Small Boat Restoration: Drascombe Lugger

Showing posts with label Drascombe Lugger. Show all posts

Friday, May 22, 2020

Nautical Terms

21 May 20:

A glossary of terms, augmented with images. We'll add a few each week as the mood strikes us. If you have a favorite please post it in the comments.

Drascombe Lugger, Webb Chiles favorite ride for open boat ocean crossings :)

Aft - to the rear

Belaying pin - wood or metal rod used to secure a line.

Boom - spar used to control lower edge of sail. Also the sound John Watkinson did not want to hear, of a spar striking the Missus' head, hence the design of the boomless main on the Drascombe Lugger.

Bumkpin - a spar that sticks out from the transom to control a mizzen.

Cunningham - line that controls the tension on luff from the tack corner.

Clew - lower aft corner of a sail.

Foot - lower edge of a sail.

Gaff - spar used to control upper sail that does not cross the mast.

Gaff rig - 4 corner, fore-and-aft rigged sail, hoisted the gaff.

Grommet - small metal rings that teat out of the seams of sails.

Halyard - line that raises a sail.

Head - top corner of a sail or the bathroom.

Hell for Stout - How Hazelwood and Jack liked boats built.

Jib - small sail forward of the mainsail.

Lateen - fore and aft triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast. See also Sunfish.

Leech - aft edge of a sail.

Line - a rope cut for a specific use

Luff - leading edge of a sail or to let a sail flutter into the wind.

Lug rig - a fore-and-aft, 4 corner sail that is suspended from a spar, called a yard.

Mainsail - the main sail.

Mast - upright spar that carries a sail, usually the mainsail.

Mizzen - small sail aft of the main.

Nautical Almanac - Useful after toilet paper is lost mid ocean.

Outhaul - lines that set tension on luff and foot from the head and clew. See also cunningham.

Peak - top corner of a 4 corner gaff sail.

Pinrail - a rail with multiple belaying pins.

Pirate - someone who will "watch" your boat for you. See also Skipper.

Rope - a length of cord made with natural or synthetic fibers. Rope cut for a specific purpose becomes line.

Sail - fabric that catches wind.

Sheet - line that controls the angle of the sail.

Skipper - a nice lady who will "watch" your boat for you. See also Pirate.

Sliding Gunter - 2 part spars for mainsail, lower mast fixed and upper gaff raised with halyard. Primary rig for the Drascombe Lugger.

1980 Drascombe Lugger banditting the 1994 Navy Regatta in Corpus Christi, TX. Skipper with Jack as crew. Mizzen furled.

Spar - poles used to support sails.

Sprit - small diagonal spar that supports upper aft corner of 4 corner sail. Can also be used for a boom.

Sprit rig - 4 corner fore and aft sail supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar known as the sprit.

Square rig - 4 corner sail carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the masts.

Sunfish - 13' 9" pontoon hull sailing dinghy with 75 square foot lateen sail.

Developed by ALCORT in 1952, first models were wooden.

Fiberglass model introduced in 1960, still produced today by Laser Performance. Over 400,000 built.

Favorite boat for the Pirate Skipper.

USS Portsmouth 1850

Tack - lower forward corner of a sail or changing course with wind from ahead. Shown below is the tack of the sail, with a downhaul line that goes up from the mast thwart, through the tack ring and back down to a belaying pin.

Throat - Top edge of a 4 corner gaff sail.

Yard - a spar that crosses a mast, most often horizontal or at an angle. Examples are square rig and lug rig.

References:

Chiles, Webb. 1984. The ocean waits. New York: Norton. https://archive.org/details/oceanwaits00chil.

Chiles, Webb. 1982. The open boat: across the Pacific. New York: Norton.

Friday, February 28, 2020

1980 Drascombe Lugger ONKAHYE Bootstripe

28 Feb 20:

We have a friend restoring his Drascombe Lugger and he needed information on where to place the bootstripe, so here it is. 1980 MKII Lugger Bootstripe ONKAHYE Style, applied by Capn Jack. Measurements taken from a galloping horse. Bootstripe "approximately" 4 inches wide, with variations for optical illusions.

32 inches down from the bottom of the gunwale along the curve of the stem. Or about 7 inches down from where the bottom of the third strake hits the stem. 4 inches high.

Place the bootstripe right about there...

Corpus Christi, TX T-Heads.

"Approximately" 4 inches wide. Sometimes it might look better for the bootstripe to be a little wider at the bow and stern and/or to rise up a touch.

7 inches down from where the bottom of the third strake would fair into the stem.

32 inches down from the bottom of the gunwale along the curve of the stem.

Put the bootstripe even with Skipper's shorts pocket.

Put the bootstripe just above the waterline, with the boat unloaded.

Bootstripe barely touches the bottom edge of the scupper strake.

These 2 hooligans will be of no help whatsoever, they can't even spell butestrype.

Transom, bootstripe lower edge touches bottom edge of third strake. Measure 4 inches up from there.

This is what the bootstripe looks like from inside the boat.

Fair Winds!

Log of ONKAHYE.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

1980 Drascombe Lugger ONKAHYE 25 Jan 18 Photo Shoot

25 Jan 18:

Spoiler alert, we sailed ONKAHYE today to get some photos for a digital magazine, the pictures should be published soon. We watched the tide all morning, 7 inches at the wet end of the dock early in the morning but the ride was flooding. I walked around in my Muck Boots and took a few measurements, time for coffee.

Since the tide was out I got a chance to look over ONKAHYE's bottom. Looks pretty good, bottom paint is over 25 years old and we have some more to apply, maybe next week if the tide is still low. Capn Jack put the bottom paint on a long time ago when ONKAHYE stayed in a slip, but since then she has been a trailer sailer.

The Lugger draws 9 inches with the centerplate up, but we need around 30 inches to drop in the rudder. Once the rudder is in is can swing up for the shallows, but we run a risk of bending things if we spend too much time there. We also need 30 inches of water to remove the rudder. Luggers rudders were also made with a fixed blade, but it is smaller.

We finally got 10 inches at the wet end of the dock, so we off we went, under power of the Suzuki 6, tilted up to the shoal tilt notch (2nd). Could have rowed out or poled out for that matter.

On the way out we dropped the centerboard about halfway, the Lugger draws 4 feet with the board all the way down, couldn't go out that far because the Skipper was on the dock with the zoom lens. Shipped the rudder once we go to about 3 feet of water, then worked bow to stern on the sails. Unfurled the jib, raised the main and loosed the mizzen. Once under sail we killed the motor, raised it to the sailing tilt notch (3rd)) and started the high speed passes for the photog. Here is one shot but the rest will be published once the magazine picks the ones that they would like to use. We took over 100, so there will be plenty.

Running wing and wing to reposition for the next pass....not by design, just worked out that way :)

After about 20 minutes of tacking, jibing, whifferdilling and donutting I stowed all the sails and went to take out the rudder. During the sail I had to raise the centerboard several times but the rudder would swing up on its own. It was dragging aft in the shallows so it wouldn't come out, so we motored out to deeper water where it could drop vertical and I removed the rudder there. By removed I mean I pulled it vertical so the tip cleared the bottom of the hull and put in the rudder chock to hold it in place. If I had bent it I would have just jumped overboard and swam out the sea, never to be seen again, rather than face the Skipper and stand before the mast. On a note of importance, this was the first time she had seen her boat under sail, a proud moment for her to see her cherished possession out sailing the high seas.

ONKAHYE went back on the strap lift, we downrigged her and took a break. Here's a little common sense tip, when raising or lowerin the mast, we tray to make sure that the area we'll be walking on is clear and the stays, sheets, sails, fenders, lifejackets etc... are not going to be in the way or snag something.

Before tidying up, sails and lines underfoot.

Ready to walk backwards while lowering a 16 foot mast.

Strap lift ramblings. The strap lift lets us drop a boat all the way to the bottom, whereas the cradle lift adds about 10 inches because of the cradle. The straps work great on the fiberglass boats, but we like a cradle with bunks under the wooden boat.

Rowed back over to the trailer, loaded up in about 18 inches of water. The drop frame/drop axle trailer that Eddie English built for us make loading and unloading easy.

Fresh water rinse for the boat and trailer, teak oil for the teak, ran a motor in a bucket, a great way to end the day.

Wait, this is a great way to end the day!

FMI: Log of ONKAHYE.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Drascombe Lugger and Dabber Centreplate Uphaul

16 Nov 17:

We bought a Dabber recentl and the centreplate uphaul rigging was missing. So we referenced our Lugger to order some blocks and line. Not sure if this is the factory rigging, but this configuration has worked in our Lugger ONKAHYE for over 25 years.

We ordered blocks with swivels vs fixed ends, hopefully we'll have the same results. Otherwise we can go with the exact twist shackle set up as the Lugger. We ordered both the New England Ropes Vintage line and Tufnol blocks from R&W Ropes.

Float Test next!

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Drascombe Lugger Pickin FT. Pierce "Roamer"

We have been looking for another Drascombe Lugger to restore, and found a 1974 MK1 model on ebay. Took a trip to pick it up, the couple selling it are very familiar with sailboats but are streamlining to get a bigger boat. First owner had it imported to Michigan and owned it for40 years, made some modifications but overall it is in great shape. Second owners had it 2 years and sailed it a few times. We named the boat Roamer.