Steve W

I flew twice to Raleigh and drove down. The first time I stayed in New Bern. It was a pain. Second time I rented a minivan and used it as a tent. Much more fun! This year Skeena will make an appearance behind my car.

Ha, glad priorities are restored!

So true. My wife is so patient with all the noise and dust and letting me go sailing. Not to mention she's a great mom!

Last night I glassed my float. I didn't think to take pictures. I had glued my fin on. I also used a sanding block to knock down a few high spots on the foam. I rough cut two pieces of cloth. I clamped the fin in a vice and laid plastic under it, thinking things might get messy. Next I laid the first piece on the non fin half and wetted it out with resin, using a credit card to smooth it out. I trimmed the hole carefully for the PVC pipe. Once done I used a cheap pair of scissors to trim to 1/2 " below the centerline. I probably should have quit then and let it harden. but the glass seemed pretty stuck to the foam so I flipped it and did the other side. I let a bit of the glass run up the tail and the glass is so flexible it made the bend with no fillet. Finally I left it in the vice by the tail, cleaned up the mess and went to bed. I had meant to get up and check on things a t midnight, but I forgot to set my alarm and at 5am when I woke up I ran straight down to check. Somehow I got a few bubbles, but I used a heat gun to warm the Epoxy and pushed the bubbles out. I also trimmed the glass that came up the pipe neatly and also the tail. this afternoon I'm going home for lunch to fill in the weave with a bit more epoxy. I am going to assume one layer was the intent as I think there isn't quite enough for a second. It seems pretty strong.

I started gluing my mast head float together last night. I tested spray adhesive on some other foam I had and while the adhesive said it worked good for foam, it sort of melted it. I suspect it's the carrier solvent. I tried Titebond III and it worked really good on the test pieces, so I put a thin coat on both joining faces with a chip brush, and then with the tube inserted for alignment pushed the pieces together. I let it all dry overnight with a couple of rubber bands holding it together and this morning I glued on the "tail". Tonight if all goes well I'll start with the cloth. My gut tells me to drape one side and wet it out with epoxy, let it get to the green stage and trim, flip and repeat for side two. If anyone has gone before and has any advice, LMK.

Don, I was looking around my shop and saw I had some loctite spray adhesive that said it was good for foam. I'm testing right now on a spare piece of blue foam. It didn't melt it. Looks promising and application sure seems easy.

As one of the few people who actually turtled his boat being an idiot (story a few pages back, let's not do that again), I decided I should consider a mast head float. The B & B kit came to me while I was taking my daughter to visit Boston University Law school, where she will be attending this fall. I just took a good look at the kit (very well done) and I will start assembly tonight. I'm taking a trip to the Chesapeake May 15th (Tangier Island) and I'd like to have it as an option. I'll probably chronical the construction here, but I'll post the finished product here. If anyone has sailed around Boston Harbor, feel free to give me any advice. Looks like a good place for Skeena to visit.

I have had great luck with this stuff. I spray anything that looks scratched or starting to rust.

Sticking with a project this big is an amazing accomplishment for anyone, let alone a high school student. Congratulations on the progress. I can't wait to see the launch pics.

I mostly work in freshwater or brackish and corrosion is less of a problem for me. I think the goal is to not get the tires wet, but I don't think that can be achieved unless you use a two part or electric winch with the steep ramps we have around here. Instead I narrowed the bunks and they support the longitudinal stringers. The only roller I have is in the back of the trailer. I do have a keel support forward, but must of the weight sits on the bunks. I believe I saw this at the messabout one year on Michael's (greybeard) CS17.3. I liked the simplicity. I'm not one of those "I did it this way so it's the best" guys, but will say the boat is stable and goes on and off the trailer easily FWIW. I did create a thread for this subject which has a lot of sources/ideas that might help. It's here.

I went with the simple reef setup on Skeena, my Core Sound 20.3. I love this boat so much and pan on sailing her a lot this year. I single hand her a lot and when reefing, I struggle with what to do with the excess reef line. I've had a few instances where the excess line has snagged or jammed. I want to get it secured and speed is of the essence. While these ketch rigs offer the advantage of drifting backwards with the mizzen sheeted tight and the blades up while tidying things up, you are drifting backwards! I will also add that due to the cabin, when the boat is healed it's not prudent to try and deal with this issue like you could in an open boat. What's your solution?

Andy, when the kids were little my wife had a Halloween party and I think those were hanging around after. I snuck them away and repurposed them. That was a long time ago.

FWIW........ I have a Staysail rigged for Skeena. I've only used it three times. But two of those times it made a really hot light wind day tolerable on a beam reach. I bought mine from B & B and the material is spinnaker light. I feel this is pretty critical in flying it in these light wind conditions. The points of sail it is useful if very limited, but I'm happy I have it. Here is the only pic I have, but you can see the wind had died and I had just started the Suzuki and I got a lot of other odd sail things going .

Padre, Great pics. Sea Pearls furl by the sail rolling around the mast. That black strap with the grommet is heavily box stitched to the sail and there is a line at the bottom of sail to tension the luff and all that force is supported by the strap. The gromet I believe is just to poke a wind indicator through as I did on the main. I think Andy would be fine enlarging the hole to 3/4 and heat sealing the edges carefully. I'd use a soldering iron as to not weaken the surrounding material. As for the mounting, the B & B setup would be perfect, sized to the mast, except the post would have to be removable as the masts sit inside the gunnels during travel. An alternative would be to extend the aft Bullwinkle (mast support).

Andy, from looking at the pics on B & Bs website, the float sits over an aluminum shaft. It looks to be about 3/4 but I'll let you know when I get it. If so, I'd trim out that gromet, heat seal the edges and create a bushing for the shaft in the mast. The only tricky part is that if I remember on the Sea Pearl the masts fit inside the hull so you would have to make it removable. I'd put it on the mizzen so it's more central. Seem like a great addition to "WildCat". I hope you are having fun with her, we had some amazing times. Steve

After watching the EC videos and then getting into some ones from 2015 and 2017 I ordered a 30 lb. kit for Skeena. Being Skeena was a Cat, I got some creative ideas for paint.

I first just had mine held down by the cushions. Every time I towed they shifted. So next I put hinges on and no latches. Finally I had a little "incident" that confirmed Graham's wisdom. Now they also have latches.

"In a weird way it was kind of fun. " More proof boatbuilders are a special breed.

Excited to watch your build and relive the fun! I wish my wife had been as enthusiastic! The design is really great.

Ken, I love your boat. The weight is so attractive and right for a boat like that. I bought a Rosborough 246 and only had it for 1 year. Similar in size and accommodations but it was built like a Sherman tank. I only had it for one season but the impractical nature of towing it caused me to sell it. Up on the trailer it was over 11,000 pounds. Because of the crazy prices boats are getting I actually made money on reselling it. I've got a Boston Whaler Montauk 17 that is my boat for windless days for now. But a power boat build is in my future and I just really like this design. Of course if you ever decide to sell it, I'm interested. Take care, Steve

FWIW, ripstop offers a lot of positives, but unless you have it taught it will make you nuts in even the lightest of breezes.

Graham, this mock-up is my plan. that bulkhead hatch I drew will fold down to lay on my bunk cushions and have a fiddle to keep stuff captive that I pull out. It's a weird little shape in there, but my plan is to make a lift up floor to store less often used things under and have room for my cook stuff and often used food items. right now I keep that stuff aft of the bunks and it's not ideal for during the day. I looked in the upper hatch (it was 5 degrees here!) and that bulkhead is wide open. I will make the hatch and a template to route the hole from and a support flange as step one if you think this is OK. I'm probably committed to a two piece floor. I do have a waterproof hatch on the next bulkhead that I need to be able to get to and I forgot to study where it's level is. I was shivering and didn't stay long.

When I was building Skeena, I decided to build her mostly stock and make changes after I figured out how I used her for awhile. Access to The forward locker has turned out to be one area I'd like to change. I often pile my guitar and pillows and bedding up top of the locker as they are light. I have even considered putting a low net across to hold stuff captive. In that forward locker I keep water in collapsable bags, but access is awkward. If I need to get to it during the day, I have to unload all the top stuff. I'm thinking about cutting a decent sized hatch in the vertical bulkhead and putting a tip out from the bottom hinged cover with a flange glued to the back typical to all the other hatches. I can't see any reason structurally this is bad, but I'd like any comments from Alan and Graham, and others that may have a different idea. Thanks in advance, Steve

I have a Suzuki long shaft 2.5 on Skeena for all the economic reasons presented. I also run a 50w solar panel that runs the ballast water pump, charges my phone and for nav and anchor lights. But I run my house (heat and ac plus everything else), one of my cars on 13kw Solar. I am on track for an $80,000 dollar ROI over it's lifespan. The times they are a changing. I am hopeful to someday run my boat on solar charged by the sun. The quiet instant power of electric is hard to beat. My ICE car feels like the flintstone mobile (google it kids) when I drive it.

Alan, I didn't see where in Canada you were, but here are my free thoughts having built a CS20.3. When I built Skeena, the only thing you could get was the kit, which bummed me out. But once I started building and saw how many pieces there were and how well things fit together, I quickly got over it. I also realized the extra time would have really added up. Ordering stock these days isn't easy and then having it sitting around at the ready takes up space. For me, who fortunately has more money than time (not retired yet!), jumping in the car and driving from NY to NC to pick up the kit was a good financial decision. It would be the same even if I lived in Vancouver. As for the headroom, nobody has mentioned a person's height isn't a good measurement to use for this. I am 6 feet tall and I can sit on the back of the bunks and I fit just fine. A friend who is three inches shorter can't sit as his legs are short and he has a long torso. I'd go with the 20, but I'd either simulate a cross section just forward of the cabin bulkhead for consideration before I spent all that time building a boat. I can't wait to watch your progress.