Just Moved |
Chuck,
Do you or duckworks have any contacts in Elizabeth City, NC? We are moving here for retirement. I don't know anyone of boat persuasion.
Un Abrazo
Bill Moffitt |
Kudos |
You are our preferred source for sailing gear with great quality and fair prices.
The blocks that I ordered from you recently are working well as a boom downhaul on our Michalak MikesBoat. As you and others have mentioned, we are learning how important luff tension is for the balanced lug sail. The combination of the block and clam cleat is pure genius.
Dave Chase |
Boat Show in Great Britain |
Hi Chuck - I hope you can add this link to your website.
Regards,
Ben |
Cedar Key Small Boat Meet Photos |
Many thanks to our great Squadron members and photographers! Especially since I was only there on Friday this year!
Contributors this year were, Chris Troop, Dom Romer, Jeff Lacky, Doug Cameron, Larry Whited, Dave Lucas, Simon Lewandowski, and Stacey Smith.
Others sent photos and if they weren't used it was just because they were pretty much like the ones I already selected.
They are found here:
https://ftp.ij.net/wctss/wctss/photos131.html
Bernard and Genise's brand new Welsford Pathfinder with custom Cabin! Just launched!
Thanks again! Another great small boat meet is in the books!
Ron Hoddinott |
Clarity of vision... |
Most of us appreciate an opportunity to consult with those greater in experience, and clarity of vision. In our small family of boat builders, dreamers, and polymath genius; there is but one Bard of Bradenton.
If there can be such a thing as a horse whisperer, and a cowboy poet; then I’m pretty sure you can have boat philosophers. In fact, I’ve been in recent contact with the currently reigning potentate of that refined few. Fortunately, for my damaged knees, I didn’t need to climb a mountain in the Himalayas to find a guru hiding out in some cave and ask him what the meaning of life was. Simpler than that.
I may live out in the sticks, and the cable guy may have strung our DSL line from tree to tree. But, we do have indoor plumbing and even email. It was by email that I asked the foremost boat philosopher what he thought about a certain project I was working on. I even was able to send him pictures to go along with my entreaty for wisdom.
While my particular quest is rather personal, and maybe even embarrassing, I do think his reply will warm the hearts of all boat builders and poly naviculus sufferers. So, I’ll print it in his own style and inimitable voice.
“There are only a hand full of us who really understand what that means; start off with an old boat and let it make itself into something entirely different. “What, you did that with no plans?” Sometimes it works out and sometimes it goes to the dump but you don’t know till it’s done.”
Sooooooo, with encouragement gained—figuratively at least—while seated at the foot of the master; I screwed up the final bit of courage and blurted out my most innermost and well-considered feelings. The Bard wasted no time in reveling his overwhelming insight and profound view of all things creative and experimental.
“This is the biggest bunch of horse hockey I’ve ever heard.”
Thus, re-began my quest for clarity of vision.
Dan Rogers |
Dianne's Rose |
Hi Chuck, hope all is well. This news piece might be of interest. Dianne and I were so nervous but Courtney Heels (reporter) did a great job editing!
https://barrie.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=612404
Roy Schreyer |
Composite Fasteners |
Hi Chuck,
Poking around your site I noticed a new brand of composite nails and staples. Will these Redhawk staples work in other guns or are they basically the Raptor fasteners with a new name.
Hey, a guy can hope :-)
On another note. On my recommendation a neighbor bought some of your Marine Epoxy almost a year ago and I used it to stick rocks back on the fascia of his crawlspace. It had been built with very porous rock that mortar didn't stick to very well. Over time quite a few had fallen off. Once dry they sucked up epoxy and I stuck them back with an epoxy/cabosil/microballons mix. Through freeze and thaw no problems so far.
Probably not much good as an endorsement on a boat building site, but kudos for a fine product in any case.
Regards,
John Conneely
_______________
John: the Red Hawk fasteners you saw on our site were posted up prematurely. The company is just getting started and we jumped the gun. Not to worry, the new, lower priced fasteners will be back on our site in a couple of weeks. And the good news is that the company is introducing a "value line" of tools at a much lower price than the Raptor ones. - Chuck |
What is it?! |
A Norwegian client has almost finished my Skimmer II design. Here a link to some pictures https://skimmerii.weebly.com/
Cheers
Bernd Kohler |
| Today's DWM article |
Hello Mike or Chuck,
There is a typo in the name of today’s author: the builder of “Arpex” in Rio de Janeiro is Peter Mirow (not Miro).
…funny to learn through DWM that my 2nd degree cousin in Brazil is a boat builder – I never knew until today!
I have not met him in about 20 years. Without you, I would never have learnt that he has been busy on a boat at all!
Maybe as a little bonus item, here’s a photo of Peter’s and my great-grandfather (Peter is one of his daughters’ grandson while I am one of his sons’ grandson) sailing his boat on the bay of Rio, probably taken in the first half of the 1930s. At least, that is what my grandmother used to say about this photo. This is the only shot I know of him in that boat, so unfortunately I know next to nothing about it. Looking at the shape visible in the picture, the hull could well be plywood construction – or at least it would yield itself to ply construction, while it probably is not.
Born to a German family living between Rio and Hamburg, our great-grandfather was the owner and manager of a trading house handling the import of machinery and industrial supplies into Brazil and lived there the biggest part of his life.
Thanks a lot to all of you for networking the world of small boats!!
Best regards / mit besten Grüßen, Mario. |
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Mighty Good Readin' |
Chuck,
That article by Vidmer is incredible and wonderful!! I'm so happy to see someone doing it, writing eloquently about it! Good on you for getting to publish it!!
Rich Green= |
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Poseidon keeps score |
You know, how we all do stuff that we know we shouldn’t be doing, but when it seems to turn out OK, we just chalk it up to experience? Maybe even promise to “never do that again.” Well, I’m pretty sure there’s always a payback. Maybe a long time later. But, at least out on the water, Poseidon has a way of evening things out.
I was in town last night, picking up a pizza from the local pizza joint—Newport, WA, population 2,000 when everybody is home, actually has TWO pizza joints. My order wasn’t done yet, so I leaned over the counter and talked boats for a while with the owner of the place. Seems he was looking for a replacement engine for a boat brand that I remembered from “someplace.” We prattled on about rotten transoms and mushy floors and all those ailments that seem to plague “maintenance free” fiberglass boats. It wasn’t until just now that I remembered why I knew about that particular boat.
My oldest daughter refers to many of my stories as “When dad was trying to kill us…” I tend to remember them a bit more positively. You judge.
Elisa is over 40 now, and seems to have survived her childhood in fine style. This particular recollection takes me back to when she was about 3, or so.
We had gone out on Puget Sound on a particularly foggy morning. The boat was a 17 foot I/O rig with a modest four-banger. No nav gear to speak of. And, we didn’t even know how to spell GPS in those days. I’m not sure what the actual mission was supposed to be. But, we meandered north from launch at Shilshole. I do recall listening for the trains passing along the beach to figure out where east was. So, as long as we didn’t hit a train, we were probably OK for course.
As the day progressed, the fog cleared. And, I got this bright idea that we could head “around the corner” and on down Hood Canal. There were friends of my folks that I remembered from childhood, who then had beach front property south of Seabeck. A ways to go, and no real expectation they’d even be there. But, every voyage needs a destination. No. I don’t think I had much of a plan in mind for how long this was gonna’ take, what the weather might be, incidentals like that.
So, off to Seabeck. I did neglect to mention, this wasn’t my boat.
It was about an hour before sunset when we hove to off their beach. Lo and behold, there they were. Out digging clams, and just about to head home to Seattle. Talk about luck. They were probably surprised to see me, just appear. But, I proposed for them to take Elisa back to Seattle with them, and I’d pick her up later. I wasn’t really worried about our safety, but if her mother heard about running “out there” in the dark, there could probably be a safety issue involved.
This is when the recollection gets a bit “good.”
The idea was to get back to Seattle the long way, by water, in the shortest time possible. Only one way to do that. Run full bore! So, for the couple-three hours this was gonna’ take, “all I had to do” was sit on the helm seat back, put my feet on the steering wheel, and hold on to the top of the windshield. About the only way to see where you are going, is to get out from behind that windshield. The throttle was buried at “all ahead full,” so both hands could be available to hold on. A little more good luck.
The moon came out, and backlit the waves. Pretty cool, actually. It was even sort of possible to see deadheads in time to swerve around them, as we leaped from wave top to wave top. And, yes. I did swear great and astonishing oaths to “never do that again.” Anyhow, boat and crew came through unscathed. I’m pretty sure I didn’t tell any of the grownups (Peter Pan and I are brothers from another mother) about the steering with my feet part. Pretty close to a home run, if I do say so myself.
It was just the very next day. Same boat. Same Puget Sound waters. Running slow. Watching carefully. A stick the size of a hot dog appeared under the bow. No big deal. No need to swerve. Ka-pow! That robust aluminum prop came away from that meeting with the look of New Orleans after Katrina. I did mention that this wasn’t my boat.
Strike THREE, you’re out! Yep, I’m pretty sure Poseidon keeps score.
Dan Rogers |
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New Book |
Dear Duckworksmagazine,
Having written several previous articles for Duckworksmagazine see:
Some readers might be interested in my new book” Welcome to the Caribbean” True tales from the islands. It is an attempt to answer what do we (missionaries) do on the mission field when not preaching, teaching, etc. The story is fictional, the events are true.
A couple come from states to pick up a boat and deliver it to Miami. For over three years it has sat out of the water and the decks have leaked. They find it with three feet of water inside and a major rebuilding on their hands. The hull is fiberglass, but the frames, cabinets, etc. are wood. Mold and rot and many hours of work are in front of them. They decide to do the work. The story is written in Indiana Jones style of adventure; there is the fight with the Doberman Pincher, bare handed no less, robbery at gunpoint, falling out of a tree, car wreck, straying into an area guarded by three watchdogs. The boat gets launched, but Stan almost drowns, then there is the collision…
Soft back $17.95 - Hardcover $33.95 - e-book $4.99
Order direct by contacting us, or on eBay
In Christ
Alan Berry
microvincy@yahoo.com |
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