aluminum, but that would require welding or something else exotic to make the angle cross section. they wouldn't be strong enough with just flat plate. We will see how they survive in use. Bill

I wanted something different for hatch hinges, so I designed my own. here are some pictures, one of the open aft hatch and the other of the mechanism. It is similar to a car trunk hinge. It is all removeable from the boat and the hatch is removeable from the mechanism. We wlll be getting wet soon, maybe another month. Cheers, bill [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

After much looking and gnashing of teeth I ordered my mast tubing for my CS17 from online metals in Seattle. i was having a real hard time finding the 2-1/2 x .083 tubing and after much consultation with Graham I changed the configuration to 2 8 foot sections instead of a 10 and a 6. Now the lower section is 8 feet of 2-1/2 x .125 and the upper section is 2-1/4 x .065. The final section is of wood unchanged. The advantage to this is these pieces can be shipped by UPS at a nominal charge ($25). Online metals has a website. Hope this helps someone else; may not help anyone building a CS20. Bill

Ed hawkins posted a note about mast tubing from morris couplings. I tried them for tubing for my CS17 and came up with zero. They have a lot of 6063-T6 and evidently it is welded tubing, not seamless, so I have given up trying to get good answeres from them. their prices are very good but!!! i talked to the person "Rose Merritt" that Ed quoted. Bill Heil./

well, the hull is now green. I am going to try and post a before and after picture. It is getting exciting around here, I can see the end of the building and the start of the sailing. I used awlgrip and it goes on pretty good. I had my wife tipping with a brush, while I was rolling it on. We put on three coats. However, I have to refine my technic some as it is a little rougher than I would have liked. It didn't level as much as I thought it would. you really have to be careful with this stuff as it will sag and run in a heartbeat. Bill [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]