Steve W

I hated to take the time during sailing season, but all of Amos's points are good ones, and the only negative is the lack of "scoop" effect. I'll rig up some kind of canvas alternative to keep the breeze all night, even in rain as the previous hatch did. I am much further along, but here is an early pic. I made two rails and the plywood hatches and fit them nicely. They slide real good. I imagined myself forward working the anchor, moving my down-haul, tying reefs, and that seems really great. My tip up hatch made that difficult as un-dogging it took too long and it tipping up into the sail path was problematic. Early in the process: I'll take another pic tonight, because the "garage" that spans the rails and holds the solar panel is done. I can route my panel without having a need to hinge the wires. The downside is a dodger is no longer in my future, unless it is created to be at the aft of the garage. And lastly, I had to trim down the forward coming that was already epoxied in place. My orbital sander with 60 grit made short work of it.

I'm in Upstate NY near Rochester, probably too far for you to travel to see, but I love the boat, and I'd be happy to take you sailing. But you have a bunch of red flags in your post. To have one built to the point of sailing it I think would cost quite a bit. Off the top of my head I would thing at least 30k but probably more. Add a a motor and trailer and that certainly isn't a great value in today's market. I built mine and enjoyed it, and considered that part of the fun (except all that sanding!). A friend just bought a Bayraider Expedition from Swallow boats ($45k). He said "but you saved so much money!" I would say that if I had a minimum wage job and worked the hours it took me to build Skeena and the cost othe kit and extras it would be a wash. A pro could probably work faster, but there is a lot of work. His boat has a way higher resale value. But again, I enjoyed the build (except all the sanding!) and I have the pride of building and sailing a boat I built myself.

Great pic. Congratulations on your progress. Our family is finally all vaccinated and things are way more normal. It's good to see faces again. Good luck!

Exciting trip that i on my bucket list. I hope you can give us updates along the way. stay safe!

About the hatch. When I built Skeena, the hatch design wasn't finished. I sort of copied Graham's, but my solar panel was different, so it's a bit different. After living with it for awhile I don't like it. To go up through the fore-hatch requires me to un-dog it and it wants to close unless I tighten the supports. While I have all my lines leading aft, the anchor roller, the forward reef ties and an occasional snag have required me to go on the fore deck, which is flat-out dangerous. I really liked the idea of the trench hatch, but I have decided that Chick's sliding hatch which Amos also used might be better. quick to open and shut, no interference with the mainsail are all the reasons I plan to make the switch. I think that standing on the bunk filler I made should allow me to tie the reef lines, and deplyo the anchor from the safety of the hatch. Amos and Chick and anyone else.....thoughts?

She's a beauty! Nice work! And like Don, I like the wishbone sprits.

Last Saturday my daughter and I launched Skeena in St Michaels, MD and spent two nights aboard, sailing with 7 other boats, leaving Monday before the rain. Her are a few pics. Skeena was amazing. I continue to get used to her. I do plan on changing the hatch to a sliding one like Chick and Amos. I'll discuss this later. Getting to spend a couple of days with my daughter is always special. Before we spent time sailing we were in DC checking out law schools! I felt a little guilty having a cabin, but not too guilty...... We were all vaccinated. Yeah! There was very little our last day, but I had to try the mizzen staysail. About the time I got her out it started raining, so I never had time to play much....... Life's good. Let the summer begin!

I haven't sailed the entire Chesapeake, but a lot of it. I will be adding a bunch of pics to Skeena's page, as I just got back from taking her to the Chesapeake and sailing for three days. It was amazing. We gunkholed in a few spot where the water wasn't a foot deep at low tide and watched the Ospreys, Herons and Eagles work their prey. The Chesapeake is just an amazing body of water, and the CS Mark III boats are perfect. Bring good screens, but I guess you know that. I never an get used to the size of bugs in warmer climates.

I'm heading for a cruise on the Chesapeake with my daughter, but we are stopping in Washington for a college visit. I'd really like to dump Skeena somewhere between the bay bridge and Washington that is secure. I'd be happy to pay. Tanks, Steve

So here is what I did for years on my Sea Pearl, never losing an expensive brass oarlock. Take a piece of light chord, tie it to that tiny hole. Take the other end and make a loop big enough to slip over the oarlock. That's it. If they pull out they just hang themselves. No way you can lose them. And you can just pull the oarlock off and let it hang down on the chord when not in use.

Ha! People ask me all the time how many hours it took to build Skeena. My answer is always "should I include the thinking hours?"

Jay, this is looking amazing. I am planning to finally bring Skeena to the Messabout this year. Hope the MF is there!

I tried to paint the interior neatly and leave the deck beams exposed. It just didn't work and I painted the interior with good quality paint, all one color. Looks awesome and touch up is not stressful. Decided to not let perfection be the enemy of good......

I can only compare the Suzuki 2.5 and the Honda 2, which is now 2.3. Both pushed my CS 20.3 just fine. I loved the Honda until I got the Suzuki. It's a lot quieter and has a real F-N shift and not that centrifugal clutch the Honda had. They both weigh about the same and are real good on gas. I've thought about having a bigger motor to run tides, but light weight is key. I do like the sound of the this: https://www.epropulsion.com/spirit-evo/ I have had Skeena plenty times over 4 knots and the fact it could charge itself looks promising.

Flashback building horror! I made a beautiful thwart out of Spanish Cedar, carefully measuring. Wen I beveled the slots to match the slope on the sides I did it on the wrong side. That screwed up piece taunted me until it became trim for the companion way on Skeena. BTW, she looks great!

This exciting to see. Will you bring the MF (ha!) to the Messabout? I am planning on finally bringing Skeena.

I've watched this video many times. I hope to do the EC next year if all goes well this summer and there is a lot to ponder in what you provided. I've found my CS20.3 quite weatherly, but it's light weight can be a liability in a steep chop. I also think she already presents a big profile with the raised deck, so others beat me to it with the suggestion the dodger isn't your friend going to weather. I do have question.....did you ever row the boat and if so, how did that go? Take Care, Steve

I learned from a serial boat builder (yeah, you!) about these and they are a go to tool in my shop.

Love the Flying Cradle. Nice work!

It's hard to believe that dead horse of a tracking map they have been beating for years is the best they can do. Times out on every refresh. Anyone have an update?

I'm watching EC dots on my screen and missing the important stuff. How Exciting. Welcome to the World Henry! Congratulations Alan and Taylor and the entire B & B family.

That tamer is the one I have on Skeena. It's really great.

Pete, I've played this over in my mind bunch of times. I tell my kids all the time "Stupid Hurts" and this was one of those time my own stupidity hurt. I failed at so many things that day. Flipping a switch to fill the ballast tank as the first "reef" is so obvious and yet it never crossed my mind. I think the tenderness of my Sea Pearl had tricked me. The CS is so stable I just wasn't feeling the obvious and also, the mizzen carries far more sail area/leverage than the SP. I am sure if I had the water in things would have been far different. As for righting, Teddy and I weigh about #325 together. We had a another small kid at one point that probably weighted 50# tops as we had her righting. The water ballast in the boat is more than this and though we had more leverage out on the C-board, at the time the boat is on her feet, you don't have the drag of the rigging in the water. Water ballast is just a convenient substitute for ballast that makes towing easy and offers the possibility of better light air performance. I hate that anyone would think the design is suspect. I see the B & B folks moved the C-board forward , which is a good idea. I don't have any weather helm with both sails up fully. I plan to make the mizzen sheet release a bit easier by changing to a pivoting block. I couldn't release the mizzen when we were going over because of the side pull. But again, I shouldn't have had to. If there is a lesson here for all......put the water in first.

Pete, there was just a crack in the top, and it remained above the water line, so the cockpit drained itself. Unfortunately she was upside down long enough for a lot of water to get in the cabin. My hatch drop boards are tight, but the gaps between the hatch boards let quite a bit of water in. Basically it was about even with the seat tops. The bummer was that I only had hinges on the bunk hatches so all my stuff fell out and was everywhere and soaked. I was able to bail into the cockpit and it ran out the drains. Nothing in the cockpit lockers got wet. The Aft locker of course was full and had to be pumped dry. Did I mention how dumb this whole event was? I can't wait for spring!

Don, the weight of the lead tip and my sharp trailing edge make for a hell of a guillotine. I like your idea, but worry that something like that would just create a different problem in an inaccessible area. on my boat, I think the best solution is to just use the water ballast. I had a perfect storm that day. pop-up storms, a stalled boat in the middle of a insane "puff" a hard sheet-ed jib, and no easy way to release. Dumb stuff happens, but I have no good reason not to have had the water in. I was super lucky to not have greater damage. This boat is a great design. I have some footage where I'm double reefed on both sails and she's well behaved, with the water.