Bryan Tuffnell wrote:

Graham Cox wrote:

Great boats, the Hartleys....

Yes, it's wonderful to see one here. When I was growing up, if indeed it happened, the Hartleys were the boat of choice for local teenagers to mess about in and I feel a little nostalgic seeing one here. Apparently a reinforced, fixed keel version was sailed across the Tasman Sea! Good luck with project, Steve, keep us all posted.

Hi Bryan, yes, I have heard of that adventure, apparently back in the late '70's. It sailed both ways apparently. It would have been a cramped boat for a trip like that but they're sturdy enough. Not really designed for true blue-water cruising but with some modifications I can imagine that a Hartley could do it. They're pretty beamy and in the right conditions they get up and plane at quite a clip. For long distance cruising it's the big seas that would worry me, the cockpit would need to be modified to be self-draining and a weightier keel would be essential. A junk rig would add another level of safety though, which I don't think the one you refer to had.

I have sailed a Hobie 18 catamaran and I build a little 11 ft dinghy a few years ago but this is my first trailer-sailer.  After my first season last summer with the standard rig, and to learn the boat, I'm looking forward to seeing how she goes this summer under the junk rig.

Treasurer JRA wrote:

Nice job, Steve.

I have taken the liberty of slightly reducing the size of your landscape images to stop your text from spilling out of the box. I have also linked them to the originals so people can click on them to view them full size.

Chris

Hahaha, thanks Chris. I was having a bit of trouble managing the images my side anyway.

Looking good Steve, it will be nice to see photos of her sailing.  I noticed, in the photos of the sail laid out on the lawn, that your battens are sticking out at the leach.  Apart from the upper sheeted batten at the top of the transitional panel, the rest of the battens and the boom should be flush with the leach, or as near to it as possible, or your sheetlets will catch on them when you gybe.  Mine stick out less than 50mm and they still catch at times.  They can stick further out at the luff without drama, as long as you take in the slack of the yard hauling parrel and the luff hauling or throat parrel as you reef or furl.  Happy sailing!  PS: I am in Townsville at the moment.  Sooner or later, I am going to sell Arion, live ashore probably and get a small trailer-sailer myself.  Great boats, the Hartleys, and I watch your progress with interest.

It's been awhile since I have been here. I have been busy with all sorts of things over the winter down here in Adelaide, Australia. Despite enduring the wettest, wildest winter for many years, I have managed to make good progress with restoring my old Hartley TS16 and converting her to Junk.

I still have some finishing touches to complete on the rig and the boat, but I think I will be ready to put her in the water in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping to take her on a coastal cruise in mid November for a few days, so I'm taking advantage of the final appearance of some spring sunshine!

The junk sail is made from polytarp because it was intended to be a prototype. But it has turned out better than I thought my first attempt would. Never mind, I might get a couple of seasons out of it before I need to remake it.

The mast is 80mm x 3mm standard aluminium tube with a 50mm top section. The mast slips into a 100mm tube stepped through the foredeck into a multi-laminated plywood step in the hull.

Here are some photos: