And finally, how long to take up before sailing?

[Jeff Kelety]

OK, last question for this year's haul-out: how long do you all give a lapstrake boat to take up before putting it under the press of sail? I was VERY liberal with the use of saw dust this year to help with staunching the leaks and it worked quite effectively. Don't want all this to go to waste by sailing too quickly.

Thanks (again),
jgk

[Noah]

I gave mine one week this year befor raising the mast and tensioning the rig.

Last year I only waited a couple of days, and it took longer for the leaks to stop. That said, last year the boat had been out of the water for 10 years...

Sorry for the crappy answer, but I only have two launchings under my belt.

Noah

[Jeff Kelety]

Thanks, Noah. A week sounds about right. Went out the very next day last year and was pumping every day for almost two months. So I'll be a little more cautious this year. We had a VERY hot spring, so the Nais baked pretty good out in the yard. I was dousing her with raw linseed oil mixed with turp. Was told by WOBG (wise old boat guy) that this kept it from drying out as much.

jgk

[Noah]

I did the same this year (raw linseed/turps) and I noticed that it took two days instead of one to become "nearly tight". Last year she swelled up lots in the first 24 hours, but it took a couple of weeks for it to really stop. This year it took 3 days in the slings for her to swell, but very little leaking after that.

Noah

[Jeff Kelety]

<3 days in the slings>

Really? You mean you sit in the lift for three days in the water?

[Noah]

Yeah, my shipyard is pretty good about working with the wooden boats. They don'tlaunch any boats over the weekend, so for an extra $100, I can get her put in on Friday afternoon, and taken out of the slings on Monday morning.

I take out all the interior stuff (There isn't much) and let the boat fill right up to the water line. There she sits for 2.5 days swelling. On Monday morning I put the pumps in her, and a few minutes later she floated away. I figure that it must help the swelling time, and it is the same price as just hanging her overnight.

It makes launching much easier, as I don't have to worry much about pumps going for those first few days.

Good luck with Nais!
Noah

[Jeff Kelety]

<It makes launching much easier, as I don't have to worry much about pumps going for those first few days.>

Hmmmm. Sounds useful. Very different from my fire drills. I have the 1600 gallons per hour pump set in the bilge, extension cord all preplugged in on the dock. They loose me from the slings and I have approximately 10 minutes before she sinks. Two minutes to motor and tie up to the dock, 30 seconds to get the pump fired up. By this time she's pert near the sole boards and the pump is barely keeping up. Then I get out the saw dust and my coffee can on a stick and nearly fill the entire marina with the boat-saving dust. In about 10 minutes the gushing slows to an almost imperceptable seeping. And by the end of the day she's pretty filled up. But those first five minutes are heart stopping, I'll tell ya.

jgk