Queery re: Crowninsheilds Dark Harbor 12 1/2

[Wild Dingo]

Knowing that Art has or rather is in the last stages of building this fine wee ship I was wondering if anyone else has built one and is now sailing her? whats she like?...

okay and one for Art too ;) ... what was your major hiccup with the plans? any? lots? none? straight forward or major pain in the bum?

Im just curious while waiting for them to finally arrive from our sponsors store... aaahhh the mail service still persists in sending things from here to there via slow camel train through Europe while sending them back via a blind and sonar handicapped whale :rolleyes: ... slow as! yes yes patience is a virtue I keep telling meself that...

anyway any info on them would be great! ooh at this stage Fame is going to be framed and hung on the wall for now alongside Elly... may get around to doing a half model at some time hopefully.

[ 06-06-2003, 12:01 AM: Message edited by: Wild Dingo ]

[Wild Dingo]

aaahhh well dont let it worry yer cause today I cancell all the crappy things Ive muttered about the mail service!! :D

For whilst I went for a wee drive the fella in the mail van lobbed so yer reckon I wasnt over the moon with the box and package that landed??

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid64/p8e11470383153b6976fafe76cc29c91b/fbfdb05f.jpg

You flamin little ripper!! ...check out the style in that apron eh??!! tongue.gif and the plans for the Dark Harbor lobbed along with the book... AND... bless their little hearts so did the package from Canada Id been waiting on!! ...so now the folkboat can be built if so decided just two more to come!! ;) ...Grey Seal is still somewhere between Canada and here and Ive still gotta convince the missus that I really must must must just must have the ones for Mike Wallers Trailer Cat :rolleyes: ...but thats it!! :cool: ...honest!! ;) well okay thats it for now... maybe... possibly... could be... well strewth a fellas gotta leave some options open eh! :cool:

[ahp]

Dingo,

The Museum of Yachting in Newport, Rhode Island, has (or had) a Dark Harbor 17 that they maintain in sailing condition. I have sailed on it once, briefly. I don't remember very much about it, except that it did sail well. You could contact the Museum and then contact the boat keeper for the DH.

[JeffH]

Friend of mine had a 12 back when we were in high school. My fondest memory was sailing this boat, which had some frames sistered twice, some frames no longer reaching quite to deck level, daylight showing through a seam in the port bow just above the waterline, the main boom attached to the mast with bailing wire... right past a modern 30 foot cruiser. This was in East Pen Bay too, where these boats were meant to be sailed. Ahhh, what fun :D

I've heard grumblings about these boats being a smidge weak in the floors department (least of our worries at the time, though the keel was probably about the only piece of the boat that hadn't fallen off yet), so some thought might go towards a little beefier scantlings here and there. Also, this design tends to be a bit wettish in a chop. As drawn, I believe they're meant to have a self-bailing footwell cockpit; the one I've sailed had at some point in its past been modified to have wider, deeper sit-in cockpit(actually, that part had also rotted out, so we rebuilt the cockpit seats with 2X4's and plywood. We were teenagers ;) ), non-self bailing but more sheltered. Six of one, half the other....

Hope you build her... Great fun!

Jeff

[Art Read]

Sorry, Shane... I've been "walkabout" for a while...

Pretty neat seeing the same plans I've been staring at for four years now, all fresh and crisp and down-under!

The book in your hand is the same one I read just as soon as I got my copy of the plans. It was Mr. McIntosh who really gave me the inspiration, (and the courage) to actually start cutting wood. (Never DID get the cool WB shop apron though... Sigh.)

As for "bumps in the road", well... there's been plenty. As you know, the plans appear pretty "minimalist". No "insert slot 'A' into tab 'B'" stuff, if you know what I mean... But the funny thing is, all the stuff I thought the plans were "missing", actually ARE there once you just start in and do it. The lofting is time consuming and not exactly "intuitive", but as you eventually sort it all out, it really helps make sense of how the boat itself needs to go together. There's a few errors in the offsets, but nothing that won't be obvious when you see it laid out and it's easy enough to correct by fairing the lines with a good batten. Bottom line, the answers to all the questions you'll have after first looking at and studying the plans will resolve themselves "almost" all by themselves as you go along. You'll just have to trust me on that...

Have fun with it! You know, with the wonderful lofting description in Bud's book, there's really no reason you couldn't just lay down a bit of plywood somewhere to draw her out full size... Just to "see" how it's done... Doesn't mean you ACTUALLY have to start cutting patterns out or going out and buying bits of bronze "boat jewelry". Right away, anyway... ;)

[ 06-14-2003, 02:30 AM: Message edited by: Art Read ]

[True Love]

Art,

I'm so glad you think the plans are a bit "minimalist." And it's nice to know there are a few errors in the offsets - I thought for a while I was a bit nuts.

I haven't lofted the boat as yet, but just looking at the plans has been overwhelming. I kinda like "insert part A into part B like this, ya dummy (picture follows)."

[imported_Mac]

Dingo,

I have a link to a gray seal. Maybe you know it already maybe not...

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JamesWagner/

Good luck with your decision..