Team RAF videos

Here's some videos that I had forgot about that I found on google video.

Team RAF's very first sea trail in a homebuilt sailing canoe rented from the school for 8 bucks and my windsurfer rig plus a sunfish board for leeway and a paddle to steer. 4 guys in a tub, blub, blub, blub.

Also, Mike, Matt and I out on the hobie 18 on Jordan lake ripping it up.

Wish we had time to go sailing. School is such a party pooper.

Back to school....mumble..grrrrr.. mumble

Yesterday we got the forward, lower cabin and side bulkheads glued in and today we installed the diagonal stringers in the bow and the straight stringers behind the forward bulkhead. We also finalized the location of the side wall in the cabin floor. Dad is going to install the middle cabin bulkhead tomorrow and then we will be ready to size cut and install the cockpit and cabin seat sides and seat longerons. Then we will be ready for a few more coats of epoxy and then painting of the closed off areas before gluing on seat tops and working on the hatches. Soon enough we'll be flipping the hull over for some fiberglassing and painting.

You probably knew that cats don't like water but did you know that they like boats. Sailors have taken ships cats on board for years. My cat has never been on a boat but she would probably be a pretty good ships cat. She sleeps so much she probably wouldn't know the difference.

Thanksgiving update

Happy day after thanksgiving. We had a fun day visiting with family today. It was nice to see everyone again. We got some more progress made on the boat this evening and plan to continue working on Sat. afternoon and Sunday. I have to get some homework done too though.

The fiberglass tape came in on Wed. (Hooray) and we got to work immediately and glassed the port seam and installed the aft bulkhead that will support the rear seat. Then Thurs. we removed the temporary bulkhead, fitted the side bulkheads for gluing and made some final decisions concerning the cuddy cabin. We decided on the seat height inside the cabin as well as where the entryway bulkhead should go.

We played with the idea of extending the cabin door bulkhead to the center thwart giving a LOT of cabin space. But maybe too much. And the cabin door would have to be offset to one side (probably opposite the centerboard) because of the mizzen mast location and other problems as well such as the sail getting in the way of the cabin door when running downwind. We decided on a location that leaves 7ft of horizontal room inside the cabin for laying down. We also decided that the narrow width inside the cabin around the centerboard was too small to warrant feet room on both sides of the keel batten (thing that runs down the middle of the boat) so there will only be foot space on the port side of the cabin. Thus the starboard seat top inside the cabin will be wider than the port seat top. A board will be made such that the gap between the centerboard trunk and the port seat top can be closed when in "sleeping" mode so that there will be ample sleeping space for two persons. This picture gives you an idea of the space there will be, i.e. not much. But enough to change cloths and get out of the elements. There should be enough room for 2 people to sit side by side. Also, I am sitting the wrong way for what I just described since there would be no foot room on the starboard side. Also the centerboard is offset to starboard by about 3 inches due to the main mast. This has a negligible effect on sailing performance and makes the keel stronger since the keel batten does not have to be split by the board.

This picture is as of tonight (firday night) and you can see (from the bow back) the tabernacle bulkhead, shortened forward bulkhead, the lower half of the cabin entry bulkhead and the side bulkheads. None of which are glued in yet (thats for tomorrow). The sticks are representative of the cabin entry bulkhead. The top stick is 48 inches above the keel batten which we decided was a "comfortable" height for a sitting person. The cabin roof will curve forward and down meeting the bow deck at the location of the forward bulkhead. The tabernacle bulkhead is the furthest vertical wall inside the cabin. There will be a 8 to 12 inch wide (not sure yet) rail around the cabin side for walking forward to the main mast. We are planning another bulkhead between the forward bulkhead and the entry bulkhead that will end the foot well in the cabin. There will be storage under the cabin seats on port and starboard as well as under the forward seat.

This picture shows the cabin entry bulkhead and centerboard stuck in. It is not in the correct position (it's way too far forward) but you get the idea. We fiberglassed the centerboard trunk sides today as well and hope to get the trunk installed this weekend as well. The trunk will be installed first then the lower cabin door bulkhead will be installed around it. We are planning to sink the trunk sides through the hull and butt the king posts against and bottom and trim the trunk sides off when we flip the hull over. This will make more sense with pictures later. If we get the side bulkheads in tomorrow we can also start on the vertical cockpit seat sides and hardwood longerons and we also need to finish up the hardwood on the transom that goes across the top and the vertical piece plus the aft seat support stringer across the middle of the transom. Aaaand we need still need to glue in the bottom stringers that support the 1/4inch forward bottom panels under all those cabin seat bulkheads.

With any luck, we will be ready for epoxy paint after this weekend because we will be ready to close up the cockpit seats with seat tops!!! Ok maybe we won't get thaaaat far but you have to think BIG. Hey dad, better order the epoxy paint.

Thanksgiving approaches

Last weekend we finished shaping the centerboard and got the tabernacle bulkhead cut out and made a pattern for the forward bulkhead. With fiberglass tape on its way we hope to get a LOT done over Thanksgiving. I took the centerboard back to school to do some final touches on it with a joiner. We also got out sprit booms roughed out and just need to shape them. I'll try to get some pics of the centerboard up soon. Meanwhile off to class.

Here's a funny picture I found.

Put on some lifejackets people!

The training continues

Out for a ride after class this morning NORSA members Adam and Mike and I enjoy a 12mile bike ride around west raleigh to umstead. Brrrr cold and getting colder. Adam and I continue our training for the Ironman Louisville in 08. Going home this weekend for some more boat work. (Oops sorry bout the pics 11-18-07)

Good sesh!

"Your building a WHAT? Can you do that?"

More progress on the boat this weekend. We filleted and glassed the starboard seam before we ran out of fiberglass tape but still managed to: Get the keel Batten glued in and the side bulkheads made as well as the partial aft bulkhead which will support the rear bench seat (in place of the optional aft deck). We also made some initial measurements to figure out where the mizzen mast, center thwart and tabernacle bulkhead will go and got the centerboard trunk sides cut out as well as glued together the strips that make up the centerboard itself.

Lately around town while running errands and such we run into people that my dad knows from work or wherever and after I am introduced, my dad says, "yeah, were just picking up some tools (or whatever), were building a sailboat together." Pretty much without fail there is a double take involved from the other person followed by something like: "Aaaaa Ooooo very nice"....or.... "Is this something that you do a lot?"....or my personal favorite...."Really!?...Can you do that?"

I always loved working with wood and remember building stuff with my dad when I was really little like little wood chests, benches, birdhouses and stuff but I have really started to remember how much fun woodworking is since we have started the boat. In case you haven't caught on yet, boat building is definitely high on my "practical skills to know" list. How about you?

Note to self...hard to eat pizza with dust mask on.

Messing Around With Boats

Finally I got a chance to post a weekend update. Saturday was a great day of racing on Jordan Lake. We had 13 Hobie 16 show up for the first annual "SWEET SIXTEEN REGATTA". Prizes and swag was provided by hobie and sunjammers sunglasses. Race committee consisted of NORSA's own Adam Domanski and some NC State Sailing club groupies. We got in 5 races and had some great wind.

After an awesome 2nd place finish in the first race John Cathcart (my weekend crew) and I were stoked but with a string of poor starts and a couple of starboard port incidents at A mark soon made us ready for a hotdog or two and we settled with 6th place overall. We had a great time. Good wind, a boat that didn't break (too much) and we didn't get wet. Can't do much better than that. (Click the picture for more regatta photos. Thanks Jana)

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better than this, I saw a Yellow Cat Ketch sailboat launching from Vista and starting to sail around carefully avoiding our race course. No Way, I thought. Could it be a Core Sound? Yup, sure enough I sailed over (which nearly cost us a start..oops) and said hey to Ken Potts who I had not met until that day but who is an active contributor to the B and B yachts forum on http://www.messing-about.com/ and was actually already following my Dad and I's build of our CS20 on the site. Actually he was the first to reply to the thread I started. Anyway, after we hit the beach I went over and we talked boats and the EC for a while before parting ways. Ken is out on Jordan Lake almost every other weekend with his recently finished CS17 "Southbound" and I've got an open sailing invitation and a... summer job offer. COOL. Thanks Ken. Great to meet you. I hope you don't mind I posted a picture of your boat. It looks GREAT.

That evening we got the Inwales dry fitted and trimmed them to length. We also got the transom wired in and checked that everything was square and symmetric. Sunday we got the Inwales glued in and had just enough time to get the entire center seam down the keel line filleted and glassed.

It took us a while to figure out just how to go about this because it was impossible to reach the seam at the bow from the side of the boat. We ended up with a mission impossiblesque hanging stretcher that I laid on while I glassed the seam starting at the bow and worked back. Since the boat was on wheels, we thought we would just roll it forward as we worked. It ended up being a little harder than that but it got the job done.

If you are familiar with the boat plans you may notice that we are missing the forward bulkhead. We are working on incorporating a cuddy cabin in the design of the boat that will be based a lot on the design of the EC22 (especially from a structural standpoint). Since the boat will be used for week long getaways and weekend camping cruises, we thought a cabin would be a great addition to the design. It will also be really nice to have a place to sit up or stretch out that is out of the wind or rain during the EC.