Yak Shaving and Canoe Yawls

04 Apr 20:

Wandering around the Carriage House, worked on the mizzen for our Grumman 17 Scout and took care of a few other items, not all planned or in an expected sequence. When we get distracted by multiple small or large jobs while on the way to do what we first set out to do, for instance today it was to work on the mizzen spars for SCOUT, we call that "yak shaving." As an example, when I pulled out the spars today, I noticed the cork board behind the work bench. That got me to thinking about the catboat that we are designing, and I thought, hey, I can move this cork board real quick to a more accessible area before I start on the spars. So the work bench got rolled out away from the wall, and I saw that the border had fallen off the cork board. Should I fix that or just put the board in the new spot by screwing the frame to the studs? Tried screwing the frame, that didn't work. Take the board back down. Skipper said fix it. I tried putting screws in the corners to hold the frame, which required me to pull out 2 drills, different bits and a hardware box. That didn't work because the particle board frame just crumbled where the screws went in. So I went to find some gaff tape to just tape the corners, that worked.

Next I had to move a couple of tool trolleys to get to the new spot of the cork board and Skipper said, "Hey did you cut yourself?" She said it looked like there was blood on my elbow, I looked around and noticed drips of red on the floor, on my shorts, but it wasn't blood, it was paint. Followed the drips and saw where a bag of red paint had been punctured by a nail when I moved it to a new spot, out of the way of the cork board. So I got the paint wipes, Skipper cleaned up my elbow,and I got rid of the bag and cleaned a little where it dripped, but it added some patina. I have a new set of Shop Shorts now. Finally got the cork board moved to the new spot and hey, an hour and a half later, we're finally working on the mizzen spars.



The issue with the mizzen spars was that the boomkin was too short. The mast was also right close to being too short. So we bought a longer closet rod to become the new mast, and planned to move the old mast to be the new boomkin. The spars are held together by a Sunfish spar interlocking bolt. The old bolt was stripped so I pulled out the Alcort parts box to find a new piece. Here's the bolt, with the boomkin installed upside down. I noticed that later...

Some of the flotsam and jetsam that accumulated during yak shaving.

Hey did we mention that the cork board got moved?

Mizzen bent onto the new mast.

You know I just remembered, I originally went out to the carriage house to shoot a short video about our line whipping kit!

Back to the canoe, I wandered back to the house to find the Grumman Sail Rig Instructions. They're for a Gunter Rig but there are other tidbits in there that are helpful, like where to place the leeboard spreader.

That'll get us started, might need adjusting because we have a mizzen added to the fray. Still looking for the metal rudder adapter, if anyone has one to send our way please post a comment below.

Adjusted the angles of the boomkin, it ties to the stern to keep it fixed, and Skipper will adjust the sheet like she does on the Lugger. Poor Skipper, all she wanted was a gaff sail for running downwind, and she would steer with the paddle. But we knew The Usual Visitors might get a laugh out of all of the extra bits we are adding. Not sure if SCOUT finds it amusing though.

Starting to get a little busy. Rudder control line, mizzen sheet....supposed to be another 8 foot long rudder lifting line back there somewhere as well...

Rudder goes about here.

TLAR

With those yaks shaved, we turned our attention back to the catboat. Laid down a baseline for lofting, marked out 1 foot increments out to 16 feet, actually I first marked out 11 foot 2 inch increments and then realized I goofed that up...too much math...called it a day.

Log of SCOUT.
Log of MARGARET ROSE.

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