Grumman Canoe SCOUT 22 Apr 20 Rudder Sea Trials

22 Apr 20:

We launched SCOUT for rudder Sea Trials, Paddle Mode, total success once we remembered the uphaul line was jam cleated! To back up for a second, the rudder is being added to the arsenal for use with sailing rigs, but after the discoveries today during tandem and single paddling we might use it when just paddling.

Here's a photo to get a general idea of where the steering line and rudder uphaul line are routed.

First I needed to place a couple of blocks for the line steering to run through, to determine their location I laid out the steering line that came with the rudder and picked the nearest thwart, which turned out to be the midships thwart. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the gunwales just forward of the thwart and used 1/8" Dacron Cord from New England Ropes to tie a block to port and starboard. The blocks came from Capn Jack's stash, not sure where he found them, they might have come off of the USS Portsmouthfrom back in 1846. The I ran the steering lineup through the blocks and added a snap shackle to the end to connect to one side of the rudder horn. The line was barely long enough to where I could skip the snap shackle, pull it real tight and tie a Figure 8, but I deduced that the line had shrunk over time and it needed some work to stretch it back out. The line was too tight for my liking is why I added the snap shackle, plus it was more Capn Jack hardware that gets to see Sea Service on a small boat.

Next I contemplated how to rig the rudder uphaul, it needed a fairlead centered on the rudder horn so that it would not pull the rudder off center. I thought maybe I could run it under the pintle keeper but not only did the steering line pull loose when tugged on, it displaced the pintle keeper as well, which would allow the pintle to fall out if the canoe capsized. The next options considered were to add an eyestrap or drill a small hole, so I drilled a 1/4" hole angled aft top to bottom, centered on the horn, and fed the uphaul line up through that and forward near the stern seat. Next I needed a place to secure the line to keep the rudder up, and Capn Jack whispered "jam knot" in my ear. I tied a loop in the uphaul line at a position where Skipper can jam the knot into a small gap between the stern cap and the gunwale, and secured the rest of the line with some semblance of a clove hitch further up onto the steering line. More on that later, plus a video.

We launched SCOUT with Skipper in the stern seat and Moveable Ballast up in the bow seat. Set out to sea and paddled about 15 minutes. I asked Skipper if the rudder was working and she said not really. I thought about it for a bit and asked if the rudder had gone all the way down. She sail it was barely in the water, so I asked if she had released the uphaul. She said something to the effect of "what uphaul?" Note to self, I need to write up a Functional Check Float (FCF) test card and brief the Functional Check Pilot (FCP) on what items need to be checked during the FCF. Skipper released the uphaul, the rudder dropped and after that we Ported and Starboarded and Slipped and Skidded and Tracked all over the bay with ease, which is a feat. Our corner of the bay has a bayou nd a river that dump into it, plus we get strong fetch at times. Winds were NW, light at 7-9 knots, seas about a foot with short sets, and with the rudder I could do a 360 turn from the bow seat with 10-12 strokes from just the bow seat, with no Skipper steering. Without the rudder it took about twice many strokes that and some retired Jarhead aggressive paddling. We also found it was easy for her to set a little rudder trim and keep us tracking to a point vs the convoy zig zag we had been doing, counteracting tide, wind and current. Back to the beach, the rudder uphaul worked as advertised. Tandem FCF complete.

We got back to the beach and I took out the canoe for a single seat FCF, I paddled from the aft thwart, did some 360s, paddled backwards and played with the uphaul. Here's a photo of me outbound, will I make it back?

I found that I could slide the clove hitch on the end of the rudder uphaul line back and forth on the steering line to allow the rudder to drop and then raise it again, and there was enough tension to hold the rudder up.

Rudder uphaul video, don't blink, you might miss it: https://youtu.be/hhcpQvfvejY



Canoe maneuvering video: https://youtu.be/_a7gh3Wcbh8



Made it back to the beach again!

Another video to show the design elegance of the steering and uphaul: https://youtu.be/8CvouQjtCsI



FCF complete, no discrepancies noted, celebration time. Cafe du Monde from a Stanley thermos and mandarin oranges.

Next up, install the main mast step, rig the gaff, peak halyard, throat halyard, leeboard bracket, port and starboard leeboards, mizzen mast step, mizzen, bumkin, mizzen sheet, rudder, rudder steering line, rudder uphaul line, grab a cup of coffee, push Skipper and SCOUT out to sea, take pictures.

Log of SCOUT.

Important Apple Watch Note: The Apple watch has an annoying feature that tracks Activity - Move, Exercise and Stand rings. We always close our Move and Stand rings, but to close the Exercise ring the watch has to sense 30 minutes of exercise equivalent to a brisk walk. We have gone out brisk walking and even jogging (wogging) and the watch might count 14-20 minutes of our 30 minute WOG aka "brisk walk." A pleasant surprise was we found that if we select Workout - Paddling, it counts pretty much every minute, whether paddling or not. Now we can select Paddling, even when walking, and close that pesky ring :)

Log of SCOUT.

Grumman 17 SCOUT 05 Jul 19 Sea Trial Expanded Notes

11 Jul 19:

Sea Trial Notes (for Doug, substitute yard for gaff): A few more musings on the SCOUT's canoe yawl Sea Trials. We have to be careful launching because the sail rig makes SCOUT a little top heavy, so we leave the stern up on the beach until it is time to go. If we raise the gaff on the beach, we have to keep an eye on it, because if the boom swings off to the side the hull wants to roll with it. I boarded the canoe and sat on the bar thwart just aft of the leeboard thwart. On a side note the leeboard thwart makes a real nice seat amidships, and so does the daggerboard for that matter. I lowered the Skipper's swivel leeboard easily and paddled away from the beach with the kayak paddle, aka double paddle.

Once clear of the sand groins and piers, we turned into the light breeze to raise the sails.



To raise the gaff I grabbed both the throat and peak halyard and pulled them together. I had changed both halyards to longer pieces of line, so that the lines reach all the way to the stern seat when the rig is down, so that is 30+ feet of line, 2 of them. I pulled them until the throat halyard was taut, then continued to pull on the peak halyard until the sail peaked to a nice shape, there should be no sags and no tight vertical creases. At that point I looked around for a convenient place to secure the halyards, that day I tied them off to the aft bar thwart, and made a note to cut a small wooden thwart to mount jam cleats there, close to the stern seat. I may also add a ring fairlead on the leeboard thwart, to keep the lines off to one side in case there is someone sitting amidchips. One of the test items for the sail rigging was to see if I could do most of the work from the stern seat, and if I had the cleats back aft I could do that.

I sheeted in the mizzen and found that the boomkin is too short, the painters cloth stretched and also saw from later photos that the mast needs to be taller, that way we can tie off the mizzen a bit higher and change the boomkin angle a bit, raise the forward end about 2 inches so we can take the flutter out of the leech of the sail. Next we did a few paddle tacks, which were a lot easier with the leeboard to provide some lateral resistance and aid in steering.



Then it was time to maneuver back to the dock for glamor shots. I was able to do a few wide tacks, once the breeze gets on the beam there is a lot of freeboard and SCOUT wants to go sideways, I found that gybing my way around was easier, same thing we found on the Dabber with its standing lug rig.



After a few flybys of the Skipper/photog I raised the swivel leeboard, crawled forward and dropped in the daggerboard/leeboard. This would require some good balance if the wind or chop was up a bit, that's a lot of movement fore and aft to the stern seat.

Now about that seat, the balance would be better if I sat forward, on the bar thwart just aft of the mid leeboard thwart. But that is not what the Seminole did...of course he did not have a leeboard or mizzen either...

Anyway, the daggerboard was bigger and I could feel the difference, that would be best for bay crossings in deeper water. For gunkholing and skinny water ops, the swivel leeboard is better. I did a few turns with the daggerboard, then pulled it out and went back to the swivel leeboard. Skipper wanted to see it in action again and we drifted up to the beach with it down, easy to raise, then I put it down again to watch it feather into the retracted position as the bottom came up to meet it.



The swivel leeboard is the best design for beaching, whereas the dagger-leeboard will raise itself up in the trunk, sometimes, it the curved edge is forward, but it is not guaranteed. The other issue with a daggerboard sticking up out of a trunk is the boom can catch on it and cause the shoreline capsize after a beautiful sail, usually when everyone is watching.

Pulling the canoe up onto the beach, the same note applies as launching, SCOUT was more steady with her flat bottom securely on the grass, but she can still roll over if the sail is up and boom swinging around. It is also easy to point into the wind, loose the halyards and drop the rig, so far the gaff and boom have dropped straight into the boat and laid nicely on the thwarts. Downrigging was pretty easy, there is just a lot of line to manage. The boom and gaff fold up almost all the way and the mizzen boomkin folds up also, the rig does not take much storage space. I removed the leeboard thwart as it is big, not needed for paddling, and SCOUT could not be stored on her side with it attached, but the main and mizzen thwarts are tucked out of the way.

Updated the Marine Traffic Control Board.

Next up, ergonomic testing for cupholders and rudder attachment ponderings. Anyone have an idea on how to attach a Sunfish gudgeon to the stern of SCOUT without drilling holes? Ooh, as I type I think I see a potential solution...

Log of SCOUT.

Grumman 17 SCOUT 03 Jul 19 Mizzen Lacing

03 Ju 19

Laced the mizzen luff to the custom mast with 1/8th inch nylon line from New England Ropes, used a marlin hitch. The mizzen is loose footed, boom will be secured to the stern and act as a boomkin, sheet will run from clew, through a block on the boomkin and forward to a fairlead jam cleat on the mizzen thwart.

Mizzen can be rolled up to furl, or if the boomkin is released the whole rig can be wrapped up like a burrito and stowed in the bilge.

Log of SCOUT