FB11 New Build

[mhd]

Well, three trips to Santa Fe MVD and the boat is officially titled and registered. And today was an eventful day, just a few days more than three months since the plywood arrived. The first time on the water. It was blowing around 18 knots and so the conditions were against us, but we got the boat in the water and that at least made us very happy! The wind was directly onshore with a not-great location (rocks, nowhere to set up easily, etc.), and as we were putting the boat together some folk with paddles in inflatables were driven onto the rocks purely due to the wind/waves. A guy in a powerboat was struggling to control his boat bashing against the floating dock, and in general it wasn't ideal for a maiden voyage. Kids were scared off the rocks by a rattlesnake. The photos don't show at all how little room there was to manaeuver or how choppy the water was. First time in a new boat and I wasn't confident of being able to easily sail off and beat out against the wind from where we launched - too many things that could have gone wrong - so we have to find a better place to launch for next time. We still thought it worthwhile to have a go though and once the boat was in I managed a few pulls on the oars to confirm that the boat was in good shape and that was about as far as it went - rowing against the wind/waves was a challenge enough, and with nowhere to easily get the mast/sails installed ashore, and the boat then launched easily, we decided discretion was the better part of valour and decided to search for a better launch location for next weekend, or go to the same place and hope that it isn't quite as windy next time. Would have been a better story, I think, from a nice open sandy beach. Anyway, that is for next time. The main thing was accomplished. Malarkey afloat and all is well. Am I a boat builder now? I suppose I am.

*Pros*

Boat is very strong.
Boat looks good.
Nesting on the jeep cargo hitch works even better than I imagined.
Watertight compartments were actually watertight. Very good buoyancy and boat was stable enough, even when 1/3 full of water
Foredeck was a big help in choppy conditions - boat would have been completely swamped without it.

*Cons*

Open oarlocks weren't ideal in choppy conditions...oars jumped out a few times and I lost one and had to swim to retrieve it. First time I've rowed in years too, so probably I'm to blame somewhat too. May try closed oarlocks in future.
Boat is 150+lbs - heavier than I wanted. Makes it tough to carry easily when the mast/gear/oars/rudder/daggerboard/seats are inside also.
Bolt holes really should be larger radius to allow for a faster set-up. Will drill slightly larger holes for next time.
Boat is bow heavy - skeg is completely out of the water with just one person in the midships seat. This was intentional, but probably over-done. It will be less of a problem with the intended two person crew and someone sat in the aft seat at the tiller. I never discussed it on the forum but I added a 1 inch rounded piece of oak, glassed over on the centreline, to aid tracking when rowing and seeing the skeg out of the water, I'm glad I did.
Setup takes longer than I wanted, but that should improve in time.
Boat was originally built with the idea it would be a large tender but could also be nested. As time has gone on, I realise that it is really too heavy/large for that. I bought the plans for the Prameke78 a few years ago and may build that as a lighter smaller tender in future.

*Things I'd do differently if building again*

Aim to not over-engineer everything and go for a lighter build. I used 3/8" thick plywood for the foredeck as I didn't want it to bend but 1/4" would have been more than adequate. Used too much exoxy as well - once the boat is waterproof, adding more doesn't make it more waterproof, just heavier.

Build a deeper mast step - I will probably add this at some point. I worry what might happen with a capsize - the mast needs to be held down completely securely against the step either with a line or some other method.

I'll probably write a longer report/follow-up with some more pics and thoughts, once I've had more time to digest. And once we have the sails up for the first time in more clement conditions!

Cheers,

Mick

[TomW1]

Not very nice conditions for a first launch, you are right there. Congrats on doing so though.

Tom

[mhd]

Not very nice conditions for a first launch, you are right there. Congrats on doing so though.

Tom

Thanks Tom,

I was disappointed not to test the sails yesterday, but there is always another day! We're going to try a different lake, hopefully next weekend.

Mick

[Fuzz]

If you were able to get in the boat and off the beach in those conditions I would say it was a great first time out. I am sure a little better weather will make things much nicer for you.

[mhd]

Right, first sail successfully completed!

We're getting faster getting the boat on/off the jeep now and quicker to set things up. Some early rowing to test out the boat and then the wind picked up and once we managed to row off the shore we hoisted the sails and were off. Sailed a few miles with the wind, but trying to get the boat anywhere to windward was impossible. Of course, the small mainsail was the issue. I suspected that before we set off, but just didn't have time to make up a full-sized mainsail and fit the sprit and boom for the intended sprit-rig. In the end I made the largest triangular sail I could out of a single piece of 54" wide cloth simply to test how the boat sailed. I calculated the area of the mainsail as ~20 sq ft and the jib ~10 sq ft.

Wind was over 10 knots by the time I'd rowed back a few miles into the wind...sore shoulders and sunburn today

Good points were:

Boat rows really well.
Boat feels stable and I'm sure will live up to expectations once the final sails are done

Some changes needed:

Move oarlocks at least six inches further forward
Buy turnbuckles with locking pins - we lost the forward stay as the turnbuckle unwound itself and had to lash the jib to the mast as that and and stay were flying around in the wind.
Move leathers on oars down six inches.
Sew a full-size mainsail and rig the boom and sprit.
Tiller is far too long and in the way - needs cutting down and making narrower.
Having full size oars in the boat when sailing with two people is a total pain!

There will be more, but I can honestly say it was a success and I'm happy. Different from the boat in the original plans, but for my first build, I'm very happy with it.

Sadly due to working away we're not going to be back on the water for a couple of months, but will hopefully post some more when we have the revised rig ready to be tested.

Mick