New to the daysailer, New to the forum.

[Quiggers73]

Hi All,

Just got lucky today on an excellent condition 1971.

I have browsed the forum incognito and got great information prior to going to see the boat.

I hope to be an active member, although probably not able to contribute much, at least for a while lol.

But what a great resource and community.

Cheers.

[RaleighRancher]

Welcome to the forum! I'm two years into DS2 ownership. This is a lonely forum sometimes, but indeed, a ton of great information here. Thanks in to greenlake for soldiering on and pointing us newbs in the right direction so often.

[GreenLake]

A hearty welcome from me as well. The usage statistics tell us that we have our share of incognito visitors, so people seem to be coming back for useful info. A forum comes alive when good questions meet good answers, and sometimes also when it's a place to air a variety of opinions on the "best" way.

We are looking forward to your contributions, whether in the form of questions, or on impressions about the DaySailer or sailing. By and by you'll figure out your own solutions, tricks and hacks and we encourage you to share them here.

You probably already found out that there is a rather diverse set of sections in the forum, and other than a few, most of them apply equally well to any age or model of DaySailer. Feel free to share even seemingly unspectacular things. For example, everybody does their little day sails, but local conditions are so different that even sharing the mundane details of your boat ramp, dock or lake becomes interesting.

Just in case you haven't already found and explored this thread (or for the benefit of any other newbs reading this incognito), let me highlight this "Basic Concepts and Techniques".

[Quiggers73]

Thank you for the welcome.

I am taking the time to get to know my boat by practicing rigging in my yard before I think about putting it in the water.

I have many many questions, and I have emailed Roger for a copy of his book to save asking the obvious. At least to begin with.

But, I do have two questions.

As I cleaned my boat, I have noticed getting white residue on hands and clothes once dry.

I used a good (Jay Leno) wash and wax. Same as I use on my truck.

What can I do to stop the white residue building up ?

Second, fun question.

The boat does not appear to have a name and my kids have some suggestions.

I have seen some fun videos on renaming a boat involving Zuess and alcohol lol.

What steps/traditions should I follow in naming a boat to ensure safe passage?

Thanks in advance.

[GreenLake]

Old gelcoat will be chalky. I don't know/remember what the collective wisdom considers the best approach, but you could use a slightly more abrasive scrub or rubbing compound followed by buffing with 3M Finesse It to get back a shine. Or you could leave it as is. Or you could sand it and paint it whatever color you want.

My boat came painted. That paint job has proven so durable, that I haven't bothered to renew the deck and seats. However, the floor I finally sanded and added a layer of (air curing) gelcoat. But I have a DS1 and the floor of these is just the inside of the hull and not very smooth (they come with wooden slats which I took out one year to refinish and never put back).

[GreenLake]

Roger's book is supposedly the go to for DSII people. But you can find many questions answered by looking over the old posts here. When I started out, that's what I did: read every single post here (nowadays that's a bit harder to do, but even if you only go back a few years, there will be lots of detailed discussions that you'll be able to relate to what you have on your boat).

And yes, a bit of practice goes a long way. And it's less stressful than at the launch.

[GreenLake]

I'm not a good person to ask about ceremony. My naming ceremony consisted of putting the plastic letters on the boat. Finding a good name for a boat can be a challenge. You'll find that most "cute" boat names are much more common than you think, and can get annoying. And people will inevitably read something into your boat's name that you weren't thinking of

However, kids sometimes think totally out of the box and that can lead to some interesting names.

If you are looking for good karma, invite people to go sailing with you.