# Soon perhaps



## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

It's Spring so the yellow-jackets are looking for places to build their paper honeycomb nests and they see my boat and trailer as one grand opportunity. Last year and the year before I cleaned more than a dozen nests out. Two years ago, the wasps were really bad and I ended up killing more than 300 of them on my property. Right now I have mothballs inside the cabin. From what I can tell, it stops the larvae from developing but it doesn't seem to hurt the adults. They easily slip in under the edge of the cabin roof. Maybe I'll try putting one of my canvas tarps over it.

My boat has not been in the water in years. I bought it awhile ago. The previous owner ran over a submerged tree and smashed holes in the bottom on both the port and starboard sides. He was willing to sell it because he had been quoted $3,000 to repair it. I didn't really want to see this boat scrapped so I bought it. The reason the quote was so high was because they would have had to cut out a big piece of deck liner to reach the hull bottom. I decided to try fixing it from the outside. For anyone who has never tried putting on fiberglass upside-down, I don't really recommend it. The fabric is like putting wallpaper on a ceiling. It has to be soaked with epoxy to stick and then it will simply peel off if any corner sags down. And, of course you drip epoxy so if you don't have protection, you'll have it all over you.

So, two days ago I had on a Tyvek suit with rubber gloves and goggles. I was working on it after dark wearing a headband light because I hoped the cooler temperatures would help. I wasn't sure that the epoxy was still good. I mixed up 8 ounces of resin and 4 ounces of hardener. The air temperature was about 80 degrees. I was doing good for a bit and then I noticed that the epoxy on my rubber glove was warm. The next time I looked down at it, the plastic cup had melted and the remaining epoxy was a solid block. It had kicked hard. However, that did settle the question of whether the epoxy was still good. After that I kept the batches down to 4 ounces of resin and 2 ounces of hardener. This is slow hardener from Raka but at 80 degrees even that kicks pretty quickly. I know I did five big layups and some smaller, filler pieces.

Fortunately I'm now done the the large pieces and only have some fill pieces to do. Oh, and then there is the sanding. The dust has fragments of glass and if it gets on your skin it causes a burning itch for the next three days. So, I have to sand wearing a full suit and gloves and goggles and mask and head sock and foot covers in 80 degree heat. But there is still too much dust. I run my shop vac to try to draw the dust away and then vacuum myself off when I'm done.

My boat is pretty rare. It's a Southcoast Boats Explorer. Mine was the 34th unit built in 1980 and the company went out of business in 1983. I don't think the total production went over 50 units and they only built this single model sailboat (the rest of their boats were kayaks, canoes, and Jon boats). I've only ever seen two of these online and both of those were misidentified. The company that built my boat has no connection to the South Coast Seacraft Company of Shreveport, Louisiana. As I recall, in another thread here http://www.sailnet.com/forums/introduce-yourself/58390-just-bought-my-first-sail-boat-dont-know-how-sail-p.html , moderator John Pollard made this mistake and thought that these two companies were the same. I don't think he should feel too bad because it stumped the people at Sailboatdata and those people are pretty sharp. I have seen them identify some really obscure boats. The gentleman who created that thread had unit #33 which was the unit built right before mine. However, his was built three months before mine. That would be a production rate of only five or six units a year. Basically what this means is that there are no manuals, no places to get manuals, and no one who knows anything about these boats. I wasn't aware of that when I bought it.

Anyway, I'm hoping to have it in the water soon. The trailer wiring is shot; I'll need to replace it. The nearest lake is only about 600 acres so it might be tight but I think I would have enough room to try things out. I'm even harboring some crazy fantasy about doing a test run in two days because the wind is supposed to be 10 mph. That seems unlikely because I still have work to do on the hull bottom, still have to seal the keel bottom, and have to reattach the centerboard but maybe I am more determined than I think.

The wind here can be really light so I'm also strongly thinking about making a drifter. By strongly I mean that I've already bought the fabric, the brass rings, the web straps, heavy thread and a walking foot for my sewing machine and have already calculated how many layers I need. However, I haven't made a bowsprit yet so I haven't done the sail layout. My mast has a spinnaker bail but it occurs to me that this might not be heavy enough for reaching. Presumably a spinnaker bail would only be designed for a forward pull rather than side to side. If I can't use the spinnaker bail then the only other option would be to use the jib halyard. However, that would chafe against the forestay. I suppose I could fix that with a piece of garden hose.


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## skygazer (Sep 3, 2011)

About those yellow jackets. They are smaller and meaner, and quite yellow. Wasps are larger and mellower, and mostly brown. So I'm not sure which you are troubled with. Yellow jackets build upside down tear drop shaped nests, with the "honeycomb" cells hidden under a wrapper. Wasps build flat open nests, with the cells visible.

Go to the local feed store and ask for a yellow jacket trap. The ones with a funnel entrance work OK, but the ones with a ball or "apple" shape and lots of entrances work better.

Now the secret of these traps. In the bottom put fruit juice concentrate, with a some water to thin it , and most important some detergent to break the surface tension. Breaking the surface tension allows the hornets to fall down into the liquid and quickly drown. 

At this time of the year, they are looking to start new colonies. If you catch one yellow jacket queen, it's the same as catching 500 to 5000 workers later on in the summer. Spring is the time to trap them, if you get only one or two you are cleaning up!

Personally, I have found honey bees in my trap only once, and I quit trapping there so as not to deplete the bees.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

I'm fairly certain that what I see are European paper wasps (Polistes dominula) which look almost identical to Eastern yellowjackets (Vespula maculifrons). They are both black with yellow stripes. The main difference is that the paper wasps are larger. I wouldn't describe them as mellow.

I just got through setting out my hummingbird feeders; I'm not sure yet if they can feed at those. I might check on a wasp trap.


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## skygazer (Sep 3, 2011)

That was mellower!

I have common brown wasps here, not familiar with yours. However, I don't remember catching many wasps in my traps, so that may not help.

I've seen on the Internet that yellow jacket traps will not reduce yellow jacket numbers, this is nonsense, perhaps they did not know much about trapping.

I was faced with a large outdoor dining area (at work) where yellow jackets became a severe problem in late summer. A few traps in the right places and I could hardly keep up with the thousands I caught. In a few days numbers had been drastically reduced.

How long is your sailboat, I don't remember seeing that?


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

skygazer said:


> How long is your sailboat, I don't remember seeing that?


I guess I do need to give some specs since you can't look them up anywhere. Masthead rigged sloop with backstay.

Length: 20' 1"
LWL: 17' 9"
Beam: 7' 2"
Weight: the original trailer capacity is 1,650 lbs so the boat probably weighs 1200-1400 lbs. I've never weighed it.
Ballast: estimated 320-420 lbs including the 80 lb centerboard

Mast: 23' 3 1/2"

Jib: 61 sq ft
Main: 83 sq ft
Genoa: 121 sq ft

Drifter: 180 sq ft currently planned


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

Well, I checked the keel because I knew it was leaking. I found a crack about 10" long. After removing material I found that there is a bad delamination problem. Apparently when the keel was made they made a big mistake. The glass mat had a gap in the corner that was filled up with resin. The resin was between a 1/4" and 1/2" thick. I'm not sure what is wrong with the resin because it is white instead of clear like all the rest of the resin on the boat. After chipping away the resin I found deeper layers that were clear. And, I can still smell the MEK after 30 years. It looks like the mat was more or less butted together at the corner and then a large amount of resin was used as filler kind of like a fillet with body filler. This is disappointing because the delamination is at least 2' long. I'll have to remove the old material to get to something solid to patch to and I'm going to have to work inside the slot which is quite narrow.


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## skygazer (Sep 3, 2011)

If "inside the slot" also means inside the hull you might try what I did. I set up a 20 inch box fan to draw air away from where I was cutting/grinding. I had to cut a large cardboard box to the shape of my deck, then cut a hole to fit the fan on the other side. Really helped keep the air moving as I worked.

Of course I also used a good quality air filter, eye protection, and tyvek coveralls.

I know what you mean about the crystallized resin. It has no strength without the fibers.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

Okay, I realize the configuration is difficult to understand since this is not likely to be a boat anyone would be familiar with. So, I have pictures.

The first picture is the front of the keel.

The next is the side view of the keel.

Inside this keel is a slot where the centerboard retracts. The third picture is the centerboard.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

Now I'll show the slot and the damage.


The first picture is the slot. It's about 11" deep.

The second shows the abnormal white color of the resin filler.

The third shows the separating layers of the side laminate and the gap between the side and bottom mat. You can also see that the slot is about 1 1/2" wide.

The fourth shows that there is a thin layer of normal mat laminate under the thick resin. It also shows the concrete ballast under this.

Since the keel projects below the bottom of the boat, the slot should be below the hull bottom.


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## sonosail (Mar 17, 2008)

I think what you have is a 're branded' International 21, designed by Helsen. Original builder: International Marine in FL. Somehow this other builder may have come into possession of the original tooling after IM stopped making them. 
Actually I'm usually not so good at the 'name that boat' thing, but I just happened to recently see a picture of one and it looks really similar with the style of the raised deck and location of the tang for the shrouds just between the windows. (shown in the photo posted on sailboatdata.com.) I haven't posted much on Sailnet much so I may not be allowed to post the drawing I have.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

If I look at this picture that John Boelte posted in this thread:










There are two windows and they are the right shape. The chain-plate is attached in the same location between the windows. The forward cabin roof slopes the same way down to the forward deck and it shows the same cabin hatch on this sloped section. It shows the same masthead rig with back-stay. It looks roughly correct. However, I can't read the dimensions to see if those match.

This image shows the interior:










The solid vee berth and quarter berths are correct. The two burner cooktop on the starboard side and small sink on the port side are correct. The narrow transom with folding seat is correct. The single cockpit locker on the starboard side is correct. The location of the head storage is correct. The notch in front of the sink for the raised section of the port quarter berth is correct.

Some of the phrases though are laughable: "world of room and comfort", "spacious lounge", "all berths are large", "spacious and private", "uncramped walk around space", "ample room", and "her roominess allows you to use her as a camper".

400 lbs of ballast could be correct.
the minimum draft could be correct. the maximum draft would be about right.
7' cockpit would match.
7'4" beam would match.
175 sq ft total sail area is problematic. Mine is perhaps 145. When I try to calculate the maximum area I get about 173.5 sq ft. I can't check this without being able to read their dimensions.
The empty weight of 1,750 lbs would not be correct. My trailer holds a maximum of 1,650 lbs.

The LOA doesn't quite match. I measure mine at 20' 1". I don't know where you would get another 5" unless they count the rudder.
LWL at 17' 4" is close but a few inches shorter than I would estimate.
Cabin headroom is definitely not 4' 3". The most generous measurement from floor to hatch would be 4'. The actual height would be less since you would be sitting on a berth.

There is no detail of the keel so I can't tell if that matches.

The time frame would seem about right. They quit making these boats about the time that Southcoast began making them. So, Southcoast could have gotten the molds from them.

Perhaps if John could get higher resolution scans then I could perhaps compare the dimensions. Interestingly, John is also in Indiana.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

This is the placard inside the boat and the label on the boom.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

I've been out of town for more than a week so I haven't been posting. When I got back I found about 5" of water in the cockpit because maple seeds had plugged up the drain.

At some point I'm going to have to redo the cockpit drain. The drain hole is too small and I don't like the way it exits right by the top pintle. Also, the previous owner apparently resealed the drain tube with silicon caulking. It is not really secure and leaks a bit. I've thought about splitting the drain tube into two parts to get them away from the pintle. I might go with two 1 1/4" PVC tubes. This would be about 5x the drainage that it currently has.

Before I left, I got some glass on the keel but I need a lot more layers. I now have a new wiring harness for the trailer. I have the license plate and a new plate bracket. The centerboard work is finally on track. I now have some aluminum stock to replace the weak stainless that bent and cracked the fiberglass.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

This is the first of the glass I put on the keel to repair it. However, if you look closely you can see drops of water coming off the glass. This is why I couldn't work on it today.

Next I have cut off and drilled a piece of the 1/4" x 1" aluminum stock to replace the bent piece of stainless.

Last, I've added a lot of layers of glass over the aluminum.

I had gotten longer stainless screws to replace the originals. Before putting the aluminum down I coated the lead with epoxy. The epoxy was too thin but fortunately I had a bag of fossilized snow on hand to thicken it. This repair is coming along.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

This is the fourth time I've put strips of glass fabric on the centerboard. I nearly have enough thickness to sand it back close to the original shape. I've also been putting glass back on the keel. The centerboard was strong enough before I added the strips today that I would have been comfortable testing it but I need to make sure that the keel won't leak.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

It wasn't as hot today. I went through six (3 ounce) batches of epoxy and got a lot of fabric on.


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## skygazer (Sep 3, 2011)

Just letting you know I'm following along. Thanks for the photos!


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

Since the water kept dripping out of the back part of the keel keeping me from getting a good layup I lowered the front of the boat so that the water would drip out the front. That worked so I think my latest layup is probably secure. When you have a concrete filled keel like this, water is not something you can remove. There simply is no easy way to get water out. However, dripping water does show places where the keel is not water tight.

I don't know how common this configuration is. My deck liner is sealed at the back of the cabin. To allow drainage there is a small hole centered on the hull bottom. This is the only way for excess water to get from the forward area under the deck liner to rear open area between the fiberglass shell and the cockpit floor where the drain plug is located in the back.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

If the wind is good tomorrow I might be able to test my boat before I finish it. I got the trailer rewired. It took several hours to get the centerboard reattached. The old cabin door was bad so I made a new one. The one without the window is the new one. The dark patch above the keel is the new fiberglass; it hasn't been sanded or painted yet.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

The weather is not cooperating today. I don't think there is enough wind to sail even with the genoa. I would need a drifter in this light wind but I don't have that made yet. I still have to figure out how much of a bowsprit would be reasonable before I can lay out the sail shape. Tomorrow is thunderstorms.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

Well, it didn't rain today and the wind was good. I decided I would go but I still had to get the boat on the trailer. Then I tried to get it more centered. In rushing to get everything ready I almost forgot the sails. It's only 14 miles to the town where the small lake is but the drive seemed to take forever. I guess I was nervous with the keel off center because my hands kept sticking to the steering wheel. I kept looking for flags to see if the wind was dying down.

I finally got there probably about 7:00 pm; sunset is at 8:52pm so that wasn't a lot of time. I had to wait for the boat ramp. Then I backed down to the water's edge but wasn't nearly deep enough. Then I backed up until the rear tires were in the water and the exhaust was bubbling out of the tail pipe. I still wasn't deep enough. I backed up further and got out. Then I realized that apparently happy to finally be back in the water, my sailboat was drifting away. This was obviously deep enough. Equally obvious was that I should not have removed the winch line. I quickly waded out in water up to my armpits before I got hold of the bow eye and pulled the boat back in. Then I realized that without a mast crutch I couldn't even get the mast base attached. Fortunately some other boaters lent a hand. People there told me that they had never seen a sailboat on that lake. There weren't that many near the ramp at that time of day but all of them seemed amazed to see a sailboat.

The lines were fouled. Definitely check the lines next time before raising the mast. Also, raise the mast before setting the rudder. Also build a mast crutch. I finally got out in the water using my canoe paddle. I had the genoa up but I wanted the main up too. I finally got the bolt rope threaded on the boom. I wanted to use the topping lift but it was fouled too and I couldn't toss it over the spreaders like I did with the other ropes. I finally got the main up. It was magic. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed sailing. The boat was very responsive even though the wind was light. I also found that it was quite stable when I stepped on the side decks to clear the genoa when I tacked. I sailed down the lake and then tacked back up in the light wind. I had no trouble pointing. I hadn't bothered to put the battens in the main or to set the out-haul so I'm sure the genoa was doing most of the work. I was planning to make a drifter for the boat but I found that even when the water was nearly glassy there was still enough wind to move. It was probably about an hour after sunset when I got back up but I brought it back to the dock under it's own power. Now I guess I need to see how it does with more wind.


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## skygazer (Sep 3, 2011)

Whoohoo!! Congratulations! On the water and sailing after all the work.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

Clearly from my first tryout the major issue is raising the mast. Single handing isn't really practical if I can't raise the mast myself. I worked on a makeshift mast crane yesterday. If I can get this to work the wind may be coming up in a couple of hours and I would have a window of around 7 hours of sailing in wind above 6 mph. This would give me a chance to better test the capabilities of the boat.


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## skygazer (Sep 3, 2011)

Here in Maine ramps seem to be for powerboats. There are often overhanging tree branches at the ramp. This included the ramp at my local lake until last winter, when some trees were removed. Possibly not so much for sailboats, but because the trees locations made turning and backing down the ramp very difficult.

Where overhead branches or powerlines make it necessary, I step the mast on the water. But if the overhead is clear, I always step the mast while the boat is on the trailer hooked to the truck, much easier than having the boat bobbing around in the waves.

I tie a length of line to the doubled jib halyard, and run the line though anything at the tip of the bow, then back to the cockpit where I'll be lifting the mast. I make sure the shrouds are clear and over to each side. As I lift the mast, I pull on the line. This helps once the mast is partially raised, and most importantly I can tie off the line when the mast is up, so I can go forward and attach the forestay. Then at the bow, leaning on the line makes the forestay easily reach the attachment point.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

skygazer said:


> Where overhead branches or powerlines make it necessary, I step the mast on the water. But if the overhead is clear, I always step the mast while the boat is on the trailer hooked to the truck, much easier than having the boat bobbing around in the waves.


Yes, I considered that. However, this lake has a low power line running across the ramp turn around.



> I tie a length of line to the doubled jib halyard, and run the line though anything at the tip of the bow, then back to the cockpit where I'll be lifting the mast. I make sure the shrouds are clear and over to each side. As I lift the mast, I pull on the line.


Yes, I do the same thing. However, there is a big problem of trying to do both at the same time. I end up trying to push the mast up with one hand while also trying to pull the line with one hand. Given the mechanical disadvantage in close to the mast base this is near my physical limits. What type of boat do you have and what size mast are you raising?



> This helps once the mast is partially raised,


Except for the transition. With two people this is easy but with just me it is very difficult to go from holding the mast up with one hand to letting go and taking the line with both hands.



> and most importantly I can tie off the line when the mast is up, so I can go forward and attach the forestay. Then at the bow, leaning on the line makes the forestay easily reach the attachment point.


Yes, I agree.

However, there are other difficulties. I have to have the back of the mast raised enough to clear the cabin roof so that I can pin the base. Unfortunately a little bit more than half of the mast is aft of the transom so that you have to hold the base of the mast down if it is supported at the transom. This again makes raising the mast difficult because inside the boat you are not at the balance point. Yesterday I belayed the line on a winch to lower the mast but you still have an awkward transition where you need to stop using the line and take the mast with both hands.

It is currently taking me too long to rig and un-rig the boat. Yesterday, I found that I could not pull the pintles unless the rudder was fully down. They apparently jam with the rudder up. I still haven't come up with the best procedure for putting the main bolt rope in the boom.

I found that everytime I tacked with the genoa the jib sheet would catch on the cleats in front the shrouds. Clearly the people who placed the cleats didn't test this; it probably doesn't happen with a standard jib. I'll have to remove these cleats.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

In the first picture you can see stains on the main. I used laundry detergent, oxygen bleach, and some stain treatment to scrub these areas. The sail looks a bit better in the second picture.

The others are pictures I took at the lake.

There was one point yesterday when I got good wind. The boat heeled enough that I began to wonder what the maximum heeling angle might be and I began sitting on the windward side. Under these conditions the boat hums. This might be some type of vibration transferred from the centerboard. It wouldn't surprise me if the centerboard cable were vibrating under tension in the stream of water flowing past it.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

It looks like I've found a better method of raising the mast.






This method uses two mast crutches, one for pinning the base and a second for starting the mast at a good angle. From here it should be fairly easy to use the halyard to complete raising.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

I had thought today that I might go sailing but my brother checked the lake and said that it was too busy. There were six speedboats and four jet-ski's running around the lake. We'll try again on Wednesday. Since I thought I might go sailing I took my coin and put it in a saucepan with a little salt and some aluminum foil. I heated it to boiling and it took the tarnish off. The coin is a Silver Eagle. It has Walking Liberty on the front and a variation of the Great Seal on the back. That is a quarter next to it for comparison. Since I can't put it under the pinned mast I attached it to the cabin roof support which of course is right under the mast.

The wasps got annoying so I had to get out my shop vac and suck up five of them. 

Thinking that I might have to sail in high wind today I started working on the winches. When I got the boat the starboard winch was coming off and the port winch was wobbly. There were bolts in the starboard winch and when I removed them I realized that someone had tried to simply thread them into the plastic base. Today, I removed the top ring from the port winch and saw why it was wobbly. It was originally installed with aluminum rivets. You can see the aluminum rivets in the picture. You can also see that I can slide a large screwdriver under the winch base.

The next picture is the starboard winch that I secured with 1/4" screws. It seems much more solid than the port winch. The original holes are countersunk but I am quite concerned about cracking the plastic so I used washers.

Finally, I put a little spar varnish on the hatch rails.


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## skygazer (Sep 3, 2011)

Nice save on the winches, great to find the problems on shore.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

On May 30th my brother came over with his pickup and we towed the trailer over to Lake Sullivan. With my brother on the dock with my camera I finally got some pictures of my boat sailing.

The first picture is me heading out. In the Second picture I've turned and the sails are slack. In the third picture the sails are loaded again but the boat has not accelerated yet. In the fourth and fifth pictures I'm charging back across towards the docks.

My brother fishes often but isn't familiar with sailboats. When I told him that I wanted him to stay on the dock and get some pictures before we started sailing he was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get back to the dock. I'm guessing this was because I didn't have a motor and my boat is quite a bit larger than a rowboat. But, I assured him that it wasn't a problem.

My brother thought my sailboat was a bit too complicated. I would agree with this and consider mine at the top end for daysailing; you really don't want anything more complex than this. I told him about the PD Racers and he might interested in building one. It would be more the size of an aluminum rowboat, much faster to setup, and a lot less intimidating.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

The wind was stronger so I used the regular jib and main. The wind on the lake is highly variable because of the trees. There were times when I got a lot of wind on the beam and boat heeled a lot. I was a bit concerned because I had no idea what the stability profile of this boat is like. I think the worst one almost dipped the side deck in the water (heeling a lot more than the 3rd picture above). However, it seemed solid so maybe the stability profile is fairly good.


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## brehm62 (Mar 27, 2011)

I got out on Lake Lemon for a good sail. There was the possibility of thunderstorms but I decided to go for it anyway. I tacked down the lake with gusts hitting 15 mph with full main and standard jib. I got close to the far end and felt a couple of drops. So, I swung around and headed back. I got out into the middle to get the most wind and am certain that at one point the wind exceeded 20 mph with full sails up. The boat did not capsize so I'm feeling pretty good about the stability. I also began watching and noticed that the boat was not pushing a bow wave. So, this confirms that with just two people on board the boat is semi-planing. I do wonder what speed I hit.


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