Manie's Microcruiser

Looks very nice! A fixed ladder with a step that is folded down low is good for rescue, planned swims, and climbing aboard when the boat is on the trailer.

 

Ive never had much luck with rope ladders.

A robust fold down on the tansom is the way to go. It might save your life

 

folks I have to admit that a rope ladder is sheeeeeeet
its ok for now but it's on the way out

working on the bulb keel now will post pics be the weekend

got the sail today !!!!!!!!!

 

here are the drawings

 

Congrats . . . ! ! !

Good luck !
Angel

 

Folks about the stability.
When I got closer to the land and I felt confident that I could swim to the side in 8degC water, with my life jacket on, I did some experiments.
It's just something that I had to do for my own peace of mind.

The wind was between 8m/s and 10m/s which is 28 to 36 km/hr. over open water about 5 km long fetch. Boat speed around 4.5 knots GPS
Straight into the wind the boat slammed a lot and hard.
10 deg off the wind it was really good, wet yes, a lot of splashing but easy.
Beam on - rock and roll - which is understandable
Down wind - boring - open up the chocolates

What I find surprising is how amazingly stable this glorified dinghy is in poor weather.
Never did I fell unsafe, never did I feel that I am going "overboard"
But for a new person, that little trip would have put them off boating for the rest of their life.

Thanks Wynand for your support and "mentoring" in this crazy experiment 4 years ago.

 

Looking GOOD!

 

Angel here is a pic of my thinking chair

Anyway my buddy arrived late Friday night so we were hanging on my anchor for about two hours, winds at around 30 km/hr. and we never dragged - which made me happy that my anchor will hold my little box pretty good.

 

Ah, it travels with you, all looking good so the chair must have worked . . .

Good luck !
Angel

 

There isn't much green around that water ....

 

It looks like a reservoir so I guess it's due to the regular rising and falling of the water level which makes it almost impossible for vegetation to survive in that area.

Cheers,
Angel

 

There also seems to be other problems, not for the vegetation directly I guess but for the drinking water from there . . ? ?

Maybe the SA guys can tell if this is correct . . ? ?

Cheers,
Angel

 

South Africa definitely has water problems, the saying "sunny" south africa is a misnomer - it is "arid" semi desert. Our winters are very dry and dusty. I won't go into it here because it will become a heated political discussion, but I can say this - the indigenous people and their democratically elected governments that are stealing the continent dry with their chinese and indian "partners" are facing major problems of infrastructure that was built by "Europeans" is reaching end of lifespan. There is no African politician on this planet that understands the principles of planning and foresight - they just don't get it and never will. Mugabe is a good example BUT he is not alone - they are all like that.

Anyway back to boating - I am off to the dam again tomorrow

the new keel is coming along just fine.
I changed the design so that it fits in between the trailer cross bars.
My original idea was that the keel would rest on the trailer crossbars but that would mean that I would have to take that keel off if I wanted to get it into the garage.
With this new system the keel never comes off and I just have to lower the whole thing that it is just off the floor and then it clears the top off the garage door. Easy to winch up and down I have experimented with it - it works well.

 

Cool, looks quite advanced. Will that lifting keel have ballast? Led pellets or similar?

 

The design was the best option to fit the trailer

BUT it's a lot of fun "bullsh@tt@ng" the experts at the "jot" club
they fall for the "lifting" nonsence and and and - I tell them the truth when they buy me a beer

Anyway the offcuts of re-bar was organised by Colin = http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-building/my-russian-boat-29783-10.html#post621155

Steel has become insanely expensive in Africa.
We mine the ore here - we mine the coal here - we send it all AND almost every piece of scrap to China.
Our "European" steel mills = ISCOR are closed, so that China can send processed steel products back here. ISCOR was an exporter of steel.
You figure that one out?

Anyway thanks to Colin I got it cheap and it will work perfectly well for a boat with a 5 to 6 knot speed. I got 160kg which is plenty. Mostly 8mm dia re-bar.