Re: New Tortoise Launched
Thx. The colors were chosen simply by the random choice of the Lowes
OOPS bin. The red is a bit too "berry" for my tastes but it will do
for now. It's cold in the Carolinas this weekend so sailing shots may
have to wait a bit longer. With luck, I'll have time to leather the
oars with wrapped cord and then I can hopefully try that tip about
tipping the blades to avoid jumpin out of the locks... I'm a sailor,
not an oarsman so there's much to learn.
Finally, on the question of offsetting the rudder. I thought a lot
about this during construction and concluded that the offset rudder is
just unworkable. You would need unreasonably long arms on one tack and
disjointed shoulders on the other. With the rudder at centerline, you
can sit athwartships, generally as aft as possible and easily control
the rudder on either tack. I do believe that Bolger designed the
tiller overly long however. You don't need that much leverage to sail
such a tiny boat and it simply pokes you in the ribs if it's longer
than the aft deck. I intend to cut my tiller off just short of the aft
deck and think that will work fine.
As for what to build next... I'm coveting a strip built kayak. We
will see.
thx
Shawn
OOPS bin. The red is a bit too "berry" for my tastes but it will do
for now. It's cold in the Carolinas this weekend so sailing shots may
have to wait a bit longer. With luck, I'll have time to leather the
oars with wrapped cord and then I can hopefully try that tip about
tipping the blades to avoid jumpin out of the locks... I'm a sailor,
not an oarsman so there's much to learn.
Finally, on the question of offsetting the rudder. I thought a lot
about this during construction and concluded that the offset rudder is
just unworkable. You would need unreasonably long arms on one tack and
disjointed shoulders on the other. With the rudder at centerline, you
can sit athwartships, generally as aft as possible and easily control
the rudder on either tack. I do believe that Bolger designed the
tiller overly long however. You don't need that much leverage to sail
such a tiny boat and it simply pokes you in the ribs if it's longer
than the aft deck. I intend to cut my tiller off just short of the aft
deck and think that will work fine.
As for what to build next... I'm coveting a strip built kayak. We
will see.
thx
Shawn
--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Peter Lenihan" <peterlenihan@...> wrote:
>
> --- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Shawn Payment" <mspayment@> wrote:
> >
> > Well, it is done! My Bolger Tortoise, "Atom", was launched on
> > 12/30/2006 in the Stono River, Charleston, SC. After a christening
> > splash of Amstel Light, she was dropped stern first into the water
> > and I took her for her inaugeral row.
>
> Bravo Shawn! She is a fine looking example of that surprising little
> boat.I like your choice of colours too!
> Will look forward to some nifty sailing shots of ATOM,when you get
> around to it.
> So, the obvious question now is, whatcha gonna build next :-)
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Peter Lenihan
>
Shawn:
Jumping out of the locks is cured by holding the oars with the blades at
a slight angle that causes them to try to bite deeper into the water as
you pull. Keep at it and you'll get to the point where you don't even
notice you are doing it.
Patrick
Shawn Payment wrote:
Jumping out of the locks is cured by holding the oars with the blades at
a slight angle that causes them to try to bite deeper into the water as
you pull. Keep at it and you'll get to the point where you don't even
notice you are doing it.
Patrick
Shawn Payment wrote:
> Well, it is done! My Bolger Tortoise, "Atom", was launched on
> 12/30/2006 in the Stono River, Charleston, SC. After a christening
> splash of Amstel Light, she was dropped stern first into the water
> and I took her for her inaugeral row. I made my own primitive little
> oars and these work just fine but tend to jump out of the locks since
> I had yet to "leather" them with anything... I'm not much of an
> oarsman in any case.
>
--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Shawn Payment" <mspayment@...> wrote:
boat.I like your choice of colours too!
Will look forward to some nifty sailing shots of ATOM,when you get
around to it.
So, the obvious question now is, whatcha gonna build next :-)
Sincerely,
Peter Lenihan
>Bravo Shawn! She is a fine looking example of that surprising little
> Well, it is done! My Bolger Tortoise, "Atom", was launched on
> 12/30/2006 in the Stono River, Charleston, SC. After a christening
> splash of Amstel Light, she was dropped stern first into the water
> and I took her for her inaugeral row.
boat.I like your choice of colours too!
Will look forward to some nifty sailing shots of ATOM,when you get
around to it.
So, the obvious question now is, whatcha gonna build next :-)
Sincerely,
Peter Lenihan
Well, it is done! My Bolger Tortoise, "Atom", was launched on
12/30/2006 in the Stono River, Charleston, SC. After a christening
splash of Amstel Light, she was dropped stern first into the water
and I took her for her inaugeral row. I made my own primitive little
oars and these work just fine but tend to jump out of the locks since
I had yet to "leather" them with anything... I'm not much of an
oarsman in any case.
After about 15 minutes of rowing about, the wind began to fill in and
I returned to the dock to rig sail. In a matter of minutes the rig
was up and off I went. As far as sailing performance, she sails
remarkably well. The daggerboard tends to shift around a bit but
this disadvantage is offset the advantage of having it shift when you
hit bottom. With a little less than 10 kts of wind, I could outrun a
3 kt current. I found that I needed to sit fairly far aft to balance
the boat and will probably need to shorten my rudder handle which
kept poking me in the ribs. I also need to install a rudder lock
since the rudder jumped off the pintles several times. The sail
looks and feels great and makes it really feel like a real boat!
Atom was built with scrap lumber and luaun plywood, nailed with
bronze ring nails and glued with Titebond II. Painted with a couple
gallons of 100% exterior latex that I found in the OOPS bin at the
Lowes. I had a spare set of gudgeons/pintles for a rudder and a
lovely set of brass oarlocks for total overkill. (I actually intend
to replace the brass oarlocks with cheap plastic ones at first
opportunity...) As a Christmas present to myself, I also bought a
real sail from Duckworks. I haven't weighed the hull yet but I'm
guessing that it weighs about 30 lbs.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased. Pictures of Atom sitting on my lawn
can be found in the photo folder under "Atom - Tortoise Dinghy".
There was nobody around to take pictures of me when I was sailing but
I'll post some of those soon!
Thx!
Shawn Payment
Charleston, SC
12/30/2006 in the Stono River, Charleston, SC. After a christening
splash of Amstel Light, she was dropped stern first into the water
and I took her for her inaugeral row. I made my own primitive little
oars and these work just fine but tend to jump out of the locks since
I had yet to "leather" them with anything... I'm not much of an
oarsman in any case.
After about 15 minutes of rowing about, the wind began to fill in and
I returned to the dock to rig sail. In a matter of minutes the rig
was up and off I went. As far as sailing performance, she sails
remarkably well. The daggerboard tends to shift around a bit but
this disadvantage is offset the advantage of having it shift when you
hit bottom. With a little less than 10 kts of wind, I could outrun a
3 kt current. I found that I needed to sit fairly far aft to balance
the boat and will probably need to shorten my rudder handle which
kept poking me in the ribs. I also need to install a rudder lock
since the rudder jumped off the pintles several times. The sail
looks and feels great and makes it really feel like a real boat!
Atom was built with scrap lumber and luaun plywood, nailed with
bronze ring nails and glued with Titebond II. Painted with a couple
gallons of 100% exterior latex that I found in the OOPS bin at the
Lowes. I had a spare set of gudgeons/pintles for a rudder and a
lovely set of brass oarlocks for total overkill. (I actually intend
to replace the brass oarlocks with cheap plastic ones at first
opportunity...) As a Christmas present to myself, I also bought a
real sail from Duckworks. I haven't weighed the hull yet but I'm
guessing that it weighs about 30 lbs.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased. Pictures of Atom sitting on my lawn
can be found in the photo folder under "Atom - Tortoise Dinghy".
There was nobody around to take pictures of me when I was sailing but
I'll post some of those soon!
Thx!
Shawn Payment
Charleston, SC
>it
> --- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Bruce Hallman" <bruce@> wrote:
> >
> > The Tortoise is a fun and handy boat. My advice is to avoid the
> > temptation to 'gold plate' it. It might be hard to imagine, but
> > actually is a fun little sailboat too!
> >
> >http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376786909051159125NzipPn
> >
> >http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787713051159125pdvTXw
> >
> >http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787773051159125IOijyW
> >
>
Bruce
In the last picture
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787892051159125VzfbgX
is that a water skier trying to get up? Might need a little more sail area.
HJ
Bruce Hallman wrote:
In the last picture
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787892051159125VzfbgX
is that a water skier trying to get up? Might need a little more sail area.
HJ
Bruce Hallman wrote:
> The Tortoise is a fun and handy boat. My advice is to avoid the
> temptation to 'gold plate' it. It might be hard to imagine, but it
> actually is a fun little sailboat too!
>
>http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376786909051159125NzipPn
>
>http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787713051159125pdvTXw
>
>http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787773051159125IOijyW
>
>
>
With $10 luaun and scrap lumber that I found under my house, I don't
think I'm in any danger of guilding the lily... but good to hear it's
a competent little sailer. My expectations are pretty low so "fun"
will more than suffice! Good Photos! Thx!
think I'm in any danger of guilding the lily... but good to hear it's
a competent little sailer. My expectations are pretty low so "fun"
will more than suffice! Good Photos! Thx!
--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Bruce Hallman" <bruce@...> wrote:
>
> The Tortoise is a fun and handy boat. My advice is to avoid the
> temptation to 'gold plate' it. It might be hard to imagine, but it
> actually is a fun little sailboat too!
>
>http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376786909051159125NzipPn
>
>http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787713051159125pdvTXw
>
>http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787773051159125IOijyW
>
The Tortoise is a fun and handy boat. My advice is to avoid the
temptation to 'gold plate' it. It might be hard to imagine, but it
actually is a fun little sailboat too!
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376786909051159125NzipPn
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787713051159125pdvTXw
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787773051159125IOijyW
temptation to 'gold plate' it. It might be hard to imagine, but it
actually is a fun little sailboat too!
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376786909051159125NzipPn
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787713051159125pdvTXw
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1376787773051159125IOijyW
Hi, I'm new the group but not to small boat building. (though this is
my first attempt at a Bolger design) I started a Bolger Tortoise this
past weekend because I'm currently boatless (other than a kayak) and
hadn't built anything in a while. Obviously, I had to scratch the
itch.
I ripped lumber for all the chine logs, mast, spars and oar handles on
Saturday, glued up two pieces of 1"x2" for the mast and then sawed the
spars and oar handles into octogonal diameters. On Sunday, I made a
trip to the Lowes for 2 sheets of luaun and a quarter sheet of 1/2 BC
pine, laid out and cut rudder, leeboard, hull bottom and transoms
before it started to pour down rain. So far, I've got about 8 hrs in
the project, about 1/2 of which was spent shopping, setting up
equipment and picking up the mess afterward.
I'm hoping to finish by Thanksgiving and hopefully get a couple of
good days of holiday weather for a leisurely sail or two. I plan to
use just a Tyvek sail to start but if the tiny craft proves amiable
enough, I'll probably reward it with a real sail from Duckworks loft.
I chose the Tortoise to build primarly because it's finished
dimensions will fit neatly inside the back of my Honda Element and
eliminate the need for a trailer and associated boating hassle.
Accordingly, I plan to name my craft "Atom".
Bolgeresque revelations, tips or other comments welcome... otherwise,
I'll just post some pics as soon as there's something to photograph
other than sawdust.
All the best,
Shawn Payment
Charleston, SC
my first attempt at a Bolger design) I started a Bolger Tortoise this
past weekend because I'm currently boatless (other than a kayak) and
hadn't built anything in a while. Obviously, I had to scratch the
itch.
I ripped lumber for all the chine logs, mast, spars and oar handles on
Saturday, glued up two pieces of 1"x2" for the mast and then sawed the
spars and oar handles into octogonal diameters. On Sunday, I made a
trip to the Lowes for 2 sheets of luaun and a quarter sheet of 1/2 BC
pine, laid out and cut rudder, leeboard, hull bottom and transoms
before it started to pour down rain. So far, I've got about 8 hrs in
the project, about 1/2 of which was spent shopping, setting up
equipment and picking up the mess afterward.
I'm hoping to finish by Thanksgiving and hopefully get a couple of
good days of holiday weather for a leisurely sail or two. I plan to
use just a Tyvek sail to start but if the tiny craft proves amiable
enough, I'll probably reward it with a real sail from Duckworks loft.
I chose the Tortoise to build primarly because it's finished
dimensions will fit neatly inside the back of my Honda Element and
eliminate the need for a trailer and associated boating hassle.
Accordingly, I plan to name my craft "Atom".
Bolgeresque revelations, tips or other comments welcome... otherwise,
I'll just post some pics as soon as there's something to photograph
other than sawdust.
All the best,
Shawn Payment
Charleston, SC