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The Building of Old Codger


Chick Ludwig

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Down by the stern Chick?  The aft chine is barely touching the water in the photo at rest.  You must be hiding some bags of helium in there some where for the boat to look so light.  Ordinarily, I hate the idea of adding weight to a powerboat but, in your case, maybe Mike's thought of trying a bit of weight in the bow is appropriate.  What does your designer say?

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Tom,

 

You know what I think about ballast in a powerboat.

 

I am looking forward to seeing the Old Codger. Alan asked me last week how I thought she would float, I answered " by the stern" and he said "I think so too". Of course I had prior info, Chick told me that he was going to steer with the tiller. Maybe we can talk him  into some sort of bulkhead steering system. It would be more agreeable when he does the Great Loop.

 

She is so light that her moment to trim would be small, maybe a few cans of vienna sausages and a couple of Linda Ronstadt tapes stowed in the bow will trim her out and leave the stones ashore.

  • Haha 2
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6 hours ago, Designer said:

Tom,

 

You know what I think about ballast in a powerboat.

 

I am looking forward to seeing the Old Codger. Alan asked me last week how I thought she would float, I answered " by the stern" and he said "I think so too". Of course I had prior info, Chick told me that he was going to steer with the tiller. Maybe we can talk him  into some sort of bulkhead steering system. It would be more agreeable when he does the Great Loop.

 

She is so light that her moment to trim would be small, maybe a few cans of vienna sausages and a couple of Linda Ronstadt tapes stowed in the bow will trim her out and leave the stones ashore.

Hey I was just cursing back at him when he spoke about the whale tail.:DB). But it would certainly work for a possible quick correction and can be removed when a more acceptable fix ends up in place.  Normally the standard trim altering correction and ballast on small power skiffs is more liquid, similar to water ballast that you like,  a cooler of beer you know.:D  And that alters a lot of things accordingly. HEHE, Cheers

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When I was running the early tests of the BJ24, I bolted on a Duel Fin and ran through the usual tests.  The difference was a reduction in speed at all RPM levels.  This indicated an increase in drag with no benefit observed.  I could not detect any significant change in the trim of the boat with the fin.  The natural trim of the Bluejacket appeared to generate a lot of longitudinal stability in trim and overpower any effect added by the fin.  Perhaps if there was a greater angle of the transom a fin would have more effect in lifting the stern and/or depressing the bow but on LIZ, this was not the case.  There is a lot to say about hull trim and the effect of balance and hull bottom design on it.

 

I second Graham's thought to add a more forward steering station on Old Codger for both better control of hull trim as well as making long passages less tiring.  Maybe Chick's tolerance for holding that tiller forever is greater than mine.  I get cramps thinking about it.

 

 

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Just got back from a camping trip. It rained the whole time.

 

I've had good success with Doel-Fins on small, light boats in the past. Not very effective on bigger boats like Tom's boats. We'll see. I'm not concerned with a top end speed reduction. I mainly want to be able to cruise on plane at slower speeds. We'll see at the messabout. I won't have time to try it before then. I did try sitting forward in the cockpit when planing off and didn't see any benefit. The cockpit is too short to get very far forward. I didn't want to clutter-up the cockpit with steering and throttle either. The boat tracks well at planing speed and I can steer to some degree by leaning right or left---I mean, port or starboard. No need to hold onto the tiller. An occasional correction is all that's needed.

 

Of more concern is a comfortable way to sit. Gotta have a backrest. I'm waiting to sort out the trim situation first. I've got a place to mount a bass boat or helm seat, but it is pretty far back to not interfere with the seat hatches.

 

Tom, yep, she's light! I thought that she---HE!---looked a bit down by the stern compared to the bow. Mainly notice a high bow rise when coming on plane.

 

Graham (The Master), The anchor way up there, and my tools forward are helping. I'll try the Vienna sausage, too. I have some Linda Ronstadt C/Ds I could store there. And a bunch of Big Band cassettes. But My cassette player has died. Gotta find a new one! Gotta have my Glen Miller, Sinatra, and all the rest!

 

Oyster, we'll mess with it and see. Right now, the cooler will double as the step down into the cabin. Not a very big cooler, but enough for my Real Southern Sweet Tea and some Fanta grape cans. Cooled by a jug of frozen water. There isn't a good place for it up in the pointy end. Cheers back-at-ya!

 

Tiger, c'mon now. We've been all through why he doesn't have a mast and sail!

 

Steve, Miss Debbie doesn't cruise with me. Never has. Her only fault. She won't spend the night on the boat. That's why I built him so small. Only little old me to fit down below. If she did come, she could stay forward and be the trim ballast.

 

That's it for now. Great fun discussing all this stuff. And it will be even more fun having you guys come aboard to check-it-out up close and personal. See y'all then!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry to disappoint you, Oyster. The Doel-Fin works GEAT!!! Planes off quickly without much "squat". Runs on a comfortable plane at about 13 mph. That will be our usual cruising speed. Top end is 24 mph right now, but we still need a steeper pitch prop, so we'll probably make it to 26 mph or so. We're still breaking in Mr. Hatsu, so had to stay below 3/4 throttle except for short bursts. And this is all without purty stones in the bow and with my "lard" sitting back by the motor. Negative trim on the motor only works at higher speeds.

 

As for the Doel-Fin spoiling Codger's good looks, or your ladies good looks either, it's below the waterline at rest, and hidden in the spray on plane, so you won't hardly see it except on the trailer. Then just look away or close your eyes. By-the-way, I enjoyed the ride in one of your ladies. Codger was a bit jealous though.

 

Did anyone get a picture or video of Codger on plane? Could ya post it here? We didn't run on plane much near the dock.

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You must have me confused with someone else. I don't think I have ever discussed performance as it relates to the whale tail.  I will state again that they look ugly even though when in the water most of it is hidden unless you are looking for it.  I do think with an esthetically pleasing looking hull[kind of hard to say, I know] when on the hard it takes away some of the "look". Your boat and workmanship is top shelf.

 

Glad that it worked out well for you.  Thankfully my cranial cad program has allowed me to  bat a 1,000 as it relates to ever needing one though. ;):P Hope your health issues subside and you can get out and enjoy the snow that's expected in the coming months, as we catch trout.[thumbs up] And the bride enjoyed chatting with you on the boat. She said she finally was able to talk to someone with some smarts.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've managed to get a couple of small projects done between cold, rain, sickness, wind, life....

First. I attached a couple of "feet" on the bottom of a bass boat seat I had laying around. They extend back behind the seat to hold the seat away from the sides. The feet are padded where they contact the cockpit seats. I can move the seat wherever I want it. Mainly it will sit about where it is so I can steer. Later on, I'll make a big, comfy seat, but I just needed something to take to our Bulls Bay messabout in a couple of weeks.

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Next is a support to hold a spare gas tank out of the way. It's off of the footwell, and far forward where the weight is out of the stern. The support just sets in place and is padded where it contacts the cockpit seat and cabin face. A bungee holds everything in place. The support folds flat to store it when I don't need it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I was out messing with Old Codger yesterday and happened to look down at the bottom of his transom. There was a CRACK! It actually didn't look like something had hit the corner. Maybe the shock of the momentum of the motor moving forward when the rest of the boat stopped suddenly when we hit the dock fractured it somehow. I dunno. Anyway, it's repair time. I had to grind a lot away to get past de-laminated ply on the transom, and under the bottom to be able to wrap new glass around. I poxied on 5 or 6 layers of cloth but didn't take a picture of that.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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