Spindrift Progress

[Steve Day]

Well, I reached another milestone in the effort to get my Spindrift built. We turned the hull over this past Saturday and I have started to work on the shaping for the seams to accept fiberglass and epoxy.

It is cool to go into the shop and see her in the new position.

Here are two pictures of her.

Steve

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[Brent]

Nice! Your boat is progressing well Steve.

Tell me your recommendation for which Spindrift would be best for a 14 year old to sail. My son is interested in building his own boat! I have been looking at the 10 and 12 models, but cant quite imagine the differences.

[Frank Hagan]

Showoff! :wink:

I have just started on my centerboard, and have the laminations glued up now, but haven't started on cutting it to size and shaping it. Once I get it done, I may just have to break down and buy the plywood finally!

[Steve Day]

Brent,

I would have to agree with Ray for most of the reasons he mentioned. Actually, a lot of those considerations went into my decision to build the 10N. I am living here in Nebraska and wanted something that could store and transport easily for me to "feed my habit" of sailing between trips to our boat in Alabama. I think the 10N is going to be nearly ideal for this purpose.

Eventually, we are going to move back to the south and be near "Day's Dream" and I also wanted something that we can use as a tender for her. The 10N fills both of those needs quite handily.

I would either recommend the 10 or the 10N for your son. Come to think of it, my Dad and I built an 8' pram as my first boat.

Steve

[Designer]

I would choose a nesting version only as a last resort. While all of the points made in the above statements were valid, they did not point out what you give up.

The longitudinal bulkheads/ side seats make a stiffer boat. The seating is better for sailing, with different crew/passenger combinations. Most of the time you are sitting on the seat, rather than having to sit on the gunwale as you have to do in the nested version. In the event of a capsize the one piece boat floats with the heeled (capsize) waterline that does not come inboard of the seats, allowing you to right the boat with a much smaller amount of water on board. The fore & aft bulkheads stop the free surface effect of the water rolling from side to side making the boat more stable during recovery. An automatic bailer keeps the boat dry when sailing in rough conditions (you would need 2 in a nesting version).

While there is a real need for nesting versions with space issues related to carrying the boat on deck for a tender...but you have to give up a lot for it. If you are considering matters of "storage space" or "portability" in a household situation, the cons are greater than the pros....the boat is, in reality, no easier to store or carry, as the weight, and beam are the same. You have to carry or load the halves into a car together anyway. If you don't have to contend with the situation of space on deck, vs. carrying capacity for a crew, I'd advise that you build a standard model.

[Steve Day]

Those are great thoughts, Graham. We are thinking about building another Spindrift for a friend of mine here in York after we get mine done. I'm sure that it will not be the nesting version.

Also, my son wants me to build one for him. That will most likely not be a nesting version either. The thing that swung it to a nesting version for me was the deck space issue on the 40 footer.

Great discussion!

Steve

[Steve Day]

We had a pretty good day here in Nebraska yesterday. It got up to the mid to high 60's on Nov 11. All the guys had their motorcycles out and Steve was putting glass tape on the outer hull seams. Used a little heat in the morning, but had the hangar door open in the afternoon.

Here are a couple of shots of the boat after I got the seams taped and one coat of filler on top of the glass. We're making progress now, but it's going to be cooler later this week.

Steve

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