Drascombe Coaster 'Valentine'

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Outboard engine stand - DIY build!

I made a stand for our outboard engine! No, we haven't got the boat or the outboard yet...but we do now have somewhere to store and work on the engine, when we're allowed to go and pick Valentine up from her current owner. Soon hopefully - fingers crossed! Here is page 1 of the plans I found for free on the web . Thanks to the designer, D.Hayes Jr, for making them available. I made a few changes to my version of this build; a narrower 'step' at the front to accommodate the boat's small battery and I changed all the dimensions from inches to millimetres, as timber is measured this way in the UK. I also didn't have any 2x6, so used 3 pieces of 2x4 instead. Here's the model drawn on the SketchUp CAD software. Again, this is free software, if you are happy to use the 2017 version which is more than adequate for my needs. If you'd like to view the model online in 3D have a look here . Finished product being tested at 3x the weight of the engine...

6.3 kts, finally under all 3 sails: mainsail, jib & mizzen. Very fast!

Well, that was exciting! A squally day, with almost no wind unless one of the many large clouds happened to be nearby in which case the speed went up and the direction could change by 90 degrees in a few minutes. A challenge for our first go with the mainsail. Started off puddling about under jib & mizzen again in almost flat calm. So up went the sail. The wind then gradually started to increase until we had a nice F3 or maybe more in gusts. Enough to have her heeling over and the gunwale getting wet, much to Marianne's alarm. Valentine felt totally happy with it though and transmitted that to me so I felt no need to let off the mainsheet, but did to stop M squawking. On a beam reach, with foam creaming off the bows, we hit our maximum speed of 6.3 knots sustained. This via a good GPS, so pretty reliable and not just a random fluctuation. She was doing 3.5 knots close hauled! All good things come to an end with M getting ti...

Loose-footed for the first time.

A couple of hours with friends on the lake in watery sunshine, before it became watery rain. The forecast F3-4 never appeared, but we had enough to clip along and the occasional gust which got me to the day's maximum speed of 5 knots. She feels different loose-footed and I'm not yet convinced either way - need to take her out in a blow and she how she copes.

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