Pretty as a Picture

I'm spending a lot of time on TurboCAD at the moment. Not only trying to design the finer points of this wee boat but also trying to learn how the software works! So by way of a detour I had a wee play on Photo Shop to see what I could do there so tonight here she is in all her glory with a suit of sails and a brand new paint job. She's been putting on a bit of weight around those buttocks but should be better balanced for that. In fact the TurboCAD version already has a bigger rig and is about to get some further tweaks around the dagger board.

Sopwith Camel

One of the committee said he wanted something with the up and at'em, ready for anything stance of a Sopwith Camel, and with its high stem sweeping down and back to the raked stern I think the latest modifications are starting to get there. I've pushed the centre of buoyancy back to approx where my bum is likely to be, raised the freeboard a bit to stop me getting to wet and I'll also have small side decks and a coaming which will also help. The stem is much raised which should also keep me dry while providing plenty of reserve buoyancy, bury for the mast and some useful storage space. I'm thinking the first strake needs to be a bit firmer to provide a wee bit more stability. I'll add a small skeg to help with tracking as this boat needs to be able to row, and put a curve in the forefoot so that she doesn't trip up when coming in to land. Enough for today lets see what the committee think.

Why does a Camel have the Hump ?

Because it was designed by a committee which is what is happening to this boat. The committee are members of HBBR who are chipping in with their tuppenceworth. So as a result the following changes have been made. The beamiest section has been moved aft together with the centre of buoyancy which makes sense as that's where the maximum load (me) is likely to be sitting. The height of the stem is approx 15inches above the waterline and the freeboard is only about 8inches which isn't much soi think its back to the drawing board again. More soon. If yo'd like to join in the debate sign up on the HBBR Yahoo Group, there's a link on the right hand column.

Potential project

Here is he first sight of a potential new project code named PNS4 she is a little 11ft tub I have in mind to build as a winter project. The main issue here is trying to get a fun boat with a reasonable amount of space and load carrying capacity without compromising the sailing ability and performance too much.

Up the Creek paddle and all

While I've been worrying myself senseless about what boat to build next, as if it was the most important thing in the world, others have been getting on with their lives. The HBBR were having a gathering on the upper reaches of the Hamble and rather than tow his 14ft Mini Cruiser Millibee all the way from Gloucester, Paul Hadley decided to build a smaller boat and bring it instead. So here he is in Canoodle a Paul Fisher "Little Kate" design which he built in less than two weeks! That's less time than it takes me to decide which socks i'm wearing.

The day dawned blustery and wet. More sensible men would have stayed in bed but Paul and others decided to brave the elements and head on down to Swanwick.

Here are the committee trying to think up excuses not to go sailing as Chris rows off in the background, game to at least give it a try. He bravely hoisted his sails and did a couple of tacks before running for home, well the pub actually, where Paul christened Canoodle.

There was so much rain we couldn't tell whether Canoodle had a leak or was just filling up with rainwater. Congratulations to Paul and a big lesson to me about vacillation.
I've just heard some bad news. The girl who was our bridesmaid has just lost her husband to a heart-attack at the age of 49. A harsh reminder to us all, if you've got a boat to build, or anything else to do, now is the time.