Nautical Insanity: That's not a leak you're sinking

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Nautical Insanity: That's not a leak you're sinking

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

n0tqu1tesane posted:

Triple posting:

Pulled off the tape, and out into the sun.

Immediately regretted not cleaning off the work table better before putting the pirogue down on it.

This is an old post but awesome... What plans did you use to build this? What tools? I've got a friend with a reasonable woodworking setup who might be willing to help me.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2019 21:42

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:40

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

n0tqu1tesane posted:

Plans: http://www.unclejohns.com/boat/default.htm

Make sure to check out the "Photos from Builders", you can get a lot of good ideas, and there are a few with links to other build logs that I found helpful.

I ordered my fiberglass, resin, and associated supplies from http://www.raka.com/

You could get it done with nothing more than a drill and a circular saw, except for the stems, which you kinda need a table saw for. It's possible to get crafty with a circular saw and do a two piece stem, but a table saw is a big help here. I also used a table saw to cut down the plywood, a router to flush cut and round over the bottom to fit the boat, a jigsaw here and there, and a belt sander to do the scarf joint.

If I were going to do it again, I'd go with four ribs instead of three.

Also, it's hard to believe it's been two years since I built that.

Here's a bonus picture that popped up in my Facebook memories today of my mom and dog paddling around in it.

Thanks!

# ¿ Jul 9, 2019 07:28

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Oh god, the barnacles!

# ¿ Jul 12, 2019 14:17

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

I'm reading the forum thread and at least in the first two pages it reads like the Doobie threads: blind enthusiasm and a weird willingness to throw money at an idiot with no experience or plans, plus making GBS threads on anyone who says "Guys he's had to be rescued twice already, maybe giving him just enough money to limp back out to his death isn't the best option?".

# ¿ Jul 12, 2019 17:26

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Doobie's Dog Houseboat

# ¿ Jul 12, 2019 17:57

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

DJ Commie posted:

a 20hp long shaft Johnson, it was a complete monster

don't doxx me, jeez

# ¿ Jul 18, 2019 14:58

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

n0tqu1tesane posted:

Just a reminder, if you're trailering your boat, make sure it's secure enough to the trailer that a panic brake won't allow it to come off the trailer.

Blocked up that tunnel for a while yesterday.

Semper Dry

# ¿ Aug 9, 2019 18:27

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Spotted near Oyster Point in South San Francisco:

# ¿ Dec 9, 2020 00:59

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Jack B Nimble posted:

How does this get fixed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGiQOCX9UbM

# ¿ Mar 24, 2021 17:24

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Rime posted:

Aloha, thread, haven't posted in here in many a year. Went and looked at a Hans Christian 33 and a Nor'Sea 27 this week to set up as my part-time pied-a-tier on the west coast and eventually resume my early twenties dream of taking off for Antarctica.

pied-a-pier, surely.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2021 22:12

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Bape Culture posted:

Does anyone know how in the olden times people got dry and warm? Like in the 1400s or whatever. Imagine you�re sailing by the Arctic, you�re wet as hell and absolutely freezing. How tf do you get warm??? You probably couldn�t have a fire on an old wooden boat rifht?

Sand and bricks could make a hearth for cooking: https://collection.thedockyard.co.uk/objects/8916

To keep warm in general, though, I think you just wore lots of clothes.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2021 23:48

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Hadlock posted:

Bay area goons-

This boat (Cal 20) was designed to ply the waters of San Francisco bay, stoutly built and seaworthy. At least one has raced competitively to Hawaii

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265275683269?hash=item3dc3a9b1c5:g:5w0AAOSwsi5hHqv5

My wife won't let me pick up additional carry cost items (like slip fees), but I'll totally go in 50/50 on this boat, I'll pay for the boat + registration, and teach you to sail, you cover slip fees (~$180/mo)

Boat is in great condition and has fairly new sails. Send me a PM if interested, I guess

This boat sold for $215. I wish I'd been checking the thread more frequently or you'd have had a co-owner on your hands.

I'm now following that seller. If you see any more absurdly good deals like that here in the Bay, PM me.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 20:12

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

I was idling browsing boats today and have to say this one looks pretty drat cool: https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/1980-blue-water-ingrid-38-8020331/

But I don't know how to sail, and I like being married, so I'm just posting it in here.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2022 21:20

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

I decided I'm finally gonna stop putting it off and go take sailing lessons at Cal Sailing Club.

Unfortunately I decided that when my next two weekends are booked with loving weddings, but EVENTUALLY I'll be capsizing myself in the filthy waters of the San Francisco Bay.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2022 17:21

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

This appears to be an offer of a free Folkboat ("Someone gave it to me, so now it is time to pass it on."), so I assume it needs enough money poured in to just buy a nice one instead:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/boa/d/san-francisco-folkboat-us-77/7511193332.html

# ¿ Jul 20, 2022 21:28

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Hadlock posted:

Expect to pay $300/mo for a slip and put about $3500 into it to keep it sailing

Folkboats actually are an active class and do most of their racing in the lee of the city, near south beach marina so if you get out with only putting $5k into the boat over three years it's probably worth your while

Sailing that boat in SF near the slot on a windy day is not for the faint hearted

For tootling around with a case of beer behind yerba buena island the price can't be beat. Also you have a lot of hyper local folkboat owners to lean on for maintenance and parts

Generally I'd say "a free boat is the most expensive boat you'll ever own" but you could probably wring two or three more good years out of it before it goes to Davey Jones' locker

You just listed out most of the reasons I have a Craigslist alert set up for "folkboat".

I think the harbormaster at Oyster Point quoted me something closer to $200/mo for a slip but that may have been for a 25-footer, which is just a little short for a folkboat.

More to the point, I don't actually know how to sail yet (I intend to take my first lesson at CSC this weekend). The craigslist alert is because I think they're awesome boats and I want to get an idea of what they're selling for around here.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2022 22:00

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Hadlock posted:

Fake edit: to get the boat into a new slip you will need to get the boat inspected and insured so make sure you buy the boat on the first and the slip is paid up to the end of the month

Expect to pay $400 for an inspection and uh... $475 a year for insurance? I pay about $750 annually for a 35' boat

Haul out and new bottom paint will run you $750-1200, any yard can quote that. You'll probably need to replace a handful of planks and want to recaulk parts/most of the stuff below the water line. This stuff isn't hyper expensive so long as you don't need to replank the whole thing

So yeah you're looking at about $2500 just to take ownership of the thing and park it somewhere legally in the first 30 days

Cal 20 periodically come up on the market, are bulletproof, will not rot, fastish, can be trailer sailed out of Richmond

Thanks, that's good info if he hasn't found some other ~~sucker~~intelligent prospective boat owner by the time I've got at least a CSC Junior rating under my belt. It's less than I expected, actually.

Now if some other Bay Area goon wanted to pick it up, I promise to come sit on the deck and drink beer while you make repairs.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2022 22:11

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

I learned a few interesting things today:

1. California requires registration for any sailboat over 8' in length
2. The El Toro is a popular dinghy design in the Bay Area which is 7'11" in length
3. El Toros can be acquired for under $500 with some looking
4. I think I could fit an El Toro through the door into the crawlspace next to the garage...

I'm enjoying dinghies at CSC, but the idea of throwing a dinghy in my pickup and launching 10 minutes from home is pretty attractive and getting better every time I spend an hour in traffic coming back across the Bay Bridge.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2022 04:22

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

definitely eager to get on a boat with this guy

# ¿ Aug 31, 2022 17:35

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Found a local El Toro for $200:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/boa/d/san-francisco-el-toro-sailboat-78-ready/7531983735.html

It's a little rough around the edges but sounds more or less seaworthy. If you look at forums posts there's a lot of "a wood El Toro in excellent shape shouldn't be more than $300" but forums greybeards have a tendency to declare that 0.8*(price they paid in 1995) is the absolute maximum anyone should pay in TYOOL 2022... in my opinion, $200 for a functional boat seems pretty reasonable, so I might go take a look this weekend (if I can get my wife to agree to a boat in the garage)

I've been familiarizing myself with the nautical charts, which is a real adventure in the SF Bay. The area right around Oyster Point looks like it could be good for fooling around in a little boat (and it's pretty close to home), but I thought I'd try and figure out what exactly the restriction markings around the harbor meant:

33 CFR 165.1185 just specifies that in all waters of the San Francisco Bay, all vessels carrying liquefied hazardous gas must proceed directly to their reception facility, which seems like an odd thing to reference for a recreational harbor. I clicked through all the other results but didn't find anything more illuminating.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2022 18:11

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Hadlock posted:

I used to keep (and I'm about to start keeping again!) my boat at sierra point (brisbane marina)

There is nothing under the water you need to worry about hitting with your el torro there. There is a gap in the mountains (south side of san bruno) and sometimes (most days) during sunset you'll get some gnarly wind in the 20-35kt so watch out for the wind picking up as you get within 45 min of sunset. Once you get out of the channel (the surrounding water left of the entrance is about 5' and to the right is about 18' and gets deeper as you move into the center of the channel) the current can rip but if you go 20' west the water is normal again. Rule of thumb for small boats is stay out of water deeper than about 15' when the tide is ripping as you're entering the main channel and will get washed downstream faster than you think. El Torro probably tops out at 4 kts and the tide can hit 5kts in places. Near/at slack tide is fine just... keep an eye on conditions as you move more than 500' from shore

Places I would recommend to start sailing: not the open bay (i.e. 500' due east of brisbane marina)

I would check out redwood creek, they do rowing club, competitive ama rowing etc in there, it's not super wide but you can fail in there and it's not a disaster if you capsize since it's only ~200' wide at it's widest point. There's a bunch of micro creeks to sail through/around at mid/low tide which will give you plenty to explore; https://goo.gl/maps/MpbcuyyX8eVTmEXv7 also redwood creek is like, this time of year 80 degrees which I can confirm as I've swam in the water there at one of the marinas after a regatta it's nice. I would practice capsizing procedures there for sure

Also, I haven't been here but looks interesting is the Stanford boat ramp; there's not much here but you can sail up to Cooley Landing Park and if you're feeling especially plucky about a mile north is the dumbarton bridge which has shore access. It's good to plan for emergency haul out locations in case you spring a leak or capsize or whatever and most of south bay is protected wetlands/marsh https://goo.gl/maps/X64DiQbVC8oiFqEP6

Finally, the best spot is probably the waters immediately around coast guard island in alameda, looks like there is a ramp here: https://goo.gl/maps/scNxDFgWpZbFcuCYA

Buy the second cheapest waterproof vhf radio and the second most expensive life vest. For a dinghy do not buy an inflatable vest

Thanks for the info. Redwood creek looks so nice that if I get the boat I might just head there for my first sail... I'd need to stop in San Carlos anyway, to grab a VHF from West Marine!

So what do you do if you're loving around in the sloughs near Redwood Creek and you ground the thing? My assumption is that if you try to jump out and push off, you'll sink into a foot of muck, so do you carry around a pole or something, or just git gud and never run aground?

Are you moving back to the Bay, or are you still just dealing with owning a boat on the wrong side of the country? If you're coming back, well, I'm pretty good at juicing limes and operating blenders...

# ¿ Sep 22, 2022 22:17

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Well, he sold the drat thing this afternoon, so it'll have to be something else. I've got a saved search for "el toro", at least.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2022 05:26

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

n0tqu1tesane posted:

Kinda surprised this hasn't been posted yet.

Which can be found on archive.org and is so far an interesting read!

# ¿ Sep 24, 2022 00:37

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Anyone here done a boat partnership? I would not want to do it with some random person, but a friend brought it up the other day and I actually trust him enough that I'd consider it. He's currently in a landlocked state and wants to be able to fly out to the SF Bay for a week of sailing from time to time, while I (being local) would probably do more weekend day-sailing, so it seems like scheduling wouldn't be a big problem. It feels like I'd be getting more value out of the deal, but on the other hand I'd probably end up doing more of the basic maintenance.

How do people usually do that sort of thing? Handshake agreements, or something more formal? As I said, I trust this guy, but it makes sense to do things properly. At this point, we're basically talking about what sort of boats we think are good, what sort of price range would be ok, etc. He's also nerding out about electric propulsion.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2022 18:23

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Thanks for the info, everyone. Sounds like a somewhat formalized agreement is a good idea if we're going to do this, and it's probably best to keep things simple and get a boat under 30 feet. Still need to figure out what happens if one of us sinks the thing, or if he's really set on installing an expensive electric drive system that I couldn't care less about.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2022 18:24

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

figures, i find a surprisingly nice, clean boat (Ericson 27) for $2k and the sellers can't find the title.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2023 04:34

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

sharkytm posted:

If they actually own it, they can request a replacement title from the state.

Yeah if they were asking for more money, or if the boat was shittier, I'd just walk away, but I'll probably ask them to fill out DMV form 227 and get a replacement title. If some other fool wants to give them money, all the better for my pocketbook.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2023 17:18

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Hadlock posted:

Yeah I know it's slow right now, I just took mine off the market

That's a Cal 34 for $300 and nobody showed up. If you called it a pacific seacraft 34 it would sell in a month or less and based on construction quality you'd assume it was one. Get the rudder inspected, swap in new standing and running rigging and you're ready to go to hawaii. For $300. Wild. If I was single and just got laid off that's the boat I'd buy right there

A beautiful Cal 39 (setup for liveaboard cruising) was for sale for $13,000 he just lowered it to $11,000. Just wild, wild times to be buying a boat right now.

I checked out a bunch of boats listed between $2k and $12k about a week ago and I'm not sure I'd call any of them a steal, although as I mentioned before the $2k one was the best by far (and is offered to us for sale via DMV form REG 227, application for replacement/transfer of title, because they say they've lost the actual title... guy lives in the marina and seems to be known to the harbormaster's office as an OK dude but still...)

My biggest gripe is that any cheap boat is gonna be years overdue for bottom paint, I assume because it takes a year or two of not sailing before you decide "eh, I should just sell the drat thing" and you're sure as hell not going to haul it out at that point.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2023 18:37

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

I can't deny that this tempted me:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/boa/d/napa-1962-west-coast-pearson-triton/7583619090.html

# ¿ Jan 29, 2023 06:00

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

CmdrSmirnoff posted:

I did a four day sailing course on Lake Ontario last summer and the materials, final test, and on-the-lake work all had lots of stuff about anchors and anchor theory. Also, having anchored for a couple hours outside a popular local nude beach and watched countless incidents of sheer buffoonery from the rented yacht/motorboat crew there, I wish that sort of education was forced on everyone taking a boat out.

In California you now need a boater card to operate a motor boat (this includes a sailboat under power).

BoatUS has a free online course so it only costs the $10 through the state for the card... but with BoatUS, they force you to spend 24 seconds on every slide (regardless of how short the context) and there are periodic quizzes so at least you have to retain something. Maybe some of the in-person courses are easier to sleep through.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2023 17:20

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Hadlock posted:

Let me go on the record for saying gently caress Boater Cards. They were designed to prevent tourist deaths on rental power boats, and to get the drat thing signed they explicitly exempted tourists from them. That sailboats are tangled up in this bureaucratic mess is an outrage.

I've never seen a sailboat hassled by law enforcement though, so not worried about getting a "ticket" for not having one. The only way I'll ever get one is if the marinas start requiring them like they do with insurance.

I didn't know about the tourist exemption... fuckin top-shelf work there guys.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2023 18:04

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Some goon should buy this 57 footer so I can come sail with them: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/d/richmond-57-foot-custom-blue-water-ketch/7582882450.html

# ¿ Feb 4, 2023 00:08

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Kenshin posted:

It's almost certainly a hulk that is nearly falling apart

They were actively sailing it up until covid hit, it looks like: http://www.sailingacross.com/

# ¿ Feb 4, 2023 20:08

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

bloody ghost titty posted:

Stay out of Gibraltar, dorks https://twitter.com/reuters/status/1661796922624016384?s=46&t=xNHIXOfh2DxyCf845VtkaQ

twitter never disappoints

edit: reuters does not, of course, "call for their extermination" at any point in the article. "Killer whale" is used twice, "orca" is used 7 times.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ¿ May 26, 2023 00:04

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

CmdrSmirnoff posted:

I was helping a friend get his boat out of the water and took a stroll through the harbour after. Ran into this beautiful little guy, and after some sleuthing it turns out it's Friendship Sloop #242 - the oldest registered sailboat in Canada. A youthful 121 years old. I'm very jealous.

Wooden boats are even more maintenance than a modern boat, and the old designs can be pretty cramped inside, and there's all these reasons why old boats are terrible...

but goddamn they look beautiful.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2023 20:19

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

wooden boats are the most beautiful boats, and also the ones that sit around trying to get sold for months/years at ever-dropping prices and sometimes just get given away.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2024 19:21

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:40

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

well I'm sure the boat won't need any more work than the 5th wheel.

surely.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2024 22:50

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