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Optimist Gunwale looking for the perfect design

Thinking ahead to the time when we will add the gunwales (gunnels) has got my mind racing. I remember dinghies I sailed as a kid, and they always seemed to have some sizable gunwales to sit on. Some of the plywood Optimist Prams dont offer much surface area for the helmsmans backside. I know our kids will start out in light wind conditions, but it wont take long for them to want to sit on the high-side and hike while sailing.

In my searching for the best solution for this design I looked at the Club Racer by Bateau. They seem to have a comfy looking gunwale, so I looked into the way they created their version. A complete guide to the construction of the Club Racer is located at: http://www.latitude2739.com/club-racer.asp It is a really nice looking Optimist that is the same as the epoxy/wood version of the Optimist as described by the IODA standards. Bateau claims that it differs in that it is much easier to build and will be more durable, and last longer.

They start their process with corner braces cut at angles to the sides and bows to create the width that will be the gunwale. Plywood is used for this process, but I think we could use hardwood to accomplish this same design using glues and screws to bypassing the need to encase the area in epoxy.
All photos - Youth Sailing Foundation of Indian River unless otherwise noted.

To build up the width of the gunwale on the sides of the boat, they employ the use of plywood spacers to hold off the inner strake that will define the inner side of the gunwale. The picture below shows a double piece of 12mm plywood used as a spacer along with an inner and outer strake and rubrail of 12mm plywood. I believe that makes a total width of 3 inches.

The bow and transom are finished of in less thick manner shown below:

With the substructure of the gunwale finished it looks pretty nice. Ive been contemplating how well this design would look if we finished the gunwales without a cap piece of plywood. The plywood works well in the Club Racer because it will be sealed with epoxy. Our boats will not have epoxy, and this makes the finishing of the gunwale, perhaps a bit different.

The Club Racer is finished off with a plywood cap piece set in thickened epoxy, and then the edge is routed to 5mm radius for comfort and esthetics.

All this great information and pictures came from the Youth Sailing Foundation of Indian River Co. and their sister site Latitude 27/39 Sail Club.

2015 Fall Season A List of Free for alls

Over the years this blog has featured some of the oddball regattas/sailing races where you take your oddball small sailboat and compete against a bunch of other oddball small sailboats. During the fall season there is enough of these events you could, if so inclined, hop-scotch up and down the East Coast of the United States.

They are (in roughly chronological order):

Sebago Cup - mid-September at the Sebago Canoe Club, Brooklyn N.Y.

A one race jaunt around Jamaica Bay. Im sure they would be delighted to see some out-of-town visitors and been told, even though this is Brooklyn, there is plenty of parking around the club. See comments for more info from SCC members.

SEBAGO CUP ----- September 19, 2015
Our annual cruising race!
This is an open class cruising race open to non-members. Fleets will be created upon the participation of at least two boats of the same class. Contact sailing@sebagocanoeclub.org for more information.
Skippers meeting - 11:30 am
Starting gun - 12:30 pm
Notice of Race
Sailing Instructions

NSHOF Classic Wooden Sailboat Rendezvous- mid-September, Annapolis Maryland.

A one-or-two lap race around the Annapolis Harbor. The majority of entrants are classic cruising keelboats but there is always a smattering of small boats. This year John Z is entering his Classic Moth.

CLASSIC WOODEN SAILBOAT RACE, Sunday ---- September 27, 2015
NOR

MASCF (Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival) - First weekend in October, St. Michaels Maryland.

This is more of an event than sailing race but there is, on Saturday, a one-lap sailing race in the river starting around noon that is quite a hoot. I have done it twice in my Classic Moth Tweezer where I was racing in a division featuring a motley assortment of larger craft including Thistles, Core Sound 17s, Blue Jays, Celebritys, log canoes.

MASCF ---- October, 2, 3, 4, 2015

Registration

Tweezer trying to stay ahead of a log canoe - MASCF sailing race

Pollys Folly - mid-October, Megunticook Lake, Camden, Maine.

Hosted by John and Polly Hanson. This is a small affair, hosted out of their lake-front cabin around the time of Maines fall foilage.

Archipelago Rally - early-November - Somewhere in the state of Rhode Island.

In a twist on normal advanced scheduling, the organizers wait until about two weeks before the event before announcing the location. A one lap race, usually going around something.

Jet Propulsion for hydrofoil or maybe a prop and flex shaft

Very cool control system

The drive with the angle reduced improves losses 20% 4.3 Amps idling so only 300mA losses from the shaft. I think the steering should be integrated as a kitchen rudder behind the prop.

Reversing the shaft on a Turnigy D3542/4 Aero drive It a 1450 KV and should deliver loads of torque at 14,000 RPM on as 3C

Battery: 2~4 Cell /7.4~14.8VRPM: 1450kvMax current: 48A No load current: 4AMax power: 690WInternal resistance: 0.019 ohmWeight: 130g (including connectors)Diameter of shaft: 5mmDimensions: 35x42m

Above is a 47 mm prop I have a 57 to once I have the motor attached to the shaft sleeve I will do a power test in a tank see what thrust and Amps I get. With the fat end of 1 HP it should have plenty of clog to lift it up on the foils.

The shaft is running in a good quantity of copper slip. Ran it on a 4C for a minute an the brass only got warm.

I think the body of the hydrofoil will be a lunch box. I think I will have the prop shaft attached to the rear foil

Perhaps the prop on the above can be placed in a tube like these designs

An interesting jet outboard very high outlet must cost power

Jet Propulsion for hydrofoil

One thing as there is no transom the bulky scroll will always be in the flow and the outlet will be under water which will reduce the trust considerably.

If the outlet was up high it would work better also the riser would need to be streamlined

Or what about an EDF pumping air into a venturi like below

Working on a July Launch Date for the Optimist

My brothers and I have slowed our building of the Optimist down to a crawl. However, my brother Darren has taken the lead and wants the first boat to launch on July 4th.

He has purchased sail, tiller and extension, blades (rudder, centerboard), gudgeons from APS - Annapolis Performance Sailing.

To protect the chine he has laid down a 2 inch strip of fiberglass cloth in simple-clear polyester resin. It should provide a bit of resistance to any "hard blows" on rocks that make up the shore of our part of Lake Ontario.

Polyester resin is quick to harden and very easy to sand. It costs about half the price of shipping epoxy to us. Its just a short drive to the auto parts to pick up a quart.

A Good Book for Sailors

I promised you no more book reviews in 2014; but the new year is in full swing. This book was given to me at least several months before we left NY in early October by Judy, a dear friend of mine and Lenes, who sailed with us for a few days in the Turks and Caicos in early 2012. Her book group read it and liked it even though they are not sailors; sailors will appreciate it more.

It is about three generations of the Scottish Stevenson family. Robert Louis Stevenson would have been the fourth had he not forsaken engineering for literature to the great disappointment of his family and with a personal sense of shame. The three generations built most of the lighthouses of Scotland and supervised their operation.

Two threads are woven through the book. One is the biographical -- the marriages, births, deaths and personalities of the men, mostly the men, and their wives-- a personal story. The other and vastly larger part tells the story of how they built the lighthouses, against all sorts of obstacles.

Both parts were interesting, though the later was far more interesting to me. Much of the personal part relates to the efforts of fathers to induce their children to follow their footsteps into the family engineering business. Robert Louiss father was himself drawn to literature but was forced to abandon it to study engineering, which he then tried to force his son into. The fathers drove themselves very hard and demanded as much from subordinates and their children. Except for the first generation, the men suffered from weak health, which was exacerbated by long days of strenuous physical activity in cold wet places.

There is a skeleton family tree which is incomplete, in the sense that the text names various members of the family who are described on the tree merely as part of, e.g., "two daughters."

More irritating to me, the sketch map of Scotland at the front shows the names of some of the cities, islands, firths and lighthouses, but is terribly incomplete. The lack of a proper map in a book that is about locations was the major obstacle to my enjoyment of the book. The author refers to so many places, possibly presuming that only persons who are quite familiar with Scottish geography would read her book. The Stevenson family also designed much of the "new city" of their home, Edinburgh. I tried to use Google Earth to figure out which roads were joined with others. Subsequent changes to the landscape are what I blame for my inability to complete that task. There are sixteen plates showing the most famous lights and portraits of the Stevensons, but none of Edinburgh. Bathurst is very able to draw pictures with words, but maps would be so much better.

Bathurst also mentions big events in Scottish history with which I had not even the vaguest idea. Jacobites were Scottish revolutionaries, and "The Clearances" was the process by which the landed gentry forced the "highland" Celtic peasants off the land to make more money from sheep. This contributed to the Scottish Potato Famine. Some of the "crofters" went to the "lowlands", areas in the southern and eastern parts of Scotland, others to America. But all this I learned from Google after Bathurst merely mentioned the terms.

Another minor defect in the book is the absence of any footnotes to support the statements made. I would like to know if a given statement about a person is the authors conclusion from one or more documented episodes, from her reading of his letters or journals, or based on a secondary source: either a biographer or a newspaper. I am used to David McCulloch and Dorris Kearnes Goodwin, who give you the source of every statement in their books. It is not that I want to read all of those footnotes, but one feels more comfortable knowing that they are there. Ms. Bathurst does include a bibliography and she seems quite knowledgeable and won my trust after a while.

Most of the chapter titles are the names of the most famous of the lighthouses, each more challenging to build than the last, by which successive generations of Stevensons made their reputations. Bathurst makes the point that each lighthouse needs to be designed to fit the requirements of its site, not aesthetically (though that was true too) but from the viewpoint of the engineering involved, especially the base on which it was to be built. Earlier lighthouses had been knocked down by the waves.

There were also political battles to be won, by the Scottish Lighthouse Board against British control, and by the builders against the wreckers who made their living from salvage and accurately perceived that the lighthouses would diminish their livelihood. Religious people argued that God had put the shoals where he did, and if he had wanted to, he would have put lighthouses there too. How can one argue with such a person.

Bell Rock, the Stevensons first, was built on a rock that was underwater at high tide. So work could only be done there, until the tower was partly built: at high tide, in daylight, in the summer and in good weather. Not many hours of work per year.

The process of building the lights seemed to me like a scaling of Everest, where one has to establish a series of base camps leading to the final assault. In the case of lighthouses, these were to locate a quarry, create a remote land base where the materials could be assembled, acquire a ship to convey them to the rock, and then create: a landing place, a smaller temporary structure in which the workmen could live, the ring cut in the rock for a foundation, the foundation, the tower and finally the light at its top, before hiring and training the keepers. And in some locations during big storms, the waves threw tons of salt water over the top of and into uncompleted lights and tore away blocks of granite weighing several tons.

The story also tells of the advances in lighting technology during the years, from a coal fire on a hilltop to candles with parabolic mirror reflectors behind them, to early glass lens concentrators, to Fresnel lenses. And fuels advanced from whale oil to paraffin and even, after the Stevensons, electric bulbs, and the automation of the lights with consequent elimination of the keepers.

Bathurst includes other advances in safety at sea such as lifesaving organizations with boats, life vests, Plimsoll lines (to prevent overloading), licensing in an attempt to require competence and, in an epilogue after the Stevensons era, radio, GPS, and EPIRB. Bathurst notes the Volvo phenomenon -- as safety and navigation equipment improves, recreational boaters take greater chances, like Volvo drivers who drive faster because they are lulled into a false sense of safety by the safety built into their vehicles. A cautionary advice to all sailors.

My enjoyment of the book was enhanced by two others I have read. The first half of Robert Louis Stevensens "Kidnapped" is in essence a counterclockwise circumnavigation of Scotland, punctuated by a shipwreck, which, took place on the Isle of Erran, near the site of Skerryvore, the largest, tallest Scottish light.
The wreck was before the light was built. I added the route of the hero of "Kidnapped" to the crude map in my book. The second was Joshua Slocums Sailing Alone Around The World, reviewed in this blog, which included a gift of books from Robert Louis Stevensons widow to Captain Slocum.

The first in the line of Stevensons began as a metal worker who invented polished curved mirrors to concentrate light. He built lighthouses to provide a market for his polished mirrors. He was self taught and valued education and the dynasty grew up coincident with the development of engineering as a profession. He considered himself inferior because of his lack of a classical education.
Here is Robert Louis, painted by his friend, John Singer Sargent, obtained in August 2015 at a show at the Met Museum of Art.

Many people love lighthouses as works of beauty. Our Maine trip in 2013 has pictures of many of them. And one underestimates the value of lighthouses to navigation if one thinks them as useful only at night. As God led the Children of Israel through the desert for 40 years (Exodus 13) by manifesting himself as a pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night, lighthouses guide mariners by their light by night and their bulk by day. A good read.

Four More Great Sails Round Out July And A Serious Health Issue Changes Plans for August

Four more day sails and one work day closed out July. Regrettably, Lene was not aboard. Average of 4.55 hours per sail.
First was Greg and Kathy. Greg is a member of my Mens Book Group. We men get to meet each others wives when we have dinners at each others homes and at our annual Spring social. Kathy and Greg have also visited the Barnes Collection in Philly with us a couple of years ago. Greg, a terrific artist and retired professor of drawing has sailed with me several times and Kathy, a retired teacher,

Gregs drawing, sorry about side view.

overcame her fears on this rookie voyage. The wind started at less than ten and grew to more than 15 as the day wore on. We used the small jib and main, getting to Sea Cliff YC and then dipping into Manhassett Bay far enough to see Port Washington, on the way home. Pinot Grigio on the mooring at the end. We have been enjoying stronger than normal winds this July.
Next up was Cynthia, a past guest, in a lot of wind for 2.25 hours underway. We used reefed main and no head sail and made speeds of five to seven knots on beamy reaches back and forth into Little Neck Bay.
The excitement came at the end, when it was time to fetch the mooring. This is no task for a sweet petite lady who is a bit older than I. So I had to try to get close to the pickup stick and slow ILENE before running forward to the bow to grab the bobbing pickup stick and then pull up and grab and attach the bridle before the wind blew us away. I made six tries. The problem is that when you slow down enough to not race past the mark, even though you aim as close to the wind as possible, the wind will come a few degrees on one side or the other and blow the boats bow away. I gained a new appreciation for the accomplishments of my friend Jim, who sailed "Aria" solo for many years, though his run from tiller to bow, on a 26 foot boat, was shorter than mine. Twice I grabbed the pickup stick in these six tries. The first time the boat turned and the wind pushing on its side made the boat too heavy for me to hold; I had to let go. Frustration!!!! The second time the cheap flimsy line with which the mooring servicer had tied the pickup stick to the bridle -- parted! I had the stick but it was no longer attached to a bridle. FRUSTRATION! And in all this I had a few close encounters with friends moored boats -- but no touches. Strong reverse gear pulled ILENEs bow back past the bow of the neighboring boat. So what to do? Call the Harlem launch and ask for help! The operator wisely let me wait, circling, for a few minutes while he got reinforcements. Two strong men Dave and Jeep, jumped from the slow moving launch to the slow moving ILENE. Then, when I got ILENEs bow to the mooring ball, and held her there, they used a boat hook to grab the bridle and the problem was solved. The alternative plan B I had contemplated would have been to go a bit outside of the mooring field and drop anchor. Cynthia professed that she was never worried. This was because I never showed my fear. Lene joined Cynthia and me for dinner at Neptune Restaurant, a favorite, on First avenue near 12th Street.

Next I enjoyed a very productive work day with Lenes cousins sons, Jake and Jared. They were transformed from guests the weekend before, to worker bees, for five hours. The economy is so weak that they dont have summer jobs. So they liked the money and I liked the quality and quantity of the work they accomplished, largely helping me bring the RIB dink from the upstairs locker to the dock and compounding and waxing the topsides and cockpit. While they worked I varnished the other side of the cafe doors, replaced the mooring bridle to pickup stick line with a stouter one, whipped a few ends and cleaned up the galley stove top. I also picked up the outboard from Tony, proprietor of Island Outboard, two blocks from the Club, on City Island Avenue (718) 885-2012. Tony has done a lot of good work on my outboard over the years and we use it many times more than most people.
Next day being a Wednesday, I tried to revive the Club within a Club (See Blog, July 2012.) This is the informal group of people who have Wednesday afternoons available. With the loss last year of four of our larger boats (ILENE was in Maine), the group had sort of fizzled out. But on only 15 hours notice only three other folks showed up. The very light winds may have held down attendance as well and I have been encouraged to try artificial respiration again later, with more notice. Morty asked that we sail with him and his wife Clara on their 30 foot Catalina, "Easy Living." Completing our quartet was a new member, Mary, an Oncological Nurse Practitioner, who does not have a boat yet but has been found qualified to use the Clubs J-24s and is enthusiastic. The sailing was rather listless with very light wind but we did get up to 4.5 knots on two occasions when puffs lifted us. And the lunch before hand, the conversation during and the G&T (vodka actually) after were all quite good.
Finally, on the last day of the month, I helped set up a sail with our former member, Nick, whose boat we helped sell last year after he became a resident of the Hebrew Home for the Aged due to memory issues.

Master carpenter and dance instructor, Nick, at dinner after.

I signed him out and was met at the Club by three other old friends of his, one of whom, John, had driven up from Marylands Eastern Shore.

Don and John

We were off the mooring for five hours: close hauled out of Eastchester Bay, then broad reaching with a couple of jibes to about six miles east of Matinecock Point before tacking for one long close reach back past Execution Rocks. Then to give them some excitement, after changing back from the genoa to the small jib, we tacked back up through Hart Island Sound, over to near L.I. and then to the mooring. After dousing sails we passed through the channel behind Big Tom under motor and went through the City Island YC fleet looking for Nicks old boat but we did not spot her. All of these men are good sailors. Like Nick, Don and John are past members of the Harlem. Nick taught John how to sail. Don preferred to trim sails and the other three men shared the helm. Nicks memory problems definitely did not involve any impairment of his ability of to handle the helm. Pat, rounded out our group.

Co-organizer of the event, a nurse, and one of the most knowledgeable and helpful men in the Club.

He spotted a damaged ring clip at the tack of the jib,which we replaced and taped. It was catching the Genoa jib sheets, causing damage to them and itself. I usually try to "improve" my friends boat when I sail with them. This time Pat did this for me. He had also brought the Chardonnay that we shared in the cockpit, apres sail. Then the guys helped my try to inflate the dink on the dock noting that the washer at the end of the pump hose was missing, which was the problem. (A new one is on order.) The day ended with dinner together before the three others drove Nick home.
And proving that our rosy life does not exist without a few thorns, I got a call from Lene during our dinner. The needle biopsy of her left lung came back as malignant, but stage one, slow growing and small. It gives one cause to pause. It will be removed by laperoscopic surgery on August 12, with preparatory tests between now and then. If one has to catch cancer, this is the type to get and the early dtection was quite lucky.
But, of course, this means that our plans to cruise up to Nantucket during the entire month of August will not come off. We are now planning a short five day cruise in the Sound before the surgery, during which we hope to catch up with the HYC Club Cruise, at Matinecock, in the Sound. Lenes attitude is really great. She is cheerful, positive, determined and optimistic. She knows that worry does one no good. NYUs Langone Medical Center is a world class hospital and she has excellent doctors. Stay tuned!

October 27 November 14 ILENE Is Ready for the Winter

White, unpainted bottom. Six work days took place during this period, (totaling 30.75 hours - so Im not working too hard) and two fun days as well.
Why not start with the fun. There was an emergency meeting at the Club because of a failure of a quorum at an earlier meeting. This one took only five minutes and we accomplished two ministerial tasks so they can be acted upon at the next meeting. And then a delicious Moroccan style buffet was served. So this not being a food blog, I will refrain from telling you about the menu -- except for the apple cake, which, based on the flavor and moistness and icing I would have called a carrot cake, except the moistness came from chopped apple instead of grated carrot. And I ended up sitting at the table with the Clubs book group, twelve women and three men, and enjoyed their discussion of "A Man Called Ove" even though I had not read the book.
The other fun event was the 20th Annual Gow Dinner, sponsored by Tex and Maria, who we dined with in Marathon Florida last winter. Tex pays for the whole meal so the full price of the tickets, $50/capita, goes to the Dow School to sponsor a scholarship in memory of their son, who was a student there, until he tragically died in a motorcycle accident. Tex and Maria flew up from where they had left their boat on their way south. I have contributed the cost of two tickets every year for the last twenty, including those when we were south and could not attend in person. Tex is a PC at the Harlem and also a member of the Huguenot, and this year the event took place at the Huguenot. Tex and Maria have a large circle of friends at both clubs and elsewhere, so attendance was good. Somehow, I had forgotten to send in the check so they had no reservation for us, but another PC, who did have reservations could not come at the last minute so we were seated at a table of Harlemites. Tex made a speech, and in his tradition, cried.

Basically the work involved winterization of the water systems and installation of the blue canvas cover with a few other chores started or completed. I had a big problem with the winterization, having sort of forgotten one important ingredient: It is a two man job, one to pour in the pink propelyne glycol and the other turning on and off swtches and faucets and waiting till the discharge appears pink. I got stuck and called upon Ed Spallina, who came in from Connecticut to help me. I used four of his very inexpensive hours and had the pleasure of taking him to lunch at the New Rochelle diner, sort of hidden in plain sight near the Home Depot. Ed is not "certified" as a technician, but he is magically able to figure out how things work. I had drained the raw water strainer, of its sea water through a screw at the

bottom, but had never been able to remove its stainless steel filter basket, because I did not know how to get it open. Well now I know that the top screws off and it is a good thing we looked inside because the basket was substantially corroded away. With this picture and a few measurements, I expect to be able to get a replacement basket that fits. Without its straining, particles are likely to be sucked through the engine causing major problems. Ed also bypassed the hot water heater after draining it, by detaching the two hoses that (1) feed cold water to the heater and (2) take hot water from it and connecting them to each other with a black plastic piece with hose barbs at both ends. I had the piece but had not figured out how to use it. Also, we detached the hose that takes fresh water from the tanks to the fresh water pump, and inserted a three foot long piece of hosing cut from the spare hose left over from the water maker installation job of 2010, and inserted a funnel at the top end. So now I do not need to pour so much of the pink stuff into the tanks, but can pour it directly into the pump. This year I used 14 gallons of the stuff. Next year, half that amount!
The cover comes in two pieces and installing it is a bear. On the day before, I scrubbed the topsides, and removed most of the stains in the fiberglass deck caused by the decay of fallen maple leaves -- they put ILENE under a big maple. Im on deck, about 14 feet above ground with the life lines removed and have a lot of lugging and heaving to do to do to get the cover into place and zip the two halves together. It took me four hours. And the problems involved the zippers. In the spring of 2014 when I took the cover off, I noticed that the aft most zipper on the port side was broken. I meant to take the big piece in to Doyle Sailmakers to get it fixed but I forgot. So at the end of the day, the cover was on, but with one inoperative zipper, about ten feet long. I was too tired to take it that half off, fold it up, put it in the car and take it to Doyle. Plan B was to sew across the gap and that took several hours the next day, with a tough job of pushing the needle into the fabric, using the palm to get it most of the way through and then pliers to pull the end through. Good exercise for the core muscles, doing this while balancing on the top of the step ladder. And at the end of the day I noticed another bad zipper, the one that closes the cover up above the swim platform, through which we enter, though it will hold this season.
I could not remove the sensor that measures speed through the water from the through hull where it had been painted in over the years. But Ed had a pliers with a large enough jaws to grab it and that is done. And I bought butt connectors and shrink wrap tubes and spiced the five wires from it to the five that lead from there to the power source and display. Final test: I asked a man working on a nearby boat to spin the wheel that protrudes from the bottom of the boat after I turned on the instruments and got to the cockpit where I could observe the display for boat speed. When he spun the wheel with his finger the instrument changed from zero to showing speed. Hooray! Then I took the tube with the wheel out and replaced it with the attached plug. The reason that the wheel kept breaking until now was the pressure of the heavy lifting strap against it. And the boat has a little plastic sign saying "Strap" telling the yard guys where to place the straps, so that the boat will be balanced in the two straps. Yep! -- right where the speed instrument is. So next spring, after the boat is back in the water, I will pull out the plug and then quickly insert the instrument into the hole through which the water will then be spurting.
The last part of the work involved the anchor and chain. The anchor was where the gap is in the cover at the bow.

I lowered anchor and chain to the ground using the windlass. Then I used (1) rust penetrating oil, (2) heat and (3) a hammer to break the seal and detached the anchor and its shackle and took them to the locker. The surprise was at the bitter end of the 300 feet of stainless chain, the end where it it attached to a "D" clamp it the locker. It was tied on with a square knot in 3/16 inch line, and not that strong Spectra stuff either! When I put it back, this attachment will be made fast with a stainless steel shackle. I have sawed off a large part of the horizontal 3/4 inch thick plywood platform on which the former Lectrasan was seated. This gives me better access to the chain locker and, I hope, will reduce the problem of the chain piling up and jamming the windlass while we raise the anchor. By sawing this off I got the vacuum cleaner hose and my arm into the locker to remove accumulated sand and rust particles and then scrub the rust stains of its interior walls. The half of the chain that goes into the water with each anchoring, is heavily rusted but otherwise still in good condition. The other 150 feet that have lain in the locker is white in this photo.

First I tied loops of it up behind the car and dragged it several blocks through the streets to grind off the exterior rust particles. The remaining work, in addition to installing the new brackets in the spring, is to scrape off 90 percent of the rust on the interior surfaces of each link.

Below is part of the boat, with its cover. At the top is the bottom of the blue canvas. below that, to the right is the aft portion of the bottom with its several coats of grey barrier coat, partially covered with what is left of the blue anti-barnacle paint. To the left, going forward, is the white gelcoat, after the paint was removed. After I touch up this surface it will put on several coats of barrier coat and then several coats of bottom paint. But that will take place in the spring.

The Chosen One The Boat Plans For Me

I here by reserve the right to change my mind, (like I change underwear,at least once a month) on the boat I plan to build.

In my last post,"Deciding On A Boat To Build",I gave a vague idea of what I want in a boat.There are so many pros and cons to building a boat by yourself,that it is nearly impossible to list them all.Any boat bought or built is nothing more than a series of compromises,unless money is no object or you simply want it to float.I started with my main compromise and worked back from there.Youre probably thinking,"what would be the main compromise?"That would be the ability to trailer the boat, without legal implications, behind a full size pick up truck,van,or class C RV.My state,and most states, the legal width allowed is 8 feet 6 inches and a combined length of 65 feet with a maximum height of 13 feet.With this information,I know I want a boat that has an 8 foot six inch beam or narrower, and as long as possible.Over the years,my research has shown that most boats with a beam around 86" are between 25 and 30 feet in hull length.Dont confuse this with length over all.Swim platform and the bowsprit/pulpit contribute to the boats total length.After searching and searching some more.I found Spira International.He has many viable boats with a beam at 86" or narrower.Good thing about his site,he has the study plans right there in PDF for all to view.He will design a boat specifically for you,but you must be serious and ready to buy the plans.His plans are for the average DIY guy with a local lumber yard or home improvement store.I like to refer to his plans as "every day mans boat plans".They are fairly fast to build, and simple to construct with basic construction materials.He even has a video and ebook on how to build his boats.You can use top shelf marine grade materials and dress your boat up in polish and varnish if you wish.Nothing wrong with that at all.I prefer a more low key working boat appearance.

BUILDING WITH PLYWOOD

I studied Spiras site and really considered what I wanted in a boat.I have to have a full stand up head with shower,enclosed cabin,and galley.With the health issues and medications I take,I cant be in the sun or heat for long periods without getting sick.I only want a small rear deck for fishing from so a larger than usual cabin can be built.All this adds up and makes the boat heavier affecting the boats draft.I need a hull that has a flat bottom and a draft of around 12 to 16 inches with the lower unit out of the water.A flat bottom allows the boat to sit flat on the ground when the tide runs out.I will get more into this in a later post.Shallow draft is a must here.Our area is prone to sudden shoaling.I dont mean going from deep to shallow water in a short distance.I mean the bottom will silt up and become shallow over night, or after a freak down pour.Ask me how I know,but I rather you didnt.

COMPLETE BOOK OF WOOD BOAT CONSTRUCTION

Another issue is propulsion.Most areas around me have banned two stroke outboards.Only the newer two stroke OBs with EPA approval can get the OK to be on the lakes.Four strokes are a non issue.Both are very expensive still,especially around here where two strokes are banned.The only viable option for me is stern drive,straight inboard,or V drive.The least expensive option for me is a stern drive.They are also referred to as I/Os or inboard outboards.I can usually find them in complete boats in good condition from $1000 to $5000.Buying a complete donor boat insures that I get everything needed to make my boat go.I will get more into this in another post.

I looked at a number of Spira designs in the 25 to 30 foot length.Most of Spiras designs are based on dories of different locales around the US.I live in South Carolina and went straight to looking at the Spira Carolina dories.They really are wonderful boats but they have narrow bows and taper to a fairly narrow transom.This kills interior volume compared to other dory designs.However,he does have a design with a layout that I really like,just wish it was beamier.That boat is the 27 foot Bahaman.The layout can be found on page two of the study plans.I have decided to go with the Bahaman cabin and layout.

The other boats I considered were.
24 foot Clamente-This boat was to small over all but would make a great weekender or fishing boat for the family.
27 foot Chubasco-This boat would be good compromise and could still happen.
27 foot Newfie St.Pierre dory-This boat is to small but they are beautiful,have great fuel economy,and get attention.
25 foot Kona Hiwaiian Sam Pan-These boats are solid,but have a center keel and deeper draft than I prefer.
27 foot Cane River-This boat is an option for me.It has a shape that is a little more time consuming and difficult to build.
27 foot San Miguel-This boat is a serious option and gets good fuel economy.The down side is the center keel.
27 foot Sitka-This is the boat I chose.I will build it to 30 feet with a V entry bow as shown on the plans.

The deal with center keels,is they do not allow the boat to sit flat when the tide runs out and the running gear can be damaged if the boat is allowed to sit on its bottom.

Why I chose Sitka.If you look at the study plans,you will see that the boat has a rounder bow and the sides run straight back to the transom.This design allows for maximum room in the largest space.It can be stretched to 30 feet with a V entry bow.This is my intention.The bottom is dead flat with no rocker(curve) from bow to stern.This makes for a very shallow running hull.This hull was designed specifically for outboard power.However,I contacted Jeff Spira,and when I start building,he is going to advise me on how to build the stern to accept a stern drive set up.I think I will be the first to build this design to these specs.I will be purchasing my plans early spring 2013 and hope to start building soon after.While this design will not get the best fuel economy,it will have room and the ability to carry large amounts of weight.The V entry bow will help with fuel economy since the boat will spend most of its time running displacement speed.

My next post will deal with build costs and planning.I will break down the cost of a few of the bigger boats,including the one I plan to build.

BOATS WITH AN OPEN MIND

Sewing Machine For Upholstery and Enclosure Canvas

A few years back,my girlfriend and I purchased a 1962 Singer Fashion Mate 237 from my aunt for a song.Soon after,I located an owners manual for the sewing machine on Ebay.Reading through it,I have found that the sewing machine is capable of doing upholstery and canvas sail cloth work.I was a bit surprised that the sewing machine is rated for canvas sailcloth.The sewing machine is heavy,around 80 pounds.I believe the body is cast steel.I know the internals are high quality precision machined steel,possibly hardened.I worked for a friend that did auto,rv,and marine upholstery.His father also owned a household upholstery shop.I worked for him when we didnt have work.At those two shops,I used a Pfaff and a Consew.I briefly had an auto upholstery shop where I leased some off brand sewing machine.It was a horible machine that wouldnt hold its timing and constantly bent or broke needles.Its not fun having a needle fly past your eye at sub light speed.Always wear safety glasses.Sounds goof,I know,but flying needles can be dangerous.Some of the newer industrial commercial machines have clear plastic glass guards to protect the operator.I dont need,nor can I afford,to go with an industrial sewing machine.

Recently,I had been looking into Sailrite sewing machines.I know that when I build my boat,I will want to do all the work I can myself.After viewing some of their sewing machines,I feel confident that my sewing machine will handle the job.I am not knocking Sailrite sewing machines.They are quality.My sewing machine may not have all the options and accessories as a Sailrite,but it is more than enough for the simplistic interior and canvas work that will be on my boat.I will have a few seat cushions,interior,and exterior window coverings.I wont have a flybridge to deal with covering and/or enclosing.I will enclose my rear deck.I will have a rack over my rear deck to carry my dinghy.My plan is to hang my canvas from the rack like the old external frame tents used in the 1950s and 60s.It will seal to the back of the cabin with a belt rail system similar to those used on Jeep CJs and Wranglers.All in all,there wont be as much sewing on my boat compared to something like a Bayliner of comparable dimensions.

Here are some pictures of my sewing machine.It came with a beat up cheapo cabinet.I will build a small table to set it in when I get ready to do the upholstery for my boat.

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Here is the cabinet open.The sewing machine nestles down inside of it. Photobucket

Lifting the stand allows the sewing machine to rotate up and out of the cabinet. Photobucket

Here is the speed control(gas) pedal.It is aluminum with a plastic pedal. Photobucket

Here is the machine rotated up out of the cabinet.You can see all the precision steel machine work.Also visible is the date stamp,8162 or August 1,1962. Photobucket

This machine has a lot more options than first appears.About 60 different ways to set up for sewing.It will even do embroidery and buttons.Thats gotta be useful. Photobucket