D5 Seat Arrangement

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KlondikeBay
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Re: D5 Seat Arrangement

Post by KlondikeBay »

TomW1 wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 1:02 am KlondikeBay can you give us an idea of what the uses you want to get out of your small boat. Is rowing the primary or sailing the primary use. Are you willing to trailer as anything over 6-7' is hard to car top unless it is a canoe. There are several boats that meet your requirements. Take your time and select the one that really suits your needs The waters you will be usiing it in and how you you want to use it.

Tom
I've been looking at other boat diagrams and doing more thinking and today I'm back with the D5..., at least until tomorrow.

Tom, I live not far from the water in a little bay here on Puget Sound with small islands and inlets and such. So what I'm looking for is a little boat I can dolly or cartop to the water and sail or row out. There are islands just 1.5 to 3 miles away. Circumnavigating one of the islands would be a 10 mile trip, so I think a sail would be good.

There's nice sandy beaches with fire pits and hiking trails to pull up on, accessible to boats only.

I like the spritsail because it would be easy to drop for some of the inlets with low bridges.

I'm also thinking of ways to modify the D5, to give more space inboard, and to make rowing easier.

I'm thinking about a leeboard instead of the centerboard, with a reversible spacer for either port or starboard, and a reversible thwart attachment. And also a rowing seat that could be pinned to the frames at different positions and replace the rowing thwart.

So far I'm just thinking about it. The last time I sailed was as a youngster in a laser that I flipped a good 2 miles out in cold rough weather. The centerboard disappeared and the mast sunk. Luckily someone saw me sitting on top of the hull and a rescue boat came out before I froze. Now I'm more enthusiastic about relaxation than excitement.

KlondikeBay
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Re: D5 Seat Arrangement

Post by KlondikeBay »

Netpackrat wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 1:04 am Yeah if I had it to do again, I would have built a bigger boat. It's great being able to just load it in the back of my pickup truck (especially since I can load a canoe on the rack at the same time), but sailing it is mostly a solo proposition. Right now is kind of that in-between time where my kids are getting too big to sail with me in the D5, but they are still too young to go out solo in it, although my oldest is maybe almost there.
Your up in Anchorage? I bet you have similar sea conditions. How does the D5 do in typical low level white caps? I asking because here they can appear suddenly, right along with the wind, so one has to be prepared.

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Netpackrat
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Re: D5 Seat Arrangement

Post by Netpackrat »

At this point I have only taken it out on a few of the local lakes. Usually the problem has been not enough wind. Have not had the "opportunity" to experience whitecaps in it.

OneWayTraffic
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Re: D5 Seat Arrangement

Post by OneWayTraffic »

I had mine in a NZ Nor Wester in a shallow lake that stood up a little. You definitely get a lot of bow slap, and I'm guessing it would have been difficult to make headway without my outboard. But drifting with the wind it was fine.

I have a swamp thread somewhere on here. Photos of boarding it swamped in a pond.

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