small craft advisor article

[owldraco]

I picked up the May/June 2010 "Small Craft Advisor" at our favorite bookstore in Louisville yesterday. There is an article by a man who modified a Daysailer (possibly a "2") to be able to take it cruising. I like some of what he did, and I'm sure what he did would make it no longer "class legal." I would miss the seats and i'm not sure about not having inspection ports. The front rowing seat and oarlocks would come in handy. I like the idea of putting flotation in the top of the sail. What kind and how much? Over all he did a great job on his boat. I'd like to see more pictures.
Andrew
Central Ky

[mistermoon]

I picked up a copy too. He did start with a DSII. I'm working on adapting my DSII for cruising and hoped I'd get some ideas. I don't think I want to cut up my boat that much.

Also, I wouldn't give up the inspection ports for the CB pin or fill the bilge with foam as he did.

Installing oarlocks on mine was easy once I put a pair of 6" ports inside the coaming between the oar locks and the jib tracks.

[GreenLake]

I can see how the type of cockpit design that he chose would make sense for his purpose. I also got a copy, but I had heard about the DS related articles a while ago - there are two in that issue, btw.

[algonquin]

I also enjoy reading articles about mods. Lots of ingenuity and problem solving went into the project. I would loose the idea of a boom crutch though. It appears to be a bit to cumbersome and could present an obstacle to the boom and main sail trim while underway . Although the author disagrees, a little wood trim would enhance the look but utilitarian starkness was what he was trying to achieve and he did it quite nicely.

I was disappointed that the cruising amenities to support things you would do on a cruise such as sleeping and cooking weren’t really addressed. Brad.

[jeadstx]

I read both articles about Daysailers in the recent issue. There have been 2 other articles involving cruising with a Daysailer in past issues in the the last year. I subscribe to the magazine and just recieved the current issue (July/August), it has an article about the Everglades Challenge and mentions the Daysailer that participated in that event.

I'll be sailing in the Texas 200 in a week. I too have been making modifications for cruising my DS2. I added oars also. The Daysailer rows very good. I used 4-inch inspection ports which made installation a little difficult, worked good just the same (wish I'd used 6-inch ports like Mistermoon tho). Made a rowing seat that's removable. Oars will be straped along the side deck below the rail when not in use. I'm also making a new hatch cover that will hinge open across it's length to acess the cuddy if needed. I've added to the cover my compass, storage bags to hold things (halyard lines, vhf radio, gps, etc.). I'm also make a mount for a removeable small solar panel on the top third of the hatch. In the cuddy I've put attachment points to strap in as much of my equipment as possible so it won't shift or be lost in case of a capsize. I'm also cutting boards to span between the CB trunk and the seats to create a place to sleep at night (too hard for me to get in the cuddy), boards will be removed while sailing. Bringing a tent in case the boards don't work. In a little over a week I'll know if it works. I'm hoping it does.

John

[algonquin]

Greetings John - Looking forward to followup on your adventure. You have made some nice mods that should enhance your cruising capabilities. Document everything well. Maybe you will be in a future issue of SCA or Messing Around in Boats. Best to you. Brad

[jeadstx]

There are 2 Daysailers (including mine) registered for Tx200. I'll get pictures of both boats for comparison of modifications. There was a third DS that said he might sail as well, but haven't seen that boat on the "who's coming" page yet.

If anyone is interested in following the Texas 200, there should be daily reports at http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/10/reports/t200/

John

[talbot]

This is a nice discussion; I hope it continues. Regarding a rowing seat, I installed removable thwarts for rowing that more or less ended up where the Daysailer I's have had thwarts all along. I made them so they pop out, but I've never removed them. Besides being a convenient crew position in light air, they provide additional support and stiffness to the CB (their original function on the DS I).

[mistermoon]

Got any pictures of your thwart setup? Also, how did you attach it?

I built a removable seat/cockpit table that fits over the CB trunk on mine. It works OK, but I have some concerns about how sturdy it is.

You can sort of see it in this photo below:

[jeadstx]

talbot,

I'm also interested in seeing pictures of your rowing seat.

My rowing seat is a board that spans across the seats and CB trunk similar to a thwart, but is removed while under sail. I'd like to improve on it before I leave on Sunday if possible.

John

[talbot]

I've been travelling and just got back in town. I'll try to get out to the marina tomorrow and take a picture. As for the description:

I mounted 1x2 strips of oak, about 8" long, on the trunk and the opposite tanks. The 1x6 oak thwarts sit on these strips, held in place with #10 bolts.

Fine points:
The placement of the thwarts was pretty much determined by the only available space on the CB trunk. To serve as a rowing seat, they had to be as far forward as possible while clearing the jib cams and CB downhual. On the DS I, I believe the thwarts are farther forward, up by the cams.

The 8" strips are mainly held on with 3M-5200 adhesive. They have three screws as well, but I couldn't go very far into the trunk for fear of hitting the centerboard.

The #10 bolts are semi-permanently fixed to the thwarts with t-nuts, so removing each thwarts involves just lifting the whole assembly out. There are no loose parts. Once I decided I didn't need to remove the thwarts, I put nyloc nuts on the bolts. The holes in the 8" strips are reinforced wtih bronze bushings.

The trunk top is higher than the cockpit tanks. Each thwart butts against the trunk on the inboard end. Outboard, it rests on the top of the tank, with a shim to fill the space between the thwart and the support. That creates a more or less level thwart.

My centerboard trunk is not in the center of my boat, the tanks are not parallel to the trunk, and the tanks do not even converge on the cuddy at the same angle. So I had to mount the strips first, then custom-cut the thwarts for each space. I wasted some pretty wood with measurement and cutting errors. Most cuts were done with a jigsaw, with some rasping and sanding to get the pieces to conform to the irregularities of the boat.

I mitre-cut all square board ends so there are no sharp corners to catch things on. I chose to varnish the oak because it looks nice, but check back with me after it's cooked in the sun for a season.

[jeadstx]

Thanks for the info on the thwarts. I won't have time to do that before the Tx200 (I leave Sunday), so I'll go with the rowing seat I've got for the trip. I'm sure after the trip I'll find ways to modify things. Looks like I'll be the only DS, the other DS2 backed out on Wednesday. He said he'll show up at one of the camps tho, so I'll be able to exchange ideas with him.

John

[Torngat]

Greetings. I'm the author of the mod article.
Just to clear up a couple of points: I still have inspection ports. I moved them to just forward of the cuddy bulkhead. I also changed them to 6"ID.
Moving them was necessary because the seat covers the former location. I have acceptable access to the cb bolt as well as the deepest point of the bilge.
The spray foam is between the fore and aft bulkheads which align with the coamings. These are glassed in at the turn of the bilge. I agree that foam in the bilge (under the sole) would be a bad idea. The higher the flotation the better the stability in a swamped condition.
Removing the seats has worked out well. This idea springs from Francis Herreshoff's Quiet Tune design. The floor is ample for sleeping since it is divided by the cb case into two 6'6"X24" spaces. The down side is that there are no floor boards and there is a risk of getting wet. In practice that has not happened, yet.
I'm happy with the boom gallows. In practice it has never interfered with the setting or handling of the main sail. It does look out of place though.
I did not install inspection ports to bolt on my oar locks. I bought locks which fasten at four points; 2 on top and 2 at sides. I did use bonding technique. I have spent many hours rowing this past season and everything works fine with no crazing or fracturing visible. The boat pulls like a dream with my 9' sweeps, the only problem being the motor boat wakes. As soon as the oars come out some concerned soul comes along offering a tow. I have to explain that I like to row which they never seem very convinced by.
After my cruise along the Florida Keys there was one major problem with the boat and that was water getting into the bilge at the cb cable aperture.
Somewhere in these forums is a detailed instruction for fixing this and my solution was much the same. I cut away a section of the forward face of the cb case where the wire comes thru, exposing what in my case was a hole the size of a 50 cent piece in the actual cb box. I removed the cb, glassed the hole over, made a stout paste of epoxy and filler to bridge the gap between inner and outer hull parts then patched the section I had cut away. I then installed a 1/4" brass nipple thru the repair. This was bonded in epoxy too. My bilge is now dry.