Raising Boys and Boats: It’s Finally Time to Finish Our CS-20 Mk3
Six and a half years ago (March 2018), my wife and I had just folded up our Core Sound 20 Mark 3 (hull #15). It’s one of our most viewed you tube videos from a playlist of 17 videos that I created on building the boat from our CNC kit. See the full playlist here.
We chose to build a Core Sound 20 Mark 3 as an upgrade to our Core Sound 17 ‘Southbound’ and knew it would be big enough for us and maybe some future kiddos to do some fun overnight camping and yet still small enough to take out for the day to the sandbar and relax. My father was also building his own CS-20 Mk3 to replace the famous ‘Dawn Patrol’ and we looked forward to using the upgraded model in future EC adventures as well.
The last video in the build series was published way back in October 2020 where we finished up a few last minute jobs and took the boat to the 2020 B&B Messabout. We launched the boat, motored it around and even slept aboard with our 2 doggos. We got to test out the outboard motor-well modification and the boat served as a race committed boat for our fun race that year. At that time Taylor was pregnant and due in March so I had 5 months to finish painting the boat and get her finished up. no problem. hahaha.
Fast forward 4 years from launch day….
Well, we sold our Core Sound 17 (pro tip, don’t sell your sailboat until you’re done building the next one) and I have worked on the 20mk3 a grand total of about 2 hours since that day. BUT, that time was not wasted. We now have 2 wonderful boys Henry and James age 3 and 1 and every moment with them is time well spent! Below, Henry tests out the cooler box of the 20mk3. I look forward to recreating this one when he’s older.
In the meantime we bought a stink pot (I mean powerboat) so we could get out on the water and we wanted one in the fleet eventually anyway (until we build our Marissa) but I want the boys to grow up sailing more than motoring so it’s finally time to get serious about finishing the sailboat now that we have a decent grip on parenting, a desire to do longer trips and are exiting our second “tiny baby” phase with James a fully capable small human now. We also have a fully realized understanding of the amount of life-force it takes to care for children. Gone are the days of spending hours and hours in the garage by myself. Soon I’ll have some able bodied helpers in the shop but we want the boat done before then.
I tried taking the boat to the B&B workshop but it turns out I’m too busy at work to work on the boat (go figure). So I took it back home and have finally started putting in an hour here and there in the evenings. First thing was to get her all cleaned up from being covered in pollen and dust. My short term goal is to finish epoxy coating the cabin, get the portlights installed and the hatches hinged and latched so she is weatherproof and I can bring her out to the Messabout again this year. Then we can start using her with a little electric outboard while I finish the rudder, centerboard and rig.
We are pretty jealous seeing all the trips other 20mk3 builders have taken in their boats especially Amos who’s always doing some adventure trip on the Eastern Shore. And Steve who has done some really cool mods to his boat lately and just got back from a week long trip in Maine with his daughter. Check out his cool re-positional cabin table. More here. I can’t even begin to tinker with this kind of stuff until the boat is sailing!
In the meantime, my father is nearly finished with his 20mk3 and his cabin looks amazing! He’s done some cool modifications like a custom electrical panel, cooler box and sliding cabin hatches. He also found this neat lockable latch for securing the companionway. Check out more pictures and video exploring his cabin here.
He is planning to have his boat at this years Messabout too so if you are there, you’ll be able to do some R and D on it. That’s “Research and Duplicate” for the uninitiated.
See you out there.
-Alan
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A great article, Alan. As a Dad of five (four boys), it sounds like you have your priorities straight! We dream of adventuring with our boys, but if you spent all that time when they are little to work on the boat, they wouldn't want to be with you when you had it ready! It's amazing how quickly you go from "I don't have a second to myself" to "geez, everyone's at work, on a date, or at practice, what will I do this evening"! Keep up the good parenting!
great content, Alan - keep it coming!