Herold Driedger
03-27-2009, 07:16 PM
Greetings from a prairie schoonerâ¦
No, not the wheeled kind drawn by mules, horses or oxen, but rather a landlocked sailor looking to build another boat. My first was a San Francisco Pelican, a pram prowed dinghy. Lotâs of fun!
Most of my sailing (a long, long time agoâ¦) was in a Laser. Mine was hull #954. Had to give it up because an injury to my lower back meant I could no longer support my upper body weight when hiked out with only the toes anchored on the hiking strap. Gave up the Pelican when circumstances changed and I no longer had easy access to a place to sail. I fell in love with Stevensonâs Weekender when I chanced upon an article on it in âPopular Mechanicsâ circa 1981. As I write this it is March 26, 2009. My Weekender plans were posted Mar 26 1982. (Where did the time go?) I liked the whole concept of the Weekenderâ¦a boat you could build out of standard lumberyard and hardware store materialsâ¦
I had some questions regarding the plans I received, and P. Stevenson was kind enough to respond with answers. Then the Vacationer was featuredâ¦again in âPopular Mechanics.â I received those plans in April of â85. A careful read of these suggested that the jack-knife center-board might be dispensed with on the Weekender. Reading through some of BYYBâs archives on the subject seems to support thisâ¦at least to my satisfaction. I feel that the full length keelson plus the hard chine will provide all the control I will need even though I will be sailing on rivers as opposed to lakes. I would appreciate comments both pro and con on this.
I saw my first home built Weekender in 1987. The skipper had gone with a tiller (he used a lumberjackâs axe-handle) instead of the wheel. Knowing how quickly and how often I needed to fine-tune the tiller when on my Laser, this is an idea I intend to incorporate.
So why the posting?
Circumstances have changed again. I am next to the mighty Red River. (Not as mighty as the Mississippi, but mighty enough!) My son-in-law and I intend to make us a boat. In prep I decided to spend some time on line and see what I could find. You have no idea how glad I was when I found your siteâ¦especially since I saw some pretty neat Weekender pictures. The one that prompts this post shows a folding mast. I might be able to figure out how to do this on my own (did I mention my son-in-law is an engineer?), but why reinvent the wheel? Is there someone out there who can provide me the detail? Send me an e-mail.
In fact, in reading through the Stevenson site, I came across a reference to videos of the building process. Unfortunately for me, all attempts to contact the Stevensons either by e-mail, or even telephone has not met with success. So this question goes out to the Weekender community. Is there anyone out there who has these gathering dust on a garage or basement shelf with no need to hold on to them any longer? Perhaps we can do a deal.
Looking forward to whatever info comes back my wayâ¦
No, not the wheeled kind drawn by mules, horses or oxen, but rather a landlocked sailor looking to build another boat. My first was a San Francisco Pelican, a pram prowed dinghy. Lotâs of fun!
Most of my sailing (a long, long time agoâ¦) was in a Laser. Mine was hull #954. Had to give it up because an injury to my lower back meant I could no longer support my upper body weight when hiked out with only the toes anchored on the hiking strap. Gave up the Pelican when circumstances changed and I no longer had easy access to a place to sail. I fell in love with Stevensonâs Weekender when I chanced upon an article on it in âPopular Mechanicsâ circa 1981. As I write this it is March 26, 2009. My Weekender plans were posted Mar 26 1982. (Where did the time go?) I liked the whole concept of the Weekenderâ¦a boat you could build out of standard lumberyard and hardware store materialsâ¦
I had some questions regarding the plans I received, and P. Stevenson was kind enough to respond with answers. Then the Vacationer was featuredâ¦again in âPopular Mechanics.â I received those plans in April of â85. A careful read of these suggested that the jack-knife center-board might be dispensed with on the Weekender. Reading through some of BYYBâs archives on the subject seems to support thisâ¦at least to my satisfaction. I feel that the full length keelson plus the hard chine will provide all the control I will need even though I will be sailing on rivers as opposed to lakes. I would appreciate comments both pro and con on this.
I saw my first home built Weekender in 1987. The skipper had gone with a tiller (he used a lumberjackâs axe-handle) instead of the wheel. Knowing how quickly and how often I needed to fine-tune the tiller when on my Laser, this is an idea I intend to incorporate.
So why the posting?
Circumstances have changed again. I am next to the mighty Red River. (Not as mighty as the Mississippi, but mighty enough!) My son-in-law and I intend to make us a boat. In prep I decided to spend some time on line and see what I could find. You have no idea how glad I was when I found your siteâ¦especially since I saw some pretty neat Weekender pictures. The one that prompts this post shows a folding mast. I might be able to figure out how to do this on my own (did I mention my son-in-law is an engineer?), but why reinvent the wheel? Is there someone out there who can provide me the detail? Send me an e-mail.
In fact, in reading through the Stevenson site, I came across a reference to videos of the building process. Unfortunately for me, all attempts to contact the Stevensons either by e-mail, or even telephone has not met with success. So this question goes out to the Weekender community. Is there anyone out there who has these gathering dust on a garage or basement shelf with no need to hold on to them any longer? Perhaps we can do a deal.
Looking forward to whatever info comes back my wayâ¦
