Posts under ‘Modifications’

All is not howitzers and roses on the boat design front.  My little cartop cat, Slipper, is proving a tough nut to crack.
When last I talked about Slipper’s deficiencies, I was planning a couple of “improvements.”  Over the last few days, I cut back the length of the rudders by four inches, and put fences [...]

I’d been waiting for over a week to take Slipper on her first sail, but the weather hadn’t cooperated at all.  Yesterday afternoon, the winds dropped unexpectedly, and as soon as Nancy got home from work, I hooked up the trailer and away we went to our neighborhood launch ramp.  Our sons were both away [...]

I’ve been desperate to try out my new little 14 foot cartop catamaran, but not desperate enough to tempt fate.  For a first sail in a new sailboat (and particularly in a new design) winds should be fairly light.   If you take a new boat out into even moderately heavy air, you’re asking for [...]

A young man in Costa Rica recently bought a set of Slider plans.
He tells me that there are few sailboats there, and wondered if Slider would be a good boat for learning to sail.  I told him I thought she would be very good for that purpose, since she has no vices.
Any boat intended for [...]

Dean Pacetti has sent me some more pictures of his build, which is nearing completion.
One excellent change he made in the plans was to add toerails to the fore and aft decks. I thought about doing this, but eventually decided I was too lazy. But I think it increases safety at very little [...]

Okay, this is sort of silly, but I couldn’t resist lashing the new 14 foot cartop cat together and paddling it around the bay for a few minutes, a couple of days ago.

I put her together on Slider’s trailer, even though she’s really a cartop boat. The trailer is a more convenient way to [...]