Launching isn't the end of the project list! This is a BOAT, right? The list never ends! Here are a few that I've done over the past year. The outboard motor bracket -
Pipers don't have engines, and the usual thing the Scottish boats do is use a custom bracket that I believe was made for the boats, decades ago. These hold the outboard motor off to the side of the boat, rather than all the way at the back, where the weight would be terrible for boat trim. That's not good, and also, there isn't much transom to support a bracket back there, anyway. Rustler Yachts makes a wonderful stainless steel bracket for the Rustler 24 and I asked them about it. They told me the price, and when I regained consciousness, I decided that maybe DIY was the way to go. You can also purchase a nice side-bracket from Edson, but I have a friend who can weld stainless steel. OK, then! Here it is!
I've had a pair of small Harken self-tailing winches for years, sitting on my workbench. The old bronze winches that were on Alpha were OK, but one of them was missing all it's bearings. So they got sent back to Scotland, where Graeme Murray found a home for them. I installed the winches and a simple barber-hauler system to adjust the lead of the jib. These were two significant projects, but the end result is an easily trimmable headsail!
The boom I made is now on the boat, she has little essentials like a mainsail downhaul, a boom vang and a working mainsheet system. In other words, she's been sailing! Here's another project. The Piper has a semi-bulkhead at the very aft end of the cockpit. The top of the bulkhead goes straight across and there wasn't much room for a big guy to squeeze between it and the underside of the deck, should he need to get waaaaay' back there under the aft deck. Well, Alpha's plywood bulkhead was seriously delaminated, so I replaced it. I cut the outer edges flat to support rails that support the helmspersons seat, but vee'd the rest of it so I could squeeze my sort-of-gigantic self back there.
I bought some beater old sails many months ago for next to nothing, just to have something to hoist when the big day came. Alpha actually has a new jib, purchased just a couple of weeks ago (January 2023). A new mainsail for her is the next purchase on the list! What's the next project?
Just LOOK at that deck! Yuck!....and all that un-oiled wood? Dreadful. How about the inside of the hull? Only half of it is painted! There you go!