Little Gem, a C12

[swidm]

I built my C12 a little differently than the plans with a different arrangement of the seats, a standing lug rig, and a daggerboard. She sails like a dream constantly surprising folks with her speed. The seating arrangement worked out as well.


These pictures are from the mid-america boat show. Later, I eliminated the bowsprit and the clubfoot on the jib. The jib is so small it doesn't do much for the performance of the boat.

Probably one of my most favorite picture of the boat showing both how fast she can go and how well she handles rough water!

These three pictures were taken after I eliminated the bowsprit. You can see how small the jib is. Also, my 8 year old son was sailing the boat with no problems and total enjoyment while I manned the watergun artillery .



A series of pictures showing the inside of the boat. The slanting board to the left of the daggerboard trunk is actually a seat and the most comfortable place in the boat. Under the seats along the side I have L shaped brackets to hold some plastic bins for storage. The aft seat doesn't go all of the way to the transom making for a great place to put my cruise n carry motor. The bulkheads are cut out for lightness and 2" of floatation foam are glued under every seat where there aren't storage boxes in the way. In light air it is best if I sit on the rowing thwart or as close to as possible. As the wind increases, I find myself sliding back to balance the boat out.

[swidm]

Well, during my move from Ohio to Atlanta I was coerced (offered money) into selling my 14' Stevenson Pocket Cruiser which had to be one of the best one (and occasionally two) person cruising boats. The cabin also made it very enjoyable for the kids when daysailing. As you can tell, I might have made a bit of a mistake but willing to live with it. I was determined to build a replacement that the whole family (2 adults and 2 kids) could overnight on but realized two things: 1) kids are growing fast and window of time that it is cool to camp-sail with mom and dad is shrinking and 2) a boat the size I needed is a BIG build that would take a lot of time and possibly not fit in the garage. So, I ended up buying a MacGregor 26D which is a waterballasted boat (easy and light to trailer) but has plenty of room for the family to overnight on. However, the mac26 is too big for just me to trailer to the homeboatbuilder events not to mention being a nonhomebuilt plastic boat.

So, I trailered some of the small open boats (including the c12) to these events and slept in a tent. Just not the same as sleeping on a boat though and, without back support or shade, not as comfortable for all-day sailing. Besides, the kids missed the cabin when daysailing. What to do? take a saw to my perfectly good C12 and make it a new boat to fill the hole in my boat inventory...thats what . You can see in the previous post what the inside of the boat looked like. Down below, you can see how it has evolved.

First step was to take all of the old seats and mastep out of the boat. Can anyone say sawsall . Also, I took stripper to the paint on the sides of the boat in order to make the new epoxied parts stick.



Next step was to put in a new structure to support the deck. The plan is to eventually have a deck with coaming around cockpit opening. Then, have a cabin trunk that I can put on the foward part of the open cocpit converting her into what will look like a little catboat with cabin. I also plan on lowering the cockpit seats for more head clearance, back support (from coamings) and a bimini which all adds up to more comfortable sailing in the south. The rowing thwart will be a hinged seat attached to the back of the daggerboard case and midship frame. With a few built in drinkholders, it will also double as a table at a perfect height for the cockpit seats.

In order to get 6' worth of length for the berth, it was necessary to move the mast 16" forward. Besides, I like a catboat rig and this would eliminate the small jib that didn't do too much for me. A gaff sail moves the CE back from where the lug sail had it so I am hoping she will balance out without lee-helm. Good design of the sail proportions should help as well. The bunk will be canvas and will be easily mountable and removable with no need for space-hoging cushions. Will have some storage under.


The preceeding pictures show some of the details I am trying to add to the boat as I go along. Up in the bow I have made a sealed compartment for storing anchor line and chain. I will have to make some sort of drain and I already have the anchor pipe to go through the deck. There still is space below this compartment for floatation. The second picture shows the lazarette hatch which will be held in place by a bungee attached to the back of the hatch and to the transom. The oval shape allows the hatch to be pass back into the lazarett to get it out of the way when loading. The basic hatch idea I got from Ian Outread. The final picture shows the built in shelves and fids in order to organize this storage space. The latest additions (not yet pictured) are a motor well which gives clearance to clamp a motor to the transom and the rails to hold up the canvas berth are going in. Also, I have glassed the face of the aft and midship frames and added some width to the gunnel to give something more to attach the deck to.

There won't be sitting headroom in the cabin with the trunk in place. However, I am planning on making the cabin pop-up when at anchor for more comfortable accomodations.

[ks8]

Looks like you're having a good time thinking it all through. Great pictures. Looking forward to more of the completed changes. Thanks.

[swidm]

I am having a good time though I wish I had more time to put into the project. The biggest upcoming challenge will the the cockpit coaming especially in the front where I plan on having a nice curve. I want to use some mahogony I got but it is almost and inch thick. So, I think I will use a table saw to cut it into 3/8" thick boards and build a steam box. A lot of effort but I thought a rounded front to the cockpit would be a nice detail. Also, the front of the removable cabin will be rounded but I plan on doing that curve by kerfing the plywood and using thickened epoxy to hide the kerf.

I find I always need to have a boat build to think about when away and to do when I get home. Recently I picked up a large roll of tan duck-cloth on sale and I am looking forward to several sewing projects for my boats including the canvas berth for little gem. Advantage of sewing jobs is I don't get covered in sawdust or epoxy.

[swidm]

I have cut out some beautiful slat seats out of mahogony. I also have attached the decks! Need to get some paint for the interior and some more wood to make the coamings out of. I decided to use some great looking luan plywood I have so that I can finish the decks bright. The challenge will be filling the screw holes and seams betweent the pieces of plywood so that it looks good.

[ks8]

color match various blends of different colored homemade wood flour, but do the color matching *wet* as the flour darkens when wet with epoxy. Have fun!

[swidm]

The work continues despite other boating projects. I built a motor mount for the motor clamps, put in strips of wood to support the canvas berth, cut out shaped mahogony strakes for the seats, attached supports for the seats, attached the decks, filled the screwholes, and sanded...achoo. Mind the mess!!

[ks8]

Nothing like a solid design that let's you get away with all that. She's got a whole new look! When you've got all the details in place for the canvas top mounting and all, post some pictures of those details. Looking forward to it. I've got all my generic mounting plates in place, but I keep changing my mind on the final form of the top. Down to 3 options. I'd be interested to see how rig it.

[swidm]

The plan is for a 3" wide mahogony coaming going around the entire cockpit opening with about 3/4" sticking up above the deck back by the seats rising to 2" towards the front. This should keep any water splashing on the decks out of the cockpit and still be able to hike out back by the seats when the wind is really blowing. However, the C12 is so stable I don't know if I would ever hike out on the deck. Basically, the boat will look like a normal daysailer when the cabin trunk isn't on.

The cabin trunk will be completely removable fitting around the coaming in the front. Probably will have latches to keep the cabin trunk securely on when in place. I will have legs to raise the cabin trunk when at anchor with sunbrella and mosquito mesh sides for good ventilation. I have toyed with several options with the cabin openings and would love to hear what you are thinking of. For the end I have pretty much settled on a large cloth entry. The top entry is a lot tougher due to another of constraints. First, there is my daggerboard trunk which needs some sort of opening above to raise the daggerboard. Second, the cabin trunk itself is a seperate structure and a deep opening may weeken it too much. Third is ease of use when at anchor. It is a small cabin so I need to easily get in and out of it without admitting too much water if it is raining.

The four options I have thought of are 1) No opening, 2) opening covered by cloth, and 3) opening with hard sliding hatch, or 4) opening with hinged hatch. #1 would require raising the entire cabin trunk whenever I raise the daggerboard and I am not in favor of that. #2 might take too long to get in and out of the cabin depending on how it is designed and doesn't provide support to the cabin when seperated from the boat. #3 is easy and quick to use, gets the hatch entirely out of the way, and if pulled back all of the way actually provides some support when the cabin trunk is seperated from the boat. #4 has many of the same advantages of #3 but may have the negative of the boom getting in the way of completely flipping the hatch open.

I think I am leaning towards #3 using full-extension drawer slides. I have used them before with great success on a trailersailor and you can easily open and close the hatch with one finger with these in place. Finally, when closed there are no tracks visible on the rest of the cabin. I will probably put mahogony handholds on the top of the cabin more to tie things to and help in taking it off than to use on handholds to go forward. On a 12' boat, I don't think going forward is an option.

[swidm]

Things have been moving slowly along and I hope to have Little Gem ready for a small boat race weekend after next. I have a wonderful egyptian cotton dacron sail all ready to go. She will be a gaff cat rig so no forsail.

The steaming of the coamings was succesfull. I used thicken epoxy to form a nice turn from the deck then varnished all of that lovely wood. After, I painted the deck. Next I need to get my mast stub and tabernacle installed. My mast will be hinged making it easier to raise and lower both on and off the water. I also need to make mast hoops, gaff jaws, and lengthen my boom for the new sail.