In the water at last

Well, today (26 November 2012) 0ne year and 11 months since I started the build, with the aid of my wife Mary and friend Peter, Chinook was placed gently into her natural element.

There was little wind but that was good as I didn't know what to expect.

Starting the outboard for the first time in eight years, No problems.At eight HP it is a little bigger than necessary but it was just sitting in the garage going to waste.

Hoisting the mainsail with two reefs in place. Overly cautious but better safe than sorry.

Yours truly at the helm for the first time. I plan to have an official christening soon,

My mate Peter taking in the salt air.

We did manage to get full sail up but there was so little air that we called it quits and motored back to the slip and called it quits.

A few days later we were back in the water for the official launch and Christening which went well. As you may notice, I still need to iron out a few rigging problems so that I can get the wrinkles out of the mainsail. ie, more tension on the peak and throat halyard.

November 2012 Nearly finished

After quite a long hiatus I am back at work on the boat. Having reconsidered the pros and cons of using a dark coulour for the top strake, dark won out and I painted over the white  with Indigo Blue, the results are striking.

I mounted a good quality outboard bracket to hold my 8HP Evinrude and just have a few loose ends to finish off before getting the boat and trailer registered. I have found that rigging the boat and choosing the fittings has been the most difficult part of the entire build. I think that John could have included more detail in the plans. It has been a steep learning curve. I have had the mast and sails up twice and each time I have made minor adjustments to the rigging.