Outrageous!

Have you ever written any science fiction?

Stasis 7 and the Pencil are complete devices with each part of a complex construction carefully thought out into an integrated completely plausible and potentially working device based on a ridiculous premise, which is,,,, I think, your point.

When I see something like this Pencil and I realize that my convoluted, unrestricted, bazaar, demented, perverse, deviant, mind has never contemplated anything even remotely like it, I feel deficient, or blessed by my limitations. I don't know which!

You need to send it to Popular Science saying that it was currently being constructed in a lab in an underground and underwater lab (James Bond like) in the Persian Gulf.

Ain't it fun.

John Wright

Oceanic Pencil ???????????????

good grief !!!!!!!!!

a braver soul than I..............

Bill Tosh

Keep up the great work, I love to read everything in every issue. One of my favourite places on the web.

Cheers, Tim Diebert

Chuck. I really appreciate the consistant content of your site! If you ever need anything let me know.

Ricky Idlett

Scott Calman

John Welsford

Chuck: A few years ago I was drawn to a simple skiff design done in Australia or UK. It was designed to replace a native islander's entire fishing fleet that was wiped out by a typhoon.....any ideas about it?

Bruce Armstrong/Santa Barbara

You may be thinking of John Welsford's Clarence River Dory - Chuck

Thanks,

Riley Griffith

The book is due out shortly after the first of the year - Chuck

Recently someone on the Duckworks Forum suggested that I ask Wayne Spivak how Coast Guard Regulations applied to backyard boat builders. He passed the query on and later I got this - Chuck

If an individual is building a boat for his own use (not for sale) he does not have to comply with the Federal regulations for boat manufacturers. However, we have a guide for home builders to follow that basically helps them to build a boat that would likely comply with the Federal regulations. The guide is the Safety Standards for Backyard Boat Builders and it can be downloaded at

https://www.uscg.mil/d8/mso/louisville/download.htm

This is not a construction manual but helps the builder in the following areas: SAFE POWERING, SAFE LOADING, BASIC FLOTATION, LEVEL FLOTATION, LOCATION OF FLOTATION MATERIAL, LEVEL FLOTATION RETROFIT, VENTILATION, GASOLINE FUEL SYSTEMS, ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS, CAPACITY LABEL, HULL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER, CERTIFICATION LABEL, FLOTATION MATERIALS, SURVIVAL HANDLES, STATE ISSUING AUTHORITIES, COAST GUARD DISTRICTS. We also have a boatbuilders handbook on our web site at

https://www.uscgboating.org/safety/boatbuilder/index.htm

that may be helpful because it contains guidelines for boat manufacturers that help them comply with the Federal regulations. If you need anything else please e-mail or phone me.

Phil Cappel
Chief, Recreational Boating Product Assurance Division (G-OPB-3)
Office of Boating Safety, United States Coast Guard
Phone: (202) 267-0988 Fax: (202) 267-4285
E-Mail: pcappel@comdt.uscg.mil
www.uscgboating.org

Reply to article -
Ultra-Microcruisers with an Attitude
STASIS7
First design for trans-oceanic smallness

I got a kick out of Chris's stasis design, funny article. Just wanted to
pass along a link - Dave Bulduc put together a great guide to all the famous small boats of the world:
https://famoussmallboats.com/

And for further reading on many of the small boat voyagers, see the book: "A Speck on the Sea: Epic Voyages in the Most Improbable Vessels" by William H. Longyard

Hugo wrote 2 books about his 2 voyages across the Atlantic, the first in a 6' boat, the 2nd in a 5'4" boat: "April Fool or, How I sailed from Casablanca to Florida in a six-foot boat."
by Hugo Vihlen

"The Stormy Voyage of Father's Day"
by Hugo Vihlen

Shorty

just to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Chris Ostlinds article...and his exccellent visuals. It is very much like a FOOTY but no, I definately dont want to sail it anywhere myself !!! It is a thought provoking article though.

Mark Steele - Windling World Magazine

Your online order page only works with M$ I.E. and not the Netscape 7. So much for an open World Wide Web.

:-(

regards,

David

Sorry you had trouble, David; Netscape Version 8 and the popular free browser Firefox both seem to work just fine. - Editor

While surfing the web for inspiring multihull designs, I found a web page that might interest Duckworks readers. It’s about Flaquita, a small tacking proa, designed and build (plywood stitch and glue, what else) by a guy named Joe Henry (I think). He produced some nice and simple solutions in this construction....see https://www.lifebase.net/flaquita/Default.htm

Mvh, Regards, Groeten, Hasta la vista....

Maarten Bijl

The judges of the 2004 design contest who predicted there would be no wind on the lower Mississippi this season have been soundly proven wrong.

Approaching New Orleans at the end of their journey just as the hurricane was bearing down to the east would have put the entrepid sailors on a lively broad reach followed by a screaming beamer as the winds moved 'round to the west. Getting out of town would have been another matter but that was not in the the contest rules. The motor boats favoured by the judges would have been blown clear to Georgia. Although my entry was not specifically designed for planing that would not have prevented the hulls from rising onto the surface under the power available. Let's not be so sure to discount the power of nature in future.

William R Watt

It was great seeing you again at Lake Conroe! The CR100 kayak looked really neat.

I rec'd the attached message in response to the classified you posted for me. (BTW, thanks!) That nagging voice inside is sending off alarms, it sounds suspicious that someone in London would buy a pirogue and trolling motor sight unseen and have it shipped to London, and especially that they would send me such a large check. I certainly don't want to appear ungrateful, but this sounds a little flaky. What do you think, I'd appreciate your advice.

Al

We are interested in buying your above mentioned Canoe and Motor at advertised rate. Canoe and Motor will be picked up from your location for onward shipping to London. Cost and modalities of shipping to be born by us.

Payment for the purchase is by check through a debtor in US. The debtor owes us higher than our purchase. He will therefore be sending you a check for $5,000 to cover the cost of our order, as well as the Shipping costs.

On receipt of the check, you will cash and deduct the cost of our order.The balance you will send as we would instruct you to the Agency that will ship the Canoe and Motor to us. If this arrangement suites you fine, please send us your address where to send the check, as well as the name to be on it. Also send us your phone number for easy communication.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.

Best Regards.

SYLVESTER KINGSTON..

Al: Whatever you do, do not reply to this letter. It is a scam. His check will turn out to be bad, buy you will not know that until after you have sent the "balance" on to him. This is a common trick that must be watched for - Editor

I read with interest the recent article by Lew Clayman "Right on the Money", concerning boats depicted on currency. I was dismayed Lew didn't include my favorite coin, the Canadian Voyageur silver dollar. The Voyageur was minted from 1935 until 1972 and was one of Canadas most popular coins, especially among canoeists.

A colorized picture of the design can be found here as well as the history of the coin.

Jose Joven

Cool!

Let's make this an ongoing-contributor thing, maybe via "letters to the editor." I'm sure that many more "boat coins" will be recalled, minted, etc, than my research turned up!

And I haven't even THOUGHT about ancient coins, discontinued (ie pre-Euro) currencies, etc etc etc...

I'm thrilled that people appreciate the way that various governments have chosen to honor such a wide variety of boats and ships - historical vessels, legendary vessels, modern vessels, folk vessels, vessels large and small, and more. It reflects the special place that boats hold in our collective heart.

I'm also thrilled that people immediately thought of examples that I missed. ROCK ON! Keep 'em coming!

-Lew

Canada also had a quater with a banks dory on it. I had a bunch but seem to have given all of them away. Here is a photo.

Herbert McLeod

https://www3.sympatico.ca/herbert.mcleod/boat.htm

Skip / Chuck --

Congratulations on your run at the colorado 100 !!!

Shorty

Dear Skip and Chuck,

What a great effort, from the designing and building of the canoe to the successful run on the river. Yes, it was successful considering the effort put into it and the unique canoe that you developed. I saw it a matter of basically "competing with yourselves", trying out some revolutionary watercraft ideas.

I look forward to see more of these ideas come to fruition.

Hope to see you on the water, best regards from another "geezer"! Listen, those youngsters need the benefit of our vast knowledge and experiences, right?

Ron Bennett
Comfort, TX

Chuck,

Last weekend I was very glad to have a sawdust toilet system sitting in the basement ready to go. The water softener blew its top and washed enough junk into the floor drain to plug the sewer line. So if we flushed the toilet, it would back up out the floor drain! It's amazing how fast a guy can elevate tools up onto shelves.

The worst part is that the landlord couldn't get the roto-rooter people out there on Labor Day weekend. They provided us keys to a vacant apartment a couple blocks away, but that really doesn't do the trick for more immediate needs. Like in the middle of the night. Hence the sawdust toilet. Works as well as ever. I'd probably still use it for everyday service, except that this bathoom is too small.

I wonder if the disaster relief folks down south know about this approach? Seems like an awfully simple way to avoid adding to water quality problems at bay when you don't know where the drain pipes are leading to anymore.

Anyhow, back in Wisconsin I wish I had a spare, since the guy in the other side of the duplex is driving to that other apartment in the middle of the night. But don't tell my landlord. I want them to think this was reaaaaaaaal inconvenient!

Rob Rohde-Szudy
Madison, WI

Chuck,

Just came across a great idea for low-cost opening ports. To give credit where credit is due, the idea came from the website of Wes and Anna Kisting. On the Pocket Cruiser that they built for a honeymoon cruise, they used clear watertight inspection hatches with some mosquito netting glued onto the rim to keep out the bugs. I see from your catalog that you carry the clear inspection hatches (and that Wes and Anna were not the only ones the think of using them for opening ports). Still, I think it’s a good enough idea to give it a bit more exposure.

Fair winds,

Chris Stewart

I see too much advice here saying use best of materials at a price I can't justify! Good for them!! If you are not a man with unlimited resourses, build as cheap as you can. Your boat will last as long you want! Build another when it dies. You'll probaby have it longer thgan them!

bbmck

Just a note to let you know that I sold my boat today. Thank you for the ad. Bought by one of your followers. I'll confess to a few tears in my eyes as I drove away. But felt better when I got home and starting clearing space for the pathfinder building frame.

thanks again.

Steve Earley

Dear Chuck,
The fellow (unsigned Aug. letter) from the Magothy River (upper Chesapeake Bay) area in Maryland should know that the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Md. has a very large display of Cruisalong boats and stuff... they were built in the Solomons, Md. up through the 1960's. He should contact or visit them to see if they could use his material.

Roland Anderson, Richmond, Va.

Many thanks for Rick Cunningham's "Death of a Cheap Canoe". Its tone is a beautiful balance. The writing could easily have plunged into frustration and/or preachiness. Instead, the writer gives us a clear eyed, unsentimental account of real education!

I generally enjoy everything I read in Duckworks, so when an article like this shines out at me, I've got to take a moment and applaud!

Tim Ferguson

Regarding your comment "state registration rules also don’t apply to sailboats under 12’ long": This may be true, unless you live in Michigan were "all sailboats must be registered"! This ridiculous requirement, together with an over zealous metro-park officer, made it necessary for me to register my Bolger "Queen Mab" which is only 7 feet long. Where to put the 3 inch registration numbers on a 7 ft boat?!

Fortunately, after I calmed down and studied the details I found that boats under 12 ft need only display the registration sticker, not the numbers. I could live with that but still wonder, if I decided to open an umbrella while drifting in an inner tube on a Michigan lake could I be sited for not having a registered sailboat?

Regards,

Al Straub
Ann Arbor, MI

Well I decided to found Michalak disscussion board in Polish. The reason is that there are at least 2 Polish Michalakers here since yesterday.

I'm not going to leave this group. I,m not going to take away potential Polish members of this board. I'm not going to compete. This board is great living storehouse of unique knowledge and experirnce of it's members.

Briefly speaking, we have different market, different materials, different law. No sense to disscuss it all here in English (in my case writing an average post takes an hour or so! Hard work!).

I'm curious if the "instant boat" concept will work in Poland, anyway.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome:

https://groups.yahoo.com/group/michalak-polska/

Thank you.

-Wojtek Baginski

PS.There is a saying here: two Poles=three opinions. Wish me luck ;)

Chuck,
Your article on Building with Kids is wonderful !........I've been building boats for a long time now and I assure you, that's the greatest acheivement a builder can have. I have built one or two with a youngun or two, and it was worth every minute of the time spent.
The "end reward" for Dad is NOT the boat, but rather the feeling of having shown a young person "how to" and then see the pleasure on their face at completion............
Good show !!!!!!!!

Bill - https://www.tcboats.com/

Once again I would like your advice or direction.

I need a way to cheat on the finish and conceal a blemish located on one side panel for the River Runner.

I might have mentioned that I was going to finish this boat bright. Both 16ft. side panels are flat on my workbench. The outside surface of each is prefinished with one layer of ordinary 6oz cloth and one coat of epoxy. The wood shows beautifully with some interesting grain patterns.

One of the panels has a problem along the seam where the pieces of ply were joined. The seam itself turned out nicely and is tight fitting and smooth. Alongside the seam, however, is a half-inch wide band of light color running from top to bottom on the panel. It almost looks like a stripe.

I would like to disguise this stripe and blend or color it to blend into the surrounding wood color and grain. It is probably not possible to eliminate the stripe entirely, but perhaps there is a way to minimize its appearance. Do you know of a product to color after the fact and touch up?

Best,
Jim - jhauer@netnet.net

(Editor's note: Jim asked me to post his email address and to ask any reader to write him with any tip they might know of)

As you can image, I read regularly everything on your very interesting magazine. When I read the stories about your mess abouts, boat building projects of your readers etc. I get a bit jealous and on the other side happy for all of you for your freedom to do on the water what ever you fancy. It reminds me of Goethe, the most famous German poet, from whom we get the words “Amerika du hast es besser” (America you have it better). This was, by the way, in the eighteenth century.

Here are parts of a letter from a builder of our SC 435 beach catamaran. He lives in Croatia I got today.

Hello Bernd,

After heavy duty August I am back in the function.

After technology problems I am facing law problems now.

I need registration for the cat to have it in the harbor and to sail Around ("every boat longer than 2.5 m has to have registration in the
........e.t.c") Cat is self building. To register such self builds I have To

1. Declare the start of the work - easy (paper)
2. Supply drawings and description how and what
3. Pay the tax for my work at the end :( (Value added tax)
4. Then I got the plates and I can sail.

(Long live bureaucracy.)

This is only one example, how imitative is killed in Europe; I have a lot more examples. So watch out on your legislation to hold your freedom on the water.

Of course you have to register your boats too, but it is all the new EC regulations that destroy amateur boat building. For example: All the paperwork, calculations and inspections for a 30 ft boat will cost the builder about $ 8.000,-. The French where initiating these regulations in the eighties, because some companies built such bad boats, that they were falling to pieces or/and have had terrible osmosis etc.
One of the regulations is, that a boat up to a waterline length of 6,50 m is not allowed to sail more than 3.5 miles out from the coast line. The same French have Atlantic racing with 6.5 m boats.
So, what now ?

Keep up the good works and enjoy.

Best regards, Bernd - https://www.ikarus342000.com/

All best,
Chris Partridge

Sir-

I read with interest your article today wherein the writer managed to find a cheap connection for lead shot. Like the author, I was terrified by all the potential mischief I could get into playing with molten lead. The author's connection would have come in handy, however, a few weeks ago I was able to solve the same problem but by slightly different means.

I wanted to do the same with the tip up rudder for my David Beede "Summer Breeze", which to my surprise, is actually looking quite boat-y right now.

In my old wing-nut days, I suppose I could have found some gunshop-related connection for my lead shot problem. Like the author of the article, I think I would have found, however, that the price would have been prohibitive.

I didn't have any other kind of connection, as the author did, with an RC sailboat supplier, but one day I noticed in my local Fleet Farm that I could get a six pound carton of steel shot (for BB guns and sling-shots) for only a couple bucks.

Math is quite beyond me, but using The Force I arrived at an area that was more than sufficient, once filled with steel shot and epoxy, that would hold my rudder under water. Luckily, my rudder blade was just 2 laminations of not-quite 1/4 inch luan, and it was even less boyant once I removed about a tea-plate sized chunk of wood out of it. I just made a nice oval shape that removed about 15% of the blade. It's actually kind of pretty with all those shiny balls embedded in the epoxy- almost a shame to paint it over, in fact. I even had enough left to put into my leeboard. Not enough to sink it, I suspect, but enough to keep it under water with very little effort.

So if you don't want to pay the freight for lead, consider steel shot!

Andy Pucko

Dear Senator Feingold:

I am writing to ask you to oppose S. 786, legislation introduced by Sen. Rick Santorum that calls for giving private, commercially operated weather services exclusive access to weather data now developed by the National Weather Service.

Such a drastic change in the public's access to critical weather information could endanger the safety of boat owners who routinely rely on this information to make basic decisions about when to head out of port or when to return.

The bill would limit the National Weather Service to issuing severe weather forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property. This would be detrimental to mariners because "non-emergency" weather data such as wind speed, tides, currents and the movement of fronts that would not be considered "severe" or life threatening for those on land could easily lead to hazardous conditions at sea.

Both recreational and commercial mariners rely on NOAA Weather Radio for constant updates on conditions and under the Santorum bill; these would be halted and become the exclusive domain of commercial providers. Boaters would be required to invest in special equipment and pay costly subscription fees for a commercial service or go without. One existing service costs $1,500 for the receiver and $695 a year to subscribe. You can bet that most of us can't afford that.

Furthermore, S. 786 will not save the federal government money because the National Weather Service will STILL have to collect and monitor all the same weather data in order to only issuing warnings of severe weather. Boat owners, like all citizens, would be paying twice for the same information, once in their taxes to support the Weather Service and again to buy weather forecasts from a private provider.

This is the worst kind of corporate welfare.

S. 786 is ill-conceived legislation that would establish a dangerous precedent. I urge you to oppose this legislation and vote against it should it be considered in committee or on the floor.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue.

Sincerely,

Rob Rohde-Szudy

Hey,
I'm always amazed when people diss boat shows, I must imagine that most of them have never actually been to the bigger shows, where so much more is available than plastic boats. The main attraction to me is the products and manufacturers that are there. Not only do you see the newest ideas [some new ideas merge quite well with old ideas] but you have the chance to meet and talk to the designers and builders. What an opportunity!!! The Annapolis and Miami shows are the ones Katie & I repeatedly attend, always fun and what great vacations. Annapolis in oct.- away from the Texas heat, and Miami in Feb.- away from Texas cold. We make a game of finding inexpensive motels and indigenous foods. We use the excuse of helping C-Cushions with there sales booth- but we'd be there anyway. Just another way to get that boat fix so urgently required. If they made it in liquid form I'd inject it in my veins.
Lee

Hi Chuck,
Hi, I'm a former Marylander who spent many summers on the Magothy River. I explored some of the Bay...at least as much as I could in a 16 foot wood runabout. I'm here because I was researching the name "CruisAlong" on the internet and wound up here. Before my Dad bought the home on the Magothy back in 1956, he spent some time looking at small yachts like the CruisAlong. He usually took me with him and I helped collect the sales brochures, price lists and other literature which I've kept for all these years. I'm downsizing and am now looking for a good home for some of these historical brochures from the '50s. I intend to list them, at least 2 for the CruisAlong Boats, on eBay in the very near future. If anyone is interested, then go to eBay.com and look for my items by searching for seller ID: ljbayer. Thanks and best wishes. LJ

Chuck,

I was wondering if you might change the price on our 39' Sharpie down to $65,000. We really don't need quite so much boat now that we are done cruising for a while and hopefully we will get an interested buyer at the lower price. We have also moved the boat to a beautiful local mountain lake in North Carolina closer to home so we can use it this summer without the long drive to the coast.

Thanks,

Brad Indicott
sailorman@boone.net

Several years ago, we had two wooden boats restored by a young man who was at Alder Creek Boat Works, I believe, and then he moved elsewhere in upstate New York, and may even have moved to California. I think his girlfriend was named Heather Milne.

I know that is not much information, but perhaps someone there can identify him. We are selling the boats and need to contact him.

Thank you,

Jim Palik
palikj@frontiernet.net

Chuck,
Hi. I wanted to take a moment and thank you for what you do and to say that your writings over the years have been extroidinarily inspirational and friendly. I'm going to start a "Tennessee", in part due to your article long ago...
Again Thank You,
Ed Einhorn

Hey Chuck, I just read John Cupp’s Avenger tool article and was somewhat taken aback that he thinks Duckworks readers are “Average Joes”! To that I say, “Mr. Cupp, the Average Joe is not buying tools to build a boat and certainly not reading your articles! Average Joe is setting in a recliner with a remote in one hand and an adult beverage in the other. Duckworks’ readers are in fact an elite group of people who are thinkers and doers, regardless of the quality of tools they can afford”.

As for Harbor Freight tools - I usually avoid just about everything that cuts, but I have used a (under $30) Harbor Freight dado blade for over five years now and will get another just like it as soon as this one wears out. Perhaps you should came off the mountain long enough to give them a try.

Larry Pullon

Sir-

I read with interest your article today wherein the writer managed to find a cheap connection for lead shot. Like the author, I was terrified by all the potential mischief I could get into playing with molten lead. The author's connection would have come in handy, however, a few weeks ago I was able to solve the same problem but by slightly different means.

I wanted to do the same with the tip up rudder for my David Beede "Summer Breeze", which to my surprise, is actually looking quite boat-y right now.

In my old wing-nut days, I suppose I could have found some gunshop-related connection for my lead shot problem. Like the author of the article, I think I would have found, however, that the price would have been prohibitive.

I didn't have any other kind of connection, as the author did, with an RC sailboat supplier, but one day I noticed in my local Fleet Farm that I could get a six pound carton of steel shot (for BB guns and
sling-shots) for only a couple bucks.

Math is quite beyond me, but using The Force I arrived at an area that was more than sufficient, once filled with steel shot and epoxy, that would hold my rudder under water. Luckily, my rudder blade was just 2 laminations of not-quite 1/4 inch luan, and it was even less boyant once I removed about a tea-plate sized chunk of wood out of it. I just made a nice oval shape that removed about 15% of the blade. It's actually kind of pretty with all those shiny balls embedded in the
epoxy- almost a shame to paint it over, in fact. I even had enough left to put into my leeboard. Not enough to sink it, I suspect, but enough to keep it under water with very little effort.

So if you don't want to pay the freight for lead, consider steel shot!

Andy

Today's posting at the Duck of Kellan Hatch's boatbuilding and sailing adventure with his two boys just kicked my butt. The pictures are descriptive, the story is well written and the boats turned out to be wonderful.

It has been made doubly fun to read the entire recap, as I have been personally watching the progress of these boats over the winter, each time I would drop-by Kellan's house to visit.

This really has turned out to be a fundamentally cool thing to do with your kids. It's a memory they will never, ever forget and it may just propel them into a further enjoyment of one day building their own boat for larger adventures over the horizon.

Chris Ostlind

Kellan Hatch’s article on the two mouse boats says more about boat building and family building in one, wonderful piece than I could possibly have imagined. What a GREAT! Article.

David Arnold

Please pass on my respects to Jeff Gilbert. His article on Dreamboats was absolutely spot on and his comments in that article are well worth the attention of the most experienced seafarers. I have rarely read anything which is so correct and to the point. I came across the article quite by accident whilst looking for some information on the Laurent Giles Wanderer Class Yacht and in truth I have never heard of Duckworth Magazine, but If Mr.Gilbert and this particular article reflect the down to earth and no nonsense policy of the publication and your website, then congratulations.

I am a Master Mariner as well as being a small boat enthusiast and along with my professional qualifications I also have an RYA off shore Yacht Master's certificate and am a Cruising Instructor. I went to sea in the British Merchant Navy in 1956 and have been involved with the sea ever since and now work as a marine consultant. In my spare time I am slowly building a Wanderer Class Yacht, sail number 32.

My admiration for so much of what Mr. Gilbert had to say comes from the fact that I spent some 30 years in the Ocean Salvage business during which time I commanded some of the worlds largest ocean salvage tugs. The "No Cure No Pay" contract of salvage has just about passed, as has the age of the great trans Atlantic liners, but it was a business that forged great seafarers. Whilst the Ocean Salvage Tugs sought the commercial prizes we never underestimated the peril of those at sea and we never turned from any call for help. No matter if the ships were super tankers or rowing boats, when it comes to life you always go. Consequently you soon realize what the sea is all about and what the word seaworthy really means.

How right Mr. Gilbert is. Never leave the parent craft unless it is absolutely necessary. Always be prepared for the worst and the unexpected. Seakindliness or sea keeping qualities are the most important design aspects of any vessel. Sub divide your craft into water tight compartments. There are no Agnostics on a vessel in a full gale.

Best Regards,

Stephen Matthews
Master Mariner

I ordered one of the Quikpoint Power Caulkers for use at the Baltimore County Sailing Center. Among our many projects in preparation for sailing camps we had to reattach the decks on our fleet of 42 Hunter Excites. We applied over 250 feet of 5200 and rebeded more than 300 deck screws. The gun worked perfectly. The other worker and I were able to get the job done quickly AND we both still have our wrists. Several people saw and marveled; they also wanted to know where we found such a tool. I gave them the web address of course.

Thanks again,

Fran M

Hello,

Thank you very much for having the article by Alan Glos about troubleshooting trailer wiring. With this clear article, I was able to correct a "duh!" problem with my horse trailer wiring. :) It saved me much frustration and hair-pulling.

Gratefully,
Janis Jones

Many thanks to Alan Glos for his "Troubleshooting Trailer Lights" article which appeared in Duckworks on some unknown date. I got there off the internet. Here's additional input that could save people lots of $$ if they get into the same problem I just did.

Under "Other Fixes", Alan refers to rare cases when the 'converter' fails. Mine did, probably as a result of breaking off the ground pin on the tow vehicle side ('02 Lexus RX 300). It affected the running lights, not the turn or brake lights. Anyhow, no running lights on the trailer. Car ok.

Had a new wiring harness installed by U-Haul. Running lights still didn't work. I said don't worry, must be a fuse. Checked all fuses...all were ok. Took car to Lexus service (hitch installed when car new) where they screwed around for a couple of hours trying to find out what was wrong. They didn't have the first clue! Then I suggested that "maybe the converter has its own fuse located inside the converter box." They checked this out and behold, there was a blown local converter fuse inside the converter box under the car. Still cost me over $200 in labor for the technician but I had no options. Had I not been so lazy about crawling under the car to open the box I could have saved some big bucks. But then again, I am in my 70's, not my 30's.

Thought this local converter fuse info would be useful. Alan Glos' article was so helpful. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Jim Davidson

You and Milton seem to have the most experience of the current registrants in the Colorado 100 -oh ,no, that's just the most years of combined age !!!!! Good luck. Lee

Everyday when I return home from work I head for the mail pile hoping one of my boating publications has arrived. Usually, I’m disappointed, but I do this everyday anyway. Thankfully, Duckworks is always there with a little something new to satisfy my appetite for boat reading material. I really appreciate your magazine, it makes my life a little bit better.

Regards,

Jerry Church

Cheers

Bernd Kohler - K-designs