Hello all,

Regarding the Akaroa Classic Boat Festival. I saw this on the JW Builders site and thought it appropriate to include here as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXCKxv5Q4Vk

Regards,
John

Hi Edwin,
Thanks for writing that. I agree with all your reasons for choosing Eun Mara. We have just spent a very enjoyable weekend at the Akaroa Classic Boat Festival, near Christchurch, a day's drive north of here. There were a Caledonia Yawl and a Tammie Norrie there, as well as several John Welsford designs, among others. At one stage we were all on moorings with our mizzens set, just as you describe, while we were ferried ashore for lunch together, on the other side of the harbour. We lived very comfortably on the boat for five nights. I will send Richard some photos.
Your cruising area sounds interesting, similar to the area described in the famous book "The Riddle of the Sands" by Erskine Childers. I also did a lot of canoeing and kayaking in my younger days. We carry a pair of 6ft (1.8m) canoe paddles in "Islesburgh". She's just a big canoe, after all! We have had her up to 1 knot with them.
I am pleased to report that we have rearranged our "trailing" rig, to carry the mast permanently in the tabernacle (thanks for the hint, Alec), and the mizzen mast and main boom lashed along the side of the cabin-roof out of the way. The main sail on the gaff goes inside as I said before, but we now carry the mizzen sail and spars on the starboard bunk, and still have plenty of room to sleep when we are using the boat as a caravan. As a result, I am pleased to report that our rigging time is now down to two hours, which makes day-sailing a lot more likely to happen.
Regards,
Ian



.

Hello all,
Some time ago I'd planned to turn "de Notedop". But I didn't made it for several reasons like work etc. Well that's the way it is, it 's a sparetime weekend-job. Anyhow I still like this project and admire this design.
after reading the wonderful forum of the EM (a great compliment to Dale for taking the initiative and maintainance, and to all others who are contributing) I realised that also not EM-familiar people who are looking for a boat visiting this forum. Mainly for them I put here points onwhere I decide to choose the EM.
Our sailing area is the coast, the wetlands in the north of the netherlands. shallow, tidal sandy waters with little places to shelter in bad wether. I was raised in canoe in this area, so travel light is a starting point and want to be able easily to change from sailing area.
My wife didn't like a drascombe because she's used to the big ones. And compare to the comfort of a 60 footer a drascombe is like dingy not a vessel.
An EM might fit in a container( 2 meter width) as a travel-box when we want to discover .... africa
The separated bilge boards provides a lot of space inside the cabin and I don't like to make a hole in the keel. Lots of boat has mid-bilge system withou problems, but i'm looking for he strongest construction.
A mizzen sail provides a lot of advantages like safety, but also when anchoring this sail keeps the boat with the nose towards the wind, very pleasand.
the little draught is for me a must.
6 meter-boat is big enough for sailing pleasure, and small enough to build, sanding,painting etc. A bigger model also demands a bigger trailor, storage, place, investment and exploitatation etc.

2 weeks ago I went to a boat show and visited An Eun Mara wich is for sail and sale. Although I havn't been on my own EM felt something about a nice feeling. Wonderful!

Edwin

That's good, Dave. Feel free! I found your Swiftsure on
http://www.spauldingcenter.org/boatfinder/...d-cutter-swiftsure/ . You made a nice job of it.
Cheers,
Ian

Thanks for all the info. Although my project is still down the road a bit your help is greatly appreciated. I'm sure you will be hearing more from me in the future.

Dave

Thanks for that, Dale. I thought you had the sloop drawing but I couldn't find it today. I caught up with your blogs, though. Glad you had some good sailing this year. I will try using my mizzen more when tacking. Sometimes I grab the boom and drag it over as an "air-rudder". The sailing ships used their spanker like that too.
We have occasionally mentioned the 110% Eun Mara in Western Australia, which is 22ft long. The new book mentions a "Super Seal" at 24' 7".
The Welsford Swiftsure design looks like a lot of fun.
Don't get me wrong, anybody. We really like our Eun Mara.
Cheers,
Ian

Hi Dave, and welcome to the group.

Alistego.com is my site and amazingly there are a couple of scans of the sloop rig for the Eun Mara on it. I had to dig some, but I finally found them at:

http://www.alistego.com/Alistego.com/Andrews_Sloop.html

If I recall correctly Iain did the drawings for Andrew in Toronto. I haven't heard from Andrew in years, so I have no way of knowing if anyone has ever built the boat as a sloop. I'd imagine making it into a cutter rig wouldn't take Iain more than an hour or two. You can always ask him.

Iain loves to talk about doing this or that with his boats. I once mentioned to him that a longer Eun Mara would be "interesting". He was very keen and probably disappointed that I didn't want to commission the bigger boat.

Good luck with your build, and don't be shy about asking questions. Many of us here have built or are building an Eun Mara, so you'd be hard pressed to find this expertise anywhere else.

Dale

Hi Dave,
I haven't found a drawing of the EM sloop rig on the internet, but it has no bowsprit and one headsail, which is not a cutter. The mast is further back than in the yawl, and I think a cutter would have the mast even further back, almost amidships. I think you should consult Iain Oughtred if you want a cutter rig for EM. (She was designed as a canoe-yawl.)
To lift my boat off the trailer, I hire a couple of scaffolding poles and put them under the middles of two of the overhead beams in my workshop, then a padded loop of strong rope under the hull, below each beam, with a 2-ton cable hoist at each corner, so that I can lift her a bit at a time at each corner without dragging the rope around the paintwork.
The other EMs on Dale's and Richard's websites are worth looking at too, and the sailing reports on Dale's.
Ian

Thanks for all the information Ian. You're right about Eun Mara relative to Wee Seal. I am going to pursue building Eun Mara but I want to look into a Cutter Rig for her. Eliminating the mizzan mast should help reduce the rigging time. Right now my winter job is to refinish all the bright work on our 26' Wasque and give her a new paint job. That should keep me busy for a few months. I'll probable bug you further once I have my building project started. Feel free to post more pictures as I love looking at your Eun Mara.

PS Do you have a picture of the lift system you use to lift your boat off the trailer?

Dave

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From: "QuickTopic daily digest" <qtopic-31-2A2LGRxMzGR@quicktopic.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 9:14 PM
To: <nordicboats@live.com>
Subject: Eun Mara Builders Discussion

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< replied-to message removed by QT >

Thanks for the comments, Dave. I sometimes wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew, and I didn't always know how I was going to do something until I had done it, but it turned out alright in the end. I am equally impressed with the others on Richard's website, and "Alistego" herself.
Rigging time probably depends on your use of the boat. Most of our trips have involved one or two day's towing, using the boat as a caravan before we rig her. I have not wanted to leave the mast in the tabernacle because of possible wear on the pivot. The spars you see lashed on top are the two masts and the main boom. The main sail is permanently laced to the gaff, in a canvas bag, inside the cabin on the starboard side, with the jaws in the fore-peak and the after end resting on the chart-table bulkhead, with suitable padding. The mizzen sail is also permanently laced to its gaff, and it and the boom and bumkin are in a smaller canvas bag, on the cabin sole, under the double bunk infill. That way we can still sleep in her and use the galley. We will try leaving the mast in the tabernacle for local trips.
I don't know what my hull weighed when we turned it over, but we had some helpers. We rolled it over onto some old tyres, then took the jig apart as far as necessary, put a couple of cradles back on it, and lifted her back onto them. Richard's website and www.alistego.com show the various ways it has been done. You have probably looked at all that already. When I got the trailer I did the same as you to put her on it. Even now that she's finished, I can still sling her up if I want to get the trailer out from under.
Wee Seal Mark II (Water Craft magazine, no. 57) is a nice boat too, and at 18' 6" x 7' 3" is almost the same size as Eun Mara. I still like EM's mizzen though.
Cheers,
Ian

Thanks Ian & Alec for your input. Ian, I must complement you on your skill and craftsmanship. I visited your site and the photos of your Eun Mara are truly beautiful. I downloaded the majority of them for future reference. At present I am still debating between Wee Seal and Eun Mara. I hope I am not biting off more than I can chew. Do you know about how much Eun Mara weighs when it's time to turn her over? When I built the Swiftsure I used two chain lifts and nylon straps to lift the boat off the strong back and turn her over. I actually did the who maneuver by myself. After I finished the interior I lifted her once again and pulled the trailer under her. I have pictures of all this on John Welsford's wed site. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jwbuilders2/ You will need to join the group to view the photos. Swiftsure is on the second page.

Dave

Hi Dave,
We keep the mast permanently in its tabernacle and the sails bent on to the yards/boom etc. Without racing around we are ready to sail within an hour. I have never had such a well balanced boat and I have owned and built quite a few.
The recent Narooma wooden Boat festival was a great sucess and we received lots of comments on the Heather Mary.
Actually on reflection,unless you are alone on the launching ramp, much of the launching time is spent answering questions from admiring passers-by.
Build the E M , you'll love her.

Alec.

Hi Dave,
It occurrs to me that if you bought a kit for Eun Mara you would have to build your jig very accurately or the precut planks might not fit. (Well, we do build our jigs accurately, don't we?)
About the rigging time, perhaps I am just a slow mover, but there is a lot of rigging. If I rig her without getting more than two things on the wrong side of something else, I'm doing well! If you kept the mast in its tabernacle all the time, that would save nearly an hour each time. After that it might only take you two hours. You can see where we are starting from in the photo "Ready to rig" on Richard's website
http://www.geoss.com.au/eun_mara/ian_dunedin15.htm .
This is how we have her for towing long-distance.
John Welsford is a good designer too.
Good luck!
Ian

Hi Ian

Thanks for the reply. I did find a vendor who can make a kit in the USA. They are Jordon Boats (www.jordonboats.co.uk) and they subcontract to a boat shop in Main who will make kits for any of Iain Oulglhtred's boats. I am a little concerned about your comment that it takes 2 hours to set up your Eun Mara. I just completed a small cutter (Swiftsure by John Welsford) and it only take me about 45 minutes to step the mast and rig the sales by myself. I was hoping to sail my Eun Mara on local lakes here in Northern California but 4 hours of rigging really eats into ones sailing time. Could you elaborate on why it takes so long to rig your vessel.

Thanks Dave

Hi Dave,
Welcome to the group.
I don't know of any kit-makers for Eun na Mara, but you could ask Duckflat Woodenboats in Australia.
The new book about Iain Oughtred refers to an alternative cutter rig for Eun na Mara, but I think this is a mistake, as is the index reference to page 152, which should be 155, and the reference to "Avery Brice" on page 93, which should be Brice Avery. The alternative rig that came with my plans is for a sloop, i.e., one head-sail, no bowsprit, so it loses much of its character. I haven't heard of a sloop version being built. A cutter rig would be more interesting. It takes us about four hours to rig and unrig ours (the red one called "Islesburgh"), including the mizzen . She's definitely a cruiser, not a day-sailer. However, once she's set up, I really like her, including the mizzen.

Hi Everybody,
We got back last week from a tour of our friends and relations in the North Island.
This weekend just gone we have taken our boat in a local race from Port Chalmers, which is about halfway up the Otago Harbour here, to Warrington, which is along the coast to the north of Dunedin, a total distance of about 23 nautical miles. We had to go there and rig the boat on Friday, and stay the night in her, to sail on Saturday. We had a fair southerly wind out of the harbour and a good reach along to Warrington, and back to the harbour entrance, which is fairly narrow, but then a strong southerly front came through and we failed to tack against it, so we rolled around quite safely outside the entrance while we took the sails down, then we radioed race control and motored back to Port Chalmers, the last boat back. Our GPS recorded our moving average speed as 3.9 knots. We stayed another night, hosed the boat and trailer and unrigged her, and came home on Sunday. It was good, but it's quite a big effort just to go sailing for one day. Regards to all,
Ian