The first sea trials are over!

I finished up the dinghy, well not totally finished but good enough to take the boat for a test sail.

The day was rainy with not much wind. The boat was solid as a rock but a little tippy getting in and out, but once your in it your fine. The wind was poor so I really didn't get to sail.

I didn't rig the sail until we were on site, so first I had to cut lines for everything and setup all the rigging for the first time. I think I did pretty good but I didn't have the holes drilled into the mast, sprit, and boom like I needed to but I made things work with a little duct tape! Although it wasn't perfect it looked nice.

The boom was to low, the sail wasn't tight, the tiller was to long, the oars weren't finished, and the daggerboard trunk had a leak. No real major problems other than the leak but that can be fixed. I am just a little concerned if the leak allowed the plywood to get wet. I am thinking that it probably didn't because everything was coated with epoxy pretty well. Just my putty work around the daggerboard trunk wasn't exactly good looking.

It was really a great experience though, to be floating in a boat that I built myself, it was very rewarding. I even had a freind video tape some of it, check it out!



Also, I haven't mentioned it but, I have been recording the entire construction process and posting it on the internet. Here is the first video, follow THIS LINK to check out the rest of them!