kydocfrog Posted June 9, 2006 Posted June 9, 2006 She floats! She swims! The water stayed on the outside! Pictures follow as soon a possible. DocA Quote
adla Posted June 9, 2006 Posted June 9, 2006 OF COURSE --- that is fantastic! piCtures!!! tomorrow is the public event though, eh? a. Quote
kydocfrog Posted June 10, 2006 Author Posted June 10, 2006 Should have pictures shortly. Extremely calm day; alternated between "I'm baking" and "Am I moving...?" But very successful for engineering and first sea-trials. (Translation -- could not get in trouble.) Added a new cleat for throat halyard, moved the second pulley on the main sheet further forward -- it kept wrapping around my neck, which seemed a bad idea -- and did some work on trailer. She floated off hard. Tounge on my trailer is too short, and I may have problems with shallow ramps. The semi-slot top worked like a charm. Access to halyards, etc, and to dropping and furling was great. Did not rig or test the downhaul on the jib. When I did get breeze, she was slick. I'm going to add a tiller this winter. I kept looking over the transom to see what the rudder was doing... Anyway, more tomorrow. I'm woofed and sunburnt. Thanks to all. DocA Pirate Frog Quote
Dave R1 Posted June 10, 2006 Posted June 10, 2006 DocA, sounds pretty good with only a few minor njiggles to worry about. Here are a couple of ideas for you to consider. First, regarding the mainsheet. It really is distracting when the mainsheet gets wrapped around your neck. I found the mainsheet droops between the blocks on the mast in light air so I added a fairlead about midway between. I made mine out of a piece of stainless welding rod but it could be done from a piece of wood or a short length of small diameter PVC pipe (or a coupler). There's no real load on it but the line needs to slide through it without any trouble. See this photo Second, regarding the wheel, I used to do the same thing but I set one spoke of the wheel as the king spoke--it points straight up when the rudder is centered--and tied a piece of sail twine around it. You can see and feel when you have the king spoke in your hand. Traditionally there's supposed to be a turk's head knot tied around there and someday I might do that but my little piece of twine tied with a double constrictor knot has worked for a couple of years. Looking forward to those pictures. I hope you have a great sail today. Quote
barnacle5 Posted June 10, 2006 Posted June 10, 2006 here are a few pics I took of ky doc frog and charlie girl . he looked pretty good. Quote
capt jake Posted June 10, 2006 Posted June 10, 2006 Nice job! It is pretty neat seeing all of the boats getting completed lately. Nice looking boat! Quote
adla Posted June 10, 2006 Posted June 10, 2006 That is what it is all about!! Looks great! i love the feeling of light winds and the way the weekender just ghosts along....everything looks great! What a wonderful feeling to finally launch !!! Congratulations! a. Quote
kydocfrog Posted June 12, 2006 Author Posted June 12, 2006 Here are a couple of pic from Saturday. A cold Liney was duly poured over the bows and she was christened. Day was very calm and flukey again. I got out today for about an hour of good sailing under the eves of a big squall line. Sailed off the dock in great form. Completely blew my act shooting the dock on return. Main jammed when I dropped it -- the parrel harness was too long and everything got crossways; jib rebelled, and I got to choose, while paddling furiously and trying to get everything down at the same time, between ramming the dock or ramming the pontoon party barge. I eventually just sort of fell of backwards in a very undignified flapping of sails. The jib is just not lifting clean or dropping clean yet. Hanks jam on the plastic coating on the wire. A lot of my photos are on a small disposable that I took with me. I'll get them developed on a cd tomorrow, including a series of shots of Captain Bob's Boat Dock (www.captainbobsboatdock,com) which is a truly wonderful, delightfully seedy, Kentucky sort of place. I love it. I am probably not only the only sail boat on the lake for years but also may be the only person to ever wear a tie on the property. There aren't many that wear a shirt, but that's another story. She points higher and tacks faster than I expected. Cpt Bob sailed her also and had the same impression. (More about Bob in a later post.) Tonight, she is happily settled on a bouy at Cpt. Bob's. If it helps clarify what a wonderful place Bob's is, the bouy consists of an elderly tire float anchored with a defunct 1960 50horse evinrude with a cracked block. I love it. More lessons learned (thangs my boat learnt me) later. DocA. Quote
adla Posted June 12, 2006 Posted June 12, 2006 Looks great -- first launching is always a learning experience. Are you pulling the jib up from the cockpit? I can see that being a problem...I have the snap thingys on mine and have always pulled the jib up whilst balancing on the fore deck. I can see how it could get hung up. I look forward to the rest of the pictures --- and more about captain bob. Congratulations again! a. Quote
Guest Oyster Posted June 12, 2006 Posted June 12, 2006 Nice work and you will get the kinks out of it on the next half dozen trips, and begin to look for another project, too. :twisted: Quote
Greg Luckett Posted June 13, 2006 Posted June 13, 2006 That is one nice looking boat!! The pics on that glassy lake are pretty. If you try you might get some with the boats reflection, which would look good in a picture frame then too. I bet the either of the two above would work. Quote
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