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Core Sound 15 #162 — Building the “Norma T”


PadrePoint

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  • 3 months later...

Well, my phone just did another one of those video things. I didn’t ask for it; I have no idea why it does this; I did no editing; I wouldn’t even know how to change it.  At least I finally got it uploaded to YouTube for easy sharing. 
 

But, it’s a nice little video of my first visit to the Messabout at B&B Yachts in Bayboro, NC  (2020.)


Maybe I should try to figure out how and why my phone does this. ?

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  • 1 month later...

It was as a nice sunny day today so I wheeled the ski-boat outside so the newly painted inside could get some sun (to assist in its curing.)  Since I had just picked up my sailboat from winter storage, I thought I’d introduce them: 

 

Norma T (CS15 built in 2020), meet Joe (15 foot yet-to-be-finished ski boat)!”  ?

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Today was my first day to start adding a few features to Norma T that could let my sons and me try overnight dinghy cruising.  My first task is to finish the forward mizzen step. 
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I decided to not make a full mast tube, but I’ll add a two-inch insert into the hole in the thwart and a one inch insert into the step that I’ll install onto the keel batten.  
 

Instead of strips of plastic over the mast, I taped on a series of 1inch strips of fiberglass. (The plastic strips wouldn’t pull out when I made the mizzen mast tube, and I think fiberglass strips will not tear like the plastic did.)  I then put on a layer of plastic over the strips. 
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I wrapped 3 inch fiberglass tape around the plastic until it came to about 2.75 inches, the inside diameter of the two holes (thwart and step.)

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Tomorrow, I’ll remove this it from the mizzen mast and cut it to length to serve as hole inserts. 

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While writing this post, an Amazon package arrive with a side mount oar lock.  My plan is to mounting it to the top of the transom to try out one-oar sculling. (It’s favored by some, including Roger Barnes of Dinghy Cruising Association.)

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Thanks, Paul.  I don’t recall seeing that when I drove down to look at your boat last year. 
I have a couple two-part nine foot oars. If sculling works, maybe I will try making a longer oar that can come apart enough to stow in the seat tank. The two-part oar pieces are too long for that. 
 

I just looked at my photos and there IS an oar lock socket on your transom, by golly (epoxied into place?)
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Are you able to scull with your motor on the bracket?  It looks like the rudder is sufficiently out of the way.  And, since I am posing a question, what length oar do you use for this?

 

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Sculling most definitely works. It does take a little bit to get the technique mastered. Two sweeps and a traditional rowing position is far more powerful, but I have found a few situations where sculling is advantageous.

 

Creeping along in a protected bay, foggy and no wind. Standing up and sculling off the transom allows me to see forward.

 

Negotiating a narrow canal. Some of the ditches as they are called along the North Carolina coast are quite narrow and I enjoy exploring down them. The standing looking forward position is better for spotting wildlife. Also I don't run into the bank as often. Did I mention it was slow.

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I’m thinking of sculling for me as mostly a way to move away from the dock or to come back in. 
And to keep the oarlock in the socket... a reamed out washer and a small hitch pin inserted all the way to the round part (so as to keep it from hitting a side.) ?

image.jpg

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Yes, that's the sculling socket.  Two reasons to scull.  1., with the mizzen mast up, the rowing station is compromised, 2., with both oars out, my craft suddenly has a beam of c. 20 feet, so not good for narrow areas.

I use one of  10.5'  oars I made to scull.

Sculling with the motor bracket on is not the best.  I got ahead of myself and wasn't thinking.   I should have put the sculling bracket on the port side.  I should move it, really.

Joe is right: sculling is slow and not the best in a breeze.  But handy when needed for short bursts to get in/out of ramp, etc.

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Ha!  Busy, sculling, often a two handed effort.  I was able to scull out of a lee anchorage into a mighty 4k headwind last fall, once I cleared the rocks & could get the scull down deep enough (another issue).  Until then, I was "bursting" along with a 10.5 push pole oar, I guess.  :)

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  • 2 months later...

A Bunch of Small Additions

I returned from being out of town for nearly two months (vacationing.)  I worked all day yesterday on my current ski-boat build, mostly painting epoxy onto various topside, transom, and inside pieces (this is a photo of the completed hull exterior:

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But today is all about the Norma T.  I had a bunch of little projects (and a repair) that I wanted to get done. 
 

A repair: just before our trip to Lake Tahoe, I took my two boys sailing (meaning that I pulled the boat downstate and THEY did everything else.)  Being on their own on a nice windy day resulted in a lot of fun on the water… and only one little mishap. In a moment of flurried effort to get the 2.3 hp motor to bring the boat to the dock a throttle burst in the reverse position broke the motor mount boards and bent the motor mount’s steel plate. Clearly, the wood grain I had installed should have been vertical (or I should have used plywood) and the boards’ horizontal split looked like they were worked over by an eager karate student. ?

 

So, having about 6x15 inches left of a full inch thick southern yellow pine (from B&B) I cut and shaped new pieces with vertical grain orientation. 9B1D7C81-FBB9-4EE3-A9ED-F6826233D058.thumb.jpeg.a3ec41f061f2a9da17ecac2d35a79377.jpeg
 

But, the 2” thickness (plus the steel in the middle) was too thick to take the motor. Now what?  ?  Could I reduce one board by a quarter inch or do I need to use another 3/4” piece?  
 

POWER PLANER!! (I am really liking this new tool.)  I marked a quarter inch all around and went at it… lickety split… now 3/4”.  ?

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Then, to make me feel a little more secure when trailering the boat with the motor placed on the motor-mount, I drilled another hole through the wood and steel and added a bolted hook to secure the motor frame to the mount more than just tightening the pressure bolts (the “hook” is like a half u-bolt, a Fleet Farm hardware item):

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Next, I will try making a sleeping platform for the aft cockpit area. To help make room for a sleeping area, I will want to be able to move the mizzen mast out of the way.  I finally finished installing the mizzen mast step to the keel batten under the forward thwart. 

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Then, I got out my small motorcycle camping tent to see if it could be used.  

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I think it can be set up while in the boat. Here, the tent’s floor sagged into the cockpit, of course, but maybe it could work for some short episodes of solo dingy cruising. (I didn’t add the tent’s rain fly.)

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The tent is a side entry, but I think there would be space and flexibility to get in and out. 
 

Next, I bought some plastic boxes with locking tops to organize stuff going into the seat locker area. I bought c-clamp lights last year but never took them out of the package. So, I tried ‘em out. 

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They break down, fitting nicely into a “safety equipment” box, along with a Wisconsin boat regulation book, boat registration card, signal flag, and mini-airhorn.  (The fire extinguisher will stay in its original box.)

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I figured out an easy way to tie/secure both of my two-part nine-foot oars completely out of the way under the aft side decks with a simple tie to the gusset. (I’ll probably get elastic cords for this.)
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And, to round off the day, I took the boat to the river for a short sail. 
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Nice work!  We’re living in the aluminum box for the next two months.  
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My camp cruising modifications are suspended until September.  In the meantime, my Two Paw 8 will get a workout.  And tomorrow, I get to sail with Jan Coté in her Spindrift 12.  Maybe it’s time for a little capsize camp with Jan and her boat…

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Don, this sounds like a great plan… and fun. Enjoy yourselves and your adventures. ?
I’m not sure that I will finish Joe and make a sleeping platform for Norma T by the time you return.  After all, Family Camp and “Gramma Camp” are coming up soon. ?  Maybe…

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1 hour ago, Thrillsbe said:

I’m interested in seeing how your motor mount works out.  


Don,

When I visited Paul to see his CS17, while I was building Norma T, I noticed he had one of these mounts. I thought it could be useful so I bought one from Duckworks. I’ve had and used it from the beginning.  It reduces the mizzen sheets fouling (I think) but not totally. I will pay attention to this detail (with some photos) for you in some upcoming sailing.

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As PP mentioned, I have this mount on my 17.  A couple of things to note:

 

1.  It works pretty well and is a good alternative, I think, to cutting a notch or box into the transom.  At the time I built mine, Suzuki did not offer the long-shaft 2.5 hp motor.  I think if I was doing it now, I might consider cutting a notch into a beefed up transom and using the 2.5.  However that would bring the tipped up motor further forward and further into mizzen-snagging range.  Two things I've done to reduce snagging on my rig as is:  a) I make sure to put the throttle handle all the way over and back when sailing with the motor up.  That helps some.  b) I moved the sheet attachment forward about a foot on the mizzen sprit.  That brings the sheet forward and has done as much as anything to reduce snagging.  I have not noticed any ill effects.

 

2.  Last fall I had the boat motoring in some pretty good sized waves for a few hours.  Long story short, the top stainless rods on the motor mount bent a bit in all the motion and twisted the top gudgeons...and the motor mount twisted loose.  (In other words, the mount and engine rotated on the bottom rod/gudgeon, which was still pinned in.)  Argh!  Naturally I was just a short distance from a rocky lee shore.  The bottom rod held, because it had the pin in it, so the motor did not fall off.  The motor ended up horizontal, still running, until I hit the kill switch.  Needless to say, it was quite a scene.  Quick work by my travel companions saved the day, but I was motor-mountless for the final day of our trip.  I later talked to Chuck at Duckworks and made these mods:  I replaced the single strap gudgeons with DW's heavy-duty double strap gudgeons and installed them with heavier bolts, and I drilled a hole in each of the top two rods so that I can put a pin in through all three rods now.  It is much stronger and I do not expect further problems, esp since the one rod with the pin did hold, even though it twisted.  Fingers crossed.  I thought about reworking the transom, but I'm pretty confident in the new hardware I installed.  So....  

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