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Building the Bay River Skiff 15 #152


Don Silsbe

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I'm glad to see interest in building the Bay River Skiff continues.  I built the second sailing version over 20 years ago, the first with the current interior layout.  The Core Sound boats are better sailboats in some respects but the BRS is the best all round sail/row/power and work skiff I know of.  Liz and I were sailing LOON on Penobscot Bay, ME and came upon a typical Maine wooden ketch out for a day sail. The people aboard that really beautiful boat exclaimed that LOON was a "just right" beautiful boat.  Don't soon forget praise like that.

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Don,

 

Graham entered the BRS in the first design contest that Woodenboat ran in 1992 or '93.  The experts at WB deemed the "Perfect skiff" as the winner and the BRS only got its lines shown.  Saw the Perfect Skiff in a Newport, RI  boatshow and the judges must have been drunk as that boat has lots of problems that are don't exist in a BRS.  Never seen another perfect skiff so other boating people must be smarter.  To be fair, there were other entrants much better than the judges choice also. 

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I got in trouble with the War Department yesterday, for planing down some oak for the keel batten. (I'm supposed to be taking it easy on my back.). So today I worked on making a routing jig to shape a NACA0009 foil for my c/b. I'm quite pleased with the results!

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OK, Don, I'll do your work for you. You guys will have to click on these to actually see the pictures.

 

You have to lay on your side to see this one. That's Don outside of his garage with the beginnings of his BRS 15. Notice the gizmo sticking through the transom? I'll show you what it is on the next pic.

 

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  • Don says on our Southern Applachian Messing About in Boats Facebook page: "No, Chick. It's just that I live on a very steep hillside."
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    Charles Ludwig I wondered why one of your legs is longer than the other...
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    Don Silsbe Absolutely! It is a necessity, when living in the NC foothills.
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    Charles Ludwig I find that one of my legs is beginning to grow too. I live on a mountainside myself. When walking on level ground, I tend to go in circles.
 

 

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It's a boarding ladder! Coool!! Don says "Since this will be my Old Man's Boat, I thought it would be good to have a good plan for reboarding, in case of capsize. I like the way this tucks out of sight most of the time. I sure do hope that it works!"

 

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If you want one of these boarding ladders, here is where to get it. I think I'll have to get one for the new Summer Breeze. Don says " I found the best deal atfishermanssupply.com."

 

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OK, boys and girls, I'm soliciting your opinion on this. I want to go with a weighted c/b for the purpose of eliminating the c/b horn. The traditional horn would protrude into the space which my First Mate plans to lounge in. I want to honor that plan,so as to avoid the acquisition of a second mate. (She's a nice person, really.). Anyway, the question to y'all is regarding the placement of the lead. Which of the following locations are your preference, and why? Assume the same mass for all four locations. And the lead is the red, of course.

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The easiest would be to go with "D". You just cut the hole, drive some screws partially into the edges of the hole, temporarily attach a scrap of plywood thin enough do follow the foil, across the hole on one side and lay the board on that side, melt some lead in an old pot on your trusty Coleman stove, or over some charcoal (wheel weights are great and cheap---but ya gotta skim off the steel clips.) Do NOT use your wife's stove. Do NOT breathe the fumes! Pour the lead in 'til its pretty level. When it cools, grind any lead that is too high, or fill with epoxy mush if too low. Glass over the whole mess.

 

You could do one of the others, but it would require cutting off whichever chunk of c/b you want the weight to be on and using the piece to make a plaster mold. Seems like more work than it's worth to me. I've done it both ways. The Core Sound Mk-3s do "C". "C" and "A" would let the lead take the shock of grounding.

 

Hey---is the curve on the top facing the right way? With the board down, is it deeper on the front or the back?

 

Just my humble opinion. Any of them will work.

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I agree with you on all counts, Chick.  I can see the advantage to "A" being the lightning rod for (non-electrical) grounding events. The idea of cutting off the tip, and using it for a form was taken off this forum.  They, of course, used a fancy sand mold compound, and not some easy-breezy Plaster of Paris.  Do you have experience with casting into PoP?  I've never done it.  Also, for "D", would you pour right into the hole in the c/b?  Doesn't that wreak havoc with the (temperature sensitive) epoxy laminations?

 

Yes, this is the shape shown on the BRS15 plans.  I thought the back angle was a little odd, but I'm a retired engineer, not a naval architect.  I defer to those in authority on these matters.  My expertise is in automotive interiors, not hydrodynamics.

 

I'm still very interested in more opinions.  I don't want to rush into this.  Lord knows, I've got enough other stuff to do!  Please share your opinion with me!

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Going with a weighted centerboard is a viable option, but I don't see any relation between using weight or not and the horn.  Weight eliminates the need for a down haul.  The horn reduces the force needed to raise or lower the board.  This force can be compensated for by pulling harder or a block system.

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A 10# lead weight close to the bottom of your CB will be the right amount to get the CB down and not so hard to pull up.  I used a 1 gallon rectangular solvent can to melt 10# lead into because that gave the proper thickness.  Just thick enough to allow fairing over with fiberglass.  Pouring and fairing the lead can work but is more work and less accurate than this method. 

 

You still need to hold the CB up so I still have the horn on the CB.  How do you plan on getting along without the horn?

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We just converted our cs20 to a weighted board. www.sailnaway.blogspot.com

We eliminated the horn and now just use an uphaul. The top of the board now has a 9inch radius around the pivot pin that the uphaul rides on. The uphaul exits the trunk out the side in the fwd top corner behind the king post by way of a block suspended in a hole with a box around it to seal it since its inside our cabin but you could just use a throught deck block installed in the trunk. Yeah it might leak a bit when going fast but so would the open top of the trunk.

Our lead tip was just under 16lbs and with the 9inch lever arm it required about 110 lbs to raise the board fully. We rigged a 10:1 uphaul but this turned out to be overkill because usually your just raising the board from fully down to say halfway down (like when you sail over a shallow spot) and it takes almost no force to move it because gravity isn't a big player yet. It's only the last 30 degrees that start to get heavy.

As to your question, I would go with option "c" or "a" I think "a" is on the leading corner. Anyway, having the lead as a shoe on the bottom is a great advantage because it is so durable. After 4 years of sailing and grounding and banging the board you may have to hammer the lead back smooth and maybe put some more glass over it but you'll never worry about wearing through to the wood.

Lastly, one thing to watch out for is When trailering the board can bounce and with the weight it's like a hatchet and can damage the top of the trunk so you have to have a durable rubber bumper up in there. We shoved a thick foam block up into the back of our trunk and we raise the board up tight for trailering (relax it when stored).

We had some good testing this weekend until the ec was cancelled and the board did great in all conditions. I was pleasantly surprised that it went down very easily even when going upwind and we only had to head up and take all the pressure off of it to get the last couple of degrees down.

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Thanks for the input, Alan.I wonder if building the c/b trunk out of 1/4" is sufficient for the extra loading that this system will impart.  A rubber bumper on the trailer is a great idea!

 

Tom-- Here is the plan I intend to use for eliminating the horn.  This will also allow me to cap the top of the trunk for aesthetics and the First Mate's comfort.  I intend to go with a 4:1 at first, using 4mm Amsteel for the first cascade, switching to 4mm FSE Robline Dinghy Control Line for the remainder of the system.  This stuff is super high strength/low stretch, so it is perfect for this application.  If I need to increase my mechanical advantage, I will simply add another cascade (one more micro block), a bit more line, and I'll have an 8:1 system.  The drawback to 8:1 is that it would double my "throw".

 

All-- Any thoughts regarding lower blade shape?

 

 

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