C12 Kanevedenn launched

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Michel
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C12 Kanevedenn launched

Post by Michel »

Hi all,

I'm very proud to announce the launching of my C12 "Kanevedenn" (a briton word to say "rainbow").
Here are some pictures and comments.

The pictures first :

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And the comments.

The boat :

I've made a couple of changes to the original plans :
- the most visible is the addition of the gunwales for both comfort and aesthetic (although I know that Jacques said in an other post time ago that he doesn't like them ...)
- also visible is the pivoting rudder
- the mast partner seat has been extended a bit forward to allow for enough flottation volume to comply with the french legal requirement (see pictures)
- I've also added a boom vang and a cunnigham. The fist has proved to be very usefull when before the wind as the shrouds are (as per plan) not enough far behind the mast. The downhaul is then required to "close" the sail leech and to prevent the mast to move forward; note that this also give more efficiency at this point of sail.
- the total surface of the sail has been extended slightly up to 7.7m² by giving more round to the top of the leech. This give more power in small air, but obviously makes her more difficult in the breeze.

I've not weighted her, but we have been estimating her weight to about 70kgs when we returned her for painting. Her total weight is probably about 85-90kg with the rigging and all stuffs.

At sea :

She has been tested by three of us, two with a quite impressive sailing background, one in particular in Laser dinghy, the third (me) with a decent, but not exceptional experience in sailing.

The wind was 10-12 knots (3-4 Beaufort) at the beginning of the sailing session and went up to 15-18 knots (4-5 Beaufort) in gusts at the end. We have been testing various configuration, each of us sailing in turn solo and with another crew.

The general comments go from "very good" to "excellent". Congratulations to the designer...

Crew : in actual facts, a crew of one if a bit too light to have her in her true waterline. This is achived by having a crew of two on board (see pictures). This won't however prevent me to sail her solo most of the time ...
The cockpit is large enough for two adults; or probaly one adult and two kids. The placement of the payload has a big influence on her behaviour ; we've discovered that the ideal place for the crew is on the middle seat for more or less any point of sailing.

Close hauled : excellent ablity to go very close of the wind. She is _very_ well balanced and require really minimal input on the tiller. If the tiller if released, she continues on the same direction, then slowly heads up. The rudder is very sensitive and the boat react on all input; however, the movement of the tiller needs to be straight when tacking. Tacking is very straight and the boat start immediately on the other tack with minimal loose of speed.

Before the wind : very good. A tendance to head up quickly when the tiller is relased. Gybing might be a bit tricky in the breeze as she heads up very quickly at this time (Jacques, how do you say "autoloffée"?) and the tiller really needs to be pulled quickly (the water being still too cold to push the expereience to its end).

What I would change if I had to build her again (which may happen, but not immediately ...):
- have the shrouds 15cm more aft.
- make the middle seat 20 cm larger on its front side. As this seat id really the right place for the crew, whatever she is sailed solo or with a crew of two, a larger seat would make the life more comfortable when sailed with two (or more) on board.

A general conclusion : believe me, I will really enjoy this boat ...

Regards,

Michel.

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Post by despotic931 »

beautiful boat michel, have fun with her, btw what did you christen it?
-Justin

Rick
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Post by Rick »

Michel, what a beautiful boat! C'est magnifique!

You must be very proud of it.

I would love to attend an international festival of Mertens sailboats, but we are all so far apart... and so outnumbered by the fishermen.

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Post by chrisobee »

What a beautiful boat!!! You should be very proud.

I hope you will be willing to answer a couple of questions. I can see a little piece of plastic conduit in the bottom of the boat, what is that for? What are the control lines that run aft from the base of the mast? Where are you sailing? It looks beautiful.

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Post by Jonnas »

Many congratulations Michel, that's a very beautiful boat.

The gunwales look very nice and the clear finished wood as well. And what kind of wood did you use for the rubrail?

Best regards. Enjoy her.

JG

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Post by PJPiercey »

Super job Michel!! I look forward to seeing some more pictures!

Paul Piercey

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Michel
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Post by Michel »

Hi,

Thanks to all of you for the compliments.

Justin : her name is "Kanevedennn", which means "rainbow" in briton (old local dialect).

ChrisObee : the plastic pipe goes from the cockpit to the bottom of the transom and allow for drainage of the cockpit at port keeping the rear case dry. It is when sailing closed both end by two bungs.

The two control lines from the bottom of the mast are the downhaul and the cunnigham. They are returned to two cleats at mid cockpit each side for ease. There is also an outhaul I left on the boom.

I usually sail in the "rade de Brest". Brest, where I live, is a city at the extreme west end of France. Richstat and his AR15 is as far as I know my closest neighbour : I just need to sail about 150 nautic milles to north to meet him at Plymouth ...

Jonnas : the rubrail, the tiller, etc... are amde of padouk (english is padauk or barwood or camwood), an african wood used around here for outside groundfloor.

Regards,

Michel.

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Re: C12 Kanevedenn launched

Post by jasonmcintosh »

Michel wrote:the most visible is the addition of the gunwales for both comfort and aesthetic (although I know that Jacques said in an other post time ago that he doesn't like them ...)
Jacques' sailed around the world one too many times. The boat looks great, thanks for the pictures! Happy sailing.

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Michel
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Post by Michel »

Hi,

For the shake of interest of possible C12 french builders, note that Kanevedenn, my C12, has successfully passed the security and safety controls required to allow her to be legally registered. She is now allowed to be sailed at sea up to 2 nautic miles (about 3.3 kilometers) from the coast, which is fine and probably enough for a dinghy of that size.

I've been sailing her again last week-end (in fact as all other week-ends), both saturday and sunday : sunny weather, wind between 7 and 20 knots : believe me, I've got paid for my building efforts ...

I've found a picture of the "Rade de Brest", the place where I've a lot of fun sailing :

[img]http://forums.bateau2.com%20albums/userpics/10414/rade1.jpg[/img]

As an idea of scale, the length of the bridge at the foreground is about 1,5 km and the distance between the bridge and the bakground shore is about 10 kms.

I'll post some other pictures of Kanavedenn as soon as I get some interresting ones.

Michel.

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Wonderful Workmanship

Post by J.P. Morgan »

Your boat must draw rave reviews at the dock. I hope to do as nice work someday. Congratulations on a job well done.

J.P.

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