What do you think!

[buck]

I've been playing with ideas for an extended cabin on my Weekender, I want more room to sleep in on a raised sleeping area and to be able to sit up. The original picture is from Phil Gowans site (thanks Phil) I wanted something that would look good, and at the moment I can't afford a bigger boat.

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=146364139&photoID=146364643&security=lSVpXK

[Joel]

Buck, I couldn't view your picture, got an error linking to that site.

How about adding a boom tent for extra room ?

joel

[buck]

I put the picture in the Gallery

http://www.messing-about.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=501&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

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[capt jake]

Design looks good; will it clear the boom OK? CG will be raised a bit also.

[Barry Pyeatt]

I would be more inclined to just raise the cabin roof about 4 inches so that you could sit up in there. That wouldn't add significantly to the weight or do much to raise the COG. Then put a block under the mast tabernacle and lengthen the shrouds a bit and go for it.

What you are proposing is really trying to make a much larger boat out of a good performing little dory type hull. In my opinion, it is asking too much. But then that is just my opinion.

These Weekenders work, because they are slightly under powered and not ballasted. What you are asking is for it to be something that it simply isn't. Start adding ballast to compensate and you have a boat that will look cute and compromise significantly on the performance and safety most likely.

But then it is your boat and some good ideas come from just this type of thinking and stretching the envelope a bit.

I would be more inclined to do as Joel suggested, make a boom tent to utilize the cockpit area when camping.

[buck]

Yeah, I agree with some of your points. But in my opinion the Weekender is very under cabined and quite over canvased. At 190lbs I struggle a bit to keep the thing undercontrol in 10 -15 knot winds. Its Ok with 2 people but singlehanded it can be a handfull. The cabin extension would be light and give sitting room in the cabin. For me the cabin (I'm 6') to sleep in. The problem is finding an acceptable compromise in the size/space ratio.

I began thinking about this when I added a small cabin to my son's skipjack and found it had almost more room than my Weekender.

[capt jake]

I have heard both that these crafts are over canvassed and under cavassed. I think that down under, you folks experience a lot more wind than we do here on hte West coast. I also thing that the East coast has more more wind than us as well. At least here in the PNW.

I have always wondered why there are so many disimular claims about performance in this area. i know Barry has sailed one several times in Hawaii in heavy seas ans said it was very stable.

I will be going out again on Saturday, so hopefully there will be some wind.

[Mark Gudschinsky]

Hey Buck,

Have any pictures or sketches of the Skipjack with the cabin. Our next boat building project here is a Skipjack, and Laura has decided she wants a cabin.

Any experience or guidance would help.

If nothing else your idea sure changes the look of the Weekender!

[buck]

Another picture,

http://www.messing-about.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=502&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

Sorry I haven't taken any pictures of the Skipjack cabin yet. I will soon!

However you might visit this:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/79608050/79608108EpYRZK

[waynemunro]

Hey Buck,

the mod looks interesting, I wonder if it could be made a pop-top, so that you don't have to raise the boom. like those trailer caravan thingys .

Wayne

[Tom Holder]

Well, since you're asking here's my (not so :oops: ) humble opinion:

I'm thinking you've gone a bit too angular on your addition. The boat is all flowing lines and curves with oval ports etc. so any little sharp angles or corners kinda stand out. As well I'm wondering if you really need to go that high - could you get away with a little less height? Here's a quick sketch of what I would envision - I see an addition approximately 2/3 the length of the cabin and 1/2 again as high. The new sides should be flush with the old (with maybe a small accent strip to carry the line of the original roof but I'm not sure I would do that myself). The front of the addition should mirror the front of the old (i.e. curved if curved, square if square and upright if upright, laidback if laidback). Lastly, if you put your laser level on the original roof it will hit the stem at a certain point - putting the level on the new roof should hit the stem at the same point and not like 8" higher or whatever the new rise is. All the lines of the boat should converge at a point on the stem - kind of all come together gently but at once. As for the new port you've added, I would be tempted to add a skylight if you are looking for more light - I think you can get too much glass in a boat like this one.

There's my $0.02 - hope you accept it in the spirit it is offered - I got lots of time on my hands

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[Weekender SNUPI Builder]

Hi Buck,

I had some of the very same concerns as you about the Weekender's cabin / cockpit and forward hold sizes !

I figured that if I was going to build, I may as well make it suit me.

.... Hence I started making the changes. The Tanzer 22' was the inspiration and needing headroom for my 6' 2" and a 7' cabin with bunks up off the floor, ( I want more than a sheet oof plywood between me & the cold water of the Atlantic, +, +, +, ----- I added 12 inches to the beam and made the transom 5' so to have some footroom and space for a binnacle. SNUPI ended up 19'10" on the deck.

The changes and additions are almost endless, ( as Ray, the Sailer's Guru can attest), Solar charging, pressure water system, porta-potti storage under the topside anchor hold, and on and on ........ !

These changes, coupled with a half dozen heart attacks & bypass open heart surgery over the past couple of years, my launching schedule rather went to hell in a hand basket, however one way or another , SNUPI is going to be floating this summer, even if it means flooding the garage for a launch !!!

Here's some pics I found on the PC that might get your creative juices flowing !

Now... I gott go do some real estate stuff !

........ Graeme

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[Stump]

Very cool design changes...but... :? :shock:

How much ballast are you going to use so she doesn't spend half her life on her side or top?

You want more height????

I can see the Weekender in there but is she still a Weekender? (Looks more like an offshore mini cruiser to me.)

I might of....never mind, it's your boat :wink:

Anyhow, , good luck to ya'. That Looks like a lot of work you've put in her so far.

peace

[Weekender SNUPI Builder]

OOPS.......... Forgot about the 3 attachment thangie !

Here's another 3 pics of Snupi that may get your creative juices rolling !

Oh yes , I have 300 lbs of lead waitin to be cast into the "Frechette Ballast System" !

Have fun ............... There is a zillion things you can do with this hull design ! ( within reason)

I went a tad overboard, but sometimes we all tend to get a tickle carried away ........ leastwise that's my excuse 'til I can find a better one !

........ Graeme

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[Weekender SNUPI Builder]

Hi there, Stump,

Just going to reply , then it is decidedly off to work !

You may have noticed that I'm a Nova Scotian, actually born in Lunenburg, home of the unbeatable & world famous "BLUENOSE".

Capt. Angus Walters, Skipper of the original Bluenose, and my Dad, who at the time owned a drugstore in Lunenburg, were close friends, due in part because my Dad provided and maintained the "Salt Bankers" with their medical chests.

While I don't have the sailing & design experience that just about anybody else does, I do have a fair number of friends that are extremely "Salty", ( two of the old timers I picked on had worked at Smith & Rhuland's shipyard , (the builders of the original Bluenose and Bluenose 2, one of them worked on both the salt bankers ! ) and I haven't been afraid to run my changes past them !

Also, I used to live for a number of years just a 5 minute walk from Snyder's Shipyard, Dayspring, and am not nervous about asking ANY questions of that crew !

Of significient value to ANY builder / modifier , is of course, our friend Ray Frechette ! Now there's a lad that has done his homework !

Anywho ..... the long and short of it all is that with upsizing, most of the "upper weight" is as light as I could make it and the bulk of the heavy things like battery, 8 gallon fresh water tank, mini demand pump, bunks and so on are all in the lower portion of the hull.

Don't forget that SNUPI has a SEVEN Ft. beam and a FIVE ft transom, in addition to the complete sole / floor / hull bottom being DOUBLED to ONE INCH thick, ( HEAVY ), for various reasons. One of which is to provide a solid platform for the binnacle.

Double walled floatation filled hull sides, plus hull floatation in the pair of 8 - 9 gallon cabin chine compartments that were originally going to be water ballast tanks sorta round out the center of gravity ? floatation / righting questions !

So......... I didn't simply start cutting wood and spiking it together, a lot of extremely knowledgeable & experienced craftsmen had a hand in these mods !

With the above plus 300 + pounds of lead ballast , and having had the advice of several "Old Timer ship builders and sailers, turning turtle or for that matter, a knockdown, is not concern I have !

While this is the 1st sailboat I've built........ I have built / owned / bought 5 "Stinkpots" and a few canoes !

............. next ! Just kidding !

All the very best from a grey haired old Lunenburger raised on Salt Cod, Kraut & smuggled prohibition rum ! !

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[Frank Hagan]

Great to see pictures of Snupi's progress, Graeme! She is looking pretty good.

With all the stitch and glue creations out there, its nice to see something new done on the expanded ideas of the old plywood torsion box that the Stevensons have come up with (not to mention the guys like Hobie Adler who tried many of the same things). Is Snupi a Weekender? Nope, but she's based on a Weekender, writ large and expanded.

[Stump]

Hey Greame, No offense ment, :oops: like I said, cool design. I figure if I don't ask, I'll never know. Thanks for the info, since I have no idea what the heck I'm doing other than looking at plans, some of my questions may seem...odd. That is just my lack of knowledge pushing it self to the front...I am far from salty....just wet behind the ears

[Weekender SNUPI Builder]

Hey Stump ..........

What offence ? That's not what this self inflicted torture is all about ! As I said, I knew squiggley-squat about sailboat design until I started doing what you're doing nearly 3 years ago !

While I don't know that much about sailboats , I DO KNOW PEOPLE THAT DO, Heheheheh !!!!

I do have the good luck to know some wonderful salty old timer sailers, builders / fishermen.

Hell, Ray F. has been getting really weird stuff bounced off him by yours truly & running safety net design interferance during that time period.

If we had any smarts, we'd simply buy a used boat, refresh it and go sailing !!! Cheaper and more time spent playing and less building is the smart money move !

Have a Good One,

............ Graeme

[ken connors]

"If we had any smarts, we'd simply buy a used boat, refresh it and go sailing !!! Cheaper and more time spent playing and less building is the smart money move ! "

Graeme, anybody can do it that way!

so great to see some new pics of SNUPI.

i was thinking of you last week as i was stealing your idea of allowing the cockpit water to flow into the companionway hatch to an awaiting bilge pump. this will be very useful to me when im on my mooring. thanks.

[Weekender SNUPI Builder]

I sorta figure draining all and any cockpit/ seat trapped water into the waiting ambush of one of two bilge pumps. BTW, I put a lift out 2nd floor in the companionway compartment. which also serves to hold that pump in place ! That way I can still use the upper portion for storage of whatevers, whatnots and other marine jibber-jabbers .

I've picked up another automatic pump for the lazarette. My thought is that a lot of strange events can occur in the middle of the nite during a heavy rainstorm ! Seems to me that $100.00 for a 2nd 1100 gph / 3 amp bilge pump is cheap insurance.

Which brings us to the power supply ! The 5 watt solar charger I bought at our local Canadian Tire Store will keep the power up to snuff and "Pumping" when the need arrises and nobody's about ! I've got access to "timed out", but still good hospital "Backup lighting" batteries....... as in "Cheap ~ Cheap", so a second independant pump battery is a real possibility.

Peace of mind is worth the few bucks to set up.