PK78 Ready for Sail

[MadRus]

I just did, thanks for the link. Apparently, that plastic cutting board stuff might actually be Delrin. I have a couple of those myself- unfortunately, they're in fashion colors and I think my wife might miss them.

[jeremy]

Yeah, the trick is finding a cutting board thick enough. I debated about it for a while, but eventually figured a 4" diameter, 2" thick delrin round is $25+shipping and I should stop fretting about it.

That said, if you can find a cheaper solution, I'm sure others would be interested. I thought most 'plastic' cutting boards were UHMW, which would most likely also work.

My mast was also rounded by hand, but the delrin is slick stuff and it seems to rotate just fine.

[MadRus]

Update...

This might seem a little wasteful, but I had a readily available, left over supply of epoxy from the build, so I thickened some with wood flour, took the paint off the inside of the partner and filled the partner with the epoxy. When it's cured, and it's almost there now, but I'll let it be overnight, I'll redrill it to more closely fit the dia. of the mast.

I think I can get within about 1/4", which is a lot better than the 1/2"+ there is now.

[MadRus]

Another update...

Epoxy cured and sanded, I went a little over 1-3/4" with my rotozip and now it fits nicely with a bit of play- maybe 1/8"-1/4" max. It's primed and waiting for paint. I'll try to post pics tomorrow if I remember.

[TomW]

If you hit an 1/8" you'll be in heaven. Hope you get a sail this week-end.

Tom

[Cracker Larry]

It sounds like you picked the best long term solution. Do it right, do it once.

[MadRus]

Here it is. Admittedly, it needs a bit of fairing, but I'll save that until I have some left over epoxy in a cup and don't know what to do with it. I also got a bit of paint on my mast, but that's okay too.

I guess if the movement in the step ever bothers me I can do a pour to get it tight as a glove.

[TomW]

That looks beautiful. As Larry said always better to take the time to do it right, if your doing it. Way to go.

Tom

[Charlie]

The mast in a sprit rigged boat should be able to rotate a little. So, as long as the mast isn't leaning backward it is probably OK as is. Mine came out a little tight so I dust some talcum powder on the butt end of the mast to help it rotate.

[MadRus]

Wow! That was a lot of fun. I think I'm a sailor now. Took her over to a little pond in the next town over to avoid the seadoos on the local lake. The rig was just fine, it moved in the partner, but there wasn't a lot of jarring motion.

Took me about an hour to relax and start to work with the wind. At first, I was running with the wind and that was easy of course. I quickly ran out of pond and had to turn up wind. After about an hour of fighting to make headway, I finally relaxed and just let the wind move me where it was going and I just tried to ride as close hauled as possible and tacked my way back to within an easy row of shore. The wind was coming right from the direction of the landing. Eventually, it started getting a little squirelly, coming from the S then SW then W then S again. It kept up like that for a while, and then it settled down and stopped shifting on me, then I had some fun. The pond has trees right close in and there's a wicked wind shadow or land shadow I can't remember the name, but there's no wind at all for about 300' from shore.

Sorry if I got any terminology wrong.

What a fun little boat, that's all I can say. It's easy to see why many people like this boat and her cousins. Clearly I have a lot to learn, but it sure is fun.