Steve W

Chuck, I was feeling a bit guilty about buying the kit. I built the Spindrift 11N as a practice for when I built a "real" boat. I really wanted to build it from scratch. Given the way my life has gone since February when I picked up the kit, I'm glad now the parts are cut out. But I really do enjoy woodwork and have built some neat stuff over the years. I'm having fun so far!

Chick, when I was at B & B Alan cut me the mast plugs for the base. I watched that machine and wished I'd have brought a blank for the centerboard, because I think it would have taken him 5 minutes to shape it and whatever he charged would have been worth it. At the time, I thought the level 2 kit had a plywood foil. Back home, I thought there must be some way to automate part of this and this is what I came up with. It's no shop-bot though.

Chick, I'm learning from all these threads. My Dad has had failing health for some time and I've been traveling a bit for work, so progress is slow but steady. I have the stringers on and I will tape the panels together this weekend, hopefully to go 3-D next weekend. I am working on the centerboard and have it shaped nicely. I had a nice idea that worked well that made the job much quicker. I didn't take a picture during the operation, but this pic gives you the idea: I took the X-section Alan gave me and copied it and spray adhesived it to a wooden blank and cut it out as shown. I put a Dado blade in and angled it to match the proflie (its true you can only do this on one side, but even flat in steps worked well on the other side). I clamped a stop on my out-feed table and in short order put the profile on the board that equaled this shape. Once I had the shape on both sides I cut the "block" off the trailing edge with a band saw. Next, I cut the board off where the lead shoe goes and traced it's shape onto the end and made short work of the shape.with a hand plane where it tapers.

Don, I didn't put an "uphaul" in my Spindrift 11N and I wish I had. I like the stealth look. I put a bolt in the back and made it so the tiller can lift. On bigger boats where I was likely to stand it was an advantage. On the little Spindrift I'm not sure I've ever lifted it once. However, when I put the rudder in the padded bag I made for it out of moving blankets, having the tiller able to straighten out makes it pack nice with the dagger-board and laying with the spars and I don't regret the change.

Don, I asked the same question and the logic is that since it's all covered in glass, that isn't neccesary for strength. I like what Alan did with the supports. Seems pretty simple. I know getting the Cboard square and fitting in the trunk is important. A centerboard that hangs is not fun.

PAR How do you know if you have the right sandpaper? I am about to order both disks and hand paper. If you have a preference and/or a source, please let me know.

I am building from a kit and there sure are a lot of parts! It will be fun to watch your build. Did you decide to forgo the lead weight on the Cboard?

Sure, now you tell me! I guess we had a communication issue somewhere along the line, but I was sure the kit included a plywood centerboard. I still wanted to make my own, but it took me longer than I thought, and it's been fun! I'm glad you clarified this for the future builders. I noticed in the pictures that you scabbed on a few supports to attach the centerboard weight. I am just to this point and my plan was just to stand the board verticle and let the weigh of the lead clamp itself while gluing. I'm assuming you anticipated alignment issues? Or is there something else I'm not thinking of? Take Care, Steve

We have this thing called winter up here in NY. Which means I can focus on my cs20.3 now. Thanks for all the pictures and Jay, thank you for the phone call. I have decided to push for having her done for next messabout.....we'll see. Anyway I already put it on the calendar and I got almost ten hours in this week. Once the snow flies I'll really be able to focus.

When you guys are talking about a toe rail, do you mean like the handhold that Doug put on his boat or some kind of molding along the deck cabin top joint?

Chick, how many boats have you built?

Jay, all the pictures from the messabout really reaffirm my thoughts that the two tone paint job would really look striking on this boat. Congratulations on a beautiful build. I especially like the pic on FB where you and your wife just have that "I'm sailing a boat I built" grin! I have a few questions. 1. You've had a chance to sail a bit by now? What works and what needs sorting out? 2. How do you like the rig and how fast can you get it rigged? 3. Where do you stow the booms and sails when trailering? 4. Do you like the motor mount you made? 5. Did you get a chance to sleep aboard and if so how was it?

Great pictures and motivation. I'm back working a fair amount on my CS20 mark 3 and seeing how sweet Jay's boat looks is great motivation.

Just a thought....does your boat have tabernacles and could you add them?

Dan, I shared your concerns. I honed in right away on the CS20.3 only because of sitting headroom. I had a chance to see Carlita when I picked up my kit and to me the 17 seems quite a bit smaller. I'm 6'0 and I posted a picture in the CS 20 MArk 3 thread showing me sitting against the bulkhead in Doug's 20 and I think you will be all right, but I wouldn't want to be 6'2". I'm jealous you are going.

In Alan's video of the CS15 cboard, he took the time to put a rope on the leading edge. I think it could be fairly easily put into my board, even scoring a groove in the lead weight. Do you think it's worth the effort?

Alan, I don't see any pictures of Carlita's centerboard. I'm about done shaping mine to match the lead weight. My question is whether Graham plans to do the leading edge rope trick. What is the plan and for all you other CS builders, what did you do?

I so distrust plywood foils (yeah....It's silly when they are constructed correctly, but I've seen to many failures) that I had Alan make me a kit without them. Otherwise everything in the kit is stock. Spent an hour this morning with my hand plane. Is there anything more fun?

Well, I am finally back at it. I had an unfortunate summer, losing a business partner I had for 28 years. He was close friend and a really great guy. Cancer sucks for those who have it and its not much fun for loved ones to watch. I kind of lost my enthusiasm for a bit. So I concentrated on the business, and putting a few honey-do's and other loose ends to bed. My wife talked me into getting away on a trip with a couple of friends at the beginning of September and one of the boats was a Cornish Shrimper 19. I sure was jealous of the cuddy and storage. Her's a video I put together of the trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn72j1wRojU That's me with the Sea Pearl. Spending five days sail camping was the elixer I needed. I got my mojo back and I'm fired up. When I left off in the spring I had built a cradle, bought and ribbed a bunch of stringer stock, and glued up a blank for the centerboard and rudder. You may wonder why I didn't just buy the cboard and rudder in plywood that comes with the kit. Basically, I've had a few failure in plywood foils and have seen my share. It's probably irrational, but we all have our issues. So I decided to lay them up with quarter-sawn Douglas fir. I made a template of the cross section Alan provided and used my table saw and a dado blade to get the profile close. I rigged a stop for the board on my out-feed table and got it pretty close at the top. Of course the board is tapered, so I took the lead weight and traced it on the bottom and now I'm just hand planing it to final shape. I spend twenty minutes on it this morning and got one side close. It's good to be back in the saddle. It's hockey season, and there is nothing better (except sailing) than having the game on (or listening to NPR podcasts) in the shop and tinkering.

"Steve, thanks for the reminder of the Sea Pearl rig. That configuration is close. The bearing loads are (roughly) inversely proportional to the distance between them. And the SP's bearings look to be very close together in the hull. No wonder you have to rotate the masts by hand." FWIW........I don't think the distance of the bearing loads is not much of a factor. You won't be able to furl the sail at all with any kind of driving sail load on it, and un-sheeted most of the load will be pushing down. On the Sea Pearl, the method is to have two plastic bearings that are sized so that when riveted to the mast are the size of a PVC sleeve (it's actually Schedule 40 PVC pipe) which takes the loads in compression at the deck level and mast step. But most of the furling friction comes from downward pressure of the mast and the rotating goose-neck hardware friction, and of course any sail pressure from the flapping sail. The end cap on the mast is some kind of hard plastic, and many people (including me) slip a thin teflon disk into the mast step. Some guys have tried to make the furling a remote operation like a headsail, but requiring the mast to be held from rotating without a positive stop (the pin on a SP mast locks it from any rotation positively) that good out-haul requires would be a challenge, even with a low stretch line. I use the out-haul tension and vang to depower the sail. I don't have much experience with other rigs (loose footed, sprits, etc.) so I can't comment much. My kids when they were no more than 10 could rotate the masts, and pin them. I would handle the out-haul. I hope you figure this out. Having an infinitely adjustable reefing is a sweet thing to have. Take Care, Steve

Sorry about that. I hate when the best intentions don't work out. That said, I will just add that maybe you should take a minute to decide what you want in the finish of a home built boat. On my Spindrift 11N, I used Rustoleum Marine paint over their primer. It went on really great, but in the end I felt like you. I wanted it to look better. I couldn't coat it and keep a good wet edge and it was a bit frustrating. But I also wanted to get sailing and so I decided after all was said and done to carry on and just keep going. I did get a really nice finish on all the woodwork, so when I finished the boat the overall finished product looked great. It turns out when I attached all the hardware, my bad paint job became and OK paint job. And in comparing it to a lot of other home built boats I'd say it turns out to be a good paint job. Of course over the last couple of years I had the kids beach it and I've hit docks and it's paint is mow getting a bit beat up and if and when I re-coat it I won't be so hard on myself. Take Care, Steve

Jay, love the colors. I like what you did with the rubrail / two-tone. It makes the sheer look so much better. Alex, I think they have Mylar full size patterns available. I may be wrong.

I have a Sea Pearl 21. Roller furling is great. For single handing in rough water, it's tough to beat. I've had my SP in water I shouldn't have and with the sail less than half of it's sail area felt safe. She doesn't go to weather that great when reefed, but in sailing with many other popular traditional small boats seems to outperform them (no CS boats though). The downside is that you need to go to the mast to turn it to reef. Marine Concepts has a pretty good setup that allows a lock with a pin. getting a reefing schedule allows the boat to stay balanced over a wide variety of conditions. There is a pretty good video on you tube called Sea Pearl rigging that shows the setup. The biggest advantage I think is that the sails stay on the spars. I can rig my SP in less than 10 minutes, with the sails ready to set in 20 seconds each. The sails stay nice and unwrinkled, and you have no stowage problems. If that could be incorporated into the tabernacle, it would be even better. I hate folding sails and stowing them. That said, my plan is to build to spec, as I don't see many complaints about the stock rig. If I feel that the SP setup offers advantages I may change down the road. Take Care, Steve

Pretty exciting, love the colors.......Please show a pic of the whole boat! BTW....the MASCF was cancelled. It's a long shot, but I may try and make the messabout. It's 12 hours+ from here, but If you are going to have your boat there, it will be worth it.

That is exactly what I was thinking! I will probably finish mine without much built in and I won't paint the interior. I'm hoping that I will then take it for a week long cruise somewhere and all the ideas will sort themselves out. But I like a man on a mission. These upgrades look great. Take Care, Steve