Re: Thanks for the ride on Arcebus -- Here's how she performed
You are very welcome! I appreciated having an experienced sailor on board to
help test how she does in a string wind. I've been kind of busy since we got
back with more than the usual breakdowns around the house (both the
boiler/hot water heater and riding lawn mower), so I haven't had a chance to post
anything about how she performed. Here is a little rundown.
We launched before an auspicious audience of fellow boatbuilders at the MN
Messabout, with no idea of what to expect. Due to a bad case of nerves I got
hopelessly out of alignment backing down the ramp. Rather than launch at a 60
degree angle, I jerked the car into forward and looked into the rear view
mirror only to see Arcebus dashing for the lake like a Labrador pup. She dove in
with a great splash and bobbed up with a big grin. This was our first
narrowly-averted disaster -- next time I'll remember to check the rachet lock on the
winch.
After my heart rate settled down I took a careful look at how she sat in the
water and was greatly relieved to see that she floated on the same lines as my
model, i.e. just right. We christened her, gave Neptune a taste of champagne
and passed around the rest. Then my daughter, Krista and I climbed aboard and
began trying to start my old 5.5 horse Evinrude. It took awhile, mainly
because with the sliding box-style motor mount in the down position, it was
impossile to identify and read the hot and cold fuel adjustment screws. Aside from
this problem, the motor mount box worked great. I raise it and lower it by
lifting on a nylon belt that goes around the motor at it's balance point.
Otherwise, the weight of the motor locks it into the aluminum channel pieces that
the flanges of the box run in. This is actually a handy feature because when I
lift the motor it stays in a raised position by itself until I can insert a
shackle underneath to secure it.
The motor was driving us along nicely, but there was a big wind on Lake Pepin
and we found that, because the large cabin caught so much of it, we could not
round up into the wind when steering with the rudder alone. We were able to
so when steering with both the rudder and the motor. Later, we found that
lowering one of the lee boards completely eliminated the problem. The
semi-rounded lapstrake hull gave a very nice soft, completely dry ride in large swells.
I was a little nervous about raising sail for the first time in such a heavy
wind, so we motored over to the campground beach with the rest of the boats.
As we had lunch and admired the other craft, the skies opened up several times
with heavy rain, allowing us to practice fastening the canvas cover over the
walk-through slot. We stayed completely dry and managed to keep all the water
out of the boat. My friend Brad Kaeter and his family arrived in the midst
of the rain and we took them out for a nice, dry power cruise (although I hear
they got sopping wet on the way back to their car).
When the rain finally cleared, out so did the wind. We raised the sails,
shoved off, and hoped for a breeze. As we waited, Ed Stibal and his wife quite
literally sailed circles around us, ghosting along in their beautiful Caledonia
Yawl. I was trying to figure out whether the lee board was stuck in the
bottom of the river when we finally started moving under a few puffs of air.
(Later, Ed explained that he had his motor running.)
The rest of the afternoon we had a perfect 5-10 MPH sailing breeze. The
sails set nicely and Arcebus scooted along at a good clip with a well-balanced
helm. After enjoying a good meal and good conversation, we anchored out for the
night. We had more than enough room for our queen-sized air mattress in the
rear part of the cabin. It was a quiet night, despite nearby tornado watches.
In the morning, before hauling anchor, I decided to try my yuloh again. When
I tried it earlier it kept slipping off the trailer ball. I wrapped a bungee
cord around the lower part of the socket where it had been slipping and, lo
and behold, it worked beautifully. (I used a chunk of trailer hitch for the
socket.) Using an easy back and forth motion, I could move the boat along --
not fast, but steady.
There was a fresh breeze, so I yulohed out of our little harbor to raise
sail. As soon as we got out into the wind, we lowered a leeboard and Arcebus
started sailing -- without sails. I don't know how fast we were going, but it
felt like we were moving right along and making very little leeway. The wind
must have been at least 25 MPH at this point so I thought I would set the mizzen
and bring the bow into the wind so that I could raise the main. It was way too
much wind for my mizzen. As I unbrailed it, it ripped out of control and
snapped wildly in the wind. After wrestling with it for a long time I was finaly
able to corral it and tie it down again. However, in the struggle, an
extension that I had added to the bottom of the mast broke loose and it was
done-for. (I originally used this mast and sail on a Bolger Gypsy.) At this point,
we weren't brave enough to try raising the main sail, so I attempted to start
the motor. I was beginning to think we'd be on the Wisconsin shore before I
got it started, but it eventually fired up. As before, Arcebus was fast and
comfortable under power in a heavy swell.
We motored around watching the intrepid Weekenders sail across the lake. I
noticed that Gerry Jonson's Junebug had turned back, so we motored back to the
Minnesota side to offer a ride. The rest of the day we enjoyed Kim and
Gerry's company and assistance as we motored back over to Stockholm for coffee and
rolls, then raised the mainsail in the still-heavy wind. The sail set well,
but without the mizzen, there was a strong lee helm. This did not seem to
hinder us as we enjoyed an exhilarating sail in strong wind and rollers. With a
crew of four on board, Arcebus had absolutely no trouble standing up to the
wind with her unreefed 175 sq. foot lug sail. We moved along at good speed with
an easy, comfortable motion. Without the mizzen in the heavy wind and waves
we were unable to tack, but jibes were easy and non-suspenseful. The wind kept
building as a storm front rolled through and Arcubus handled it well. The
only thing I started to worry about was my solid spruce-tree mast. When it bent
there was one area about 8 feet from the tip that seemed to bend more than it
should. Whether from knots or a concentration of spruce beetle tunnels, it
is definitely a weak spot that I will have to reinforce with fiberglass. All
in all, the spruce tree worked great as a mast. It's hefty in size, but only
weighs about 30 pounds and is incredibly easy to step.
The rig made good to windward and brought us back to the campground with no
problems. It was now time to pack up for home and try to beat the heavy dark
clouds sweeping in from the south. We motored over and hauled out with a
considerable amount of regret that weekend had flown by so fast.
Many thanks to Bill Paxton who organized this event and all the other
particpants. It was great!
Again, thanks to Bill, there is an online scrapbook chock full of great
photos from the event:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/paxton_consulting/album?.dir=f462&.src=ph
My website:
http://arcebus.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
help test how she does in a string wind. I've been kind of busy since we got
back with more than the usual breakdowns around the house (both the
boiler/hot water heater and riding lawn mower), so I haven't had a chance to post
anything about how she performed. Here is a little rundown.
We launched before an auspicious audience of fellow boatbuilders at the MN
Messabout, with no idea of what to expect. Due to a bad case of nerves I got
hopelessly out of alignment backing down the ramp. Rather than launch at a 60
degree angle, I jerked the car into forward and looked into the rear view
mirror only to see Arcebus dashing for the lake like a Labrador pup. She dove in
with a great splash and bobbed up with a big grin. This was our first
narrowly-averted disaster -- next time I'll remember to check the rachet lock on the
winch.
After my heart rate settled down I took a careful look at how she sat in the
water and was greatly relieved to see that she floated on the same lines as my
model, i.e. just right. We christened her, gave Neptune a taste of champagne
and passed around the rest. Then my daughter, Krista and I climbed aboard and
began trying to start my old 5.5 horse Evinrude. It took awhile, mainly
because with the sliding box-style motor mount in the down position, it was
impossile to identify and read the hot and cold fuel adjustment screws. Aside from
this problem, the motor mount box worked great. I raise it and lower it by
lifting on a nylon belt that goes around the motor at it's balance point.
Otherwise, the weight of the motor locks it into the aluminum channel pieces that
the flanges of the box run in. This is actually a handy feature because when I
lift the motor it stays in a raised position by itself until I can insert a
shackle underneath to secure it.
The motor was driving us along nicely, but there was a big wind on Lake Pepin
and we found that, because the large cabin caught so much of it, we could not
round up into the wind when steering with the rudder alone. We were able to
so when steering with both the rudder and the motor. Later, we found that
lowering one of the lee boards completely eliminated the problem. The
semi-rounded lapstrake hull gave a very nice soft, completely dry ride in large swells.
I was a little nervous about raising sail for the first time in such a heavy
wind, so we motored over to the campground beach with the rest of the boats.
As we had lunch and admired the other craft, the skies opened up several times
with heavy rain, allowing us to practice fastening the canvas cover over the
walk-through slot. We stayed completely dry and managed to keep all the water
out of the boat. My friend Brad Kaeter and his family arrived in the midst
of the rain and we took them out for a nice, dry power cruise (although I hear
they got sopping wet on the way back to their car).
When the rain finally cleared, out so did the wind. We raised the sails,
shoved off, and hoped for a breeze. As we waited, Ed Stibal and his wife quite
literally sailed circles around us, ghosting along in their beautiful Caledonia
Yawl. I was trying to figure out whether the lee board was stuck in the
bottom of the river when we finally started moving under a few puffs of air.
(Later, Ed explained that he had his motor running.)
The rest of the afternoon we had a perfect 5-10 MPH sailing breeze. The
sails set nicely and Arcebus scooted along at a good clip with a well-balanced
helm. After enjoying a good meal and good conversation, we anchored out for the
night. We had more than enough room for our queen-sized air mattress in the
rear part of the cabin. It was a quiet night, despite nearby tornado watches.
In the morning, before hauling anchor, I decided to try my yuloh again. When
I tried it earlier it kept slipping off the trailer ball. I wrapped a bungee
cord around the lower part of the socket where it had been slipping and, lo
and behold, it worked beautifully. (I used a chunk of trailer hitch for the
socket.) Using an easy back and forth motion, I could move the boat along --
not fast, but steady.
There was a fresh breeze, so I yulohed out of our little harbor to raise
sail. As soon as we got out into the wind, we lowered a leeboard and Arcebus
started sailing -- without sails. I don't know how fast we were going, but it
felt like we were moving right along and making very little leeway. The wind
must have been at least 25 MPH at this point so I thought I would set the mizzen
and bring the bow into the wind so that I could raise the main. It was way too
much wind for my mizzen. As I unbrailed it, it ripped out of control and
snapped wildly in the wind. After wrestling with it for a long time I was finaly
able to corral it and tie it down again. However, in the struggle, an
extension that I had added to the bottom of the mast broke loose and it was
done-for. (I originally used this mast and sail on a Bolger Gypsy.) At this point,
we weren't brave enough to try raising the main sail, so I attempted to start
the motor. I was beginning to think we'd be on the Wisconsin shore before I
got it started, but it eventually fired up. As before, Arcebus was fast and
comfortable under power in a heavy swell.
We motored around watching the intrepid Weekenders sail across the lake. I
noticed that Gerry Jonson's Junebug had turned back, so we motored back to the
Minnesota side to offer a ride. The rest of the day we enjoyed Kim and
Gerry's company and assistance as we motored back over to Stockholm for coffee and
rolls, then raised the mainsail in the still-heavy wind. The sail set well,
but without the mizzen, there was a strong lee helm. This did not seem to
hinder us as we enjoyed an exhilarating sail in strong wind and rollers. With a
crew of four on board, Arcebus had absolutely no trouble standing up to the
wind with her unreefed 175 sq. foot lug sail. We moved along at good speed with
an easy, comfortable motion. Without the mizzen in the heavy wind and waves
we were unable to tack, but jibes were easy and non-suspenseful. The wind kept
building as a storm front rolled through and Arcubus handled it well. The
only thing I started to worry about was my solid spruce-tree mast. When it bent
there was one area about 8 feet from the tip that seemed to bend more than it
should. Whether from knots or a concentration of spruce beetle tunnels, it
is definitely a weak spot that I will have to reinforce with fiberglass. All
in all, the spruce tree worked great as a mast. It's hefty in size, but only
weighs about 30 pounds and is incredibly easy to step.
The rig made good to windward and brought us back to the campground with no
problems. It was now time to pack up for home and try to beat the heavy dark
clouds sweeping in from the south. We motored over and hauled out with a
considerable amount of regret that weekend had flown by so fast.
Many thanks to Bill Paxton who organized this event and all the other
particpants. It was great!
Again, thanks to Bill, there is an online scrapbook chock full of great
photos from the event:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/paxton_consulting/album?.dir=f462&.src=ph
My website:
http://arcebus.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]