It’s the cheap galvanized hardware that keeps failing. In so many ways.

And the stuff I forgot to bring.

And the stuff that fell off during the drive.

First we found during assembly that every last one of the turnbuckle bodies had fallen off the rigging, rattled loose during the drive. Gone forever. So I drove around for half an hour looking for a hardware store open on Sunday, while my friend Allen waited with the boat. I did manage to find a place, and bought all the bits I needed to finish putting the rig back up.

Then it turns out I forgot to bring the stick that links the tillers. So I cannibalized some pieces of the cargo rack beam from my truck, screwed two pieces of that together to get the proper width, drilled some holes through the ends, and used that instead. It worked great.

The sail to Isla Gorriti shook the rig around and stretched some things out (there was a good 2-foot swell in the bay, and we were making speeds of 10.5 knots or so) so we had to tighten some things up once we got to shore. During said tightening, one of the turnbuckle ends simply hopped up and out of its threads and shot up into the rigging, tying knots around itself and making a mess of the rig. We had to take the mast down, untangle, and then find something we could use in our bag of parts to replace the bad-thread piece. Fortunately I bought more replacements than I needed and we were able to put it all back together again with more sturdy pieces. Next time I am in the states I am going to buy a set of good bronze indestructible turnbuckles.

Here is a photo from the island. It was taken about 3pm, dark as hell out, heavy overcast with fog, visibility about 1km, and the cloud was hanging low enough to obscure the tops of the landmark buildings on shore.

There was also a less fortunate beached boat…

On the sail back, everything worked perfectly. No more shake in the rig. Seems that all the stretch has been worked out of the spectra. We had a seal following us about halfway back from the island. Not sure if he was looking for handouts or just playing in the wake.

A few coats of varnish, some more sail control lines, lazy jacks, and new stays made of spectra.

Also got the trailer situated and figured out how to get the boat on and off by myself. The trailer has fat knobby tires and is very lightweight, so I am hoping that it can be unhooked from the truck and dragged across the beach to launch.

Darwin is dog food.

He was attacking the windows this morning with particular fervor, probably enough to break the glass. I went out to get him and he was feeling braver than normal, staying in the open instead of his usual tactic of hiding around the far side of the nearest tree and taunting me from there. It was a quick death.

The trampoline taking shape:

The rig being assembled:

Jed Clampett express:

The maiden voyage was a success. The day started slow, but the boat sailed well with two people on board despite the light winds. As we sailed, the winds picked up and we were eventually making speed of 9 knots.

The steering is nicely balanced, no helm to speak of even at those speeds and load. The sail worked very nicely.

I had envisioned being dropped vertically through the trampoline into shark-infested waters when I put my weight on it, but it held two people nicely. The armor-piercing sewing machine did a good job.

The rig, however, has some obvious weaknesses because of the cheap hardware available. The cable clamps did not hold well. As we hit the 9 knot mark, the starboard shroud clamp started sliding and the rig became loose. While we sailed back to the beach in order to tighten it up, the clamp holding the forestay parted and I had to shimmy up to the bow and effect an emergency redneck rigging repair using parachute cord. It held together safely enough to get back to shore, nothing was broken, and no pieces were lost.

The boat breaks down easily enough but putting it together takes some time, and lugging it on and off the truck is a pain in the butt. I believe a lightweight trailer I can drag down onto the beach will be a worthwhile investment.

I have no ability to take photos now; we were putting the sail up the mast and building the running rigging as the sun went down. I finished it in the dark.

Mainsail battens stained/protected and drying:

Completed rudder and assembly.

Tomorrow we take it for its maiden voyage.

My friend Lau came out for the weekend to help me finish the boat and take it sailing. The weather was great the first day and we got a lot done. We finetuned the crossbeam fitting so as to make assembly easy. Also added the brace blocks on the crossbeams (to stop against vertical twisting). Put on the last of the epoxy coats on the hull.

As you can see in the photos, it is nice and sunny here.

Now, it’s storming like holy hell and there are tree branches falling down everywhere. Not exactly great weather to set up a tall metal pole, which is the last thing left to do before sticking it in the water. And you wouldn’t want to sail with wind like this.

Here we are fitting the trampoline:

The aluminum piece which holds the trampoline to the hulls:

Sail battens ready for stain:

Trampoline installed:

Installing the drain plugs in the transom:

The port side hull is 100% done. It can now be on the floor where it’s more out-of-the-way.

The starboard side hull needs only 1 more coat of epoxy.

More filler showing over those stitch holes than I care for but it’s my first boat, and most get painted over instead of leaving the nice woodgrain. I think I did a pretty good job all things considered.

I built the mast step…

More coats of epoxy on the rudders…

And a shot showing the two different types of wood used in the hull:

Today I also bought a pellet gun to try and take care of Darwin. I can’t be alarming the neighbors with assault rifle fire in the neighborhood, so I went for stealth. He was too far away to get an accurate shot, which means I need more practice.

After being shot at twice he didn’t come back. Today. That was around sunset. He’ll be back tomorrow morning, and I’ll be ready for him. As I survey the house, I find that every square inch of every window has marks on it from the oil in his feathers. It’s like having see-through wallpaper with a bird stamp pattern.