Posted in Uncategorized on November 23, 2008 by moffitt1
Not a lot of big parts, but some very important ones.
First the Inside cockpit brace for the leeboard.
Here is the start of the Carey Hinge Sean is using for the Rudder. He is building this by memory from viewing the concept several years ago! Not for the likes of me…..
Carey Hinge reciever on stern transom.
Plug rudder will be attached to. Straps are nylon webbing,
Carey Hinge mockup on stern transom.
Mast step and partner.
New rudder stock necessitated by “tall” hatches.
And so the saga continues… The devil is in the details, and Sean should be smelling the Brimstone about now!
Posted in Uncategorized on November 16, 2008 by moffitt1
Sean did quite a bit of work on his boat. Then sent photos.
Hatch detail-these won’t leak!
Corner detail. Sheet-rock screws will be removed and plugged or replaced with brass ones.
Bow hatch on.
Stern hatch on.
Both hatches on.
First try at leeboard pivot-not parallel with CL of boat.
Leeboard pivot final.
Leeboard mounts.
Sean chose the simpler of two versions shown on plan. Board will have same angle of flare as the side. Tiny bit less efficient, but loads simpler to make, maintain, and cartop.
Those hatches would serve a much larger craft! Note these are not the version shown on the plan, but Sean has seen my WOOBO hatches leak some and wanted none of that for his boat. In point of fact, he will have to remake his rudder stock to clear the stern hatch with the tiller. Hard to visualize everything in advance….
I think it says “Olde Floaty McBoaterton” Not sure about this but I include it as Sean sent it to me…
He is working on hatches now and will attach lee board pivot mount next. The shop he is working in has a power feed planer to reduce the mast blank to proper dimensions. Must be nice!
Sean has learned a tremendous amount doing this project, and he is now old enough to realize and appreciate it fully, not like with Slam Dink when he was much younger. Might be the best thing at university yet….!
The last time I went sailing on a lake was around 1960 at Camp Longhorn, Texas, on a Sunfish. All my sailing since I got back from Spain in 1984 has been two weeks a year in the Gulf or on the Atlantic coasts. My WOOBOserved me well these last 8 or 9 years. But now I have Embers Watch, my Mikesboat, and she is too good to limit to one trip a year, even if it was the Texas 200.
So I decided to go lake sailing again. A co-worker who once sailed on Lake Juliette suggested I try there.Yes, that is a power plant you see in the link map.
“Lake Juliette, also known as Rum Creek, is a 3,600-acre Georgia Power Company (GPC) reservoir located 15 miles north of Macon adjacent to Hwy. 23. Impounded in 1980, the lake provides cooling water for Plant Scherer’s electric generating facility. Two boat ramps owned and maintained by GPC are available for public use. WRD prohibits the use of outboard motors greater than 25 hp. Boats with larger outboards may be used, but the outboard cannot be operated.”
There are about 32 miles of shoreline, so I should be able to have some fun for a good number of trips. It is a 1 1/2 hour drive from my house, about 80 miles, so staying over at least one night is the only way to go. Sean (youngest son who was in China instead of Texas 200), went with me. I left work a little early and we got to the lake about 4:30pm. I let Sean sail pretty much the whole trip- I consider sitting back and tending sheet as sailing also… (Click any photo to expand)
Sean’s first sail on Embers Watch-leaving launch area.
Typical shore on far side of lake.
Shots of Sunset anchored for camping… Note con trail! Coal fired, not nuclear…
Winds were 4 to 6 mphthat afternoon and the GPS showed a max speed of 4.3 Knots.
These photos show details of how the tent set up works on the seat/platform made with infill plates between the seats. Stern to bow. Bow to Stern.
I tried a different setup for the rain fly this time. Instead of affixing it to the tent pole bases as designed, we spring clamped it to the wales down the starboard side and ready to pull up and over quickly to clamp the port side if needed. This would shed most of the water out of the boat instead of onto the sole. We did not get to test it out.
Rain fly ready to deploy!
The next morning Plant Scherer had disappeared into the mists!
Scherer converted to a fairy castle in the morning light…
Winds were nil till 10:30, so I rowed for a good while. We had the oar ports open all the time on the lake; this morning I left the oars in place till the wind picked up steady and rowed in between. Here are a couple of shots of that arraignment-worked well.
I found that I could row about 1 stroke every 2.5 to 3 seconds and the boat would go 2 to 2.3 Knots.Even unused to rowing as I am, I kept it up 30 minutes solid, then off and on until the wind got better, and feel I could have done it for much longer.
Top speed on the GPS for that morning was 5 Knots. The water level when heeled came to within 1/2″ of the bottom of the oar ports(That’s with me seated on lee side of the boat though). But the 3.5″ of the rowlock mount gave plenty of room to heel more. Those cover plates undoubtedly did yeoman duty on the Texas 200as we never got a drop of leakage.I am ready to call my deck plate/oar-port adaptation a success. I do need to make a rowing seat about 4″ lower than the bench seats, though I was able to use them as is, but not as efficiently as I will with a lower seat.
Here is a screen shot of the GPS tracks of our trip.
As always, and for all photos herein, click to enlarge. Camp spot on map has date/time stamp next to it.Trip Odometer reads 11.65 nautical miles, top speed 5 Knots and average 2.1Knots. Lots of no to light air at times. We were off the water by 1PM Saturday.
Google shot of lake.
All said and done, I did enjoy the trip and will do another when I can.
I wanted to make sure and thank all you hitters out there. When I started my Mikesboat build, I wanted to keep track of the time it took to build. I knew from past experience that I never seemed to write down the time at days end. So I thought to start a blog to see if that would work.
Well, it didn’t; I did note the time at first, but not for long. All I know is I bought plywood in November 2007 and sailed June 9th, 2008, one day before my 61st birthday.
In an aside, let me recommend celebrating a birthday at the Padre Island Yacht Club in Corpus Christi. We had had two successful days of sailing Embers Watch (my christened Mikesboat)
and one delightful night of camping. Foto by Chuck Leinweber
Thanks to the fine people of the PIYC, I got a hot shower, some air conditioning, a restock of beer and ice to supplement my stock of Woodford Reserve Bourbon, and the fellowship of similarly demented boatnuts. And it was spent with my oldest son, Paul,long out of the nest and a great companion!
Sean, the one that went to China and India instead of Texas 200.
This blog gradually became a focal point of my build. Somehow, anything I accomplished out on the patio did not seem completed until I had documented it here online. Visitors here left a few comments, so I knew SOMEONE was reading this. The weather and work obligations put me way behind and it looked like I might not make it; but then I installed a “widget” on my blog.
This widget was a hit counter and displayed the total number of times someone visited my blog. I was shocked to see several thousand hits! Well, with that big an audience, I could not afford to fail and be shamed in front of such a multitude! So I persisted and finally made it, barely! Freshly on trailer and trying to determine rigging.
With you “hitters” out there urging me on, I wished to say “Thank You!” for the push. I don’t think I would have made it without you all.
Posted in Uncategorized on June 29, 2008 by moffitt1
Larry Whited was kind enough to lend me his 2.5hp outboard motor for the Texas 200. It has convinced me that I have to get one of my own! When I returned it to him, and while he had one up on me, he asked for a write up of the Texas 200.
Larry reminded me of his request yesterday (patient fellow that he is), so I finally wrote something down. It is not a complete report, but the basics are all there. His site also has some other actually good writing on it that I can recommend. Enjoy…
Corners taped on Stern
Wild life…
Freshly on trailer and trying to determine rigging.
