Thank you so much for making my Friday.....lovely boat ,I hope to see you on the water, as you sail in the same areas as myself. Thanks again Cheers Paul (SailingKateLouise)
Lovely to know Hartley's are still being built. You guys have a really strong ts16 class over there. I have an 18, appreciate your comments re trimming the centreboard to reduce weather helm. I have mine stripped out with the cabin removed ready to rebuild the sole in Tawa t&g. I'll have to s trengthen the mast step as I have taken 18" off the foredeck to enable walking around the mast and handling sails, lines and the anchor from the safety of the cockpit.
Hi Len What a beautiful job you did on the boat. I am about to build a 9ft sailing dinghy and am planning to use dowell joints as much as possible but I have not seen any reference to this in any of the many boat building books I have read. Could you comment of how you came to do this and what type of glue you used on the dowells and whether you made dowells out of special timber or used the ready made dowells from Honan. One advantage I had seen is that when bevelling bulkheads you dont have to worry about cutting into fastenings plus also saves weight and cost. Cheers Bruce Gregor Northern Beaches Sydney.
Hi Bruce. I tried making my own dowells out of spotted gum but gave up very quickly - I just bought hardwood dowels from Bunnings and used Epoxy glue. Make sure the hole you drill is not too tight - epoxy needs some space to glue effectively. All the best with the build.
Hi again Len, my Hartley 14, which i have named Tinkerbell, is located in southern Tasmania near the Huon River. She presently has black topsides and cream cabin, with a laid deck and cockpit floor - although this may be a type of ply rather than the genuine thing. My hope is to tow her to Lake Pedder and Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River on the west coast, so the small size made the idea of towing a boat over the precipitous road approaching Queenstown less daunting. Like you i think the Hartley 14 design is the prettiest of the T/S range, but i didn't expect it to sail as well as yours does. So that i can drop the headsail if the roller furling fails, i have added a separate forestay, which necessitated moving the jib tack on the furler a few inches aft. This in turn changed the jib sheeting position, so i will use a bit smaller jib from an Enterprise dinghy. I hope she still has enough sail area. The original jib was well worn anyway. I may in the future change the rig to gaff - i have a lovely blue gaff mainsail from another boat unfortunately crushed by a falling tree. Happy sailing, Andy
Hi Andy. I have sailed the boat with a furled jib and a reefed main in strong wind. It went well but you do need to rake the centreboard aft to balance the helm. I know a guy who put a gaff rig on a Hartley 16 - I saw it rigged and it looked like too much sail aft of the centre of the boat. He did complain of huge weather-helm but I didn't have the heart to tell him it was because his gaff main moved the centre of effort to far aft to be balanced by raking the centreboard. I wish you all the best with your sailing plans. Let me know when you post a video. Cheers, Len
@@sailinglisajane Your warning about possible weather helm from a gaff rig is heeded. Lying the bermudan and gaff sails sails on top of each other on the grass it is clear that the C of E of the latter would be further aft than the former. If I do go for gaff I may need to compensate by adding a bowsprit. Rob White up at Harwood, NSW has a gaff rig for his Hartley 16, with a bowsprit, but I don't how the boat balances.
Thanks for sharing the story of the build and launching. I have bought a second hand Hartley 14, cuddy cabin version, that was beautifully built and displayed at an Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart, but unfortunately the name of the builder and year of launch are now unknown - I would love to find out. She hadn't been used for a long time before I bought her, and it has taken me some time to sort the rig and fittings, but she is now not far from launching. I am intrigued that your sail has number 58 on it; mine has the number 3 on it, perhaps an indication of when she was built?
Hi again Andy. You will be delighted with your purchase. I have owned a few boats (including a 16ft Hartley) and I definitely believe the 14ft to be Richard Hartley's masterpiece. My boat sails beautifully - as yours will as well. I'd love to know where you are based. I leave an hour north of Sydney. The sail number isn't relevant - the plans were not numbered. The 'H' and the '58' just have personal significance and don't mean anything really.
Great work Len - looks terrific. I reckon it looks better without the cuddy. And raising sides 60mm also a good idea. With the experience of sailing it a bit now, would you make any other modifications if you were building it again?
thanks for your comments Luke. Absolutely no changes - she sails beautifully. Although sometimes when I'm sleeping under a boom tent in the rain I think about how handy a cabin would be 🙂But then it wouldn't strictly be 'Dinghy Cruising' - it would be 'Trailer sailoring' 😂
Lovely boat! When you increased the freeboard by 60mm, did you simply lengthen the frames where they are (nearly) vertical and widen the uppermost hull plank? Or change the geometry of the hull all the way down to the keel? I would love to have the confidence to attempt a build like that.
thank you for your kind comments. To increase the freeboard, I simply extended the frames. I didn't want to mess with a good design and this change didn't affect anything. I am happy with the result especially when loaded with camping gear sailing into choppy sea. If you are interested I have a couple of later videos that you might also be interested in. Anyone can build a boat if you have the passion to do so and a good set of plans. Enjoy.
Thanks for your comment. I hope you go ahead with your plans to build your boat. It’s winter at the moment so will be a couple of months before the next cruise/video. All the best, Len. Australia
Thank you very much for all videos, I have the plans and want to start the build exactly as your boat, herefore your videos are great information and motivation, will be my first build, I do have an old scool sailing dinghy, also one video (sailing cruising Greece) and I love ginghy cruising but I would like to build one my self. Waiting for more videos, thank you again, greetings form the Netherlands
That's a really stunning job you have done with the boat Len. I would never have imagined a Hartley 14 could look so good, and it obviously sails well. Have you capsized the boat either deliberately or accidentally, and if so how did it go?
Hi Hugh. Thank you for your kind comments. Haven't capsized accidentally - it will take a lot to capsize her. However, I do intend to do a capsize drill as soon as the weather is suitable and the water is clean (heaps of flooding & rain here at the moment). I really need to know if I can self rescue before I do any open water/coastal stuff. I'll post a video with the result as soon as I have done it. Cheers, Len
