Build your own little sailboat and sail

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around building small sailboats, specifically those designed using plans from pdracer.com. Participants share personal experiences, preferences for designs, and humorous takes on the practicality of sailing these boats. The conversation includes technical aspects of sailing and construction, as well as light-hearted banter about the lifestyle associated with sailing.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes building a sailboat using plywood and lumber, emphasizing its ability to sail upwind effectively with minimal wind, provided the sailor understands the physics involved.
  • Another participant humorously claims their boat will sail in any direction they face, linking it to a light-hearted comment about lunch.
  • A participant expresses interest in a specific "cabin cruiser" design from the pdracer website.
  • There is a humorous exchange regarding the lack of plumbing on the boat, with suggestions of using a bucket over the side.
  • Some participants express disgust at the idea of needing to sleep on the boat without proper facilities.
  • One participant shares excitement about completing their boat and preparing for its maiden voyage, asking about the use of a tarp for the sail.
  • Another participant discusses their experience with engineering education and how it contrasts with their interests in physics and biology.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share a light-hearted and humorous tone, but there are differing views on the practicality and desirability of certain boat designs and features, such as plumbing. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best approach to building and using these sailboats.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express dissatisfaction with the engineering education they received, suggesting a lack of interdisciplinary focus, which may influence their perspectives on boat building and sailing.

Pythagorean
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pdracer.com

Three sheets of plywood and a couple sticks of lumber. Some titebond II, a tarp, and you have a sail boat.

From personal experience I can tell you that these things sail upwind great, even in very little wind (as long as you sit back on the rocker and know how to sail upwind, where the physics are more like airplane wings than parachute scoops).

The directions on the site are horridly arranged, bilut if anyone interested, I'll guide you through it.

We need more people to build and register pdracers!
 
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And I can tell you from personal experience that it will sail in whatever direction I am facing (provided that there was no shortage of salsa at lunch).
 
That's just disgusting, Zoob.
If you're on the thing long enough to sleep, you're on it long enough to need a ****. Where's the plumbing?
 
over the side, of course!

some have been known to carry a bucket
 
Now I'm even more disgusted.
 
I kind of want to build one of these, but I know that none of my friends would.
 
Danger said:
Now I'm even more disgusted.

You wouldn't have made it as a Viking.
 
zoobyshoe said:
You wouldn't have made it as a Viking.

That's why I had the foresight to be born in 20th-century Canada.
 
  • #10
Danger said:
That's why I had the foresight to be born in 20th-century Canada.
Very circumspect of you.

I think the ugly little 8 foot boat with its sloop rigged pretentions to being a yacht is hilarious.
 
  • #11
she's ready to sail, tomorrow morning she shoves off!

I used shorty's simple 18" plans at pdracer.com
 

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  • #12
Pythagorean said:
she's ready to sail, tomorrow morning she shoves off!

I used shorty's simple 18" plans at pdracer.com

Awesome! Did you use a tarp for the sail, as per specs?
 
  • #13
Pythagorean said:
pdracer.com

Three sheets of plywood and a couple sticks of lumber. Some titebond II, a tarp, and you have a sail boat.

From personal experience I can tell you that these things sail upwind great, even in very little wind (as long as you sit back on the rocker and know how to sail upwind, where the physics are more like airplane wings than parachute scoops).

The directions on the site are horridly arranged, bilut if anyone interested, I'll guide you through it.

We need more people to build and register pdracers!

Pythagorean said:
she's ready to sail, tomorrow morning she shoves off!

I used shorty's simple 18" plans at pdracer.com

Are you sure you're not an engineer? :biggrin: I love seeing a project coming to completion. Good luck on it's initial voyage.
 
  • #14
She holds water and sails upwind (after several tacks)

@zooby: yeah, I ordered a lightweight orange tarp online (couldn't find any locally). Had to be orange! And I use gorilla tape instead of duck tape. mixture of sawdust and glue to coat the plywood edges and cracks. And that's more than you asked for.

@digoff: I wanted to be an engineer at one point. But then I was bored to death by the engineering classes after getting a physics degree. And the engineering teachers weren't really interested in the kinds of questions I asked like my scientist profs were. So I went back to science :). The school here is not very interdisciplinary, I've had to do a lot of work to integrate physics and biology (which should be a know-brainer, right?).

Anyway, the engineering here is pretty humdrum. All of our engineering is industrial masses (mining, oil routing, civil engineering). Not a lot of creativity or curiosity about nature involved.
 

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