Spindrift 10, #1329 -- "Seabiscuit" . .

[Pete McCrary]

We certainly enjoyed this year’s Messabout and Seabiscuit’s maiden shakedown cruises.  All went well with generation of a modest “punch list.”

 

At 7am Sunday we hooked up Seabiscuit and had breakfast at Charlie’s Restaurant.  By the time we finished, the rain started — and continued (sometimes heavy) all the way the 325 miles to Manassas, Virginia.  Home safe by 2pm.

 

Using Seabiscuit as a prop, Graham demonstrates a “running” technique.

 

Ready for launch.

 

In the water waiting for her skipper.

Saturday, Brian put her thru her paces.

 

Next will be a complete paint job.  Also the mast will be lengthened by about 3/4” and the trailer’s bow-roller support strengthened.

 

[Don Silsbe]

Congratulations, Pete.  She looks very fine.  Can’t wait to see the final color.

[Pete McCrary]

Thanks, Don.  For colors, I’m thinking of white topsides and foredeck; light gray interior; sea green bottom; red WL boot; mahogany stain on pine gunwale, boom, and tiller.  The topside, boot, and bottom colors to extend to the rudder assembly.  Might leave the bottom as-is, with just the gray 545 primer.  But I do have the green Interlux.

 

One convenience of a small boat is that much can be done without the help of friends, neighbors, family, etc. — such as lifting off trailer onto her cradle. To this end I’m putting to good use the temporary-3/4 ply bulkhead that came with the B & B kit.  It will look like this:

 

I have already used a x3 pulley rig to lift Seabiscuit — but [to attach the pulley] I just looped a line under the midship thwart.  Although the weight is only about a hundred pounds, I worried that the thwart could pull away from the top of the CB housing [it’s just glued on, no FG tape or fillets].  Also, since the attachment was about 6” below the gunwales, when lifted, the boat tended to tilt sideways.  With this longer lifting “hook,” she should hang quite level and steady.

[PadrePoint]

Pete,

That is a clever solution. Nice innovation. 

[Hirilonde]

About as clever as there is.  I so like simple clever.

[captainodark30]

Hi Pete McCrary,  

 

Brian here, I have attempted numerous times to reply to my adventures in your Spindrift 10' this past week. I can not locate them on the forum; I believe it is because I was attempting to do so from my phone.

 

Anyway, I had an opportunity to sail Peter's Spindrift 10'. I had a great time, nimble, responsive and the workmanship was superb.  Great work!

 

Graham stated the Spidrift 10' is one of his favorites and has won a lot of races in them. I have to agree that it is fun boat to sail. 

 

The tiller clutch and the halyard block are good innovations and add to the ease of rigging storing and handling the 10.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian

[Pete McCrary]

Thank you Brian for the comments on sailing Seabiscuit and the numerous suggestions you made at the Messabout.  Especially furling her sail with battens in place.  You helped make the “shakedown” cruise very informative.  I now have a pretty good punch list for Seabiscuit projects over the off-season.

[Don Silsbe]

 Clever!  Might I suggest something other than a slight hook on the bottom of your lifting blade?  If it projected down a few inches further, you could drill a hole in it for a piece of tubing or 1” dowel.  Just a different way of doing it. Your solution is slick, though.

[Pete McCrary]

But wouldn’t you have go under the boat to insert the dowel after dropping the “hook” into the CB trunk?  And the lifting force on the dowel would all be on the side next to the keel batten.  Or, have I miss interpreted your suggestion?

[Don Silsbe]

You’re correct.  

[Pete McCrary]

The lifting hook’s final dimensions were adjusted so that it could be fabricated from the temporary bulkhead.  Later, I’ll post its actual dimensions.  It worked as expected.

 

The C.G. of the boat (sans rudder assembly and all rigging) determined to be approximately 3.5” aft of the aft edge of the CB Trunk — weight at 110 lbs.  That’s about 20 lbs higher than the weighing made at the “turnover.”  Difference would be the addition of the keel/skeg, worm shoe, and half oval at the stem; three coats of neat epoxy; two coats of primer on outside (below gunwales); filleting and fiberglass taping of interior and seat tops; breast hook & quarter knees; and hardware.

 

Note that the 2 x 4 on the lift-bar is not for strength, but rather to move the lift-vector inboard by 3/4” — which brings it very close to the geometric bow-to-stern centerline.

 

 

Next, I’ll post photos of the boat lifted.  And (if all goes well) I’ll reveal another innovation using the lifting rig.

[Pete McCrary]

Now I can “flip” Seabiscuit as well as lifting her.  Here are the photos:

Level side-to-side.  Note wedge forcing lift-vector to starboard a little.

 

Pretty close to level fore-to-aft.

 

Under, looking to starboard.

 

Looking to port.

 

Hanging by a thread(s?).

 

C.G. about 5” aft of CB Trunk.

 

A loop thru a pulley.  Ready to be flipped, starboard down.  I rotated her about 45 degrees (1/4 of a half-roll) with ease — but stopped there because the cradles weren’t yet rigged for a top-down boat.

 

Now I’ll drop her top-side-up and mark the waterline.  Then flip her for masking and painting the boot (red).  Haven’t decided whether to leave the bottom with just the AwlGrip 545 primer— or use the Interlux Sea Green that I have.  It won’t be any anti-fouling paint.

 

Hope to get in one more sailing day this year.  Looking for a warm day!

 

 

[Don Silsbe]

I like it!  Excellent design work, Pete.

[Pete McCrary]

Today the boot got its 2nd (and) final coat of Interlux Brightside paint.  Tomorrow I’ll mask the entire boot and apply Sea Green for the bottom and White for the topsides.  Note that the color scheme will include the CB and Rudder Assembly.  But the rudder itself will be left showing its last coat of neat epoxy.

 

There will be a line painted on the CB so as to show (above its trunk) when the end of the CB is positioned just at the keel.

 

Below are a few pixs showing a nuisance problem when transporting the mast with the tubes nested within each next-bigger tube.

Notice that on the mis-sized tube there are smudge marks at a few places along its length.  These are caused by the outside of the smaller tube being jostled and rubbed against the inside of the (unfinished aluminum) larger tube.  That’s dirty aluminum oxide residue transferred to the nicely finished outside of the smaller tube.  There’s only a 3/16” separation of the surfaces.

 

Notice that there aren’t any such smudges on the smallest tube.  That’s probably because there’s 3/8” separation of the surfaces — twice that of the other tubes.

Here the tubes are assembled for transport.  The largest tube is to the right — and the mid-sized tube has been inserted from the left.  It doesn’t go all the way in (up to its stop-collar) because it has (within it) the smallest tube — and its stop-collar keeps if from being fully inserted.

 

My solution will be to fabricate 1” FG-tape bushings at each of the two smaller tubes of only 3 or 4 wraps (~ 3/64” thickness, an OD increase of 3/32”) and sand them smooth with tapered edges.  They will be a loose fit so as not to impede their “nesting,” but will create a very thin tube a air between the inner and outer surfaces of the nesting tubes.  The pixs below show the locations (blue masking tape) of the 4 loose-fitting bushings.

The largest diameter tube is at the top.

 

Comments and suggestions are invtied and welcome.  It’s an off-season project — so I won’t be doing it right away.

 

[Pete McCrary]

Prep for a half-hour paint job took all morning.  Tomorrow the second (and last) coats of green and white go on.  Then on Saturday I’ll put her back on her trailer for a sail on Sunday.  Might be the last sail of this season.

 

 

The foredeck will be white.  And, initially, the rest of the interior will be Interlux’s Kingston Gray.

 

[Pete McCrary]

Never like to allow a thin edge of any structure to be exposed ...  So I used some leftover yellow pine and made 10 gussets and a “bull nose” to increase all the ten 1/4” edges to 1” and a 1-3/4” bull nose for the leading edge of the CB trunk.

 

Before gluing in place I rounded over the undersides.  When dry-fitting I used a Forester bit to drill 5/8” holes thru the 1/4” ply (and just into the) gussets — then used the drill press to complete the holes thru the gussets.

 

Gussets in all the cockpit corners will provide convenient lashing points and substitutes for docking cleats.

 

The 7/8”white oak block on the keel is the base for the mainsheet quick-release cam cleat with a 360 rotating fairlead.

The 5/8” holes all are rounded over (5/16” radius, top & bottom).

The bull nose.

 

 

Next will be 3 coats of neat epoxy on exposed wood.  Then prepare all surfaces for two coats of primer.  May have to wait for warmer weather.

 

 

[PadrePoint]

This is a wonderful looking build, Pete, and I’m glad I had a chance to see your Spindrift in person... and especially to meet and converse with you at the 2020 Messabout. 
 

I just learned from Alan that a Spindrift 10 kit is being cut and readied for a high school girl across the street from us, who really likes sailing.  I started a boat-build blog for her; I’m hoping she will make some contributions to the blog once she gets her new kit.  (She goes by the nick-name: The Wheezer.)  

Click on the photo below for her Spindrift 10 thread:

Very soon, when the kit is ready, I’ll be making another 2,400 mile round trip to Bayboro to pick up the Spindrift kit along my own B&B order for enough wood and materials to build a 15 foot ski-boat that I’ve wanted to build since I was in high school, when I had built an 11 foot version of it.  Having built a Core Sound 15 this year I found myself inspired to take on another build. 

(To see an introduction to my current ski-boat build click on the link below.)

The plan with the Spindrift 10 is that I will be guiding and supporting my neighbor as she builds her own sailboat while also being a busy high school kid.  Perhaps it could be ready for next summer, we’ll see... it’s quite a commitment for a 9th grader, but she seems like a very determined person.  Your blog will be very helpful to the process and your innovations could enhance the results of her Spindrift build.

[PadrePoint]

Pete, how will the floor mounted cam-cleat work?  Cam cleats I’ve seen need to be set with the line pulled through parallel to the plane in which it’s set.  Is it something that isn’t flat to the floor but rather tilted upwards?

[Pete McCrary]

The clam jaws are kept lined up with the sheet because the jaws rotate on swivel (vertical axis) which points the jaws directly to the skipper pulling on the sheet — and the sheet from the boom is lead into the jaws by a fairlead which is directly over the swivel’s axis.

 

A photo showed it much better.  Here’s a link to one (that is for a larger diameter sheet):

 

https://www.ebay.com/i/293543787196?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-213727-13078-0&mkcid=2&itemid=293543787196&targetid=4580977766998583&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=403204665&mkgroupid=1238050308086972&rlsatarget=pla-4580977766998583&abcId=9300377&merchantid=51291&msclkid=9636e260221f15b9034abda7c643a3f3

 

[PadrePoint]

Thank you for the information, Pete, and the link.  It looks like a good option for my neighbor to consider. 
Another question comes to mind with this cam cleat location... where on the boom will the sheet lead to?

Edit:

I just looked at my photos from the Messabout and focused in on one:

If you are keeping the sheet routing the same, the photo helps answer the question.