Well Jenny made it into the water for the 1st time last Sunday at Whiskeytown Lake by redding Ca. And Promptly broke the tiller lol.. Thank god for ducktape. I did find a couple of builder oops that I have to take care of, like the rudder not being strong enough, (lot of force on tiller), sump pump outlet mounted to low to waterline, ( everytime it dips in water come back down line into pump and on floor. ) Pump does work though. I had put indoor/ outdoor carpet on floor of cockpit but it was soaked the 1st hr. people getting in and out of boat and sump pump hole being too low. Ladder is a 2 rung folding type, but since the back transom is slanted the way it is, it puts the ladder under the boat when deployed. Gotta make some kind of stopper for a transom standoff.
Now that looks like a Raging SuccessÂ
congrats...that is awesome...so how did she sail????
She motored really well. Lol, not much of a breeze. I'm seriously thinking selling the big 4hp suzuki though. It weighs 55 lbs dry, and replace it with a 2.5hp suzuki.  I just aquired a 96' 15hp Gamefisher outboard for my RIB, it only weighs 56lbs, same as the 4hp suzuki.
A 96' GameFisher, well that's one big ass outboard . . . Â :
Congratulations Mike, job well done (you don't really think you're done do 'ya).
Do yourself a huge favor and take out the carpet. I've replaced dozens of cockpit and cabin soles over the years because they had carpet on it. The only way you can keep it, is to remove it each time you park the boat. If you leave it in place, you'll have rotten whatever under it pretty quickly, trust me.
Tillers need to be surprisingly strong, which is why you see a lot of laminated ones from the manufactures. The weak areas are the pivot bolt location and about 1/4 of the way up the tiller. I always use aluminum or stainless plates at the pivot area, which prevents any issue there and acts as a bearing for the pivot bolt too. I like vertical laminations, but horizontal is much more common to see. The reason I like vertical is I can taper two of the laminates, one on each side of the center piece and this makes it easy to shape the tiller. This makes two dart shapes the full length of the tiller, which looks cool too. Sort of one of my "features" on my builds.
Yea, lousy photos, but you should get the idea of the pivot bolt plates and the tapered laminate thingie. Also note how the hiking stick follows the cure of the tiller. The hiking stick is white pine stained to match the mahogany tiller, which is a 5 layer laminate of mahogany with the contrasting pieces being SYP. The ball on the end is a hunk of oak.
Well Mike, I guess you got your "comeuppens". How dare you think everything was gonna work right and proper the first time out! Thought you were special, not like the rest of us that took years to get our boats right.
He he he, nice job me boy. Beautiful boat, now you can get ready for the delta.
Well, here are more pics. Paul I was pointing out the fact that the 15hp gamefisher outboard that I just aquired weighs 1lb more than the suzuki 4hp I have sitting on the boat now.  As you can see in the pic how big the motor looks hanging on the back of the transom, also my rudder fix (ducktape, and rope) held all day by the way. My ladder angle, (useless at the moment.) and me relaxing in the cabin. It was about 90 degrees out side less than 80 inside with the fan circulating air.
 Do you guys think I should downgrade on engine size? to either a 2.5 to 2hp suzuki or honda??
This picture is to illustrate how big a weekender cabin is, I was laying against the starboard wall. Â It was nice and cool inside with fan going. Â
Love the picts!
Its pouring outside in NAPA, CA...so I decided to take the day (since wife and kids are in Chico) and drink wine all day---hey its napa and its supposed to be 85-90 in late june...what else would you do if you could not build all day and the wife and kids were gone??? Dont tell Warren that I am not building today...he has some aspirations that I will really finish my boat some day...
GREAT BOAT...I hope to have the privelege to meet you soon!