jmatheso Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 Just want to say thanks for all the good advice we have already gotten from this website on building the weekender! Over 20 years ago I read the Popular Science article and purchased the plans. I got as far as buying the screws and plywood before life entered the picture, the plans went into the back of a bookcase and the plywood became part of a rotted kitchen floor in 84! After two kids, too much career, and too much time having gone by my 13 year old has fallen in love with sailing. After a couple of summers taking sailing lessons and crewing on a local racing sloop he found the old plans and decided he wanted to build it for his middle school project. So, off to the net we went to discover this whole community of Stevenson fans. I ordered him the new video and plans from Stevenson (actually got them quite fast in September so don't give up on them yet!) and off we jumped into the project. He will be building it on his own with me providing cash, moral support, and bandaids until his "school part" of the project is complete. (He is trying to get it 3D for the school portion of the project by May 08) After that I will become more involved and it will be "our" project instead of just his. So far he has lofted and cut the keel and he epoxied the first two laminations. probably not going to win any awards for quality of cuts or cleanliness of epoxy application but its straight and looks quite strong so far. Looking forward to moving on to the next steps! John Juneau, Alaska Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 That's a great project for him! Building a boat is a unique enough thing that often adults get written up in their local newspapers. For a 13 year old, its almost unheard of. It sure beats the California Mission Diorama I built when I was that age! We've had quite a few young people building boats, but 13 may be the youngest for a full sized Weekender. You guys are encouraged to join in here whenever you have questions. There are a few "gotcha's" in the plans, including how to loft the keel around station 13, and the length of the keel in the plans when you get ready to put the stern blocks on the end of it. I just noticed I have some formatting problems with the FAQ page, but it is at http://www.messing-about.com/weekender/wkFAQ.html ... but it may generate more questions than answers! Feel free to drop in here and ask away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Luckett Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 I hope Ben and Sam do not see this. Ben is pushing to build that Vacationer. I keep re-pointing him at the PS26 but he likes the looks of the Vacationer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmatheso Posted November 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 Thanks Frank. we have indeed spent many hours reading throughout the faq's and archives. I can't imagine dealing with "station 13" without following the advice we have seen here. In fact we almost bought hemlock to build the keel before learning here and at BYYB that we might as well use cardboard as hemlock. Now we have the most beautiful supply of clear doug fir to work with. We will continue to peruse all the great info here as well as appreciate your offer of help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken_Potts Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 Welcome aboard, John. I'm looking forward to watching the boat develop and hearing about the awards on the school project. This is probably one of the coolest school projects ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ib1boatnut Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Sure nice to see another weekender being built and only 13. I wont be much help in the info department but I am looking forward to the progress reports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuildDre Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Wow. Thats great. Alaska even. Nice winter project. Can't wait to see more assembly pictures.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Thanks Frank. we have indeed spent many hours reading throughout the faq's and archives. I can't imagine dealing with "station 13" without following the advice we have seen here. In fact we almost bought hemlock to build the keel before learning here and at BYYB that we might as well use cardboard as hemlock. Now we have the most beautiful supply of clear doug fir to work with. We will continue to peruse all the great info here as well as appreciate your offer of help. I forgot to mention Mike's site at http://www.aurorawolf.com/forums/ ... home of an Alaska fleet of Weekenders (and other boats). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmatheso Posted April 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 Sorry so long without updating this. I check in regularly to search old posts and ideas though. It's been a long winter up here in Alaska and between Gall Bladder surgery, a blown out knee in a skiing accident, and my son injuring his ankle in basketball we have not progressed as far as we had hopped. He did manage to get it 3D this month though and that was the goal for the school project portion of the build. He is busy documenting the work and putting together the presentation now but we will soon be back to moving forward on the boat. When not injured progress went well. Only needed the moaning stool a few times. Mostly when he followed dad's advice rather than doing it the way he wanted in the first place! We somehow managed to get the stern blocks on with a few more degrees lean back than we had originally measured which of course makes the top deck a bit short. To resolve we moved the whole top deck backwards a couple inches and put an additional deadwood up on the front of the stem under the front deck to give it the lost support from moving the deck back. We kept the front bulkhead angle measured where the mastbox will go at the 93 degrees by moving the front bulkhead's bottom stringers back about 3 inches and leaving the top of the front bulkhead against the joiner panel if that makes sense. It seems an easier fix than remounting the stern blocks or adding on to the deck. Reviewing old posts makes it sound like its ok to have that front bulkhead back a few inches provided the mast angle remains correct. Do you concur? The other change we are making is to move the cabin bulkhead forward about 10 inches to give a bigger cockpit and we plan to build the seats with open bottoms instead of cabinets due to his RAPIDLY increasing leg length! We wont need the cokpit space for camping just getting out of the rain and gear storage. We are going with a tiller rather than wheel so we can seal up the lazarette as well as the forward areas with floatation. The water here is only about 43 degrees in the summer so along with sailing in dry suits the extra flotation is a must. I can't seem to attach photos from work so I'll try again tonight from home with some progress shots. Thanks John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligno Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Great work! I modified my Weekender to have 6-ft long seats and a tiller. It fits 3 in the cockpit and one in the companionway. For more feet-room the seat bulkheads are recessed. To gain a bit more headroom I raised the cabin sides about 4 inches at the bulkhead end. If you also decide to do the same without making it look ungainly, the trick seems to be to make sure the angle of the cabin top center more or less aligns with the tip of the bow. Photos of my build--and my errors--are posted here: http://www.pinoyboats.org/gallery/gallery2/v/projects/maligno101/ If I were to build it again there are some other modifications I would do : Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmatheso Posted April 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Thanks Maligno! Your photos are great and provide lots to think about. A couple of questions for you. Did you raise the height of the boom as well as the cabin then? Any concerns with that? Also, I just happen to have a good Suzuki 4hp that I was thinking about throwing on when its finished. Are you pretty happy with the way the 4hp you have is working? Is it not too heavy to hang back there? Did you custom build that motor mount and how did you reinforce the transom to handle the weight? Thanks in advance! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligno Posted April 25, 2008 Report Share Posted April 25, 2008 I raised the boom to make sure it clears the heads of everyone sitting in the cockpit; the lower part of the mast was extended to make up for the additional height. Re: Outboard motor: the 5hp Merc in the picture is indeed a bit too much and you have to move everyone farther foreward to counterbalance it; my 2hp Yamaha is more appropriate for the Weekender but it's out of comission until I can replace it's fuel tank. Your 4hp will be more than adequate. One thing to note is that because the transom is so narrow, the engine must mounted be as far off to the side as possible so the prop doesn't chew up the rudder. Re: Motor mount: I built it with left-over wood bolted to 1/2" ply. It was meant to be temporary until I got a proper retracting mount but it seems it'll stay like this for some time longer The only reinforcement I added to the transom is the 1/2" plywood glued inside as backing block for the 5/16" mounting bolts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kydocfrog Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 I am impressed; a great project. Speaking of room and access, one thing I did was seriously modify the cabin roof of my weekender, the now departed Charlie Girl II, with a slot-top arrangement ala Jim Michalak (see duckworksmagazine.com) to give more safety and stabilty when moving forward. I could walk almost to the foot of the mast without having to climb topside. I thought that was a neat safety feature. Might still be some pictures back in the achives. Still lurking. Doc A in Kentucky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrthethird Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 This is completely awesome! I also raised the mast 8" to raise the boom above head height. A good mod, to be sure. I will be watching this thread for more progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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