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Sorry for the delay. I had to check my facts. It is a Wabi 17, designed by Gilles Montaubin. In our cruising club, the WCTSS, we call it the Red Rocket. She is fast. The plans were hand drawn, and in French. Montaubin didn’t want to sell my friend a set of plans at first, until he learned that he was fluent in French. The writing on the plans also used some antiquated terminology (in French). In spots, Montaubin’s hand lettering was illegible enough that my friend had to call him several times (in French) for clarification. The entry at the bow specified contains a compound curve. When he quizzed Montaubin about how to do this in plywood (it is impossible). Montaubin’s answer was “you know how”. My friend finally figured it out— he needed to switch to the strip-built technique for that section. He did a fine job of blending the two. He has two rigs for her, one large and one small. This photo is the small rig. Would I ever consider building a Wabi 17? HELL NO! But she sure is pretty and fast.

If you are like me -sitting around doing nothing you may be interested in watching the ultimate sailboat race. It is in French but don't let that discourage you. The site is actually is very intuitive once you get on it and you only need about four words to be able to decipher it. Vitesse-speed, Cap-course, Distance parcourue - distance covered, D. restante - d. to finish. Noeud is knot in English. The weather overlay is where the fun comes in - you can see how they play the winds to get those incredible times - Hugo Bass is doing 21 knots in 11knot wind in 6ft (2m) seas as I'm writing this. Wow! https://www.vendeeglobe.org/fr/cartographie

You don't really need any French for this. Just watch the clips of boats hammering along at 35 knots. Mesmerizing. PeterP https://www.lefigaro.fr/fig-data/vendee-globe/

You don't need to acknowledge compliments, your work does fine all by itself. Once epoxy is hard, though still chemically reactive, sanding it is much more an airborne particulate issue than an absorption through the skin concern. This said, certain areas can be overly sensitive to cured dust, like armpits, the groin and other typically sensitive to the touch, thin epidural locations. Hair spray in these areas can seal the pores temporary and make you smell like a French hooker for a few hours. Baby powder (talc) is nearly as effective, but sweat washes it off quickly. Retail products like "Liquid Glove" and similar also can seal the skin, so these areas don't get dried dust impacted into the pores. Of course, a Tyvek suit is handy, but tape the sleeves closed under the gloves and maybe the neck too, just to be sure, if you've found yourself to be sensitive to certain brands. In the end, once you've become sensitive to a brand or epoxy as a whole, stop and give yourself 2 or 3 months off and switch brands. Most will recover and can move on again, with renewed adherence to procedures with a new brand. I've only met a handful of folks that haven't had success with this recovery approuch, but they also admit to swimming in it for many years on the job. I personally believe that if you have enough exposure, with less than admirable procedures, eventually it does enough damage that you just can't go back without a full EV suit and respirator system. In most cases, it's the additives in the hardener that cause folks the sensitivity. In some, it's the base resin type used by the formulator, but 90% of the time it's the hardener. FWIW, West System 205 hardener is one of the most common ones that comes up in conversation, with folks that have become sensitized, which may just be a statistical thing, as they are the industry leader, selling the most goo. The other one that comes up a frequently is Fiber Glass Coatings Inc. goo. I know they've come up with newer formulations in recent years, so this may have changed, but I haven't compaired their MSDS sheets in a few years.

Robert (Action Tiger), the mosquitoes find the half of my blood that is French-Canadian quite tasty. If you want to go cruising, do it with me, and YOU won't have a skeeter problem! They'll be feasting on ME! Tom, I've been avoiding the thought of screwing ledgers to my seat sides. Guess it is inevitable, though. But the starting point is in using the aft floorboards directly above their normal position. Let me think on that a while (or a winter). Thanks for the thought starter. Now, WHERE am I going, once I get all set up for these adventures? Do I sail across the Bay River from B&B, spend the night, come back the next morning, and toast my daring with a cup of coffee? What about the Cedar Island/Core Sound area? Cape Lookout? Cedar Key, FL?

Just finished a Doug Hylan Beach Pea, a modern version of a traditional Maine peapod. This 13-foot double ender makes an ideal tender. It rows like a dream and, since it is based on a work boat design, the more weight you put inside, the more stable the boat becomes. We built the boat using the glued plywood lapstrake construction method with high quality okuome marine plywood and System Three epoxy resin. This lightweight building method uses hardly any screws or fasteners and makes a tight, light, strong boat that requires little maintenance. Two rowing positions. LOA – 13′ BEAM – 4′ 4″ DRAFT – 3″ WEIGHT – approx. 120 lb. HULL TYPE – round bottom, double ender CONSTRUCTION – glued lapstrake plywood We dressed up our peapod with just a bit of varnish, enough to pretty up a traditional working boat. We used Le Tonkinois, a natural oil varnish that has high UV resistance and is simple to touch up. It is the official varnish of the French Navy. There is a brass oval rubbing strip running the length of the keel to protect against scrapes. The rails are covered with rubber-filled canvas-covered gunwale guard for protection at the dinghy dock. The oarlock sockets are reinforced with aluminum plates. The boat can be viewed at our shop in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Pick up using your trailer at the shop. More photos and information on the web site at MarshviewBoatworks.com.

You'd think that Stumpy and I would " eschew" power tools. Is that a french word for "chewing" up body parts, as in "I eschewed my finger"? (Sorry y'all, I just couldn't help myself...)

The tracking is actually provided by swiftsure.org and a dedicated team of volunteers who put the program together. The other three things I would do different after hearing the coast guard talk is: 1) Put a Radio antenna on my mast, and seriously consider a fixed base unit. Single Side-band might be overkill, but not a more effective VHF. 2) I would also for a very low cost rent a satellite phone with pelican case for a month. I noticed the texts from there program are free to me, and the weather package is $5 a month to get updates for location. 3) Think seriously about a jackline system with harness, or a point for a jackline in the boat, especially for at night when team member is sleeping. Was very glad I had two mustang suits on board, and a SOS marine/hiking survival bivy in abandonboat kit, as this could help increase survival time. Background on Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard Western Sector fleet includes 7 ships, 7 cutters, 6 helicopters, 1 airplane and 10 Coast Guard station boats working various locations along the West Coast of British Columbia. Rescue Brief my Cliff-notes @ Captions meeting in Victoria CMDR Joanne McNish (if I have name wrong, sorry) Director of Fleet Western Sector Dept National Defense has one helicopter for entire coast. No helicopter rescue likely on race route Ten 47' lifeboats with a top speed of 48knots spaced 4-8 hours apart (in US they are 2 hours). The message was THIN coverage, and you might have some time to enjoy the icy water. Ganges, BC French Creek Campbell RIver Telegraph Cove (78 miles to next) Port Hardie Bella Bella Prince Rubert Johnson Straight - Wind against tide, and 9ft waves For anyone that is questioning issues, or having ANY second thoughts, turn around at Campbell River, after that assistance, services, and humanity is scarce. Van Eyle 360 Race going on at same time (they stop as group every night), 52 sailboats Search Procedures (10 degree C which is 50 degree F water) With the RIGHT gear on you have 6 hours. Recommend getting out of water, and or planning on helping yourself until rescue shows. Realistically with heavy gear 3.1 hours survival time 3.1 - 9.8 with life jacket Search time takes these numbers and doubles before being called off. If they know you where prepared it lengthens search. Call Early - even if it's a small leak that you can fix, CG prefers to help then rescue. Or will be on way when situation gets more serious. CG wants report of ANY ISSUE no matter how small, so if you fail to check in they can expedite rescue party. CH 16 VHF repeaters are good up coast BUY a PLB, they work everywhere the SPOTS don't. Risk level assigned for searching for you based on info like having PLB. USE Vessel Tracking Services (VTS), they are helpful, and could save your life. Now for the biggest shocker: Unlike what BoatUS claims for the free MMSI registration (and my 100ton captains class), the Canadian Coast Guard does recognize ANY MMSI number and uses US Database for ones they don't know. If you have a foreign made DCS radio, or free MMSI number on the Canadia coast guard site where you register your boat for being in country in Comments put the number and what type of radio. Don't worry, they'll make sure it's entered right on their end. If you don't know what area WHISKEY-GULF is in the Straight of Georgia you need to Google it or read your chart notes. The Coast Guard likes this group because of the level of emergency info provided for each boater, and safety network provided by tracking and local people checking on boats along the way. They would have preferred rescue be sent after 9 hours of no contact not 48 as the race does, but are ok with 48. Had walked docks already, and was thankful for the high level of professional, and high quality boats (yes she said she had experience sailing on a sailboat to Tahiti). Last but not least thanked group for no "box boats".

Wow thNks for your quick responce! He have the full size plan in the book? If its yess i will buy it anyways. Im very happy about your products! Sorry for my language, im a french quebec customer and im not fully bilingual. I do my best!

The La Belle, a ship belonging to the French explorer La Salle, sank in Matgorda Bay in 1686. The sunken wreck was discovered in 1995 and was dug up and brought out of the mud. They have moved the pieces to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin and are rebuiling the ship there. The museum will become the permanent home of the restored vessel. If you come to Austin, I would recommend seeing this ship. They are rebuilding it right now and you can watch live streaming video of the build. http://www.thestoryoftexas.com/la-belle If you have been stressed out about your own building project, you should check this out. We went to see it during the Christmas break, it is really amazing.

When my French is half as good as your English I will consider criticizing you Until then.............. Welcome to the forum. And yeah, pictures are kind of a requirement here. Well, at least they are looked for. It seems we can all understand pictures in what ever language we choose.

I am finished building the skeleton of the Shad and am ready to order some skin. I have decided on the polyester 11.6oz at 77" wide. But I just want to be sure what length of skin I really need. Thank. Denis. P.S. Sorry for my english I'm french

It'll certainly be a different boat on the Saigon river. When I was last in Vietnam (2011) I went by car to the Mekong delta for a cruise but I saw there were boat trips from HCMC. How far is that and how long would you take in an OB 20? I had a great time in Vietnam...friendly people, great food, even great wines in Hanoi given the French influence. I was staggered at how they seemed to get over the effects of all the wars in the last 100 years. I loved the description of communism from one of our guides- It was the bottle but it didn't affect the contents Cheers Peter HK

Jeff, adhesives and bond lines always exhibit the poorest strength under peeling loads, so we have to design to avoid that condition. The best adhesive I've personally used and tested was a polyurethane made by PPG. Although that was not the primary purpose of that material, it developed 50 pounds per inch in a climbing peel test. The failure mode was mostly adhesion, but there was some adherend failure in the composite part. I failed to complete my thoughts about stitching as I got in a rush. Part of my objection is that the stitch line along the top of the boat looks a little too expedient. Which I have no problems with when warranted, but that standing seam just doesn't sit right. The seam along the stems clashes with my sensibilities of flow around an object in the water or the air. Maybe I just need to get over it, or figure out how to sew a French seam. Or give both a try. I'll have a harder time reconciling use of a skin that won't shrink and stay that way, but I may have to try that, too.

Sorry about that. There are people who sign up for forums only to post the link. I see your post links to a blog of a nice Spindrift build with several sail options. Can you attempt to translate your comment to English? Most of us do not speak or read French.

My foreign language skills are not up to much, but I think that is French for SPAM? Goal is to get the url out there for search engines to find.

Literally " in taste there is no dispute" though a more accurate paraphrasing might be ...."on matters of taste an argument is not appropriate" Perhaps the French might say it even better..."chacun a son gout". You are close to the mark with schools. I did play against St Laurences in cricket and rugby Cheers Peter HK

Hey Joe, we have found that a Jetboil stove + cooking kit and Aeropress for the java side meet all our small boat and camping (2 adults, 2 kids) needs, while being small and lightweight. Nothing beats the Jetboil for boiling speed and fuel efficiency on canisters, while the Aeropress lives up to its reviews for outstanding coffee or espresso underway. In our experience, the Jetboil French press accessory, while clever, does tend to taint the pot with coffee flavor and lets some grounds past. We lasted a week in the Baja outback on one canister and still had gas left! http://www.rei.com/p...-cooking-system http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/B001HBCVX0 Mike

Well Maine I am sure did not fare as rough as NC did. But Irene still pulled some punches on us. Weakened to a Tropical Storm it started with a lot of Rain. Hardly any wind until about 1 PM. Peak gusts locally were in the 50 MPH range but mostly it was in the 40's. It was enough however to uproot a fair amount of trees around town that I could see and more than enough to knock out power for many. At its peak we had roughly 280,000 customers without power. I know that sounds small compared to NC and Virginia, but realize that Maine only has roughly 1.25 million total population. This one customer had 4 people in the house without power. Lights flipped on and off for a few hours as something would hit line and short out and circuit breaker would reset. Power went down for the count at about 4:30 P.M. Fortunately the French Fries were done and we used residual heat in oven to reheat the chicken and veggies. Power stayed out until 8:00 AM today. We kept food in fridge down around 40 by using power inverter and deep cycle battery. I can keep our fridge cold for 24 hours only consuming 40 amp hours... In winter I can keep our house warm by running furnace off the inverter too. 24 hours of warmth only takes roughly 30 amp hours. Your mileage may vary depending on ambient conditions and efficiency of house furnace and fridge. Inventory of damages? My computer and surge protector got cooked by power flivkering on and off. Next time I unplug them before the wind starts. Working with son's netbook... And a garage roof lost about 40 sq ft of shingles. Not bad at all in the grand scheme of things. I can live with it.

My two sinks have finally arrived. I will have a 8 in. round railroad style in the head and 16x18x8in deep for the galley. Since I got them through internet faucet supply they were a whole lot less than marine stuff. Just had to wait some since they are oddball size. Also roughed in my galley stove. For some reason I had thought that Force10 was a New Zealand outfit when I ordered it. Felt it was time to let the Kiwis have a crack at my money. Well, Force 10 is French -but I do like the French and the stuff they don't know about cooking isn't worth knowing. I think it is going to be a good one. The only thing is that for some reason they, too,employed the same Mongolian goatherd that has been playing the joke on the world writing the so called "asmbuly instrucines" for all of us DIY's. And the installation measurements (in millimeters -naturally) were for a different unit altogether! If I had know that I could've added over an inch onto my icebox. Another gallon of ice. Too bad. I guess I am lucky it did not go the other way where I had to cut things out to make it fit. This way I will have an easy access for clean up. And thus ends another exciting week in the boat shop. Off to see the scalpel wizard tomorrow for yet another shoulder repair. Wish me luck and speedy recovery.PeterP

:cool:Hey Ray, I'm Jim from Louisiana and I did in fact move myself to Madawaska ME., about 7 months ago. My wife has been up several times and we are trying to find a place to stay, another story altogether. You were right I should learn french more quickly than I am proceeding but bit by bit I understand it better and even say a few words that are or at least seem to be a mix of spanish and french that get some odd looks. So much for taking three different languages and understanding none. I was wondering where your shop is located down east? Karen and I have driven teh coast and hit all but a few of the towns from Scarsbourgh (sp) to Calis. Amazing place this Maine. Absolutely better than National Geographic photos or the internet. Bought and nice camera and just got a new computer to help with Skyping Daughters family with the two little boys in Japan and talking to Karen in Louisiana, or Florida, or North Carolina, or????? She's taking care of her mom and they are waiting for me to roost and get them here in the next month or so. Anyway, if it is possible or not inconvenient, I would love to visit your work shop and talk about decking my CS 20, and recommendations for finish work. I'll be hoping for a reply ND n opportunity to meet one of the masters. Thanks, Jim A

Well Adam, for one thing, I'm a woman, and, not to be too political, but I never had "shop" classes, and while my brothers were learning the finer points of woodworking, I was playing field hockey and learning French. (Not that it doesn't help in northern Maine!) So, my skills are fairly limited. I have built several kayaks, both stitch and glue and strip built. But, the truth is, epoxy is a godsend for hiding bad woodworking skills. I have basic shop tools and use them all - a good table saw is handy but not essential, same with a band saw. Saber saw is invaluable, as are several types of sanders. And you'll need hand saws, clamps (lots), cordless drill, shop vac, and lights. But, you just take it one step at a time, figure it out, do it, and move on. None of the steps are difficult. And, wow, when you're done, it's truly amazing. It's not always about the destination, but also the journey. Go for it! and Enjoy. Sukie

Madawaska Eh?? Parlez vous francais? Vous a besouin on parle Francais en Madawaska der you. 85% of Madawaska residents speak French in the home. It is about as far as you can get and still be in Maine. About 8 hrs north of me and very far from the coast. But nice lakes up there. At least from July to September when they are not frozen.... It gets real cold up there in Madawaska... Real Cold.The heating oil delivery truck visits you 3 times a month cold. Up in Madawaska they "Know" that 40 below zero is the same in Celsius as it is in Fahrenheit.

I'm playing around with some lugsail options on a design (mostly for fun), and I'd like to draw on some of the assembled wisdom here. If you've looked at any of Francoix Vivier's designs, I'm sure you'll agree that he draws a nice boat, and a perusal of photos from his and other websites shows that his rigs seem to sail well. I'd guess that there's at least a couple hundred of his boats out there(mostly in Europe). The majority of his sails seem to be a particular kind of standing lug. I assume that this is a French or possibly a Breton style: usually boomless, and with the tack coming down to a point on deck just forward of the mast (as opposed to on the mast as we usually see it). Obviously, when on the "good" tack, the sail forms a beautiful shape away from the mast, and looks extremely efficient, while on the other tack, it suffers a bit (as do some other lugs). The performance must not suffer that much, or there wouldn't be so many sailors enjoying his designs. First question: has anyone here sailed or been around this particular type of standing lug, and would anyone care to comment on its strengths and weaknesses compared to other standing and/or balanced lugsails? As I played around with this, I thought of a possible way to better utilize this sail. Mode one: for casual or single-handed sailing, the rig is used as a standing lug, with the option of setting it up on either side of the mast (say, alongshore sailing with wind usually from offshore). Mode two: when more performance is desired, and you have a second person available, use the sail as a dipping lug, either in the traditional way or (as Harry Sucher once sketched it), with a tack that can be pulled back around the mast while the yard tips up and also comes around (as he drew it it didn't seem much more complicated than tacking a jib, except the the main sheet must also be slacked, which is natural with most of the Vivier sails anyway, as the mainsheet is shifted across from quarter to quarter). A key point is that there must be some play betweeen the yard and the mast. I have no idea if this has ever been tried. Look at some photos of Vivier boats (Illur and Ebihen in particular), in action and I think you will see what I'm getting at. Second question: any idea if this would work? Thanks! http://www.vivierboats.com/html/stock_classic.html http://www.vivierboats.com/html/stock_sail_and_oar.html

Yes, Joubert is French.That's what I've used the most of over time, along with some ShelMarine on occasion. I can get both in Houston.