ELROW LA ROWE'S MICRO NEWSLETTER
NEWSLETTER #9: June, 1985
A sneaky one, this: Here and there one likes to ride up front on MICRO, which
depressed the
bow of Steven's boat, allowing more and more water to come in, adding weight, and little
of
it draining with the weight up there! Of course the naturally un-thought-of answer is to
install the prescribed floatation with the plywood flat battened down over it so there is
little room for excess water) Several correspondents have dropped off in Miami to sail
Steven's boat, while on vacation. Be sure to let me know when you are afloat so I can pass
on your number.
The new 5-boat flyer is done, and ads in Cruising World, SBJ, WoodenBoat, Sea, Messing in
Boats; will be nice when I can do more advertising.
I borrowed Bolay's BRICK and OLDSHOE last month for the Traditional Boat meet at Cedar
Keg,
their first, with about 8 boats and maybe 17-20 sailers. We had sailed both in light air
be-
fore, and I did there on Friday and it was lovely. But, Saturday was a duster--4-5' break-
ing seas and hard breeze. Both boats took it on full sail, 670 lbs. aboard each--yes, even
BRICK--3 men and my 100 lb. German Shepherd. Know another 8' pram you want to use with
that
load in hard going, or any going for that matter? In BRICK'S unencumbered cockpit we had
sprawl space, except the dog preferred more--like shore leave, as it was bouncy and
somewhat
wet. In short,, it was a MICRO day! Was sorry I didn't have my boat, done and there; next
time
we will have several MICROS there.
Optometrist Kensett, Chanute, KS. suggests have a logo for MICRO, to be installed high on
the
main sail, and suggests other builders might be interested in this, and interested in
suggest-
ing or drawing what they think the logo should be? Kensett's suggestion is an M in sail
plan
shape, with a boomkin on the bottom of the lower part of the M. He suggests 12" in
height,
but I think it might have to be larger than that to be readily seen? I don't know much
about
this, but can research It--cloth to be sewn on, or painted on--costs per builder (suppose
one
would be needed each side of sail), etc. Could print sketches submitted in a Newsletter,
and
collect votes, or whatever. One or two others have already suggested a logo; let's play
this
me! Could be Sun. Send in your ideas; maybe more than one--? The insignia would go above
the boat number probably. Kensett's is a bit "artie" too, with a nicely
embellished "M";
maybe we have another artist in the crowd?
On sail tracks, everyone should have a slide "stopper" at the bottom of the
track, so the slides
won't come off once put on. In its simplest form this is a lever pivoting on a screw into
the
mast, with a 90 degree flange (stepper) on top, which pivots up against the bottom of the
track
to hold the slides on--. For those who thread the slides on a lot, a short piece of track
with the slides all mounted on it--a magazine--can be stored in the sail bag with the
sail, and
locked into the track on the mast for quickie sailing. I believe such gadgetry is
commercially
available--. Yes, you can do track and slides for the mizzen, for easy removal and
storage.
OldShoe has external "lips" on the rudder, a pair along the bottom edge, and
another pair high-
er up, but below waterline, which increase rudder effectiveness. They are 3/4" x
3/4" sticker
but could be protruding as much as 1 or 1-1/2" for more surface. Bolger doesn't know
why he left them off Micro, but maybe thought the designed lower bearing was an adequate
substitute. Also,if more power is wanted on the main sheet (double power), put the
standing end of the sheet on a pad eye or cleat on one quarter, lead through a block on
the end of the boom, to a swivel
block on the other quarter, thence forward wherever you like. It also doubles necessary
length
of' the sheet.
Rogers of Kalispell, MT is probably sailing on Flathead Lake by now. His other way of
doing
the keel lead by himself was to weld a 3/16" thick iron lip 1-1/2' high on a
1/4" thick iron plate to keel dimensions, taking care not to warp the plate while
welding, set it on concrete blocks with a 3-bag charcoal fire in under in a 4"
shallow hole, and heated his scrap from the top with a propane torch. In 30-40 minutes the
lead begins to melt--has to be skimmed some--and urge fan was used to blow away fumes as
he worked. Of course the plate must be leveled.
Thanks to prototype builder Bolas, I've had great fun with two of our boats, BRICK and
OLDSHOE!
as he lives near by. Hopefully we will make good progress yet this year on other
prototypes.
Adler has recently had some good weekends, with breezes up to 30 knots. MICRO stands tall.