04-27-2014, 02:26 AM
Hi all,
well, after a day's delay owing to a very thunder and lightning laden day on Friday, we got that boat like thing to the water!
It's taken me just over 3 years to get there but who's counting? It has been one of the most satisfying projects I have worked on in my 58 odd trips around the sun and yesterday with a lovely crew of my family (except for our youngest who couldn't make it from Tasmania - she'll get a special launch when she does arrive!) around who have supported/helped/encouraged me the whole way. I am so grateful to them for making the passage of the build so easy amidst our busy lives and look forward to our reaping the rewards in the beautiful waterways we have around us to explore further..in MY boat!
Thanks too to you guys in the forum whose comments/ tips etc have been a great adjunct to the build; it really does help to know and be reminded that you are not alone in wading your way through the highs and not so highs of a project like this. Thanks too to you Mike Stevenson for providing the plans of a boat that suited what I thought were my needs in terms of a boat that had the things I wanted and could be completed within a sensible time frame (although the next one would take me 6 months I reckon!), budget and most importantly....look bloody lovely!
So, we headed to one of our favourite sailing waters, Tea Gardens, in the beautiful Port Stephens area of NSW just 50 minutes drive from our home. The day was overcast and still...very still unfortunately in some ways as we couldn't get a good sail in but in another way, good as a start to find any faults (surely not!) or make any adjustments without the pressure of the boat being laid flat in a southerly buster!!
She trailed excellently on the trailer I decided to spend the money on getting built from new and after sufficiently solemn niceties with a bottle of champaign,
(www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203674538366982&set=vb.1322817317&type=2&theater)Â (short video link)
she slid effortlessly into the waiting tide....and then, that feeling...standing on the deck of your own hand made boat! Sublime!
Okahu ( named after the bay I grew up on in Auckland, New Zealand which first fired my briny leanings - pronounced 'Oh - kaa - who' in the NZ Maori of it's origin) immediately gave me a thrill of stability; she was solid as to walk around and slid through the water under the power of my 4HP 4 stroke outboard that easily got it up to hull speed. The wheel worked perfectly and I love that feel as compared to a tiller (a much more sensible device I know but less magic I think!) and ...well, so far, everything else as well. She certainly got plenty of admiring looks, thumbs up and impressed comments from many who passed us by on the day - and I must say, I agreed with them all!
We loaded up the crew and had a lovely few hours cruising up and down that section of the Myall River that opens out into Port Stephens. There was little wind but enough to actually make way against the incoming 1-2 knots of tide that was running and that was sweet!
The initial trials of course has invited some changes - the most pressing one being the raising of the goose neck as the boom sits rather too low in the cockpit. Nothing else major so far but I'm looking forward to getting it out there with a bit of a wind to play with...will let you know how that goes!
She's not the piece of cabinetmaking some require of a 'proper job' and there are some corners I'd probably rather no show you truth be known but I am pretty happy with the job I've done and I look forward to the many hours of very self satisfied time I plan to spend on her in the future...even the maintainence and repairs that will surely come!
Meanwhile, here's a few photos from the day and a facebook link to a little video of the launch ceremonials and will post more and hopefully some sailing ones before too long.
Thanks again everyone and those of you still knee deep in shavings or sawdust or epoxy....keep going; it's well worth it!!
regards Gerrard, owner, skipper, BUILDER of 'Okahu'!
well, after a day's delay owing to a very thunder and lightning laden day on Friday, we got that boat like thing to the water!
It's taken me just over 3 years to get there but who's counting? It has been one of the most satisfying projects I have worked on in my 58 odd trips around the sun and yesterday with a lovely crew of my family (except for our youngest who couldn't make it from Tasmania - she'll get a special launch when she does arrive!) around who have supported/helped/encouraged me the whole way. I am so grateful to them for making the passage of the build so easy amidst our busy lives and look forward to our reaping the rewards in the beautiful waterways we have around us to explore further..in MY boat!
Thanks too to you guys in the forum whose comments/ tips etc have been a great adjunct to the build; it really does help to know and be reminded that you are not alone in wading your way through the highs and not so highs of a project like this. Thanks too to you Mike Stevenson for providing the plans of a boat that suited what I thought were my needs in terms of a boat that had the things I wanted and could be completed within a sensible time frame (although the next one would take me 6 months I reckon!), budget and most importantly....look bloody lovely!
So, we headed to one of our favourite sailing waters, Tea Gardens, in the beautiful Port Stephens area of NSW just 50 minutes drive from our home. The day was overcast and still...very still unfortunately in some ways as we couldn't get a good sail in but in another way, good as a start to find any faults (surely not!) or make any adjustments without the pressure of the boat being laid flat in a southerly buster!!
She trailed excellently on the trailer I decided to spend the money on getting built from new and after sufficiently solemn niceties with a bottle of champaign,
(www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203674538366982&set=vb.1322817317&type=2&theater)Â (short video link)
she slid effortlessly into the waiting tide....and then, that feeling...standing on the deck of your own hand made boat! Sublime!
Okahu ( named after the bay I grew up on in Auckland, New Zealand which first fired my briny leanings - pronounced 'Oh - kaa - who' in the NZ Maori of it's origin) immediately gave me a thrill of stability; she was solid as to walk around and slid through the water under the power of my 4HP 4 stroke outboard that easily got it up to hull speed. The wheel worked perfectly and I love that feel as compared to a tiller (a much more sensible device I know but less magic I think!) and ...well, so far, everything else as well. She certainly got plenty of admiring looks, thumbs up and impressed comments from many who passed us by on the day - and I must say, I agreed with them all!
We loaded up the crew and had a lovely few hours cruising up and down that section of the Myall River that opens out into Port Stephens. There was little wind but enough to actually make way against the incoming 1-2 knots of tide that was running and that was sweet!
The initial trials of course has invited some changes - the most pressing one being the raising of the goose neck as the boom sits rather too low in the cockpit. Nothing else major so far but I'm looking forward to getting it out there with a bit of a wind to play with...will let you know how that goes!
She's not the piece of cabinetmaking some require of a 'proper job' and there are some corners I'd probably rather no show you truth be known but I am pretty happy with the job I've done and I look forward to the many hours of very self satisfied time I plan to spend on her in the future...even the maintainence and repairs that will surely come!
Meanwhile, here's a few photos from the day and a facebook link to a little video of the launch ceremonials and will post more and hopefully some sailing ones before too long.
Thanks again everyone and those of you still knee deep in shavings or sawdust or epoxy....keep going; it's well worth it!!
regards Gerrard, owner, skipper, BUILDER of 'Okahu'!
