Right on Connie, My most recent challenge was what to use for new hatch boards. The old ones made of scrap yellow pine lumber hardly lasted a season in this blazing sunlight in S. Texas. Teak was just tooooo expensive so a fun exploration at the local hardwoods company turned up "sipo" a west African mahogany for a third the price. I have now made the new boards. The mahogany worked easily and accepted epoxy adhesives. I have now finished two coats of Spar Varnish to protect it and look forward to a good looking set of hatchboards for this year. I make them with the typical rabbits on top and bottom and am impressed how even though last year's set warped, shrunk and twisted they never leaked a drop into the cabin. My next adventure will be sewing a custom 80% jib from Sailrite on one of their machines. Good thing I am retired. I doubt I could keep my mind on my work duties with all these sailboat related issues😉 Tom B <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> On Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 3:26 PM, Conbert Benneck <chbenneck@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1/26/2016 2:36 PM, Thomas Buzzi wrote:
Tom the beauty of owning a sailboat is that you never get bored.
You're either out sailing and enjoying yourself; or, you are dreaming up new things to improve / change / modify / or replace.
Its all fun, isn't it? ...and the beauty of an M15 or M17 is that they are small enough to fit in your garage where you can do the work; and costs are almost pocket change.
Have you tried sheet-to-tiller self steering? ...or used a wind vane for steering. All new and intriguing toys to play with and experiment.
Of course, with the M1 / M17 outboard rudders; you could add a trim tab to the trailing edge and run it with a wind vane. More possibilities, at self-steering for a longer trip. The trim tab drives the big rudder and the power output requirement from the windvane becomes quite small.
I added an electrical system to our M15 to run the CD player / speakers, and to have an outlet where I could plug in a spot light. I used a small motorcycle battery so that it could be easily carried home and recharged. (I had no power available at the dock)
Connie
Hi Connie, I looked at dynema for the running rigging but read something about it not liking to be bent repeatedly. I wondered if it would fail being bent over a sheave constantly. It is easy to eye splice though. The double locking procedure is very simple and quick. It would work well for double braid too except there is no place to tuck the end as the core of the outer line is already filled with the inner line, whereas the core of the dynema is empty. I ended up tapering the end and whipping it back to the line. I have more fun trying things out on this boat than sailing it sometimes. At present I am designing some bulkhead cabinets on either side of the companionway to store things in and wire a couple of 12v receptacles into for a search light, etc. Tom < https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast. www.avast.com < https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> On Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 10:45 AM, Conbert Benneck <chbenneck@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1/26/2016 9:43 AM, Thomas Buzzi wrote:
Hi Tom,
If you go to a WEST Marine catalog you can find dacron or other special lines, with a small diameter but very high tensile strength. Maybe you might consider replacing a halyard with one of these. More than enough strength for the job, but very small and light weight.
Connie
Thin lines aloft help deal with windage (drag and making the hull roll
off to leeward). I have found that going to something like 3/8 on the main sheet helps my hands grip the line more comfortably though. <
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