FreedomYachts.org

Having learned to learn from others, I observed a former marina-neighbor who had an old wooden Paul Luke-Auge Nielson ketch. He was in his early 80's & did all work on the boat himself. Wooden masts require a lot of trips up & down to refinish. He had bought a Nauta bag big enough to contain enough ...

I feel your pain there...my setup is exactly the same with the same problems (F40 Aft Cockpit Cat Ketch). Some things to help: Before raising the sails, make SURE that the lazy jacks are tensioned so that the boom is perpendicular to the mast! Mark the lazy jack line so that you can "return" to that...

I've read nothing but good things about "Ultimate Sole", but I don't know of anyone who's actually used it (firsthand)

Yup...remember, all that water is still seeking its own level. If the waves didn't "bend" around and "fill up the empty space", all the water in that protected lee of the point in the photo would be scavenged away by the waves passing at right angles. The same thing causes waves which approach direc...

Michel

I hope you didn't PAY for 1,000 miles between Mobile & Port Canaveral, since it's only about 1/2 of that distance.

The key to properly folding any mass of fabric is to minimize the number of "layers that are being folded (and the number of folds that are stacked directly on top of each other). First, lay out the bag, flat & determine the width of the largest "piece of fabric" that it could contain (without foldi...

I have both the running backstays (on the mizzen) and the mizzen staysail they were designed to be used with. The staysail (which is huge) has a wire luff which is tacked to the "spinnaker pole car" which slides on the track mounted on the coach house roof (on centerline between the hatch forward of...

I e-mailed Tristan Mouligne about ten years ago (back when he was in college a few years ago and singlehanding "Frog Kiss"). I was intrigued by the blade jib. I asked him if he was using running backstays on the mainmast...never got an answer. I do recall, however, that they later lost the main mast...

I'm surprised to learn that your boat didn't have hydraulic steering from the "get-go"...mine did. My little "cowl" is made of fiberglass...and my observation is that its only purpose is to prevent rainwater from washing the grit off of the cylinder, thus ensuring that the grit makes maximum contact...

Ok...so your little tiller arm is going to be attached to the rudder head at a point closer to the transom (than the attachment point of the ram), which means that the travel along the arc described by that point (as the rudder swings) will be less than the travel along an arc described by a point l...