Oufittng Seahorse

[Chattcatdaddy]

Porta-bote arrives tomorrow the 18th. I will be departing this coming sunday for MD for a monday boat launch. Then its get the boat in some sort of order and some shake down sails. After that its time to start a sail down the Chesapeake Bay. Plan is to hopefully be at the mouth of the Chesapeake around the first week of May give or take a few days or weeks. ;D

Will update with a new trip thread once I actually get started.

[s/v Faith]

I will be interested in your review of the porta boat.  Most folks seem to love or hate them... very few in between.  Will also like to see it stowed aboard SeaHorse.

[Chattcatdaddy]

Well one thing about portabote...its heavy. Listed as weighing around 60 lbs without seat...well it sure seems to be heavier to me. Could really be a challenge to get this thing out the water for a passage. I figure I will be towing it a great deal of the time so therfore weight will not be much of an issue.

[ntica]

"Will update with a new trip thread once I actually get started"
looking forward to it!

[matt195583]

Did you end up getting another primary stove ?
I have seen a few portable stoves by Coleman that run on pressurized petrol I have often wondered if they would be any good ... I figure you would be carrying some petrol for the OB so it would cut down on one type of fuel carried and is not stored pressurized like propane .

[Chattcatdaddy]

Made it to the boat in Chester, MD. Very busy unpacking and sorting thru all my supplies and trying to create some sense of order. Still alot to do, hopefully out for a test sail by the weekend or sooner.

Just for fun mother nature decided to drop the temp to 41F overnight and breezy as well. Temp in 60`s today and the wind has eased with occassional gust.

So many things to do I get sidetracked easily...must focus

[Chattcatdaddy]

Question: How to raise deck to the height of tow rail to mount anchor roller?

Looking for the simplest solution. No experience laying up fiberglass, but I`m heck with 3m 4200/5200.

Maybe an inch thick hardwood mounted to the deck as a base? Would not have that fine fit and finished look but would it be suitable reasonable solution?

[CharlieJ]

I used a 1 inch thick piece of Mahogany, with another doubled on top. Those pics aren't on this computer, but later this evening I'll put up a pic of the bow, with the anchor platform and roller

[CharlieJ]

here's a couple of pics

From the side and aft

[CharlieJ]

and two more-straight down on it, and from the front

[Chattcatdaddy]

Thats some nice work. Well beyond my skill set.

I`m hovering between using some high density filler such as West System 404? by building a dam and filling the area for the base. Doesn`t sound too hard, but I can visualize a huge mess if it went wrong.

I have been getting advice over on another forum about using polethylene cutting boards. Isn`t starboard polyethylene?

[CharlieJ]

Really can't answer on the Starboard- never used it.

I had  to cut the deck edge, move the pulpit aft a good bit and move the chocks aft in that set up, but it's worked quite well

Basically it's a chunk of mahogany caulked and bolted to the deck, with the anchor roller platform bolted atop that. Not really a major job, if you take your time.

[matt195583]

mate dont use the polywhosawhatsit cutting board stuff it yellows from UV and looks terrible

[Tim]

I used Starboard for a spacer on a motormount application, you could probably do the same under the roller, assuming it was trimmed to the outline of the roller.

I agree that Starboard would probably not weather well, so making something like what Charlie did wouldn't be advised.

The stuff does not glue well so lamination would have to be done mechanically to get adequate height.

[Chattcatdaddy]

Here is what I think I`m gonna end up trying:

Marine ply 1/2 2 pieces stacked and epoxied to the correct height and shaped to make as clean of a look as Im capable.. Then cover with fiberglass and paint white. doesn`t sound all that hard to do even though ive never done it.

Any recommendations on what type of fiberglass/resin combo would do the trick?

I`m also got a week or 2 to get this done. Mainsail is at the sail loft getting reefs added and will not be back until sometime next week. Reef points x2 for $300 didnt seem to bad and was by far the lowest quote by a hun. North sails is doing the work.

Also pickded up some pulleys, snap hooks, etc for a try at sheet to tiller set-up.

Hope to be cruising in two weeks.

[CharlieJ]

Sounds reasonable.

10 oz Cloth, and epoxy resin. Any of the majors are fine- RAKA, MAS, Sys 3 are all 2-1 mixes. WEST is a 5-1 mix and quite expensive, though readily available (West Marine has it)

Personally, I use a 2-1 from B and B  Yacht Designs.

And I'd bolt it to the deck. Look at the pics I posted and you can see the bolts. BIG backing plates under deck. Good bit of load on the anchor platform.

[Chattcatdaddy]

Most definitely bolted to the deck with some nice sized washers and of course backing plate of most likely the same 1/2 ply.

[ntica]

nice to see! The "funny" part is... I've done the exact same thing, ( teak instead of mahogny) under my anchor roller ;D