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I enjoyed those photos Eric.
Even looked up the map to see where Baytown is.
Thanks
Cheers
Phillip

Great pix Eric ... Admiral sure looks pleased!

But I'm curious about those two pix while planing ...
this by the "sailor" who wants to swap 50 for 15??

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The lift is a very nice bonus. Not quite sure though, how you choose where to position on it. I guess you might try lifting her with ballast in and gate valve open, then lifting the bow strap by 3 inches extra to let it drain.

For those from a traditional sailing background, Roger's design is obviously strange looking ... but the versatility of his design won't be recognized without spending some time on the water. Most traditionalists never get that far. Your shallow bay forces you to look beyond the "cabin cruiser" facade. And, it sounds like you're already discovering some of the inate flexibility. I'll look forward to reading your opinion after this summer.

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Very nice pics, Eric. Very nice boat, too. Love that full enclosure. Although I just bought a new 26M, those pics nevetheless make me feel a little envious...

Cute boat.. and cute Admiral, too, Eric! She seems very pleased - that's always a good start!

I'd love to see a pic of that aft deck - looks like you have a wood swim platform off the back... would be nice to see details of how that was constructed.

Cheers!

What beene said goes for me

Wow

Nice pics Eric

Thanks for sharing.

Ray

Am very happy for you and The Missuss Eric. Thank you for sharing some of what's important to you.

I'm particularly grateful for the detailed pics of your enclosure for information purposes. You provided a lot of detail. My PO provided a Havencraft dodger and I bought a softtopper Bimini.

But I've been quite interested in the Dowsar enclosure, but the price is WAY OUT THERE!

Do you have to duck to stand and steer with your enclosure? Does it provide enough ventillation?

Would you have considered an enclosure if "Ugly Duck" didn't come with one? If so, which one(s) and why

Lastly, open to all, is it possible or practical to put a solar panel on top of a bimini?

Do you think it's sturdy enough to go over Bimini and or Dodger?

P.S. That boat's not ugly at all - it's rather nice

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Eric,

Great post.

One thing, when you wrote

Putzed around some more

The word to use is not putz. You should be using Potchkeh (sounds like "notch k".) Both are Yiddish words. Potchkeh means to "mess around". Putz means penis. There are names for people who penis around. Also diseases to catch. If you do putz around, don't tell the admiral.

Ray

We goyim have stolen the phrase "putz around" to mean "fool around or hang out", in Eric's defense....but thanks for filling us in on the er, other meaning.....

eric3a wrote: . . . The jib has a decent shape, contrary to the main which just looks bad and has little to adjust/shape it. ... was little I could do to flatten it.

Tried to tell ya not to waste any cash on upgrading that mainsail (especially for a 3rd reef).

eric3a wrote: . . . The lack of traveller really hurts the shape.

Also suggested you'll need to use vang sheeting (12:1 tackle) to help flatten it.

eric3a wrote: . . . Must improve the rudders.

IIRC, someone tol'me the factory rudders are prolly fine ...
You just need to rake'em!


Just yankin' yer chain, Eric. I'll look forward to your 'real, hands-on advice' after you've had time to experiment! Welcome aboard~!

Well, thats an interesting boat lift. Seems like the money you saved on not having an aluminum cradle you must have spent on all those extra pilings...pilings aint cheap around here.

Since you have slings, you should be able to almost hit them with the CB without too much concern. When I am coming in to mine with a cross wind, the trick is to have the CB line in hand and pull it up at just the very last second. I have my board tilted way up (like a little skeg) when approaching the lift and I am going very slow, so even the one time I forgot to lift it, it didn't damage it at all even hitting a metal undercarriage very slowly. If the crosswind is very heavy, you have to come in a lot faster and then hit reverse a lot harder. With light winds, I can come in very slowly and hardly use reverse at all, or just grab the dock line. My lift is my slip like yours so I'm always driving it on or off...I never put it somewhere else as an intermediary.

As for mods, I think you will want to get rid of that pump faucet and get a real pressure water system. One of the best mods I have.

Was the enclosure already on the boat when you bought it or did you have it built? From the pictures it looks like you can't sail with that dodger up because it seems quite high. I need a full enclosure on my boat but haven't gotten the time to do it yet.

Best of luck with the sailing part, I think you will find it more rewarding when you learn the boat better. I was certainly like that, almost was ready to sell the boat after the first couple sails. But now almost 4 years later, I view it as more challenging than traditional sailboats and quite rewarding. Its pretty much like sailing a big dinghy really. When you have it on a nice wide broad reach with board up, I think you can beat many traditional keelboats who are getting dragged by their keels. The key is versatility, you can do pretty much anything with a Mac.

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