07-22-2012, 06:52 PM
well we finally launched "wanderer" today, posting pics tomorrow (sorry im on duty till 2am cant post them yet) but we had a great sail today, and i have to say i really like this little boat! (superskipjack) as im sure is always the case there are some things i like some i dont, some we can change and some we'll live with.
we had an easy launch, although my boat sits lower then the dock, so bumpers are almost useless. the boat sits nicely in the water, but it sure gets tossed around a little when a powerboat wake hits us.
im not real happy with the hinged mast. i know its great for trailering , but the hassle of raising the sail with all the bolts, nuts etc in the way is not ideal. i can see myself building a one piece mast as we dont plan to trailer much anyway. i store the boat at the calgary sailing club, mast up, on the trailer. we chose to lash the main to the mast which i like the look of and once its past the hinged area, works fine.
if i was doing this again, i'd attach a wider piece of lumber to the transom for the rudder attachment point. the 2x4 is very narrow, and limits what you can do when attaching your rudder. i wound up using "L" shaped brackets lag screwed into the 2 x 4 for my rudder to drop onto (pics to follow) a 4" wide piece may be better here.
i raised my hinge point from 37" to 45" the added height gives us both lots of headroom with the main raised, and with the sail down my topping lift is a nice added feature.
i noticed the forsail is hard to lower, just not enough weight i guess, i think we'll run a small line up the forstay attached to the halyard, run through the eyebolt on the bowsprit and back to the cockpit. that way, we can lossen the halyard, and using the 2nd line simply pull the sail down.
my 30lb thrust trolling motor works great, i was very happy with it, i may move the battery forward the boat seems to be a bit bouncy maybe the weight forward would help a little
my tarp sail work like crazy!! we had no trouble grabbing the wind they seem strong
all in all, we're thrilled with the result, i can see it will be constant tweaking, but the end result is a great boat and a fun hobby. ill get as many pics up as i can in the next few days !
we had an easy launch, although my boat sits lower then the dock, so bumpers are almost useless. the boat sits nicely in the water, but it sure gets tossed around a little when a powerboat wake hits us.
im not real happy with the hinged mast. i know its great for trailering , but the hassle of raising the sail with all the bolts, nuts etc in the way is not ideal. i can see myself building a one piece mast as we dont plan to trailer much anyway. i store the boat at the calgary sailing club, mast up, on the trailer. we chose to lash the main to the mast which i like the look of and once its past the hinged area, works fine.
if i was doing this again, i'd attach a wider piece of lumber to the transom for the rudder attachment point. the 2x4 is very narrow, and limits what you can do when attaching your rudder. i wound up using "L" shaped brackets lag screwed into the 2 x 4 for my rudder to drop onto (pics to follow) a 4" wide piece may be better here.
i raised my hinge point from 37" to 45" the added height gives us both lots of headroom with the main raised, and with the sail down my topping lift is a nice added feature.
i noticed the forsail is hard to lower, just not enough weight i guess, i think we'll run a small line up the forstay attached to the halyard, run through the eyebolt on the bowsprit and back to the cockpit. that way, we can lossen the halyard, and using the 2nd line simply pull the sail down.
my 30lb thrust trolling motor works great, i was very happy with it, i may move the battery forward the boat seems to be a bit bouncy maybe the weight forward would help a little
my tarp sail work like crazy!! we had no trouble grabbing the wind they seem strong
all in all, we're thrilled with the result, i can see it will be constant tweaking, but the end result is a great boat and a fun hobby. ill get as many pics up as i can in the next few days !
