Weekender Complaints

[Tim Diebert]

If that is confusing to any body than I can change it.

My addled ADD brain sees things differently than you regilr folks.

I am always first drawn to shapes and colors, then eventually words.

So don't mind me.

[kydocfrog]

Back from a week off on the road and trying to catch up. This is a great thread. As another builder who was chosen by an unfinished Weekender, this continuing discussion of possible mid-course corrections and mods is very helpful. One of the oddest aspects of the design to me, in the sense of a missed detail, is the bulkhead at the rear of the cockpit. For the life of me I cannot figure why it wasn't continued to the hull sides to make a fully enclosed lazarette. With a useful gasket across the tiller port in the transom, the reserve flotation could have been much higher, and, with access ports, some moderately useful storage space created. Seems like a rather simple detail that could have been different.

[Barry Pyeatt]

I'm amazed at how many builders would prefer, it seems, to seal this wooden boat up into various compartments to provide positive flotation.

It will become obvious if you do a little research that sealing up compartments on wooden boats can be a real invitation to mildew, mold, rot and rapid deterioration. The advantages to having an open compartment is air circulation and the ability of the wood to dry out after becoming damp from use or just sitting on the trailer in the rain.

I see boats all the time that are sealed up tight to keep moisture out without thought about the moisture that is kept in. Therein is the hidden enemy. The tarp that is pulled tight over a boat to keep the rain and wind out of the boat also keeps the moisture in. The boats heat up under the sun and the temp under a tarp in a sealed boat can get pretty high even if it is below zero outside. Heat, lack of air movement and ability to dry out are just asking for mold and rot to have a field day in the off season and even during the season in warm, humid areas.

The painted surfaces on the inside of the boat allow some moisture to equalize in the wood with humidity changes. Close it up and even with a mildicide added to the paint, it will still develop mold in the wood and on the surface.

I can't stress enough the need to allow for good airflow and the ability of air to circulate thrughout the hull and cabin. Solar powered fans that keep air moving really can help. They are not expensive, but the small cost laid out can help prevent a large and frustrating repair job.

Every spring there are posting about delamintions, wood rot, epoxy and glue failures. Lots more that don't get posted. We see used boats that people pick up and then discover that the rot is extensive and repairs become major rebuilds.

Might as well be reconciled to the fact that if it is wood, it will need maintenance and it helps a great deal to keep it open so it stays dry.

Avoid leaving anything laying on the surface because it traps the moisture and mold starts.

Gallon milk jugs weigh practically nothing, are easy to move/remove and provide flotation for next to nothing. A few of them placed in the lazerette, and forepeak as well as the underseat areas and behind the seats will provide nearly the same flotation without the extra work and air can move around them to keep it dry.

During the off season, simply remove those that can be reached easily and place a small fan to move the air in the compartment and lift the tarps off the boat surface with air movement space below it.

Just a few simple truths for your consideration. Not elegant by any means, but they work.

[PAR]

About the issue of ventilation, all boats, regardless of the hull material need lots of ventilation. Well designed wooden boats have no enclosed spaces. Steel, aluminum, 'glass and ferro cement boats all will have major problems in closed spaces. The choice of hull material has little to do with this type of maintenance. Maintenance on a boat deals with coatings, equipment, commissioning and storage, not hull material. It's widely known that wooden construction can't tolerate neglect for as long as other construction materials, but it's actually cheaper to repaint a cabin or topsides then to buff out faded 'glass, clean oxidized aluminum or rusted steel.

Generally, ported or hatched spaces get opened after sailing only the first few times the boat gets used. There after, the ports or hatches get left in place and the inside of a closed compartment is out of sight and mind. A good designed daysailor doesn't need built in, enclosed compartments to provide reasonable floatation in the event of a capsize. Areas of a boat can be designed to trap air when capsized or turtled. Where I sail, a capsized boat will get righted quite quickly, we have gators, some big enough to swallow a man whole (tastes like chicken . . .) and this is the case with most dayboats that have dumped the crew. Not many owners will swim around and wait for their boat to sink. In the event a boat can't be righted, a slowly settling craft can be towed to shore. Ideally, it should hold the crew and gear while swamped, on it's flank or belly up.

I've just had another project dropped on my doorstep. A 1958 White outboard runabout in need of a new transom. This boat is very well designed with not a single space enclosed. The closest thing to enclosed are the frame heads under the rail cap, but there is a 1/4" air gap above the heads, under the cap for ventilation. Original everything, including the very poorly running 2 stroke hanging off the transom. This would not be the case if any spaces on this boat were closed in. It as a few drawers built in under the seats, which are heavily vented and loosely fitted so they'll work, regardless of moisture content. The transom was typical of the era and built up of 1 by stock, no match for the washing machine draped over her. The owner insists it look original, so it will get 1 by stock again, but will have a plywood core routed into the center of the planks, glued and screwed. It's a real pleasure to work on craft as well thought out as this one was.

Weekender/Vacationer can't point very high for a number of reasons, but basically it boils down to insufficient and inefficient lateral plane (not enough area, too shoal and poor sectional shape) which seems poorly placed under it's sail plan, which hasn't the hoist (especially in the headsail) to claw up and a great amount of windage aloft, coupled with it's freeboard, it doesn't have much of a chance of a good set past 100 degrees. Adding a small amount of depth to a better shaped deadwood assembly, with a board can do wonders for a Weekender/Vacationer. Tie this to a single halyard for the main, sail track, light weight and diminutive blocks, well cut sails and a overall diet for the stuff that seems to gather in all the hiding places inside the boat and you'll do better to wind, though the very low aspect rig can only be helped so much. Hoist and depth, gets you to windward, assuming everything is clean as can be.

Many have said they can tack through 90, but are likely pinching through 90 degrees. This is also where some will have problems coming about. If you go into a tack pinched, the boat isn't doing very well and can get caught without enough way on to carry her through the eye. A good way to insure a clean tack is to bear off a few degrees just before the tack. You build speed and sail set, then toss the helm down and trim in, she'll carry the additional speed through the tack. If you do get caught, quickly reversing the helm as you gather stern way, then put the helm back down aft the stern brings you through. This is sort of like a 3 point turn in a car. These boats are light enough to be slapped back by light chop at the wrong time during a light air low speed tack, the bulbous forefoot doesn't help matters much. Bearing off a touch before a tack will insure the speed is there to pass the eye of the wind.

For what it's worth . . .

[Tim Diebert]

As another builder who was chosen by an unfinished Weekender, this continuing discussion of possible mid-course corrections and mods is very helpful. One of the oddest aspects of the design to me, in the sense of a missed detail, is the bulkhead at the rear of the cockpit. For the life of me I cannot figure why it wasn't continued to the hull sides to make a fully enclosed lazarette. With a useful gasket across the tiller port in the transom, the reserve flotation could have been much higher, and, with access ports, some moderately useful storage space created. Seems like a rather simple detail that could have been different.

Mr. Frog. Nice to know a fellow adoptee. Though my boat was actually 'finished' ....or I should say completed to plan....when I got her. Brand new in fact.

Although I removed the wheel steering right away and converted to tiller, the transom port remained. By the 2nd occasion of discovering a gallon or more of water in the boat after retrieval, it was determined how it was happening. While the boat was tied at dock awaiting retrieval, waves were slapping against the transom and entering through the tiller port. (My usual launch ramp is at a very poor spot on the lake)

If a person needs this hole, they should really find a way to put a gasket of sorts over it. I completely eliminated the hole in my boat.

I am with you on the lazerette issue as well. While I am working on the transom right now, I plan on sealing in that compartment....or rather making it so water cant transfer from the laz fwd. I have a large circular deck hatch on the fwd laz bulkhead (where the wheel steering shaft would be) for easy access of regularly used items. And I have a larger hatch on the peak of the deck arch as well. This hatch has varied over the time I have owned the boat, but the one I have liked the most had a flat top and fids around....and makes a grand location for a cup of coffee or beer etc when at anchor. My tiller raises up and locks in a vertical position. This hatch also makes it possible to perform any repairs or mods within the laz neighborhood.

[kydocfrog]

I think that's the issue on the lazarette design -- lack of compartmentalization as opposed to sealed and air tight.