MF14 - Minnesota

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fallguy1000
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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by fallguy1000 »

Great looking sail!
My boat build is here -------->

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=62495

Jeff
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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by Jeff »

Congratulations!! Jeff

pee wee
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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by pee wee »

Looks great, and light wind for your first outing sounds good.
Hank

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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by Bogieman »

Well done 8)

walkabout_slp
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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by walkabout_slp »

I have now put on about 5 hours of sailing and the boat is performing as well as I could hope. Trying to get in as many hours as I can before it gets cold up here in Minnesota.

A few observations:

bailer:
After getting swamped by a wave from a big motor boat and 1/2 the cockpit filling up with water I realized that you SHOULD ALWAYS have a hand bailer. I am thinking of adding an auto-bailer, but the idea of drilling a hole in the hull through the cockpit floor scares me a little. Anyone have experiences with auto-bailers?

mast hole fills up with water:
Your mast hole will fill up with water while sailing or being stored deck up outside. I have read that this is OK. As long as there are no cracks/holes to let the water into the hull you should be ok. I might add a wooden deck plate with a round hole in it for the mast so that I can put a plug/stopper in it when stored. Right now the hole is square so it is difficult to plug. I get the water out with a towel after sailing.

sailing with 2 adults works well
I have sailed with both my boys (one at a time) and with my wife and it seems to be comfortable. I have found that in lighter winds the passenger can sit with the daggerboard between their legs and their back to the mast. This does require you to have the sail/boom higher up. If they try to sit in the cockpit they get in the way of the mainsheet.
Sailing alone works well too.

hiking strap:
I installed a hiking strap which helped a lot when sailing alone in stronger winds.

sail/mast:
I bought my rigging 2nd hand. I was told it was from a Sunfish. The dimensions of the booms etc were the same Sunfish rigging. I paid $100 for the mast, spars, sail, mainsheet and halyard which is a great deal (I think they are over $600 new) Turns out the sail is actually a Super Sailfish sail and not a Sunfish sail, but apparently they are the same size.
This rigging is probably 30 years old, but works great. I did have to patch one small hole in the sail. Since the hole was in a red section I used inexpensive red Tyvek (house wrap) tape. New sails range from less than $200 to just under $500 and are readily available.
I replaced the mainsheet and halyard right away.
I also added a mast cleat so that I can tie the halyard to the cleat on the mast, then have it go through the bullseye fairlead, back over the gooseneck, back through the bullseye fairleadand then to a cleat on the deck. I read that this puts much less stress on your deck and possibly is safer to prevent loosing the mast if you happen to completely capsize.

paddle
I carry a cheap plastic paddle on the boat just in case the wind dies. I have had to us it once near my dock. I shove it under halyard line by the mast so it is out of the way. There are plenty of boats on our lake, but the idea of asking for a tow does not appeal to be. I also tied a dock line to the bow handle just in case I do need a tow.

cover:
Remember I was debating on what to do about storing the boat on the boat lift. I could not use a standard Sunfish cover as the Moonfish is a few inches longer so they won't work
Well I just got a 5'x8' tarp and some bungees. Tapr is bungeed down over the cockpit, splashgaurd and mast hole. Then the boat is tied down to the boat lift over the tarp. Working great so far and not too much water is able to make its way under the tarp.

rigging the boat
I don't store the mast/boom/sail on the boat, but store it in a shed. It is really light, even my 13 year old can carry it 160 feet without issues.
Actually installing the mast, raising the sail etc only takes a few minutes. I takes me much longer the rig my windsurfer. Check out video on youtube.

winter storage
I have not figured this out yet, but think I will be hanging the boat deckside down from the rafters of a shed at my cabin. I will post photos later when I do this.

Chenier
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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by Chenier »

Great to hear she's sailing wonderfully!

A friend who has been hanging around sailboats all his life recommended the Andersen auto bailer to me. Installing it is more than "drilling a hole", but it looks like it'll create a more positive seal when closed than the float-ball style that the Sunfish uses. I have been warned, though, to watch my feet around that thing - it can hurt if you step on it.

Regarding paddle: doesn't the daggerboard work as a paddle, or is it too short?

walkabout_slp
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Location: Minnesota

Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by walkabout_slp »

Chennier,
thanks for the auto-bailer info. I will check them out.

I never thought of using the dagger board as a paddle. Good idea.

jwassdo
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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by jwassdo »

This guy makes custom covers that are out of this world. He's local for me which is a big advantage but if you stayed with the plans, you can probably send him the plans and he can do something for you. I brought him my rb12 in person and he created a work of art but you may want to call him and see what he says.

I never thought I'd get excited about a boat cover...

Betterboatcovers.com
(941) 313-1077
Sarasota/bradenton area, Florida

walkabout_slp
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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by walkabout_slp »

It is that time of the year. I hung the boat for the winter. With snow already in Minnesota my sailing is done for the year.

Thank you all for your help and encouragement during my build.

Image
Last edited by walkabout_slp on Sun May 19, 2019 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

jwassdo
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Re: MF14 - Minnesota

Post by jwassdo »

You must have great restraint at not using too much epoxy. That board must be light weight for you to get it overhead like that! Clever storage solution!


Jeff

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