Winter Boat Projects

Whadda have planned for your boat now that the days are getting a little longer and in some places a little warmer.

Me, will be tearing mine down these next few weeks, cleaning, and reassembling with hopefully not too many new parts...

same. Two years in dry dock, lots to do.

Working on Blondie's boat and trailer today.

Wash, polish and inspect shackles, blocks and rigging.

The skipper needs shoulder repair. That should eat up most of the spring and into the summer.

I've recently acquired this Supercat 20 with extended bows and sterns, that needs a bit of cosmetic work. Some funky paint to strip/sand, a few dings to repair, and some minor fairing to get her ready for a shiny new paint job in the fleet colors.

Dave Austin modified the boat for use on SF Bay, which he claims worked well with the longer, finer bows. He's since graduated to an F31R, and now an Outremere 55.

My plan is to rig her with the std(33') mast, new Glaser main, self tacking blade, and an F18 spin, and use her for solo work in light and medium air, and as the high wind machine when prudence dictates that Brad and I put away Lunatic Fringe(ARC22).

So a few happy hours ahead in the cave, messing around with boat(s).

Dave

Getting our two H-17's ready, plus building seven new Hobie Waves for Sail Sand Point.
www.sailsandpoint.org

Dave and I think a lot alike! I took my Supercat20 and did a total refit on it. Started with replacing the bulkheads at the bow tangs, the sprayed it with a fresh coat of paint. Got rid of the telescoping beams and made solid beams. Thanks to Bacho on here for doing the machine work for me. Added a monster self tacker and tramp from Aquarius, spin pole with a custom SNU and large spin. Also have a Techora square top main and jib coming from Randy Smyth. Hopefully she is back in the water in March!!

My boat gets some new strings and one new rag, and maybe it will get a bath sooner or later.

I'm getting a decal.

And trying to figure out how to open the akas up while on the trailer so I can polish the hull(s). They hit the tire fender

Would be so much easier than lifting the boat off the trailer and setting it on stands...

Course my anticipated sailing season ENDS mid-june (afternoon thundershowers put a damper on things - we are the lighting capital of the world I think), so I'm really mid-season now. Been out 2-3x per month since October. So far nothing important has broken or shown potential problems...

Haven't tested the screecher yet so who knows... the roller furler may need work.

Only if you ever send me the dimensions...

Mac! Big Red is red no more! Very sweet looking, I need a ride on that monster!

Oh, dang. I didn't realize what boat that was. Looking good! That will be a freakin monster with that tall rig.

Different boat, this ones a standard rig. Sold Big Red, but am buying it back soon.

Just got the order on my new F18 and need to get rid of the last one. Sailing as much as possible and still tuning on the old boat.

Good Grief! My boat is submerged in a snow drift!

We simply refuse to accept it's winter, and just go out on the water with a drysuit. As long as there is no ice on the water there is no reason to stop sailing!

They were ice sailing at the club where we keep the boat. So no, no winter sailing for us, unless its in Florida where the boat is currently! That makes it difficult to fix the small list of issues, but most are fiberglass and require a bit of time to fix.

We did damage yet another 5" porthole. Fortunately, Jeff and Brooks have the ultimate solution for the Infusion: http://www.beckson.com/twistdp.html

These work well for the ports. Get the port for training and distance and the flat covers for racing.
http://bottleport.com/

Neat, but 90% chance it is in the way of the tiller arms on the Infusion when sailing. Also, the deal with the port holes I listed are the screw in hatch portion has a lip that overlaps the o-ring and deck seam. It is far more watertight than a standard hatch, and is only a 1/4 turn to remove!

and the water comes from below (except rain) to go under that lip. Not sure this will change much, but best of luck. On the 20 we mounted w/ 4200 and if the seal leaked you grease it w/ vaseline or something similar, you should have plenty of that around.

In my experience, the main issue with the durability of the Viking Marine ports is that they are not bedded properly and have been bolted down to a slightly curved surface. This messes with the fine threads and makes them prone to cross threading... and then your crew starts banging on it until they break the thread ring out of it. This was the case with my infusion.

Also make SURE you are reading the size of the port with the lettering embossed under the lid. a 5" port is the hole size...not the outer diameter of the entire assembly. Might save someone from ordering the wrong ones! (been there, done that)

Was on the water Friday and got this picture.

Have seen these ports on a Wildcat and a New infusion. We are putting them on the Capricorn soon.

Nice photo.

Our viking hatches haven't been cross threaded, they simply failed at the lip from age. Bit done with that game! The Benson hatch is made of thicker material, is a drop in replacement for the stock hatch (from what I've been told), your crew can't cross thread it and I can leave the vaseline at home. Oh, and it is only a quarter turn to open, and I'm pretty convinced ~80% of the time water is only getting in there from rain, considering less than 20% of races are in big breeze or waves.

How's the boat holding up? Manage to get it up to speed on the race course?

Just convinced? You sail mostly in saltwater ,have you tasted the water in the hull? Fresh is rain, salt is leaky boat. Simple really, a gifted mind such as yours has a better way I'm sure, like a salinity tester. Don't forget to get samples from inshore and off at all regatta sites to narrow down your leaky regatta location.

YEA -- Me also ; but i'm making New X-Beams for my
Hobie-21se, and opening up the over-all beam from 9.5'
to 12ft. It means that instead of using a H-16 sized
main & jib in those 30+ winds at Mohave, i'll be able
to go with an 18 sized sail, with more stability !!

The first ones will be made of ply & aluminium ; if i
like it, then the ply & metal get replaced with all
composite with Nomex core. The ply is cheaper to test
the concept.

This is WHY i kept asking how a Shark-class cat was made
but i don't need the info any longer ; since the Shark
community was so tight-lipped with there design-plans,
i simply went with a completely different design instead.

Bille

You need to sail somewhere else.

Bille,
You need to contact some of the old Orlando Hobie 21 sailors. Loyde and Louie made a couple of sets of 12' X-bars for H21. I suspect they are sitting around somewhere unused.

wow. there's a few names from way back...

Yea we fixed our rudder issues and now it's sailing great and running with the other boats here. I'm very pleased with the performance after the retune.

I've got a set of SC20 telescoping beams for sale, and I could give you the specs of the solid beams too.

Dave

Hobie 21's have curved beams. The one Loyde and Louie built had the same curve.They were very nicely done. Anadized black. They were used for one midwinters and I don't know if they were used again. The problem with a 12' wide 21 is that when you get powered up enough to fly a hull the nose wants to dive. I wish I had a video of trip Louie took doing a full 360 around the boat on the wire.

Should i be thinking about moving the Mast-base back a
few inches, (or a foot) to counter that ?

Or maybe racking the Mast Back a few degrees ?

I'm Definitely going to open the beam , to 12' ; and
unlike most other sailing lakes, Wind is usually 25+mph
on a normal day here at Mohave.



Yes -- specs please !!

Bille

As the boat gets wider, more righting leverage is applied to the hulls - you see this effect dramatically on the bow. The wider it gets for a given length, the more pitchpole prone it will be. For a boat to perform well up and downwind (and be survivable to push it), a 2:1 length to beam ratio is a pretty good place to start.

Are you planning on trapping off the wings? If not then I could see the reason for 12' wide.
Might be easier and less expensive to reduce sail area. And reduced sail may translate into more speed in high wind.

Boat was bone dry after 2 days of sailing at Tradewinds, light air. Clearly water will come in through broken port holes.

We use a refractometer for testing salinity and confirm water local with a spectrophotometer. $5K in portable instrumentation to do the same thing as a finger and a tongue

Glad to hear it, we had rudder issues as well since the boat left the Chesapeake. Finally got them nailed with some expert help and it's a world of difference, we can keep up with the fast guys now.

Anyone here got a link or E-mail address for those guys ?
Maybe they would part with those X-Beams ?

I'm Not looking for more speed with this project, as much
as the extra stability associated ; sitting on the hull
of a 12' wide cat is actually less leverage form my body
weight than if i were on the wings. Standing on wings
with my prosthetic(s) , is near Impossible for me. The wings
will stay, but only agile people will use them in ((Light))
winds ; and that doesn't include Me !

Bille

I have a refractometer for testing the salinity in artifacts that I've got in electolysis. paid about $40 for it though.

I think I can get you a used GCMS if you need it...