PocketShip.net

Having the Pocketship back in the workshop is really fun again.

Last Summer I rushed my build to make the Texas 200. I left a lot of little cosmetic things undone. The interior being the main area of unfinished business. I also found a couple of spots that needed to be redone and paint touchups from honest use.

The most critical mistake I made in my build was I put 1/2" length screws to hold down my sail track on my mast. The track began to separate from the mast at the gaff intersection. The sitka spruce is a bit soft and combine that with short screws, turned out to be recipe for failure. I have the mast laid out on my bench and took out all the screws and cleaned up all the 3M sealant. I filled each hole with penetrating epoxy. This epoxy is really watery and hopefully will absorb into the wood and harden the surrounding wood for each screw hole. This combined with the longer screws, I hope things will be strengthened enough to keep the sail track screwsfrom pulling out again.

Another order of business was to build an outboard bracket as per the John C. Harris plans. It looked a bit rough, but after cleaning it up a bit with a belt sander it actually looks pretty good. I found doing the Texas 200 that there were a couple of harbors that were darn near impossible (for me anyway) to sail into and/or out. One harbor had a welcoming crew with power boats waiting for us to tow us in. I would have been in trouble without those guys. I have ordered a Honda 2.3 outboard. For some reason the 2.0 does not seem to be available. The outboard hanging off the back is a bit ugly but it does add a bit of safety. John sent me a really nice diagram on where to mount the bracket on the transom. I'll post it along with a picture of my finished product as soon as I get everything together for future builder's reference.

Another item is the companionway seat. I'll be building that next. I have some ideas on that that will make it a bit different from the ones I have seen. Every time I take someone out on the boat they immediately gravitate to the companionway to stand and usually end up sitting on the bottom edge of the entrance (not real comfortable). A seat would be nice. Mine will have cup holders.

Interior wise I will be making some deadlight trim rings. A bit more interior lighting and a fan. It gets hot in South Texas in the summer even at night. Mosquito netting on some drop board frames might be nice too. My netting fell down in the middle of the night last summer and let in a bunch of hungry mosquitoes. The tape I had holding the netting up let go...darn humidity.

I also installed a tiller extension. I found sitting in the same position gets a bit old after 10 or so hours on the water. An extension will let me change positions a little. Also for comfort I will add some seat cushions. Being out in the sun all day on this trip required every inch of skin to be covered. I found some pants made by Columbia that were long and made of a material that dried quickly. Well that was great except the inside of the pants had like a mesh bathing suit type liner. After all day on the boat without seat cushions that mesh felt like I was sitting on a cheese grater. Lesson learned.

And lastly get the trailer right but that's a whole 'nuther story.

Be Safe,
John

Thanks for the insights. It nice to hear experiences and things we may need to think about. I am down to weeks away from ordering my kit! Can't wait.

I have found my companionway seat extremely useful. It's a bit smallish and not quite as stable as I would like though. One solution for that would have been to "splay" the legs out more, but I could not figure out a way to do it that would be strong enough on the longer legs. As long as the seat is in place it feels very stable, so I may add some cleats that hold it more firmly in place on the hatch edge.

Also, I am about 5' 10" and find it difficult to raise the mast to the point where the spinnaker halyard can take over while standing on deck. Standing on the seat places me a bit higher and further forward and makes it much easier.

Thanks Dana, I am real close to starting my seat. I am 6'2" so raising the mast has not been a problem. I am going to go the width of the companionway with a couple of drink holders on the ends.

riverron, you are going to have a lot of fun!

John,

Good luck on the modifications... I reviewed your blog and you did a great job! I'm especially interested in hearing about the fan(s) you intend to install. I've always considered a small fan or two a basic necessity on a sailboat for those hot nights at anchor. I've also seen reference to dew problems with smaller boats when overnighting. I've never had to deal with that issue on the larger boats I'm used to sailing, but I always wondered if a fan or two in the cabin would prevent or at least diminish the dew issue. Surprisingly, of all the Pocketship pictures and blogs I've read, I've never seen one with a fan down below. I thought maybe it was a power issue, but I can't image a small fan or two placing too much of a strain on the battery, even overnight.

Kevin

I was thinking about solar-powered fans in the dorades but so far I have not found any that got good reviews for reliability. I think the cowl vents plus some kind of screens on the companionway should provide decent cross-ventilation. Won't know until I try it though.

Dana,

What about just regular 12V fans wired into the existing electrical system? I think just circulating the air down below would probably be helpful. Or you could probably find one to fit neatly inside (or in front of) the dorade vent inside the cabin, to bring fresh air in.

Kevin

A circulating fan or two would be nice. One problem is running the wires properly. Obviously you don't want to attach conduit with screws in the hull. I have conduit on each side of the cabin at the top with junction boxes at the rear bulkhead and then more conduit running to the rear storage compartments. The conduit is glued to the upper cleat, and I can run wires out through openings in the junction boxes. All this is not very pretty, but function is more important to me.

I also attached cleats running along each side of the cabin, screwed into the rub rails. On the port side I built a small shelf attached to the cleat. That would provide a good place to mount a fan I suppose.

Fan(s) could also be mounted to the front cabin bulkhead, with wiring run behind the bulkhead. I don't know if I'll be camping in this boat, but if I do (in Oklahoma) I will definitely want some moving air!

John in CC,
How has the graphite/epoxy bottom held up so far? Has sliding it on and off the trailer worn any off significantly, especially the side bunks? Would you go that route again for a bottom treatment?
Thanks in advance,
Bob

The only glass/epoxy areas are: Centerboard and inside CB trunk, nose block, and leading edge of bow stem. I have not lowered the centerboard yet to inspect it but what I can see of it looks OK. No damage to noseblock or bow stem other than paint. As far as I can tell, paint is fine adjacent to the bunks.