Woo Hoo!!!! Finally got on the water today!

[rwdsr]

Ok, Ok - I think I'm cured till spring!  Seriously, the boat is everything I have dreamed of and handles like a dream.  The best part is that my grandson went with me and he enjoyed every minute of it.  I do have a lot of work left to do, but at least I've gotten the feel of what it's like to hold that beautiful laminated wood tiller in my hands!  Will post pics maybe tomorrow, right now to bed, I'm beat, sailing is hard work.

[nies]

I hope you realize how deeply you hurt all of the frozen tundra crowd with your post of actually sailing in Jan...................enjoy...........Phil

[Greene]

Awwwww come on!  You are killing us out here.  Sailing in January?  I was just starting to think you were a nice guy and you go and hit us below the belt.  We are still at least 10 to 12 weeks away from even dreaming about open water.

Oh well, good on you.  Congratulations.  Happy for you.  Wonderful.  Hope it was fun.  See, I'm trying to be positive.... but I'm still not happy here in the middle of Snowville, USA.


Mike

[Bob23]

Congrats, R:
   I'm happy for you. Where do you sail, anyway? I'll be on the next flight!
Bob23 in NJ currently 29.5 degrees F.

[adifferentdrummer]

Hey, I hate to add insult to injury, but, I too, managed to steal one from Old Man Winter today! I live about 200 miles due east of rwdsr. If it's any consolation, it wasn't the best of sailing conditions with an almost nonexistent breeze, and what was blowing was chill. I had to wear gloves and a heavy jacket, but it was great just being out there for a few hours.

I had to motor sail most of the way, but I covered 10 or 12 miles and explored some of the places that I took such pleasure in last season. It was strange to see with the water levels fifty feet lower now, and sandy shoals and rocky outcroppings everywhere. It's quite desolate looking compared to my last time out back in November. The wind could have been better, but I did catch a few brief tacks, and the good news is, the little outboard (even after sitting up through subfreezing temps for the last couple of months) started on the third pull and ran like a champ.

I got me a fix, and now, if I must, I can tough it out for another month or two until spring makes Her return. I feel complete, and I also feel sleepy. Like Bob said, sailing is hard work, so I guess I'll go get some shut-eye, and dream of warm winds and bright sunny skies.

Bob (rwdsr), I'm so glad you finally got to take that little lady out. Now you know...

Milt

[Craig Weis]

Woo Hoo!!!! Finally got on the water today!

You DOG you. I'm here in freezing rain waiting to watch the Saints inviolate those Pesky Vikings
after watching the Colts loose.

Trust skip. Today's menu is mom's Homemade Chili

skip.

NOW I REALLY REALLY HATE THE "DOLTS" And that Manning guy. I'd never buy a product he trying to sell on TV. Never.
There going to get so wiped by the Saints...

[rwdsr]

Ok, just to really add insult to injury, the last 5 picures on my picassa site - the ones without captions, are the sail yesterday.  It was Kentucky Lake, Paris Landing, Temp was high 50's low 60's, wind 15 to 18 mph.  Sometimes toward the end it gusted I think higher than that because several times we got over on a heel pretty good.  I was worried about getting back into the marina, but as it turned out, had more trouble getting out than back in.  I don't have an outboard yet but I do have an old 45 lb thrust trolling motor that had the foot control for one of those bass boats.  Well the mlotor worked ok, but the mount was gone and the controls didn't work right so i stripped all the stuff off so all I have is the motor on a post with the wire coming out of it.  I mounted it on the motor mount so that you can raise it up and down and get it out of the water and put a on/off switch on it, and it works great.  Anyway, that got me out to the main lake and as soon as I came aroud the point where I could catch the wind - we were off!  Yesterday being the first time I've ever done a sailboat like this, I just went with a storm jib and the main, but she was so easy to sail that she made me look like I know what I was doing.  As soon as we got going good I turned the helm over to my Grandson while I checked the boat all over and took pictues, and he handled her real well too.  I think we both grinned the whole time out.  The wind started gusting up to where I wasn't comfortable with it so we headed in.  Coming in the wind had shifted, and we sailed right back into the marina and up to the dock, dropped the sails and stopped.  A real good end to a real good day.  Milt - I'm sure glad you got to get out yesterday too,  I'm already talking to my sister and planning a weekend over there sometime this summer.  I'm also planning to go to the Lake Carlyle event in July.  Want to meet all you guys I've been talking to.  Well this thing is telling me that I'm running out of room  So will write more later.

[Greene]

You are doing a great job on your boat.  It looks like it is ready to go another 32 years.  Your family and friends must have thought you were crazy when you trailered her home.  I guess we fall in love with the salty lines of these little boats and we can only see what they will look like when we are done with them. 

Keep up the great work and my wife and I think it must be great to be able to share this experience with your grandson.

Mike and Brenda

[adifferentdrummer]

She does look pretty, sitting nicely on her lines! You've done well by her and I'm sure she will show her appreciation each and every time you take her out. I'd say your grandson is rather smitten with her, as well. What a wonderful thing to be able to share with him.

Milt

[Bob23]

Bob:
   So happy for you...keep grinnin'!
Bob23- temp up to 54.7 degrees F. Water around 40F. Brrrr.

[kickingbug1]

  wow another sows ear to silk purse story. the one thing about these little boats is they never seem to die. a guy can never tire of inventing things for them. just a wonderful looking little 16. cant wait to see you guys in july.

[rwdsr]

Now what I'm going to have to try and figure out is - how to replace the decks in the cabin?  They are all rotted away, and yesterday I cut areas out to let the air get in there and finish drying out.  I know I'm probably going to have to put the new boards in there in sections, but can't quite get my brain around the concept.  I have a bunch of leftover 3/4 inch hardwood flooring (finished) that I could use easily, but would it be too heavy?  Also, where do you guys stow your anchors?  I've got 2, and 100' of rode for each, but I'm beginning to find out that the space when you are cruising is real limited. 

[adifferentdrummer]

Bob,

Is that the sleeping berths or the deck in the fore peak, or both? The deck in the fore-peak is the more critical, as it supports the compression post, which supports the mast. It shouldn't be too bad working in the bow... not fun, but do-able. I would be reluctant to sail the boat if that compression post is not well supported.

If it's the two sleeping berths, that's going to be pretty nearly impossible to replace without separating the deck from the hull... there just isn't enough room to wiggle back under the cockpit benches with tools to cut out the bad wood. At least, I can't imagine it.

Separating the deck from the hull is a major undertaking, but would certainly make replacing the berths much easier. You have probably already seen this thread on here, but just in case, I'll post a link to it...  Topic: One thing leads to another
http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=1168.0

Milt

[rwdsr]

Hi Milt,
The deck in the forepeake and the compression post are in excellant condition and solid, it's the wood that makes up the berths that is completly rotted away and you are so right it is close working in there.  I do have some real help in the form of a little tool I bought just recently in the form of a vibrating cutter from Harbor Freight that make short work of cutting wood and fiberglass and just about anything else without worrying about getting too deep.  I was able to cut away a lot of that bad wood last night so it would dry out.  Now it's a matter of coming up with something real creative to get the job done.  I'm thinking about doing it in sections (maybe 3) if I can somehow make a template and get it accurate enough.  Maybe brown contractors paper, then transfer that to cardboard sheets taken from freezer boxes for the final template and cut. 

[Salty19]

Whew rwdsr..you are a better man than me.  After a few hours back there wresting and cursing with the motor mount bolts and coaming rails, the task of replacing the bunks seems next to impossible without removing the deck. Good luck.  You're going to need it!