Hunstville

So our first trip was to Hunstville State Park. Little lake about 75 miles North of Houston. Today was probably the second windiest day since we arrive (windiest day being Ike...). So we wanted a well protected area for our first in water test. I like that video on this park :http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/videos/state_park/pineywoods/huntsville.phtml.

In every story, there is a starting point. Ours is at the gas station close to our house.

The park offers a nice little slip way, just close to the picnic tables. That's familly boater friendly!


















We started with a little stability test. First of all, my rowlocks are not good. I will need to modify that. They must be pushed backward and raised or pushed outside, now the oars interfer with the outside gunwall.








Any way, after this first experience, We concluded that the boat is very stable and we had no water ingress (it's a boat, the water is supposed to stay outside). Inspite of the wind, I decided to make a trial with the sails.













I reduced the sail area and....














Go!















I crossed the lake 3 to 4 times, trying to survive in a highly gusting wind.




















After taking on board more water than reasonnable, I went back to the shore.























There was definitely too much wind for us today.
I am very pleased with this boat behavior, very stable and capable of sailing up wind really well.

Details for Pop

Shop acceptance test

Ready

Good looking

After 3 coats of paint inside, the result looks good. It seems the paint I bought does not adhere so much on the epoxy. It looks there is no problem outside, but inside, I put 3 layers and it is not perfect yet. We will see how it goes in the next few days, after everything is fully dryed.
I covered the PVC white hatches with a piece of 4 mm plywood, It looks good. My rawlock are a bit ugly, that's all they had at West Marine last week! Note for the mast, I only put a small piece of rope to hold it against the fwd deck plate, instead of the steel plate propose on the drawing. I did so, because I have no steel plate and I tried with some aluminum, but it breaks when I bend it at 90°. My little cheap rope will do it fine. For the dagerboard, I made it simple as well...

The trailor

Though the dinghy is very light, I finally decided to buy a small trailor on internet from Northern Tools for our dinghy. I was disapointed, it is made in Taiwan, I would have preferred a US made one! Anyway, it arrived as a kit and is now ready to go, pending the registration (hopefully tomorrow after 2 unsuccessfull atempts at the county court house this week).