Bought this almost complete scratch built sprit sailing skiff for 50$. The person made every part following the instructions from a book. The model is 30” LOA with an 8” Beam. Came with mast, two rudders, one for display and one for sailing. Also two weighted hinged drop down centreboards, each a different weight.

The builder had in mind to make it RC . It is white cedar and very light weight.

First I filled the tub with warm water, did a hull test, then added bath bubbles and used the water myself.

The boat is very light, I put two shampoo bottles inside it and the water barely reaches the edge of the hull’s side at the widest . There is minimal water inside the centreboard tunnel.

No leaks during the testing. This hull is broad aft of the beam. Someone asked me about the centreboards, the person made two, one a bit narrower, both are hollow and filled with weight. I chose the wider one to do the water test as if is heavier.

The dog, looking comfy, watches me in the work room.

Since my last post, foot boards have been added. Seats on each side below lee rails, aft seat is in place but not glued.

Toying with a micro tower mini servo. It has the torque to handle the rudder though not sure if that will be the final option.

Plus added the sail servo.

Sail is a paper pattern to create a cloth sail. I will try it, since it is an untested model, I am doing a main first, test it. Add a jib, test it.

If it works well, I may try enlarging the main by adding a top sail.

Leaving the original 18” boom until all tests are completed.

My first try at making a Cotton sail today, using an old Brother sewing machine. No wonder my daughter -in-law gave up sewing, this machine is not user friendly.

The thread broke four times! The thread didn’t just stop at the needle, no the thread made its way into moving parts inside the cover. I had to remove the cover three times to find the thread, after each time the thread broke.

Next, to thread the needle required me to squint through magnifying lenses! My goodness it was fun when all the bugs were worked out.

Thankfully my wife was full of patience today,😍 . But, I have not graduated to use her Bernina yet she told me.

Changed technique and it worked fine, in the shop, (we got 4” of snow this morning)

I added height to the skiff Gunnels as suggested. They don’t take away from the design and will add protection from wave action.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Ron

In just a short while, all these sails were made on my sewing machine by trying to improve with each sail.

If I were to attempt this by hand sewing, my arthritis in my right hand would have flared up for sure!

How many of you took drafting classes? The drafting table, T-Square, various angle 📐 tools, mechanical pencils or various lead pencils ✏️ soft and hard leads. Erasers, brushes, mistakes oops, begin again…

Those of you who continue to use this method hats-off!

I much prefer the drawing software available today which allows me to copy, change the design and create with no issues.

I used AutoCadLt a 2D drawing software for most of my teaching career from the year 2000 till 2015.

The school board decided to bring Solid-Works into the classroom but kept the AutoCADLt also. Solid-Works was introduced to the teachers first with introduction sessions before providing it to the students in 2012. I was 63, only 3 years from retiring, and found Solid-Works very difficult. My son uses it in his engineering department and told me to become proficient with it allow a year. He said I could not “think AutoCAD” while working with it, as the software vocabulary was not the same as what I was familiar with and taught the past 12 years.

Now at 75, I don’t use any software, the Autodesk people have changed AutoCADLt so much that it’s not the same anymore. If I were to buy something like it the ProgeCAD software uses a platform and learning tools closes to those I was familiar using and it is a one time fee, where as Autodesk is a yearly licensing agreement.

I know there are free downloads out there, I looked into some, but it is not as enjoyable as it once was plus the arthritis in my drawing hand limits me from drawing much anymore.

I was pleased with how well the skiff sailed on Saturday, I know many of you were concerned with it being an open hull but I had no issues sailing her.
Many compliments from her performance.

I played around with the swinging center-board, starting with it fully extended with a draft of 6”. Then I moved it up to 5” and it worked well.