Skerry splash

 

Got it in the water, the Magothy River here on the Chesapeake, on a nice Sunday afternoon.  The pix are all on my wife's phone. No finish yet, just the epoxy seal coat, but I wanted to splash it before it got too cold, and also look for things to fix before painting.  

It was only a short ride, but 

1.  Rows easily, but with the sail (lug rig) up, it wanders about a bit as the sail flops about.

2.  I'm going to look at the pintle retention spring clip on Lasers for inspiration to keep the rudder from jumping off the mounts in shallows.  I think I can adapt it to this rudder, maybe with a little shim block epoxied to the stern.  

3.  Also looking at the soft cleat that Lasers use to secure the rudder hold down line, so it'll pop loose when grounding.

 

4.  I need a bungee setup to hold the dagger board down when there's not much pressure on it.  Maybe a bit of shim to make it less loose.

5.  How tight to make the foot and head of the sail?  It will take some fiddling for sure. I'm also going to look at how to rig or tie the foot at least so I can adjust it on the water.

6. How tight to make the downhaul. Similarly, it looks like I may do some rigging to more easily tweak it.

7.  I'm going to add a hold down line to keep the mast from jumping up in the step, and also make some wedges.  I know there's some risk of not being able to get the wedges out when needed, but I think some hard polyurethane with little lanyards to give me something to yank will do ok.

Now I have the winter to tweak all this and also get it painted.  Can't wait for warmer weather.


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RE: Skerry splash

   Sawdust,

Congrats on launch your craft. 

#2 the pintle retention spring in a great idea - especially in the case of a capsize. Many folks have found that over time and use the retention spring get bent - the large college fleets of racing dinghies - 420s, FJs... have sovle this problem by mounting the spring sideways (horizontal) on the transom above the pintle or gugeon to be retain.

Also, many small boats will incorporate a short (6") loop of shock cord into their rudder downhaul for accidental groudings - line, shock cord, line.

have fun,

Joel

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