Happiness is a Warm Spool Gun

[Meanderthal]

Inspirational! I aspire to your level of craftsmanship, ingenuity, and work ethic. The batten and hot glue gun patterns, the prepainting and varnishing, the rope clamp laminating the circular pieces, the poor man's brake, the ladder drying rack, foam and gorilla glue trim mounting--great takeaways for people who have to do projects with less tools and space. Say, people who live on their boats🤗. Thank you!

[Matt Johnson]

Wow, I've missed a ton in the past few months! Your photos make my tablet run out of memory every time I open this thread, so I had to wait until I had another computer available to see it.

As always, the work you've accomplished is outstanding. One of the prettiest boats deserved a beautiful interior... you have done just that.

I don't know how you've gotten such tight joints on your panels. Maybe it's our curved hull, but when bending the template to fit and transferring to a full piece of plywood I get a gap somewhere...every time. When screwing down the full piece of plywood, it pulls different than I can duplicate with the thin template stock. Our trim covers it, but it drives me crazy knowing the imperfection is hiding there.

Matt

[Panope]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Steve, that is a brilliant refit. I take my hat off to you with what you have achieved in such a short time. Beautiful workmanship as well.

Congratulations!

What is your next project on board? I can't image that you will be content not tinkering .

SWL

Thank you so much, SWL.

Oh yes, there will be more tinkering

Next big push will be to rebuild the saloon trim and cabin side coverings to match what I did in the new forecabin. This will pale in comparison to the amount of work I did this winter. I envision a nice "hobby" pace of a few hours of work, here and there, over the course of a winter. With that task completed, I will have gutted and replaced 95% of the interior.

I would also like to fit a feathering propeller (probably a Maxprop), build a new lighter gaff (carbon fiber?), and replace the shrouds with Dux.

After that, I'll just fiddle around with little stuff to keep busy. Forever.........

Steve

[Panope]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

Well done. You have completed in a winter what many would take years to accomplish. Kudos!

Thanks, Bleemus.

It was a lot to accomplish in one winter. The problem is, I now need an entire summer to recuperate!

Steve

[Panope]

Originally Posted by Meanderthal

Inspirational! I aspire to your level of craftsmanship, ingenuity, and work ethic. The batten and hot glue gun patterns, the prepainting and varnishing, the rope clamp laminating the circular pieces, the poor man's brake, the ladder drying rack, foam and gorilla glue trim mounting--great takeaways for people who have to do projects with less tools and space. Say, people who live on their boats🤗. Thank you!

Thanks, Meanderthal.

Glad you got something potentially useful out of the project.

Someday, when I get to make longer trips, I'll have to put together an 'onboard' tool kit that will allow some of these kinds of projects. No doubt the projects will take more time to complete than in a workshop, but I reckon those that live aboard/cruise have all the time in the world.

Steve

[Panope]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Wow, I've missed a ton in the past few months! Your photos make my tablet run out of memory every time I open this thread, so I had to wait until I had another computer available to see it.

As always, the work you've accomplished is outstanding. One of the prettiest boats deserved a beautiful interior... you have done just that.

I don't know how you've gotten such tight joints on your panels. Maybe it's our curved hull, but when bending the template to fit and transferring to a full piece of plywood I get a gap somewhere...every time. When screwing down the full piece of plywood, it pulls different than I can duplicate with the thin template stock. Our trim covers it, but it drives me crazy knowing the imperfection is hiding there.

Matt

Thanks' Matt.

One of the "tricks" (actually a cheat) for the wall/overhead panels, is that these panels were "floating" until the foam dried. This meant that the foam's expansion was acting to push the panel and thus close the perimeter joints.

This technique was pretty time consuming because any foam that flowed out of the joint needed to be cleaned (with solvent) immediately to prevent staining. Sometimes the foam would keep seeping for an hour or two, necessitating babysitting all the while.

Steve

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by Panope

Thanks, Meanderthal.

Glad you got something potentially useful out of the project.

Someday, when I get to make longer trips, I'll have to put together an 'onboard' tool kit that will allow some of these kinds of projects. No doubt the projects will take more time to complete than in a workshop, but I reckon those that live aboard/cruise have all the time in the world.

Steve

Other than the boat project porn, you mean?😜 Yep.

[Panope]

Got a new sail. A trys'l of 80 square feet. The luff is fixed to the mast with spectra (for slipperiness) robands (soft shackles, actually). The robands are nice and long so they do not jamb/bind during the hoist/douse. Also, I believe there are aerodynamic benefits if the sail is as far away from the mast (turbulence generator) as possible.

The main sail throat halyard is used for the trys'l halyard, and the 2:1 sheets were lifted from the main sail clew reefing gear. Tack pennant is just a line belayed to the mast pins.

Today was the first test. Wind started out at 15 kt. With the 75 sq. ft. storm jib also set, the boat was under powered and would not come about. No surprise given the forward placement of this sail plan.

Wind eventually increased to the low 20's with higher gusts. Boat was almost fully powered in the gusts and was able to come about. I was able to make some ground to windward even with a gentle, opposing current.

This sail combination should be great for 30 to 40 knots. Above that, either the jib or the trys'l will come down and I will cry for my mommy.

New trys'l was made for me by Carol Hasse. It set and handled very nicely.

Those sheet clew "hooks" will shake right off in strong wind. I'll replace them with soft shackles.

[Snowpetrel]

Cool, looks to be a very handy sail for you. I like the idea if the dyneema soft shakle hoops. Looking forward to some video of it in action.

[Panope]

Thanks, Ben

We will have to wait for some stronger winds. Today's videos segments were very boring

Steve

[Panope]

A condensed, video version of my winter projects.

Steve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL6ZKkeSwaQ

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Panope

A condensed, video version of my winter projects.

Steve

That is Amazing work you do. Great video also.

[Bleemus]

Great overview video Steve. Your ability to perform a wide variety of skills is impressive.

[Panope]

Thanks, Cotemar, Keth.

Steve

[Panope]

Yard Topsail.

Sail is my storm jib, flown upside down. Yard is my dinghy mast.

Head is a little loose, leech is a little tight. Next time I will attach the halyard to the yard at a lower point.

Prior to today, I had never flown a topsail. Set-up took a bit of fiddling around, but the actual setting/dowsing was easy.

Sail is usable up to 10 knots.

Steve