Danny green chameleon nesting dinghy

[Copacabana]

Beautiful job Jammer!

[Atcowboy]

Jammer,
My experience is that the highest wear on the dinghy is the deepest portion of the hull, directly behind the dagger board slot. How far back and how wide will probably depend on your skeg placement, height, etc. That and the bottom of the skegs. The bow gets surprisingly little. If you have any more Kevlar, you may want to bring that further back.

The fore two corners of the boat get the most bangs on the dock. EPDM would go well there. Or just some thick tight grain hardwood. I think I'll put maple there when I replace the pine.

Kayak keel strips (ex. Keeleasy) can protect the front edges of the transom from bumps into the dock and match your paint. I put a bunch of strips all over the boat in various wear spots and the two upright edges of the front transom are the only ones I'll ever replace/maintain. All the other ones didn't really help. I used 1" wide strips here.

A short post in the mast step is great to move the dinghy around next to the boat or from a fixed dock without having to reach down with your toes. It can even provided a place to push off with your hand if you're trying to get up onto a high fixed dock.

- AT

[akopac]

Nice work Jammer. Your going to love sailing her. If you haven’t put together plans for hoisting her I’m working on a posting for hoisting and stowing along side at anchor.

[akopac]

This posting isn’t affiliated with anybodies project, but is a informational posting on how I setup my hoisting bridal and use it for stowing my Chameleon at anchor. Pictures tell a 1000 words so I included a few. The 3 things I was hoping to accomplish with this setup were:
* easy handling for single handlers
* Minimize loads on the dinghy and mothership
* Simple rigging
I chose to incorporate 3 lifting points so I wouldn’t have to deal with uneven lifting line length. The lifting rings were really cool and worked well for multiple uses. The forward lifting ring dynema strop loops down through the seat in front of the daggerboard through the storage compartment bulkhead and backing-plate, through a stainless fender washer, around a bolt and back through up to the ring and back a couple times. The rear lifting rings are tied to the sail traveler line that goes across between the transom corner gusset cup holders. I intentionally put the corner gussets on the transom under the gunnels to distribute the load better. The forward lifting point distributes the loads such that far less stress is on the hull joining bulkheads and hardware. It actually makes the 2 hull halves push together at the joining bulkheads.
To disembark in the dingy:
1. Release dinghy stern line from main boat
2. Lower spinnaker halyard/dinghy
3. Get in dinghy and transfer spinnaker halyard to main ship
4. Disconnect painter from main boat an push off.

To return to main boat:
1. Pull along side main boat
2 Tie off painter to main boat and drift back
3. Transfer spinnaker halyard to dinghy lifting harness
4. Get on main boat and hoist dinghy
5. Push dinghy with harness out so fender drops between
6. Tie off stern line, and do final line safety check and adjustment
One other plus on the forward lifting ring is that when sailing I will run the painter back and push a loop of it through the lifting eye and over the top around the daggerboard. It provides a friction adjustment so the board can be lifted for downwind runs.
Yeah I’m putting gunnel guard on next ;-)
Everybody has there way of doing things and I would like to see if anybody has any improvements as well.
Cheers

[Atcowboy]

Here are a couple of pictures of my chameleon Lil' Pup after almost a year of daily use. So minimum 3x a day to shore be it a dock or a beach. About 3 weeks ago I tended to the bright work and repainted the bottom. Should show the high wear area on the bottom and how functional the sacrificial pine gunnels are. I took a close up of the keeleasy on the front transom also.

- AT

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Atcowboy

Jammer,
My experience is that the highest wear on the dinghy is the deepest portion of the hull, directly behind the dagger board slot. How far back and how wide will probably depend on your skeg placement, height, etc. That and the bottom of the skegs. The bow gets surprisingly little. If you have any more Kevlar, you may want to bring that further back.

I have taken your advice.

[Jammer]

Almost done. Primer and faring compound went on this weekend.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by Atcowboy

Here are a couple of pictures of my chameleon Lil' Pup after almost a year of daily use. So minimum 3x a day to shore be it a dock or a beach. About 3 weeks ago I tended to the bright work and repainted the bottom. Should show the high wear area on the bottom and how functional the sacrificial pine gunnels are. I took a close up of the keeleasy on the front transom also.



- AT

That’s a hot dinghy. I want to shorten my oars like yours. You ever sail it?

[Atcowboy]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Almost done. Primer and faring compound went on this weekend.

Looking great jammer! I hope the added Kevlar makes a difference in the longevity of your boat.

Another thing I did was to add some "locks" for the oars on the aft side of the mating bulkhead. This allows for a place to store the oars when not in use where they don't slide around. Since you made your own locks, it may be a good time to add these if you like the idea. Although it looks like you have some lift points on the aft floatation where my blades rest.

- AT

[Atcowboy]

Originally Posted by akopac

That’s a hot dinghy. I want to shorten my oars like yours. You ever sail it?

Those are some, I think, very old oars that I bought at an auction years ago made of oak. They likely were someone's decoration but they work very well. I ended up taking the copper tips off. It was just a little thin and really didn't work well.

I used to sail the boat very often. If you look, I also have blocking to store the dagger and rudder in the boat. Tiller straps under the seat. I also started experimenting with different sail plans (all with my single sail shown in the image). Unfortunately, I moved most of my pictures of the dinghy under sail off my phone but here are a couple.

In the picture with me, you can see a few bunt lines on the full sail rigged as a sprit all which allows me to furl the peak of the sail down to make a triangular loose footed sail (stow the sprit on deck). It works ok, flogging eventually works it out so it needs improvement. There is also a big gap in wind speed between full sprit sail and trysl shape. It needed a first reef, and some improvement on this second reef. It also shows the brail line (blue) for dousing the sail.

Then I added some cringles to roll up the foot of the sail for that first reef. To really be easily deployed, it needed to at least not be laced so I made some dyneema soft shackles and a halyard which worked quite well. The turning block for the snotter needed to be on a strop from the throat/halyard to work, with is own soft shackle to keep it close to the mast. This was the only sticking point in raising and lowering the mast and made it a little funky. I added a reefing strop at the base of the mast, which raised the foot of the sail considerably. This was needed because my snotter has a 2-1 block system and it also made room for the crew on the foredeck. With the halyard, I do not rig a brail because it's easy to douse the main with the halyard.

Later I rigged one of my oars as a top yard and my boat hook as a boom to experiment with a lug sail. This, I liked a lot and think it has a lot of potential. It seems like the best sail for approaching docks and with dogs on board as when the main isn't sheeted it clocks into the wind but doesn't flog since it's fully under control with the boom and yard. The big thing is the boom WILL NOT raise up, it's fully vanged, so you must duck under it (hint dogs don't know this). But with my first reef point, this puts the boom way off the deck so it's very viable to use the sail as a way to get the dogs to a dock or shore. The sail is never flogging (scary /confusing to my dogs). You can even just leave the sail up temporarily at a dock because it's not flogging.

Unfortunately, what pictures I do have of my boat rigged as a balanced lug are not on my phone. And now, I no longer sail the boat as my mast step failed dismasting my boat. I mentioned in another post, and you can see the knees in the middle of the boat are failing. This was interior plywood I thought would be fine sealed with epoxy but, nope! I had used some in the construction of the mast step and it caused rot problems. Oh well, I'm full steam ahead from FL to MA so I wouldn't be pleasure sailing much anyways. It'll be fixed better than ever over the winter.

- AT

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Atcowboy

Another thing I did was to add some "locks" for the oars on the aft side of the mating bulkhead. This allows for a place to store the oars when not in use where they don't slide around. Since you made your own locks, it may be a good time to add these if you like the idea. Although it looks like you have some lift points on the aft floatation where my blades rest.

The loops on the aft flotation are for the mainsheet traveler.


I like what you did with the oar storage. I presently have 7'10" oars, and I believe they are too long to fit in the space where you have yours. I have used anchor points like these -- https://www.walmart.com/ip/Seachoice...d-2-Pack-Black -- on another boat to good effect substituting bungee cord for the loops. Still need to find a spot for them though.

[Atcowboy]

Originally Posted by Jammer

The loops on the aft flotation are for the mainsheet traveler.


I like what you did with the oar storage. I presently have 7'10" oars, and I believe they are too long to fit in the space where you have yours. I have used anchor points like these -- https://www.walmart.com/ip/Seachoice...d-2-Pack-Black -- on another boat to good effect substituting bungee cord for the loops. Still need to find a spot for them though.

Unfortunately, the Walmart link did not work.

How are you rigging your sail? If sprit configuration, I run my sheet to a turning block on the very aft of the tiller with a cleat up near the handle. For a sheeting point from amidships, it helps being all the way back for sail shape. It could honestly be further back. I've also had good luck moving the sheet from aft corner to aft corner. I just loop the sheet from the turning block over the corner and let the combing hold it down. It helps flatten the sail, but adds a lot of friction and of course wears the paint. It's also a pain to have to move it for each tack and doesn't flatten it quite enough to be a ".5" reef. Still would need to be further back, and a forestay wouldn't hurt. The mast eventually starts bending back which, just like an unvanged boom, puts a belly in the sail.

Danny's sail plan is really quite a lot of canvas for the boat. It's fast and fun, but needs to planning to control it well. I personally feel a lot better having a reef available. I think you said you were planning on a balanced lug many pages back, so I'm excited to see that.

- AT

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Atcowboy

Unfortunately, the Walmart link did not work.

Try: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Seachoice...lack/309332682

How are you rigging your sail?

I have a sprit sail made from a Sailrite kit. It is cut with some compensation for mast bend.



For the sheet, the plan is to run a (rope) traveler about 18" forward of the stern transom with a ratchet block sliding on that, no cleat but the ratchet block will help take some of the pull off my arm.


By eye the 18" forward location looks right, but it's easy to move it back to the transom knees if it turns out to be the wrong spot once I'm out sailing.



For the snotter, I have a cheek block on the mast at the proper height, a low-friction ring on deck, and then a cleat on the aft edge of the bow locker deck.

Danny's sail plan is really quite a lot of canvas for the boat. It's fast and fun, but needs to planning to control it well. I personally feel a lot better having a reef available. I think you said you were planning on a balanced lug many pages back, so I'm excited to see that.

That may have been someone else. I've stuck with the sprit to keep the spars short.


In theory it should be possible to shorten sail by removing the sprit and lashing the peak to the mast. Not sure it's a good idea or a practical one. It would concentrate stress on an unreinforced area of the sail.



I wonder whether it might make sense to build another rig for windy days. Maybe a cat rig rather than a sprit, for simplicity, with a triangular sail with the same foot and luff dimensions. It would be easy and inexpensive to do.

[Atcowboy]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Try: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Seachoice...lack/309332682

I have a sprit sail made from a Sailrite kit. It is cut with some compensation for mast bend.

For the sheet, the plan is to run a (rope) traveler about 18" forward of the stern transom with a ratchet block sliding on that, no cleat but the ratchet block will help take some of the pull off my arm.

By eye the 18" forward location looks right, but it's easy to move it back to the transom knees if it turns out to be the wrong spot once I'm out sailing.

For the snotter, I have a cheek block on the mast at the proper height, a low-friction ring on deck, and then a cleat on the aft edge of the bow locker deck.

That may have been someone else. I've stuck with the sprit to keep the spars short.

In theory it should be possible to shorten sail by removing the sprit and lashing the peak to the mast. Not sure it's a good idea or a practical one. It would concentrate stress on an unreinforced area of the sail.

I wonder whether it might make sense to build another rig for windy days. Maybe a cat rig rather than a sprit, for simplicity, with a triangular sail with the same foot and luff dimensions. It would be easy and inexpensive to do.

The link did work. I've been thinking of making a little bungee something to slip the blades under for even more secure storage on the flotation bins.

I have found that the sprit sail dimensions to just be a good general shape. I've rigged the same sail as a sprit sail, and a lug sail. I forget how tall my mast actually is, but a little taller would be nice for both really. I somewhat remember cutting it short by accident?? I think the yard and boom would both be shorter than a sprit, but then you would also have one more spar than the sprit configuration.

I've thought of having a traveling block on a rope traveler on the transom myself. Hopefully the traveler placement doesn't interfere with your tiller. At least when I sail the boat there is a lot going on between the midships bulkhead and the front of the floatation. Moving myself around for each tack/gybe, keeping the excess sheet tidy, etc. It's also nice to be able to flip the tiller up and out of the way when needed. I sailed one time without a cleat for the sheet. Without any mechanical advantage there is a lot of pull from the main sheet.

I found the snotter isn't a set and forget line. Generally each tack wants a different tension and different wind speeds also. To that end, it takes a lot of force to properly tension the snotter and I eventually put a 2:1 system in place. I spliced a frictionless ring into the snotter line. The line goes from the sprit to the mast turning block down to the mast step back up to the ring spliced in the snotter and then back down to the mast step and continues on to a jam cleat. I have even experimented with a 2:1 halyard.

In practice you can shorten sail by simply dropping the sprit and letting the peak flog. This would be a scandalized sail and would be appropriate for a mad rush to shelter if you got caught out. The shape of the sail does not allow it to cleanly fold into a triangle to the mast, it over laps the mast. I had good luck rolling the peak down and holding it in place with bunt lines, but you need more than 2 (all mine has right now). This makes the shape you describe, a triangle with the same foot and luff dimensions. If it flogs for very long or just after time sailing it eventually works itself out and you have flappy bits. There is also a BIG wind gap between full sail and that trysil shape where you'll be over powered by the one and very under powered by the other. I went into more detail in a reply to another member in this thread.

I think technically the chameleon is a sprit rigged cat boat. I don't think the sail shape defines a cat boat, but the location of the mast does. There's a beautiful gaff rigged cat boat at my home marina.

- AT

[Jammer]

Everything's done except for inside paint, gunwale guard, and some caulk for the gudgeons and towing eye.