Bedford

Well I've just found this beautiful build and I'll definitely be tagging along.

As for "up the coast" as a fellow New South Welshman I'd say still in NSW but north of Sydney.

As Banyan said, the distances involved here catch a lot of people out. I was hiring a car in the airport at Cairns one day and the German couple in front of me were hiring a car to drive to Sydney to catch their flight home in two days. The hire car guy looked at me with a look that said "Do you they know it's 2431K's"

Thanks Mark, the Gunter sloop rig was chosen for it's ability to windward and aesthetics, it just looks right. Having said that I realise it's harder to sail single handed but I'm finding or inventing ways to simplify it.

One thing I found straight away is that by holding the main sheet you can feel when it's pulling well, you don't need to look at it much. The jib on the other hand will require some learning.

There were two old dears out there for a picnic, both in there 80's and the used to sail a lot when younger. They took a keen interest in Miss Caroline and watched me sail her. They gave me a few pointers when I got back.

Well folks, finally I have sailed Miss Caroline!

I took her to Canberra last weekend and put her in Lake Ginninderra. I had my sons girlfriend at the helm for a while and my son took the pics.

I grant you I need to learn about sail trim but I got her out, about and back. The last pic shows a catamaran, they got there before me but I was rigged, launched and sailing before them and sailed much better than they did but I'd say they were first timers too. I thank youtube and a good understanding of the physics for my better performance!

The pics with the motor down are because I forgot to lift it! Lesson learned - be methodical.

Because sawdust is good medicine

Nice pick up Michael, indeed, guilty as charged.

Thanks for the compliment Michael, I take that as high praise given the source.

I formed a friendship online with one of the guys from Wooden Boat Magazine and he told me to make sure I submitted Miss Caroline to "launchings" so now a Facebook encounter with a bloke in America has lead to a boat built in Sydney Australia being published in a magazine from Brooklin Maine and seen by a bloke in Edmonton Canada. Small world isn't it!

On another note I've bought my Torqeedo outboard and it's working really well but how to tie an ultra modern motor in with a classic wooden boat?

Well Michael may remember a piece of river red gum I used for the base of my schooner build, I said the timber was so beautiful there was no need for fancy shaping, well I realised I hadn't used any of that wood in my boat so I made the extended tiller handle from it and some left over sitka spruce. I think it ties in very nicely. 

Milling the red gum for the tiller head

I reckon that looks pretty damn good

While I'm proud to have this sticker I'm not sure I want to apply it to the transom

Michael, I reckon the lamp probably looks in better condition than most real ones would by now. Well done.

17 minutes ago, Mark Pearse said:

Lovely work; & it's interesting to see again just how elegant the hull shape is. 

Mark, I have a feeling everything about this build will be elegant, especially given the lamp and engine

Just beautiful

You never stop teaching Michael

4 hours ago, Cathead said:

Canadians are so trusting. You Aussies really ought not lead your family fellow colonials astray like that.

You just stick with us mate, we won't lead you astray, fair dinkum!

I'll be interested to see how you make some of those parts

Very nice thinking outside the square, I would never thought of a knurling tool, I have one but it's diagonal, guess it would make nice helical gears

I agree that the launch would be a beautiful model, even better in full size!

I've just found this build and have to say it's very impressive. You've got a very nice machine and tooling setup too

I'll be keeping this build for further reference.

The tiller is large enough that used with the outrigger stowed my hand will rest over the top and sides without really touching the device.

I still haven't found buoyancy that I'm happy with but I reckon since I'll be sailing her single handed most of the time I'll need a third hand, a way of holding the tiller for a few minutes now and then.

I milled a piece of scrap brass left over from turning another part to make up a sliding jamb, I'll run a line across the boat via the tiller "lock" 

The mill in the first pic is 10mm diam with a 2mm external radius, I used it for the edges of the brass and the fair leads in the though block

Simple 3 piece brass assy and you can see the fair lead in the right hand block

Fitted to the tiller, I mounted it on the boat and it seems to work well, the only concern is that the wedge may slide back accidentally causing friction while steering but if that happens I'll slip a couple of magnets into the woodwork to hold it in place.

Beautiful solution there Valeriy

Finally she's a sail boat, almost, still fine tuning to do and buoyancy to organise. 

It's getting crowded on the centre board case

It's looking very nicely jury rigged, well done and good luck!

Valeriy I've just caught up several pages of this build and all I can do is repeat the praise so many have given.

As for soldering, I'm always trying to convince people that it is not the demon they think it is. I've been doing it for years.

I must admit that I thought my 1/8 scale bullbar was pretty good but you're making me look very amateur.

This was all done with 40/60 resin cored solder and a 40 Watt soldering iron and a small gas torch.

Mark the tack and clew are made off to each end of the boom leaving the foot free while the head is secured along the full length of the gaff.

In the pic above you can see the two empty holes in the gaff yoke and there is a hole through the other end of the spar to tie it off to, the boom is the same.

That's an interesting challenge Mark

Just a thought, perhaps set the sails in front of a fan and spray with dilute PVA or perhaps even spray starch, I know it's available, not sure if it would hold.

A little more progress on the spars, both yokes are leathered now and some rigging done, I've even had time to make a boat hook out of left over spruce.

Hi Paolo, I'm just over the hill near Camden.

Welcome aboard, there's lots of helpful knowledge here.

3 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Hello Keef, and another warm welcome from 'Down Under'.

 

John

Hey Keef, what he said!