Core Sound 20 Hull #102

[Ken_Potts]

Sounds like a great day Wes!  Keep the reports coming.

I agree with Ray about weather helm.  I tend to adjust the sails by the telltales at first so they're both drawing well.  When I'm there I've got very light (one finger) weather helm.  Even with that light touch when I let go of the tiller she rounds up quickly.  You might try trimming the main until it's drawing well then trimming the mizzen for a light touch on the tiller and see how she sails.  If the mizzen still isn't drawing well the centerboard may be too deep (or as Ray said, check the balance on the rudder).  Play around and see what works but remember that you shouldn't need to work to keep the tiller in the right place.

I tend to have the centerboard all the way down or all the way up - Given enough depth of water the only time I bring the board up is dead downwind.  Last spring I was sailing a Sea Pearl in pursuit of another Sea Pearl.  We were on a really deep reach and I thought I'd be sneaky and catch up by hauling the leeboard in and reducing wetted surface.  We chased that boat for at least an hour (on one tack) and watched them slowly recede.  Finally I dropped the board and we were able to keep up.  We were going almost, but not quite, dead downwind and the board still seemed to help.  I know Sea Pearls and Core Sounds are radically different beasts (yay) but in that particular chase I was convinced that board down is better than board up unless I'm running dead downwind.

Okay, I lied - I think bringing the board up partially has some utility if the wind kicks up and I'm trying to sail to safety under mizzen alone (before I find a quiet spot to move the mizzen to the reefing step, cause I'm one of those sleeve-luff guys).

I think we should endeavor to get Ray out on a true North Carolina Piedmont summer day.  Once he's rowed in 103 degrees on a glassy calm lake he might reconsider the utility of an outboard on a CS.  You know - Not the light .5 knot winds that we can sail in - I mean the 0 knot winds. 

And like you, I'm looking forward to having oars once I get the time off work to go from lumberyard to lumberyard to find the right wood - And once I find a place to store a couple of 9' sticks on the boat.  I don't think they'll slide nicely under my thwart seat so I'll probably have to make two-piece oars (ick).

[Ken_Potts]

  Wes - I just re-read your post.  Yes, you are correct.  If both sails are drawing nicely and you've got too much weather helm trim the board back a bit.

[Remod]

Off center response,,,,But,,,Ken, Try Capitol City Lumber,,,if you've got the tools to machine it,,they've got quite a nice variety of hardwoods, rough sawn, and now have a nice woodshop with the ability to machine the materials to the dimensions you need. Hillsborough St towards Raleigh,,,Right at the Waffle House, Right just past the railroad tracks, Cap City on the right.

 

[Terry Dunn]

On my CS 20 the 9' oars are suspended under the side decks. The blades go into a slot on a 2x4 chunk attached to the front bulkhead. The handles go in  "J" shaped pieces under the side decks. I put a line around the "J" piece's to hold the oars when trailering. Somtimes bumps knock the port oar off when trailering.

I had not used my motor for two years but took it on the Texas 200. Since I had the motor along I don't think I took the oars out of their holders after the morning of the first day.

[wkisting]

Okay, I have to call you on this little piece of brilliance, Ray:

In fact you can sail even if there is negative wind.

Wouldn't "negative wind" just mean it's blowing the other way? Or do you mean wind so calm that sailing begins to suck. 

I didn't even think about the possibility that my rudder blade wasn't fully down, but now I'm wondering if that might have been it because I did notice the weather helm more than usual on the last outing and after sailing up to the lee of the land for a break. My rudder snagged on seaweed on the way out, so I had to release the downhaul. Then I snugged it up again once clear, but I wonder if I didn't get it fully tight because it was later that afternoon that I noticed the weather helm more than usual.

I guess I should clarify, too, that I'm not having severe pressure on the helm... 5 - 7 lbs. of pressure at most, but enough to round up quickly if I let go. Even then, it's only happening noticeably at speeds in excess of 4.5 knots, so I do think it might be a board trim issue. I don't remember having the weather helm on our first few sail outings, and at that time, we weren't putting the CB all the way down because we wanted to reduce heeling pressure until we got comfortable with her. So I suspect raising the board a bit will fix the issue. Another possibility I've been considering is a tiller tamer... I could rig up something with rope that would add a little friction to the steering to free up my hands for short periods of time (like when I lean forward to tweak the main snotter or adjust luff tension) but still be able to steer without having to untie anything.

Anyone using a tiller tamer, tiller pilot, tiller hand, or any of the other commercial brands? Or anyone make their own? I think it would be easy to rig something homemade, so I'll probably go that route.

Made a few mods to the boat tonight...

I put an uphaul on the rudder blade... would've come in handy yesterday when I was trying to sail off the windward shore, but getting slowed by dragging the blade through the seaweed. But now I'll have it if I end up in that situation again.

I also drilled two holes to route the sonar transducer wire from the aft compartment into the port seat locker, then out under the thwart to attach to the GPS/Sonar display unit. I waited to make sure the shoot-through-hull mounting worked first, but now that I know it does, I decided to run the wires where they won't be seen. Unfortunately, it takes a 1" dia. hole to pass the large screw-on fitting on the end of the cable through, but I can fill the holes with a glob of good sealant to keep everything watertight.

I made a little bungee cord fitting to hold our anchor (4 lbs. Fortress anchor) snugly in the bow roller, so now it can ride on the bow when we're out. I don't want to leave the rode attached because the chain lead will scuff the deck, so I needed a simple way to lash the anchor to the front cleat to secure it in place. A short loop of 5/16" bungee stretched around the cleat base seems to do the trick.

[JeffM]

Ray, if you want to guest-lecture to my 9th grade physics students, I know they'd be fascinated by the concept of sailing by induced apparent wind!  Coolest perpetual motion idea I've heard of yet...

Wes, I don't leave home anymore without my tiller lock.  Last trip out I sailed almost the entire width of Buzzards Bay while perched on the aft deck with my arms folded across my chest.  (Okay, that's a bit rare, but it's still real handy.)  I found it on Duckworks magazine:  http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/howto/bits/index.htm A 1/4" line across the aft deck over the mizzen sheet and close to the cockpit (I secure it to my aft cleats).  A large screw eye in the underside of the tiller, and a clam cleat near the end of the tiller.  A short 1/4" line goes aft from the end of the tiller through the screw eye, around the athwartship line, back through the screw eye to the clam cleat.  A good tug on the short line pulls a loop of the 1/4" through the screw eye, and then the tension can be very finely adjusted by further tugs on the short line.  (Gary Blankenship put his on top of the tiller; for several reasons I like it better underneath.)  I can set it so it seldom needs adjustment, and if I get it just right I don't bother to release it when steering manually.  I find it nice to be able to put the tiller where I want it--even while tacking--and know it will still be there when I reach for it.  (Coincidentally, it's a handy place to tuck the chart book that's both ready to hand and won't blow away.)  The only down side?  The boat would keep sailing a looong time even if I went overboard...

[wkisting]

We discovered that sitting on the lee side of the boat in very light winds helps heel the boat so that gravity "fills out" the sails, which then makes them more effective at catching light airs. For those of you that haven't tried it, you should. It makes the Core Wind sail even in wind so light you can't feel it on your skin. [Edit to add: Incidentally, we discovered this while "becalmed." My wife reached across for our cooler and I noticed a very faint wake begin to ripple out behind us. So I moved across to the lee side too, and voila! We were sailing at about 0.75 - 1.25 knots in virtually no wind!)]

Greg, I found that same Duckworks article as I was exploring a homemade tiller lock option, and like you, I was planning to mount it underneath the tiller. Where did you fasten each end of the rope for that setup (the long rope that gets looped through the eyebolt, not the small tensioning rope)? I'm wondering if it matters what angle the rope enters/exits the eyebolt at, and also, I'd like to find the most discrete way of mounting it... preferably with small eyebolts on either side of the cockpit so that I can clip in or unclip the whole device with S-hooks on each end of the rope. (Hope that description made sense.  )

Oh, and I thought of a nifty perpetual motion / induced wind idea of my own: Here's how it works, no wind required. First, you have to invite Ray aboard. Then, you have to set your sails out so they're wing and wing. Place Ray carefully in the aft section of your cockpit and ask him to comment on motors versus oars. He'll be blowing so much wind about purists and pantywaists that you'll take right off even on a calm day! (Sorry Ray, couldn't resist...  ;D)

[Ken_Potts]

Or you could fire up the motor and go fishing.

Now how could I not say that?

[wkisting]

I rarely use these Internet acronyms, but this time it's appropriate: ROFLOLBNTIRIHTTTTA

...by which I mean, of course, "Rolling On Floor Laughing Out Loud But Now That I've Recovered I Have Time To Type This Acronym"

[wkisting]

Okay, made a tiller tamer this afternoon that improves noticeably on the design at the Duckworks site that Jeff mentioned (http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/howto/bits/index.htm)

My version has a hook and bungee on the end of the tension-adjustment line that gets cleated off on the underside of the tiller. (It also does away with the eyestrap shown in the Duckworks version and uses a cleat that keeps the rope captive with the tiller.) The other rope that runs athwartships is left in place on the boat. Then, when you put on the tiller/rudder assembly, you just push a small loop of it through the eyebolt and clip on the hook. The bungee makes it much easier to "fine tune" the tension because if you snug it up just a very little bit, the recoil in the bungee makes sure that the line pulls into the cleat neatly, yet places relatively little friction on the steering. If you snug it up tighter, you can get an impressive amount of friction/resistance on the steering, yet because the bungee can stretch, the steering is in no way impeded... just takes a bit more force. I thought the basic Duckworks design was good, but too finnicky to adjust in small increments. I think the bungee is a definite improvement, but you need to have a fair amount of stretching space between the eyebolt and the cleat in order to have a wide range of possible friction settings.

Here are the pics... very easy to make. In the pictures, my rope across the cockpit is temporarily tied off to the mizzen cam cleats just to see how it works. Now that I know it's successful, I'll install eyebolts under the cockpit coaming out of view, which will hold the rope ends down under the coaming (instead of along the top) where it will be less likely to snag anything.

[Edited to fix broken link.]

[Ken_Potts]

  That's what I was gonna do!  Thanks for testing it for me Wes.    And thanks to Jeff and Duckworks for sharing.

[wkisting]

Ken,

Not sure if it will turn out the same on your boat (there may be variables due to differences in tiller height, shape, etc.), but I found that the ideal placement for the eyescrew under the tiller is exactly 3" forward of the cockpit coaming (i.e., 3" forward of the point on the underside of the tiller that is directly over the coaming, I mean). Then I mounted the clamcleat 14" forward of the eyescrew to give enough space for the bungee to stretch varying amounts for different friction levels. I played with a lot of different configurations before this one, but the bungee is definitely an improvement. It keeps the little adjustment line positively loaded (due to the stretch in the bungee) so that the adjustment line can be tweaked in small amounts and the bungee pulls it snugly into the cleat. Before I added the bungee, I found that I had to fiddle with the line a lot to make small adjustments, usually using both hands as I simultaneously snugged the line slightly with one hand and tugged in the opposite direction to seat it back in the cleat at the new setting.

That's my two cents. It generates an impressive amount of friction and should work very well. After I snapped those pics, I mounted eyebolts through the aft bulkhead stringer, located under the cockpit coaming (out of plain view)... one eyebolt on each side of the cockpit for tying off the line that runs athwartships. I also removed the fancy knots from the adjustment line to make it more discrete. Here's the updated pic.

[Ken_Potts]

  Cool Wes.  I'll do something similar for the attachment of the line to the boat.  I had been thinking of running the bungee right into the cleat but I don't know if bungee cleats well.  The S hook is great because it can be attached or released easily and when you don't want the friction you can hook the s hook onto the eye bolt and leave the tamer line disconnected.

  Until I saw Jeff's post I was planning to run a line across the bulkhead (like you've got) but terminate one end with a sliding knot so I could clove hitch the tiller (or a hook on the tiller) and tighten the knot.

  I like your (and Jeff's and Duckworks') way more.

[JeffM]

I might try Wes' little innovation, also.  I'm betting it reduces the considerable wear & tear on the cordage, since the athwartship line slides over the metal eye and S-hook.

[wkisting]

That's correct Jeff... the S-hook gives adequate friction on the line to "tame" the tiller, but does not chafe the line as quickly as rope on rope would. That was one motive for the change, besides the simplicity of clipping the line on and off as Ken mentioned.

Ken, as you suggested, the bungee does not cleat well. The line stretch works it loose, which is why I had to go to the loop of bungee and attach cordage to run through the cleat. Doesn't look quite as elegant, but if I can find some black cordage it could be made a little more discrete. And while sitting in the boat, you don't notice it because it is under the tiller.

[Garry]

Ken, as you suggested, the bungee does not cleat well. The line stretch works it loose, which is why I had to go to the loop of bungee and attach cordage to run through the cleat. Doesn't look quite as elegant, but if I can find some black cordage it could be made a little more discrete. And while sitting in the boat, you don't notice it because it is under the tiller.

I hate to disagree, Wes, but it looks very elegant to me. Simple, practical and effective - that's my definition of elegant!

[wkisting]

Just like you to be disagreeable Garry...   Actually, I think it's fine when you're sitting in the boat, but I still wish I didn't have these cords (uphaul, downhaul, and tamer) cluttering up the look of the tiller.

One tip about the loop of bungee for any contemplating a setup like mine: Singe the cut ends lightly with a lighter (to sear any frayed edges), then dip the ends in liquid electrical tape a couple of times... the coating works very nicely to keep the sheath from unraveling back off of the rubber core and to prevent the knot from working loose.

[Ken_Potts]

Yeah, Gary! Quit pickin on Wes!  ;D

[wkisting]

Well, I prefer the convenient functions too much to give them up for the sake of form. But those ropes and the tiller extension handle really do clutter up the look of our elegant tiller... oh well.

[JeffM]

Those who've seen my boat know that I value function WAY more than form.  -or artistry.  -or craftsmanship.  -or cleanliness.  -or...