Living with Lacing

An anonymous comment on my last post is worth pointing out:

Cap'n, if you'll re-lace your sail to the mast, not by whippng the lacing in a continuous spiral, as I see it in your photo, but instead come around, through a grommet and back around the front of the mast each time, you'll find that your sail hoists and can be pulled down far more easily.

Right you are, anonymous. Pete Culler, in his book Skiffs and Schooners alleges that around-and-around lacing will jam on the mast, while around-and-back lacing won't. I initially laced the sail around-and-around just because Chapelle's sail plan showed it that way. It did tend to bind on the mast when hoisting, though not when lowering. I tried it the way you suggest and I agree it it makes hoisting easier. Underway though, around-and-back lacing tends to pull the luff of the sail to one side or the other at each grommet. The luff needs to be hoisted tight, but the lacing need not be tight.

With a sprit rig, lacing the sail to the mast has to be done just right to avoid a tangle of lines, regardless of the lacing style. What causes the problem is the tackle for the snotter holding the forward end of the sprit. Each segment of lacing will snag on the tackle when hoisting or lowering the sail unless each one is lifted over the tackle. On my boat, the snotter goes from the end of the sprit to a block seized to the mast and down to a cleat at deck level. The snotter will tangle the lacing unless before hoisting it is rigged up  inside all the laces which will end up above the tackle and outside all the laces below it. With a lapfull of laces and snotter, it is easy to make a mistake. What I have settled on is to attach all the laces except the bottom three grommets, then run the snotter up and back down inside the laces and cleat it loosely, then hoist, then lace the bottom three grommets. The boat is small enough that I can reach them after the sail is hoisted. Finally, I take up on the snotter and secure it.

I can now well imagine what a welcome invention sail track was. I may convert my sail to slide up and down on a track.

Notes I wrote but didn't post at the time

I just noticed that I wrote blog notes one day last month but never pulled the trigger. So here is a report out of sequence:

Feb. 11

Yesterday, to make room to step the mast, I cut down an overhanging tree branch, and took down the canopy which had protected me from the sun and the boat from the rain (mostly) since August. Without the blue cover overhead, the paint color shows much more distincly green, as I'd intended.

Of course, as soon as I had the canopy down it started to rain.

I stepped the mast for the first time. It was even easier than I had expected to put the heel of the mast against the step, walk it up, and drop the tenon into the step, and secure it to the forward thwart with the stainless clamp which was made for that purpose. So easy, in fact, that I believe I will be able to lower the mast and row under low bridges. That will give me access to spots I have not explored before. The next calm day I will hoist the sail and check out the rigging.

Today I gave the inside bottom a finish coat of paint, filled all the little pinholes in the deck, and repainted antifouling red paint below the waterline which had been streaked by last week's paint disaster.
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As I was working this afternoon, a passerby in a little outboard inflatable came close enough to compliment the look of the boat. Anyone who wants to admire my boat is a welcome visitor, so I invited the fellow ashore for a closer look. Turns out, he is a shipwright who just finished building a 65' catamaran in Honduras, so I began to take his compliments seriously. He loved the boat and said I've done a "fantastic job". A better man would have kissed him.

My #4 granddaughter, whose job it will be to christen the boat, will celebrate her second birthday tomorrow, but I'll be back to boatbuilding Sunday.

Sea trials

We launched last Saturday and spent the day taking many friends and family out for short sails. Sunday and Monday I had a chance to get a better feel for what kind of boat she will be.

I built the boat in hopes to have a comfortable day-sailer to gunkhole the inland waters around my home in the Tampa Bay area. I want to be able to take along an adult or two, or a child or two or three. I'll admit, having a pretty classic boat will add a lot to the pleasure. The actual building took a while, but I enjoyed every bit of it. The boat's designer was a famous naval architect, so I had a certain degree of confidence in what I would end up with, but now I can report what I learned the first few times I've sailed her.

Stability- I've never sailed a sharpie hull before. By reputation, sharpies are fast, at least under the right circumstances; what I did not know was whether the boat would have enough initial and reserve stability to be a comfortable, easy sailer. Now having sailed in a range of conditions from very light air to gusty 20 kts, I find that she does heel down to the rail easily, but the splashboard/deck keeps the boat dry. I keep the mainsheet in my hand, and slackening it in a gust brings the boat upright immediately. There is plenty of stability to move around the boat while rigging or docking. I can even stand on the deck at the bow with no one else aboard, to fiddle with the rigging, without the boat wanting to roll over. I'm going to fit a pin extending down from the center thwart, to snub the mainsheet. I don't think it will ever be necessary or desirable to cleat the sheet.

Carrying capacity- Though she's small, three heavy people do not seem to overload her. She could easily carry and adult and three or four children. There's room for them all, too, With the two thwarts and the sternsheets. Having said that, she is much livelier when singlehanding.

Speed- I don't really care about speed. It does not take much wind to drive her to hull speed. Sailing alone, my GPS showed speed of 4-5 kts in only 10 kts of breeze, on a close reach. The one time I sailed in about 20 kts of wind, she took off like a rocket; not quite planing, but I'm sure she would plane on a reach in that much wind. She does not seem to lose stability at higher speed, like a round-bottomed dinghy does.

Sail trim- The sprit rig with a club at the clew is as novel to sail as it is to look at. The sail does not behave like a mainsail- more like a jib, but not quite that, either. The sail is enough different from anything I've sailed before, it was initially a bit difficult to sense the direction of the wind. When I sheet it in, the leech seems to snug up more than the foot. At first I thought the sprit needs to be attached to the club lower, but as I think about it, perhaps the snotter, the line which secures the sprit to the mast, needs to be lower. In any case, it does not seem to be necessary to sheet in tightly going to windward. The top 2/3 of the sail is quite flat even when the foot looks slack. And keeping the sheet a bit looser seems to keep more power in the sail. She tacks through 90 degrees, so I have no complaints there.

Mast bending- The unstayed mast is 3 1/4" at the partners, and only 1 1/4" at the head, so I expected the mast to be very whippy. It turns out not to bend much at all.

Sailing trim- The weather helm is light. With the centerboard half way up, weather helm almost disappears and she does not seem to make leeway going to windward. As a bonus, the draft with the board part way up is only about 18". One oddity is that she will self steer downwind with the board all the way up and the tiller fixed. Not many boats will self steer on any point of sail, least of all downwind .

Tacking and tracking- The large skeg has the same effect as a long keel: the boat tracks well off the wind, and is not inclined to round up in puffs going to windward. The downside is that she does not turn on a dime. The first couple of times I tacked, I nearly missed stays. It's necessary to put the helm down gently, get some turning momentum, then go ahead and put the helm to lee and complete the tack.

Pounding- The knock on flat-bottomed boats is the tendency to pound, and indeed she does pound if, for example, I go over another boat's wake when the boat is upright. But when heeled down even a little, there is little or no pounding.

Handiness- I have not mastered the process of hoisting the sail yet. The lacing tends to bind because friction with the mast tightens it as the sail is hoisted, even when the lacing starts slack. Pete Culler's book Skiffs and Schooners recommends lacing alternatively around to the left and around to the right, instead of around and around. Supposedly the lacing does not jam that way. I'll have to try that. When raising or lowering the sail, it is also necessary to lift the laces over the snotter tackle. On another subject, the boat beaches easily even with the 13"-deep skeg. By the time that touches bottom, the stem is on the beach, at least on beaches in this area.

Rowing- She is no pure rowing boat like my Gloucester Light Dory, but she rows easily from either of the two rowing stations. The oars tuck inside the forward oarlocks so they can be left shipped and on deck. The ability to row when needed without any set-up makes it handy to move the boat around for whatever purpose, to keep moving in a calm, or to get under a bridge where winds inevitably fail.

Rotating mast- Because the mast is unstayed and rotates freely, the sail will swing straight downwind whent he sheet is released, on any point of sail. It will even swing around ahead of the boat when going downwind. That novel feature allows me to effectively put the boat in neutral whenever I want to attend to a chore away from the tiller. I believe that is the way crabbers used the rig to run down a trot line, with the boat drifting pretty much on her own.

So it turns out the boat is all I could expect of her, and then some. She's a pleasure to sail, row, and to look at. I've got a lot to learn to get the best out of her, but I can see that she'll be a good friend.

One more thing- I think this little boat is absolutely beautiful. Maybe I've just been looking at her so much as she came together that naturally she looks just how a boat should. Nevertheless, the hull's lines and the rig give her a balanced, graceful, capable appearance that makes me feel good every time I look at her. My hat's off to her designer, Howard I. Chappelle. I have many pictures from last Saturday's launch festivities, and I'll post some soon. You can judge for yourself.

Launch Day

We finally got her launched today. More pictures and comments later.

The Captain's granddaughter did the honors.

Done

To the extent any boat is ever finished, Tugga Bugga is done. Sure, there is touch-up, improvement, and accessorizing to do: but that will transition into maintenance.

We'll have a modest christening party March 5th. Between now and then I may enlist help to get her over the seawall and do a bit of "tank testing". I'll continue to add notes here as I trim her up and fiddle with improvements as the need appears. And I'll post a gallery of photos both ashore and afloat. For now, a sunset picture:

Rigged

The wind today was light out of the west, which is what I was waiting for to check out the rigging. I laced the sail to the mast, rigged the sprit and club, and hoisted the sail.

I have followed Chapelle's plan for the rig as exactly as possible, and read and thought a lot about the sail and rigging. But when I set it up in real life there were many surprises. I found that it is necessary to have the clew laced and tied to the club before doing anything else. The sprit and mainsheet block need to be secured to the club before hoisting the sail, but to do that the forward end of the sprit needs to initially hang way over the bow. Lacing the luff to the mast is straightforward. Once the sail is hoisted the downhaul and lacing line are secured, the sprit is tightened and its control line, the snotter, is cleated down. That will take a lot of work right up forward; I hope the boat is steadier than some dinghies I've sailed, so setting sail is not an athletic feat. Whatever- I'll find out soon enough.

I had fixed the mast step in place temporarily because a small error would cause the mast to rake to much or too little. It turns out I had it just right. I was asked to show a photo alongside Chapelle's sailplan:

After unrigging, I had time to give the inside trim and the coaming a finish coat of paint. The rub rails remain to be finished. I'll fill the screw holes and give them a couple of coats of paint. After that she'll be ready to sail. Not row though; oarlocks need to be made and attached for two rowing stations. When the boat is in the water I'll be better able to decide how high the oarlocks need to be for the oars to clear the coaming inboard.

Rub Rail on, and More Painting

Although the day started in the 40's, it soon warmed up enough to paint.

I screwed the rub rails on, working from bow to stern, using a pair of clamps to bend the rails to take the strain off the screws.

After I started to screw on the first rail, the forward end just didn't look right- it stuck out to the side too much. I had not shaped the end with enough taper. So I unscrewed it, recut the end, and cut the other rail to match. Once the rails were fully attached, I trimmed off the excess at the transom. A straightforward job, but one with plenty of opportunity to botch it, so I did it carefully. The screw holes need filling, and the rails will get two more coats of paint.

The deck will need a bit of filling and a second coat of paint, and the bottom inside can use a second coat, so I prepped them with sanding, vacuuming and wiping down with a damp rag. But the actual painting today was the darker green trim on the centerboard and its case, the thwarts, including the stern sheets planks which have not yet been installed, and the coaming.

Getting the rub rail on and the coaming painted starts to show the boat's finished appearance, even with the deck sanded. I like the contrast between the two shades of green.

A Day of Boatbuilding Weather at Last

After three days of fog, mist and rain, today was chilly and windy, but dry enough for painting. Tomorrow may be too cold for it.

I got a coat of light green paint on the starboard side of the interior and deck, and a coat of white on the topsides all around. She is starting to look more like a boat than a project.

Still to do: Numerous pinholes in the the deck need filling, followed by sanding and another coat of paint. The bottom inside could use another coat, too. The rub rails can go on now. They and the trim inside take a darker shade of green paint. The bottom paint along the lower edge of the topsides needs another coat of paint, just to cover up the streaks of green left by last week's paint failure.

Back to Painting

Today turned out to be warm and dry- good painting weather. But before I could paint anything I had to sand the whole boat, inside and outside down to the chines, to get a good surface for the new oil-based enamel. That took only a couple of hours with the orbital and detail sanders, and a little hand sanding.

After vacuuming everything and wiping down with damp cloths, the boat was clean of dust and ready to paint. I started on the inside and got the entire port side done. It was slow going, and I could see that there would not be time to paint the starboard side, so I gave the deck its first coat (for the second time).

The new paint is a gloss finish, which mercilessly shows any imperfection in the surface, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice if it doesn't just turn to slime and slide off like the acrylic paint did. It makes a good looking finish, but brush marks do show. It will need sanding and a second coat, at least on the inside bottom and the deck.

No pictures today; it looks just like it did Wednesday, except this time the paint should still be there tomorrow.

Tomorrow's forecast is for rain, so I may not get much done. But who knows- today was also supposed to be cloudy and wet.

Two Steps Back

Yesterday's post mentioned concerns about the acrylic paint I've been using but put off doing anything until man~ana. Last night was warm and humid; when I got up this morning there was a thick fog, but not so thick that I couldn't see that all the paint I put on yesterday had absorbed so much moisture that it turned to a thin liquid, pooling in the bilge and running off the deck down the topsides. I have never seen any paint fail so completely. God's own mess.

I realized that today is man~ana.

I cranked up the pressure washer and washed off all the slimy residue of what should have been yesterday's paint, bailed out the boat, and repeated the process until the water was nearly clear. Then I set out to get better paint that matched the colors we had so carefully chosen. The paint store washed their hands of the problem (pun intended). They can match colors but have no better paint. So off I went to West Marine. They have good marine paint, but only in stock colors. If they had better color choices I would have bought there originally, environment be damned. Back home, I got on the phone and after a couple of calls reached a Sherwin Williams store which carries industrial/marine enamel and can match colors. So I made color samples and headed there. The people at the store were very helpful, and matched the colors perfectly. They offered me the choice of a latex base or oil base, but that was an easy choice. My previous attempt to go green with a water-based paint was a failed experiment. I'll wait for the technology to catch up before I try that again.

The forecast for the next few days is for more fog and possible rain, so I may not be able to paint for a while, except for the stern sheets boards, which are indoors.

I have ordered two self-bailing drains which I will install on either side of the centerboard trunk. They will help keep the boat dry, both in and out of the water. Besides painting, I don't have much else further to do except two more coats of varnish on the tiller and hiking stick.

A Day of Painting

Today started with sanding yesterday's epoxy coating on the coaming. All the shaping and grinding had already been done, so it was a quick and easy job.

I vacuumed the inside, then vacuumed it again. The spaces between the thwarts and deck are nearly inaccessible to everything except dust, but I was able to reach in and wipe them down too.

Most of the day's work consisted of repainting the entire inside except the thwarts and other trim, which are a darker shade of the same green color. As I worked, additional dust and debris appeared as if by magic, so the shop vac was kept busy.

The acrylic paint I'm using may be a problem. It dries quickly and cures hard over a period of weeks, but it does not seem to stand up to scrubbing very well. In use, it may not resist abrasion satisfactorily. I need more topside white paint anyway, so I'll talk with the paint people about my alternatives. Acrylic paint is sometimes used as an undercoat, with oil- or MEK-based paint over it, but whether I can get the same shade of color is another matter. I'll deal with it, but I'm not going to worry about it now.

Finally today, the deck got its first coat of paint. Painting reveals previously undetected faults in the surface, but in this case the only faults are small pinholes which can be filled easily before the next coat of paint. I did not paint the coaming today because it will be the darker trim color. Maybe tomorrow.

Back at it

I returned home last evening and got back to boatbuilding today.

Closing in on the final step of endless painting, sanding and repainting, I sanded the coaming and deck and gave the coaming one last coat of epoxy. Using the same batch of epoxy, I mixed up some fairing putty and filled the screw holes left from installing the lifting sling straps and the u-bolt in the transom for the lifting sling aft. I also gave both parts of the tiller their fourth coat of varnish.

Time Out

Capt. Strongback will be out of town for the next week. Once back, one more good week of weather should be enough to finish Tugga Bugga. Maybe we can celebrate her completion and launch in mid-February.

Odds and Ends

After a week of enforced silence (computer trouble), I can give a brief report of progress since last Sunday:

Last Monday and Tuesday: Sanded the deck and sheer.

Wednesday: Made what I call the tiller base, which connects the tiller to the rudder (picture below).

Thursday: I trimmed up the edges of the tiller base on the router table, and gave it a coat of varnish. I painted the rudder, both above and below the waterline, and I have the wooden main sheet block another coat of varnish.

Friday: I trimmed off the tabs at the top of the rudder, and gave it another coat of paint. I also started to close down the boat's building site. I put away all the tools and materials which will not be needed for finishing the boat, and I cleaned and organized the indoor work shop.

Saturday: I gave the tiller base and block another coat of varnish. The outside of the coaming and the top of the topsides at the sheer still needed smoothing, so I applied a coat of epoxy thickened with glass microballoons.

Today, Sunday: The epoxy fairing applied yesterday has not cured hard enough to sand because it is too cold, And yesterday's varnish has not dried yet, either, for the same reason. So besides bolting the pintles onto the rudder, nothing much got done today.

Here is how the tiller base connects the rudder and the tiller. It fits well, and the wood is beautiful. Dark red like mahogany, but much harder wood.

She's getting there, but plenty of sandng and painting is still to be done.

Mostly Sanding

I will often be working on several different projects at the same time each day from now on, not because I am rushing but because a lot of finish work consists of small jobs.

Yesterday was a short day by the time I got organized, but you can only do so much sanding in one session anyway. I got the port side of the deck sanded, starting with a belt sander and following up with an orbital sander. And then, since the result was better than the previous day's effort, I went back and resanded the starboard side.

Today's tasks included giving the rub rails a light sanding and an initial coat of paint,

... and filling all the spots on the deck which still needed it after all that sanding. I also bonded in place the trim piece behind the top of the stem.

To enable me to keep the boat suspended from a single davit, I need lifting lifting ring support points, and fitting those took most of the day. The lifting point at the stern was an easy choice, since the sternpost provides a secure member. I drilled for a U-bolt, and secured it in place permanently.

One the sides forward, I would have made one of the frames extra sturdy if I had planned ahead. I spent a lot of time thinking of alternatives, and I like what I came up with. On each side I cut a slot in the deck for a stainless steel strap which bolts to the inside of the sheer clamp and then continues down to bolt to the topsides in three places. The strap runs alongside the forward edge of one of the frames.

Happily, although it wasn't a requirement of my plan, I already have all the hardware I needed for the lifting supports, except the bolts for the straps forward. Years ago I salvaged ALL the hardward from a small boat which had deteriorated beyond saving, and ever since then, before buying any marine hardware, I check that I don't already have what I need. It's nice to save money; I don't make do with what I have, but what I do have sometimes gives me an idea for how to rig what I need.

Next up: sand the deck again, and fit the rub rails.

Making the Rub Rails

I bought a piece of straight-grained southern yellow pine a few days ago, for the rub rails. Yesterday I carefully sawed it in half, then used the thickness planer to make two pieces 1 1/4" by 1". The plans specify the rub rails to taper to 7/8" x 3/4" at the ends. Making those tapers took most of the day. The rub rails are highly visible, and any lack of fairness would be obvious. So I calculated the dimensions at each one-foot point, marked them on the pine sticks, connected the points with lines to plane to, and gingerly tapered them with the handheld planer. How trimming two slender sticks could generate enough planer chips to provide the circus with sawdust for a week I don't know, but it did. Once I had the pieces planed down to the lines, I ran their outside edges along a router, with the help of a friend, to round them off.

Southern yellow pine is the timber they use to make pressure treated construction lumber. But if you can get a good, clear, untreated piece, it makes a good boatbuilding wood. It planes and sands smooth, and as it ages and the sap crystallizes, it becomes very hard. But once it is cut it needs to be screwed down pretty quickly or it will warp. It is a good choice for the rub rails, and anyway it was the only wood I could get locally in the 14+ foot length I need.

Today I pre-drilled all the screw holes, sanded the rub rails, and gave them a sealer coat of epoxy.

The rub rails, will go on after the topside is sanded smooth at the sheer, where the fabric from the deck overlaps the side. After that all the aft portion of the tiller will be the last wood piece to make. And I need to install lifting rings. Then I'll just have a lot of sanding and painting to do.

The epoxy on the deck has cured long enough that I scrubbed it with isopropyl alcohol today and began to sand it. I got one side done. It will still need fairing, filling, and one or more additional coats of epoxy before it is ready to paint, but today's sanding got the one side 95% smooth. Look at the difference:

Fitting the Tiller

For many years I have had a beautiful tiller from our family's boat from my childhood. We owned her in the 1950's and '60's, but the boat and tiller probably dated from before the War. It would be a pleasure to put the tiller back in service on Tugga Bugga, and in any case it is much finer than anything I can make.  Furthermore, I see problems with the tiller on Chappelle's plans: the illustration at the top of the page shows what I mean. It may be okay for tending a crabbing trot line, but it sticks way up in the air, can't pivot up and down, and is too short to reach from the main thwart.  I think I can solve all those problems with the pretty old tiller, so a little work to make it fit is well worthwhile. This will be my only significant deviation from the plans.

When I was finishing the spars I also refinished the old tiller, with six coats of new varnish.

The old tiller was made to fit into a bronze bracket over the rudder post. But the new boat has a "barn-door" rudder, so the tiller needs to extend another two feet aft past the pintles, the rudder's pivot point. My solution is to make a piece to fit over the top of the rudder and fit the old tiller into that piece. I bought a nice plank of hardwood for the new piece, but before cutting it up I decided to make a prototype out of cheap scrap wood, and that was today's project. Here is the result:

The tabs at the top of the rudder will be trimmed off.

Most of the work was cutting the inside taper to fit the existing tiller. Now I have a pattern to make the real piece, which will be a dark hardwood to complement the old tiller.

I left the deck alone to cure today. By Friday or Saturday I can scrub off any surface blush and start sanding and fairing.

Tomorrow, time and weather permitting, I'll make the rub rails.

Deck Fabric Covered

I started early today and applied a saturation coat of epoxy on the deck. The job went slowly but without a hitch. It conformed easily to the corners, and I was glad for all the preparation work I had done. As I applied the epoxy, I covered the deck with wax paper. The idea is the wax paper doesn't adhere to the epoxy, and it leaves a smoother surface when the epoxy cures and you peel it off.

While I was waiting for the deck to cure I sanded the rudder. It will need one more coat of epoxy before painting.

When the deck was halfway hardened I trimmed it at the top of the coaming and just over the sheer on the topsides. The wax paper did peel off in most places, but in other spots it tended to stick. It may have been easier to peel it off after the epoxy was cured; I'm not sure it was worth the bother.

I applied a second, thicker coat of epoxy while the first coat was still fresh. Doing it that way, the second coat bondschemically with the first.

As you can see from the reflection, the deck will need thorough sanding and probably another coat of epoxy before painting, but I'll probaby have to leave it alone to cure for about three days to get any amine blush scrubbed off. In the meantime I'll work on the rudder, tiller, and rub rails.

Ready to Fabric Cover the Deck

Though silent for a few days, I have not been idle. I was late ordering the fabric to cover the deck, and while waiting for it I have been prepping the deck. I filled all the screw holes and faired the joints between the three deck pieces, sanded it all, and did a second round of filling and sanding. I also sanded the outside edge of the deck to about a 1/4" radius, so the fabric does not have to make a sharp turn. Filling and fairing the joint between the deck and the coaming was a multi-step process. In places, the crack was as much as 3/16" wide so I was concerned that filler might sag and drip through. I cut fiberglass drywall seam tape into strips and stuck it up underneath the joint between the frames. I put a mixture of epoxy putty in a zip-lok bag, snipped off one corner, and squeezed a bead of filler into the joint as if I were decorating a cake. After it started to cure, I peeled off the drywall seam tape before it stuck permanently. Today, after that filler was well hardened, I repeated the process to make a smooth fillet in the joint. The purpose of the fillet is to provide a radius for the fabric to turn the corner from the deck to the coaming. Finally, I masked the topsides to protect against dripping epoxy. All that done, the deck is smooth, fair, and ready for fabric covering:

The fabric arrived this morning, just-in-time, and I laid it out this afternoon, trimmed it, and taped it in place. Rather than fiberglass cloth, I am using xynole polyester fabric because it is more flexible, and will more easily go around the outside corner of the sheer and the inside corner of the deck/coaming joint. The deck is ready now for the fabric to be set in epoxy. I hope it doesn't get rainy or windy tonight.

After I apply the first coat of epoxy and it starts to set up, I will trim it at the top of the coaming and just over the edge of the deck on the topsides, which will later be covered by the rub rail.

I spent all day Saturday working on the rigging. I laid out the mast and the sail in the yard and planned how it can all go together. I made lanyards for the reef points and tied them in place. I laced the luff to the mast, as the plans show, and figured out how I will tie the ends. Likewise, the little club spar laces to the aft end of the sail, and I spent a long while figuring how to secure it without a tangle of knots. The forward end of the sprit has a hole for the snotter line, which runs up to a block on the mast and down to the deck where it will be cleated, somewhere. I need to buy line for the halyard and for the sheet. Over the last few days I made a wooden block for the mainsheet. The picture shows it secured to the aft end of the sprit; the loose loop of line will fit around the club. If it works well I may make two more wooden blocks, for the halyard and for the snotter. Of course, when I try it all out I may find better solutions.

Today I bought what I expect will be the last of the wood. I got a pretty piece of ipe, a dense hardwood from South America. Ipe has pretty much taken over from teak, which has gotten extremely expensive and which now comes mainly from Burma, a country I would just as soon not patronize. It which will be the part of the tiller which fits over the top of the rudder. It will be varnished, like the existing tiller, which will fit into it. I also bought a long piece of straight-grained yellow pine for the rub rails. I'll work on those pieces, and the rudder, after I get the deck fabric coating going.