Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

Time for the hand sewing.  This is the stitch by stitch stuff that adds real strength to the pressure points on the sail.  For this, sailrite has sent along wax coated Dacron thread and a sail makers needle.  The needle is like a tiny bayonet.  Three sides and super sharp, poking yourself and you're sure to bleed a bit. I use a few other tools when doing this. One of them, is my trusty sewing awl.  This is a must have in my opinion.  I'm sure you could get by with a regular awl, but this thing makes punching through finishing leather, nylon strapping and six layers of Dacron a bit easier.   I didn't bend the needle,  it came curved.  I suspect this little curve adds some strength or at least takes direct pressure off the shaft of the needle as you jam it into something hard. This is a thick brass thimble.  Last sail I made I punched right through a little tin one and into my hand. I'm not making that mistake again....

Today, I started sewing up a new Genoa for Kraken .  This summer, I patched and taped the old Genoa several times.  It is ripping down the luff seam, the foot seam and it is pretty thin in several other spots so it is well past time for the old sail to be retired.  I believe the Genoa may have come with the boat in 1978.  Happy birthday to me and the boat; at 38 years, we are the same age.   This is my second sailrite sail. A few years ago, I built a working jib. Here's a link to that project.  The previous owner built a main and a storm.  So this will fill out the sail inventory with all sailrite sails.   Over the last few weeks I've been working on getting a sewing machine fixed and tuned up.  It has been interesting as I have pulled apart and checked the timing on my machine. I even made a few modifications to beef it up a bit and allow for some extra clearance at the base plate.  Friday the kit from sailrite arrived! This wa...

Just some quick photos of the half hull project.  The next step will be to start skinning the project.  I am building it on a piece of balsa and plan to transfer the it to a finished piece of oak later.

So I have decided to start the half hull project.  The boom tent is still in the back of my head.  I just keep thinking I will need to get on and off the boat to take a few more measurements as I sew that up and with it under the winter cover that could be tricky. In the mean time the half hull is a good thing to play with troughout the on coming winter months.  ... Wonder if winter will ever get here it's looking like a green Christmas. Here I am starting to lay out the chines.  The line drawings came from Todd Dunn link here .  Upon getting all the chines laid out I scored them all out with a utility knife and razor blade. I used my dremel to rough cut out the chines and I'll go back with a sanding bit to form them up later.   Myles needed something to do so we decided to pull apart my old Dumas Gee Gee sailing sloop.  This is an old pond yacht. My uncle and I built when I was a kid.  My brothers and I spent ...

So we sailed yesterday.  It was a good start as we zipped around lake Kalamazoo.  Myles fished of the stern and I managed the sailing.   We where having a great day then the wind dropped off.  After 20 minutes or so of drifting between wind shadows I decided it was time to give it up and head back in for some cool refreshments.  While we where puttering up the channel my dependable little 4 hp Merc cut out.  I was able to get the motor to restart and a 100 yards later it puttered out again.  I pulled the cover off this time gave it a look and checked to make sure the spark plug wire had not fallen off.  Then I looked at the tank.  The transparent tank appeared empty of green fuel.  I popped the cap off the tank and peered down in. There was just a dribble of fluid in the tank. As the boat went up and down on the waves I could see it slosh back and forth leaving the white plastic bottom of the tank clearly visible.   Placing...

So word is we are going to get a few days of warming weather.  Yeah!!!!!  I got out and knocked the snow the cover today.  Hope we get a melt down soon it would be nice to see if the trailer is still under the boat.  

Michigan 11 and a 1/2 inches of snow.  3-8 more inches expected by tomorrow!  

Around a year ago I published a post about sailing alone with a three year old.  Today I thought hey he's a whole year older.  Sailing alone with a four year old is different than a three year old.  Sure three and four year old's both want to help and be engaged.    However the four year old is far more capable of "helping out" on the Typhoon.  This can be good, it can also be bad. Four year old's remember stuff.  They know where you put those sail ties and can retrieve them for you. Four year old's remember stuff and will tell on you . Four year old's are stronger so when it comes to light wind days they can actually trim the jib.  "Maybe next year we will learn to tie off cleats." Four year old's are stronger so they can break things more readily. Four year old's can help rinse the deck with a hose when you are cleaning. Four year old's have their own ideas about how clean the boat should be, and may fill yo...

I bit the bullet here and decided it was time to suck it in and climb my way to the back of the Typhoon.  This has been some time in the planning but just hasn't happened until today.  I've been using my Genoa blocks for my Spinnakers for sometime now. With the new full mast length spinnaker the time has come to set up some proper blocks at the stern of the boat.   Into the black abyss Sky light. Thru bolts In the following picture you can see the difference this will make.  When I'm heading up I can get a lot more out of the kite turning 10-12 degrees higher. Genoa, Spinnaker blocks  For my final set up I plundered the blocks and stand up springs off my ice boat. The mount is through the taft rail one bolt and the rear is actually a screw.  I was a bit worried a bolt on the aft might puncture the hull.  I can tie off the sheet lines at the rear dock cleats or run my line backup into the cockpit. Final set up