On Oct 3, 7:45 am, Boater wrote:
IanM wrote:
wrote:
On Oct 2, 11:37 pm, wrote:
On Oct 2, 11:15 pm, wrote:
How old is that Mini-Cup? Who's design was it, Atkinson?.. I know I
have seen the plans at one time but don't remember who designed it..
Mine is only 5 yrs old and I do not know the designer but it is from
the mid 70s.
Ahhh, I knew I had seen it, I have plans for a couple of this guys
boats. He has since died and his kids after some prodding decided to
keep selling his plans..
http://www.stevproj.com/FastSailrs.html
The guy had a great hydro years ago, but they stopped selling plans
before I picked them up. It was a three ski enclosed vehicle that ran
on a very small engine...
In fact, this guy was one of the first real designers to go on line.
After talking to him a couple of times on the phone, I got into the
business and developed the "backyard renegade" attitude of selling
plans at reasonable prices while other guys were charging hundreds for
small dingies and sailboats. Some of the bigger plan hawkers were none
too happy
and the Minicup plans are now a freebie so the rest of us who maybe will
never have the time or desire to build a ply dinghy from scratch can see
what o'Hara's been building, sailing & now fixing.
http://www.stevproj.com/MiniCup.pdf
I do wonder however if it might be better *NOT* to try and save the hull
but rebuild with better quality materials, epoxy and marine sealents. By
the time all those screws have been chisled out of the stringers which
are apparantly 3/4" x 5/8" with a screw every 3" they are going to look
like swiss cheese. Depends on the relative value he puts on his time
against a few sheets of ply. It will be no fun at all having to replace
the bottom in a year or two and the 'quick fix' will probably take
longer than building from scratch.
There really isn't that much wood required:
LUMBER:
5 - 4' X 8' panels of 1/4" ACX (or better) exterior grade plywood
1 - 14' clear fir 1" x 6" stock
1 - 8' clear fir 1" x 6" stock
1 - 8' clear fir 1" x 12" stock
1 - 12' clear fir 1" x 3" stock
1 - 5' clear fir 2" x 4" stock
Upgrade a bit - say hardwood faced marine ply for the decks and transom
fininshed bright and eveyone will be admiring this boat for the next 20
years. With a bit of TLC, it should last three generations.
For that sort of boat, I'd rather have a tried, true, properly
manufactured and properly balanced Alcort Sunfish, but I wouldn't mind
building a nice, round, planks on frame catboat as a daysailer.
I built two MiniCups so my kids could race them (never happened). #2
is in very good shape because I tore her apart last year and epoxied
and glassed her. You are right that building new might be better but I
think re-doing this one will be faster, I only need to replace part of
the top decking, the transom and a bulkhead. Every time I fix them I
experiment making them better. This time I will put in a cockpit
drain and make a reefable sewn sail. The original plans called for
duct taped sails. That actually worked well for a little while but
they soon fell apart. I experimented with a lot of things and finally
started making sewn polytarp sails. This one will be more complicated
with the reefing (it is a lateen rig) but there have been a few days I
couldnt sail due to high wind.
Eventually, I'd like to redo the MiniCup plans to incorporate modern
materials and methods. The boat as originally built would last only a
few years and time is too valuable to use cheap materials and have
them fall apart. I've made several major modifications so she works
much better and these need to be in the new plans.
I also built a trailer to carry the two MiniCups and a dolly to
transport them to the water, both work very well.