Potter Spotter

I caught sight of a West Wight Potter 15 in downtown Olympia recently.  I snapped a few pictures of the boat.  I don't know who the owner is, but maybe we will meet sometime.  The boat is very close to mine in age.  It is always a nice sight to see a couple of Potters out on the bay together.

The weather looks like we might have a break in the rain this weekend.  I am hoping I get the chance to take our little yellow Potter out for some sailing.

Finished Calf Stretchers

Here is a look at the finished calf stretchers.  These are the ones mentioned in an earlier post.  They are made from Lacewood and Curly Lyptus.  It is a hand rubbed finish of wipe-on polyurethane finish.  These are now for sale for $70 each.  I have prospective buyer for each one, and I am always making more.  I believe I have now made 17 of these.  I especially like this combination of woods and think these are the best I have made so far.

Engine #2 is Up and Running!

I accepted the challenge some time back that I would design and build a Stirling Engine that would run from the heat of your hand, and could be built without a machine shop.  The first engine I made did all that, but it didn't have any spinning parts.  The man offering to publish the book wanted an engine with a rotating flywheel, as this is more appealing to our potential audience for a book.  

I sketched out two more designs that were modifications of my first working model.  But then I got side tracked with more back surgery and both new designs (#2 and #3) were partially assembled for over a year.

This week I took two days off work and made a commitment to get them up and running.  At 1:00 PM today my second design (with a rotating flywheel of sorts) started running, and it has been going strong for most of the last 8 hours.  It has not run from the heat of the hand yet, but it has run on sunshine with no ice, and when inside it runs with ice when sitting next to a 60 watt light bulb.  I have a high level of confidence that this engine will run from the heat of the hand after some minor adjustment to the crank shaft and the addition of a little helium.

I believe the last of the three designs will be the most efficient.  It uses the same ultra-low friction design of the first engine with the addition of a rotating flywheel.  It should be also up and running by the end of the weekend.  After that I then have to get back to the text and finish up all the assembly instructions and organize all the pictures and illustrations.  The end of this project is in sight.

I don't know if I still have a publication deal or not.  I would not be surprised to learn that the offer has expired.  If I have to start over finding a publisher I will be looking into self publication with print on demand.

Calf Stretcher Progress

It was a nice rainy day today, so I spent part of my Easter in the garage making sawdust.  The picture shows my progress on two calf stretchers I am making.  I am long overdue on this order, so it is nice to see them start to come together.

The dark wood is Lace Wood.  The light wood is Curly Lyptus.  Curly Lyptus is a hybrid of the eucalyptus tree and is a product grown by Weyerhaeuser.

The joint is a dovetail, but because those tend to be a little loose I will also add some braces on the back side.  The pieces are currently a little over sized and will be cut down to their final dimensions before they are finished.  

The wood will remain unstained and will be finished with a wipe-on poly finish.

Fixing Genoa Sheet Binding Problem

Last Sunday was my first trip out in the boat for the 2009 season.  I was alone on this trip, and I didn't have a lot of time, so I only spent a couple of hours on the water.  The trip quickly reminded me of some of the other little issues that I wanted to fix this winter.  One of them was the way that the Genoa sheet gets cleated.  The standard installation of Genoa tracks and blocks on a Potter 15 uses the same cleat that is used for the smaller head sail.  This causes the jib sheet to have to traverse a sharp Z pattern through the blocks and cleats.  This sharp Z pattern causes a great deal of drag on the lines and it is hard to come about.  Wind alone is often not enough to get the Genoa to change sides.  I repeatedly had to pull rope through the windward side pulley because it was binding in the cleat.

I addressed the problem by mounting a second set of cleats aft of the Genoa tracks.  I looked at lots of options in the marine store and finally settled on a simple clam cleat.  It fits well in the confined space, was pretty cheap, and has a proven track record of working well.

The pictures posted here show the patterns the lines followed both before and after my modification.  This should make the lines release freely and simplify tacking when using the Genoa.

The Next Batch of Calf Stretchers

This first picture is a calf stretcher from a previous batch.  I have orders for at least two more, and I finally got around to getting them started.

I found a nice piece of Lacewood that was almost wide enough to make them in one piece.  To make up the difference, I am gluing them up with some light colored Curly Lyptus.  The Lacewood is incredibly heavy and very porous.  The Lyptus is slightly thicker and will need to be sanded down after the gluing is done.

The second image shows the Lacewood and Lyptus in the clamps.  The smaller piece will be the front.  The larger piece will become the deck.

Halyard Shackles

I have wanted to add shackles to my halyards for a long time.  I am hoping this will speed up and simplify the process of rigging and launching the boat.  Now that I finally have purchased some hardware, I am not sure I really want to go this route.  It doesn't really take all that long to tie a bowline after all!  Here is a brief recap of my hardware shopping.

I looked at many of the shackle options at West Marine, both in the store and in their catalog.  I am still in shock at what good stainless steel hardware costs!  The cheapest "economy" shackle at West marine is about $16 for bronze, and a bit more for stainless.  The really nice ones are at least $35 each.  That just seems a bit much for two clips on the end of a rope for my little boat.  So I went shopping on eBay to see what I could find.

I found a seller on eBay (marine_hardware) that listed small shackles at 2 for $13, with a "Make Offer" option.  I offered $10 for 2, and won the bid.  Two weeks later I now have the shackles in hand.  I have not tried them on the boat yet, but as I manipulate them in the living room it is obvious that they don't match the quality of the West Marine hardware.  Not even close.  I had to sand off a burr that I repeatedly stabbed my finger with, and the bail hinge is pretty loose.  The bail does not always line up with the pin when closing the shackle.  I think they will serve the intended purpose, but they are not as good as the economy shackles and I can see a possible upgrade in my future.

The proper way to put a shackle on a line is with a splice.  I thought that splicing double braided line would be easy.  Well, think again.  It is not hard, just complicated.  I watched some videos and read a few articles, then decided that for now I would tie a knot!  I did add some cheap thimbles to help prevent wear and tear on the lines.  I went for the galvanized thimble rather than the stainless ones.  I will update you later on how it all turns out.  My attempts to save money might not pay off like I had hoped!