Boat Forum / Building / May 2004

It always astounded me how much effort we spend trying to keep birds off our
boats, but I have never seen someone build a roost so they had somewhere
else to sit.
I figure an old mast and spreader would be ideal.  I could build a literal

Almost mounting my mast so it would be underwater got me thinking (as
it should).  Why not underwater sails?  Force on a sail is
proportional to the density of the medium and that makes a 5 knot
water current give about 50X the force of a 5 kt air current on the

I am looking for the correct material to make smoked portlights for
the boat. What is the correct material and I'm looking for  a source
for it?
Is it just Acrylic material about (Plexi Glass) 1/4 or 3/8" thick or

I have a raised mainsheet traveller that is installed above the cabin top
for my 28 foot sailboat. The manufacturer is Shaefer I believe. I noticed
that the black plastic end pieces on either side of the traveller base are
badly chiped, cracked, and otherwise appear to be about to ...

http://science.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=airplane.htm&url=http://www.e
fluids.com/efluids/gallery/flettner_rotorship.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/22c5x

I got a surplus vacuum pump last fall, and a fiberglass guy just moved in
down the street.  I have an out of production kayak that I love.  Its narrow
profile is perfect for the local waters.  It is also overly heavy duty for
the local sandy conditions, and the cockpit doesn't fit ...

I am planning to build a small sail boat to take on holiday and other family
trips when we also take our caravan so it has to be light enough to "car
top" a cross section as below..
l                                                    l

Yesterday (Saturday), while working on my two Stevenson Mini-Cup
boats, my glasses suddenly broke.  This was not a break that could be
repaired with tape and I realized I was essentially legally blind till
Monday since I had no backup.  Being absurdly optimistic and stubborn,

Today there was a knock at the door, which resulted in
a warning for not having a pumpout log. I haven't had
the boat long, and so far haven't needed to pump it
out. But I guess I'll go do it so I can start the log. What

Does anyone have experience with SP Systems 106 resin and Ampreg 22 ?
I'm busting to order a load of resin to build a cedar strip  boat and
it sems that SP products are about two thirds of the price of West
System. At least it is in Europe, and that makes a significant cost

How do I check whether my outboard (Mercury 40hp) re-charging the battery or
not?
Thanks for the suggestions.

Looking for 1/8" solid Teak and Holly veneer.
Near Connecticut would be nice.

A theoretical question, so I don't want to bother anyone for explicit
details but....
I have a Hobie 18 ... the daggerboards are a mess ... for the life of
me I can't think how

I have a cabin boat, built with double diagonal strips - New Zealand
Kauir.
Some of the strip has delaminated, if you press them you see they have
'bubbled' a few mm