During our May 2024 NWMA Monthly meeting, Ginnie Jo Blue shared highlights of recent building, Starboard Settee, Shelving, and Mini Bulkheads, she did in her beautiful, now extra functional, F32AX, Undaunted. She has shared her documentation with us. Beginner Fiberglass Tips & Resources.
Category: Building
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Mast Rotation Sensors
We had a fun an interesting presentation at March’s NWMA monthly meeting.
Bill and Fred discuss their different methods for compensating Apparent Wind Angle for Mast Rotation. A true DIY Honeywell angle sensor and a Raspberry Pi installation vs. a mostly off-off-the-shelf installation using B&G, Garmin and ShipModul products.
Honeywell Arc Sensor SPS-A180D-HAMS: https://sps.honeywell.com/us/en/products/advanced-sensing-technologies/aero-and-transportation-sensing/aero-and-transportation-sensors/motion-and-position-sensors/magnetic-position-sensors/arc
Raspberry Pi computer: https://www.raspberrypi.com/
B&G ZG100 Compass: https://www.bandg.com/bg/type/instrument-sensors-and-transducers/compass-sensors/gps-antenna-bg-zg100-module-pack/
Garmin steadycast compass:https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/572462
ShipModul multiplexer: https://shipmodul.com/
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Heater Install and Rudder Repair – Shout out to club members–Martyn, Linda, Shaun, Vince , Jeff, Darren, and Scott
Written by Ginnie Jo Blue, May 23, 2023
Someday I’ll be a wise (older?) sailor ready to pass along nuggets of wisdom to excited new sailors, but for now I’m on the receiving end and very grateful to this club and its members (now friends) who’ve helped me along the way. I recently finished two projects and have a few thanks and photos to share.
Diesel Heater Installation
Darren (owns a Dragonfly 40 up in Anacortes, go sail with him! Great guy) helped me sail Undaunted up to Linda and Martyn’s dock for my install. We froze our butts off. Thanks Darren!
Linda and Martyn offered their dock, tools, and expertise for the install. It took three days and we were whooped but it is a beautiful thing. 5kw Chinese diesel heater under the cockpit with ducting to the main cabin and v berth. The exhaust gooseneck comes up into the cockpit coaming for the added benefit of warming cold hands while underway. Very stoked about this. It gets incredibly hot and heats the 32AX more than adequately. These newer heaters come with a bluetooth app, as well as remote, so I can turn it on before I leave the bag in the morning. Yes, I’m excited about this.
I learned how to use new tools, punched a lot of holes in my boat, learned new boat yoga moves (see photo of L and M under the cockpit–saucy!) and only felt like puking once when Martyn drilled the first hole (I took over from there, I guess I have control issues…).
The only snag was that my double walled exhaust plus thin fiberglass sleeve wasn’t enough insulation to keep the boat from burning (see photo). I had to redrill the holes back at Shilshole and get the fat 4″ insulative sleeving. Now I can comfortably grab the pipe to warm my hands. Winning. Thanks, Jeff O. for making me a jig and lending me your tools for the night.
Rudder Repair
Long story short, my rudder was knocking in the sleeve and caused a bit of damage. Shaun H. came down in his drysuit and bobbed around in the water shaking parts around until we came up with a game plan. First step was to replace the dyneema line on the cassette with the original aluminum bolts. That helped. Second step was to infill the cassette with epoxy to tighten up the play and also do MY FIRST carbon fiber layup to fix a crack. Next and final step will be to replace the bearing sleeves which got damaged from the rudder knocking issue.
Vince took two days to help me (with the use of his shop, tools, expertise, and bossa nova playlist–good vibes for glass work) to teach me the fine art (controlled chaos?) of epoxy and glass work. I have dreams of building a starboard settee next winter… this first project with Vince helped grow my confidence. Scott showed up in the morning to lend advice on materials (thanks Scott) and we set to work. We flipped the cassette upside down, held the rudder in place with shims and added tape (to act as the release mold) and paper to the rudder to simulate the thickness of the front runner fabric to be added later. We infilled with non-sagging epoxy with backer rod to prevent drips, only doing one side at a time and the rudder released beautifully. I took it sailing and it’s a perfect fit.
By my count, that is seven friendly sailors who shared their time and knowledge with me on these two projects, both of which were well above my paygrade. Thank you, thank you!
Dropbox Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jezujsbwnpvy6tk/AAC4BBosyYA-mMQEKH3N-DWYa?dl=0
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Revisit the Past – Building Stories and Photos
When Andrew Rice was young his dad built one of the early trimarans in Puget Sound, launching in 1967. The Trice played a very important part in their lives. There’s nothing like spending summers sailing to provide memories of continuous adventure. Later after finishing school and getting married, his parents were gracious enough to let him borrow the Trice each summer to take his family out. They would take the ferry out and meet his parents in the San Juan Islands. After sailing together for awhile his parents would take the ferry back and he would continue on. The Trice is still in use today, moored in front of their house in Shelter Bay. None of their lives would have been the same without it. Click here to read more about the construction. 
Another cool building story for one of the few F-33s… Canadian Sigi Stiemer had SN Composites built the hulls in Montreal, Eric Precourt finished the inside and outside in Trois-Riviere, while he and Bernd built the rigging in Vancouver. F-22
David Miller’s nephew Andy is completing an F-22 in Oakland. He just did it as opposed to talking about it. He and the boat will be coming back to the Northwest soon. WAY TO GO ANDY!!!!
Allen Smith is building a F44-SC in down on the Columbia River and has a blog that he has regularly updated since 2006. He hopes to launch spring 2014. 
Member Rob Tharp has shared pictures of his F32 build of Pax – Space Spider on Photobucket. He launched in 2007. Joe Smith
Here’s a link to Joel Smith’s photo gallery of his project of finishing a Marples CC35 trimaran that was originally partially finished by former member David Vinson : Joe Smith’s photo gallery
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Composite’s Workshop
Our Meeting on Feb 7th was held in Vince’s shop/garage where he described supplies and techniques of laminating composites. Here’s a link to Vince’s Epoxy Tips.pdf.
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Boat Project Tour
A few friends from NWMA gathered with hopes to go sailing. This particular winter day in Seattle, January 21st, 2023, was not only wet but the temperature started with a three and the wind forecast with a two. Apparently, wintertime is also a fine time to work on your boat. We decided to spend our time together touring boat projects around town and took selfies! Thought we would share.
Inside Freda Mae, under a tarp, at CSR in Ballard. Vince’s boat projects include a new blister entry-way cover, a new hatch (pictured), freshly re-bedded hardware (pictured), a port settee, and a beautiful new asymmetric daggerboard. Can’t wait to hear how the installation goes. 
Inside Tatiana, on the hard, at Shilshole. Bill’s boat projects include the rebuild of his daggerboard case while awaiting his new mast! We hope it arrives soon. 
On and inside Ruf Duck, on boat stands in the backyard. Jeff’s boat projects include installation of an AIS transponder and GPS plotter, new net rail supports, and hull repair from a grounding at an undisclosed time and location. You did great work Jeff! 
On Undaunted, in her slip at Shilshole, the following day, after a beautiful sunny day of sailing. Ginnie even ran Undaunted’s Spinnaker. One last selfie! -
Ruf Duck’s Human Propelled Ducted Pedal Drive
Jeff Oaklief, captain of Ruf Duck and club member, and childhood friend Mike Hummels share their experiences as the PL (propulsion lab) as they work though iterations of a ducted pedal drive, starting with a drive unit shared by other racers, a version used in the 2021 WA360 utilizing a Kort Nozzle for power efficiency, and most recently, a more robust version for 2022 R2AK.
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F-33 Hi 5
Another cool building story for one of the few F-33s… Canadian Sigi Stiemer had SN Composites built the hulls in Montreal, Eric Precourt finished the inside and outside in Trois-Riviere, while he and Bernd built the rigging in Vancouver.