Couple days of topsides work.. clean, wax on, wax off.. good workout, hand scrubbing and buffing.
Bottom painting tomorrow, splash on Friday.
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Almost.. still had to use a step stool to get at the higher parts well. Yes it is definitely easier access than a boat with 9ft draft!There is one unsung beauty of a center boarder. You can touch the toe rail when it's on the hard.
Easy to work on and less likely to kill you, before launch.
Downside is that you might have to crouch more when you paint the bottom if the keel stub is short in height or nonexistent.There is one unsung beauty of a center boarder. You can touch the toe rail when it's on the hard.
Easy to work on and less likely to kill you, before launch.
I think this falls under the "there's no free lunch" category.Downside is that you might have to crouch more when you paint the bottom if the keel stub is short in height or nonexistent.
It's sad that these are hard to come by in modern boats. I miss my centerboard on my old Nelson Marek. It was nice being able to pull up the board and not worry much about depth.There is one unsung beauty of a center boarder. You can touch the toe rail when it's on the hard.
Easy to work on and less likely to kill you, before launch.
It's also fun having a centerboarder that goes upwind better than most keel boats, especially the more modern shoal draft cruising keel boats. My draft goes from 4ft to 11ft, the centerboard is 7ft long with a 34" root chord and 20" tip chord. Low wetted surface and narrowish hull with a deep high aspect blade makes for great upwind performance- Hood along with Ted Fontaine and Dieter Empacher were/are masters of centerboarder design.Having a center board really opens up a lot of anchorages that would otherwise be inaccessible and gets me out of the wind and waves.
It can be amusing as my boat doesn’t look like a center board boat so I’ve collected a tally of keels from boats that just assumed they could anchor next to me and then ran aground. A big cat that drew 5’ ran aground next to me once. I do try to warn if I’m aware of what they are attempting.
The more miles I put on the boat, the more I’m convinced of their genius.It's also fun having a centerboarder that goes upwind better than most keel boats, especially the more modern shoal draft cruising keel boats. My draft goes from 4ft to 11ft, the centerboard is 7ft long with a 34" root chord and 20" tip chord. Low wetted surface and narrowish hull with a deep high aspect blade makes for great upwind performance- Hood along with Ted Fontaine and Dieter Empacher were/are masters of centerboarder design.
Got yer last nickel's worth out of that puppy.The gust really came out of nowhere - but we probably should have anticipated it given the squally, changeable spring conditions (see the sailing thread for the “before” picture - just before shredding). The back story is that the sail is ancient (it’s been to Mexico and back, survived an unexpected thunderstorm last summer in Queen Charlotte Strait, endured local summer sailing over the past 2-3 years, and it was 20 years old when it was given to me a few years ago…).
The sheet came off the winch as I lost control while trying to ease a bit so that I could relieve pressure on the sail to be able to furl in after a gust came - 8 kts to 30 (and a big wall of very cold Canadian west coast spring rain) in a matter of seconds! It was time for the sail to go anyway - I was literally planning to put the brand new one on this weekend! Great timing!
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Actually, the last nickel’s worth out of that sail came yesterday when, after I dropped the sail, I stripped the leech line out of it (I was mostly able to pull hard and the leech ripped open), to use to tie up the old sail in a folded up bundle that would fit in the marina garbage can! No way I was gonna waste my good 1/8” utility cord on that old sail!Got yer last nickel's worth out of that puppy.Maybe 'vented headsails' could become a thing, like the Parasailor(tm)?
Make sure you salvage the Gransegel cleat, too. Those things ain't free!Actually, the last nickel’s worth out of that sail came yesterday when, after I dropped the sail, I stripped the leech line out of it (I was mostly able to pull hard and the leech ripped open), to use to tie up the old sail in a folded up bundle that would fit in the marina garbage can! No way I was gonna waste my good 1/8” utility cord on that old sail!![]()