Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

[dalekidd]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

Good first night out. I'm sure you'll work out the "bugs". I chose the CIY for several reasons, one being the sleeping platform. I've yet to use it and don't have any pics of it since the boat has been finished. But here are a few taken during construction.

Taken from the stern. You can see the lip around the cockpit that the platform will rest on.

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Taken from the bow with the platform raised.

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Here's one with a 2-man tent erected. It's a free-standing tent with the door in the end. It also has a rainfly. One thing that I'll have to allow for is the boom, yard and sail setting on the seats. The tent will have to be set up over those with them set off the one side. There's enough extra material in the tent that I think it will work. I may end up sewing some darts in the tent to tighten it up, especially in the back where the platform is a little narrower than the tent.

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I'm eager to try it out.

BTW: I'm from VA. and lived in MD from '81-98. Wasn't sailing in those days, but have since made one trip to the Bay in 2000. Launched from Deale. Only anchored out one night in Fox Creek off the Rhode River. I had planned the trip for the time of the tall ship parade celebrating the new millenium but the trip got delayed and we missed it.

Here's a pic of a pic that I took the morning in the anchorage. There is a deer in the pic. Kinda hard to pic out but was a memorable moment.

I've enjoyed your thread. The Phoenix/First Mate was on my short list of possible builds.

Good luck with your mods!

[pez_leon]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

Great report and quite inspiring. I imagine it must feel great to be able to get some beautiful country all to yourself for a very short overnight.
You are about the only person I know who makes a 3d printer seem useful!

- James

[The Jeff]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

Dale, that platform looks really nice! I slide my side benches to the middle to make a sleeping platform, but they're just 1x12's so it's pretty narrow. I think having some open space along the sides is helpful though so I can shove unused stuff underneath. I grew up canoeing and sailing a Sunfish around the mouth of the Rappahannock and these days I'm still pretty close by. I found Fox Creek on Google maps and it looks like a pretty snug spot!

James, it really is great living in a rural area with some nice undeveloped spots here and there. I'm pretty sure my wife thinks this boat camping thing is crazy, but watching the wildlife settle down for the night and wake up again the next morning is something not everyone gets to experience. I've found a surprising number of useful things to make with the 3d printer, especially since I can 3d model and design things to meet my exact needs. Part of me gets annoyed that the parts are plastic, but the other part of me realizes I have limited time and it's the easiest way to keep projects moving forward.

One last look at the cove. I'm hoping to try again in a few days when I take the boat back around to pull out. There should be a breeze so we'll see how that works.

[gray duck]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

I bet it's hard to completely bug proof a boat tent. You can get a solo mesh tent (which is really just big enough for you and a sleeping bag) just for bugs and sleep in that under your main tent. Oh and if you haven't heard of it - Avon Skin So Soft is the ticket for Gnats.

[The Jeff]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

Gray duck, thanks, I'll have to give the bug guard a try. I have some bug netting I was thinking of attaching to the ends of the tent and letting it drape down, but maybe some sort of bug bivy sack would be better.

The other evening I took the boat back around to the ramp and tried the boom tent again. I made a quick and dirty sleeping platform plank from a scrap of 3/4" ply and 2x stiffener glued and screwed to the underside. This really increased the comfort as I gained an extra 16". It's not terribly practical to carry and I really should get around to making my side benches two layers that hinge open. I also borrowed a buddy's Thermarest camping pad which was amazingly comfortable compared to my old Coleman. So big improvements on that front.



This time I tucked up in the lee of the island and found another guy had the same idea. Hopefully I didn't annoy him too much with all the banging getting the tent set up.



There was a bit of a breeze during the night which raised some new issues to solve. The bungee cords are doing a good job of holding the tent to the boat, but the seam across the middle of the tarp rubs on the sprit just enough to make an annoying squeak as the boat swings through the wind. I wedged a sock in between which fixed the problem, but I'm not sure if that should be standard protocol or if I should take the time to make something more purpose made. Either way, I eventually got to sleep. If I hadn't woken up with the sun and singing songbirds, I would have from the wake of a deadrise blasting along to check a line of crab pots.



With that it was time to take the tent down and head over to the ramp. I'm hoping to continue my trip down New Jersey's barrier islands this summer and a two day trip will make organizing transportation easier. So hopefully these two tests have been enough to work out the big issues.

[dalekidd]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

I believe the Alaska has folding bench seats. I was always enamored with the concept.

[pez_leon]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

Jeff, I thought you might enjoy this video of a Long Steps under construction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39swvFtTasQ

James

[The Jeff]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

Thanks! I saw the teaser video a few weeks ago on the Welsford boats Facebook group but didn't catch this one. There's a ton of good information on the group, but I find it hard to keep up with what's going on and much prefer forum threads. I'm really excited to build Long Steps, but so far it seems like the honey do list just keeps getting longer.

[dbp1]

Re: Building a Ross Lillistone First Mate

There's a ton of good information on the group, but I find it hard to keep up with what's going on and much prefer forum threads.

At the risk of thread drift, YES! I find the facebook groups fine as entertainment, but really frustrating in that stuff just gets buried. The search works okay, so if you are looking for old stuff, you can sometimes find it, but there is no good way to have long-running threads (as adding new comments won't reliably bump them to the top).

[The Jeff]

I finally got sick of bailing and sponging water out of the boat after washing it down, so I installed a drain plug. I spent a long time debating where to put it though. Back toward the stern doesn't work so well since I didn't want to build up a pad of wood on the outside to give the hull enough meat for a plug, nor did I want a raised lip on the inside from the female part of a screw in drain fitting. So I eventually decided to drill a 3/4" hole right through the keel up towards the bow, fill with thickened epoxy, and redrill for a 5/8" plug.

It's a little unconventional but it has been working great. I move the trailer around with a trailer dolly so it's easy to put the tongue on the ground to let the water drain out. And since the hole is flush, most of the sand and dirt just washes right out. I should have done this from the beginning but I was too worried about drilling a hole in the bottom of my boat.



Lately we've been going out to a sandbar below a nearby island for the day with the trolling motor setup. That too has been working well, although it does look a bit ridiculous when a $50,000 boat anchors next to you. We've been out there 3 or 4 Saturdays and I think my son has more fun wiggling the tiller around than actually playing on the beach. He also loves climbing forward and tangling the anchor and dock lines together and around the belaying pins.

[pez_leon]

... it does look a bit ridiculous when a $50,000 boat anchors next to you.

Well yes - it looks ridiculous for the owner of the $50,000 boat!
A couple of friends who were all teachers used to spend summers cruising the eastern seaboard jam-packed into a 25' $5,000 sailboat. No plumbing, minimal systems, real loveable dirtbags. They said that they never escaped a single marina without someone in a million dollar boat saying "man, you guys really have the life".

Thanks for the update! It's great to see your family getting good use from this beautiful boat.

- James