Building & sailing "Nyatne", our Core Sound 17 Mk3

A chilly day on the water, for the last day of July 2026. A group of us sailed out of Warmies, had lunch at Webb Dock, and then some of us went to check out the seals off Williamstown.

Great winds in the morning tapered off to only a couple of knots later in the day.

On a blustery day at Werribee South, a group of Wooden Boat Association members headed out from the launching ramps at the mouth of the Werribee River for their monthly sail. With Northerly winds up to 20 knots at least one reef in the sails was a good idea. "Nyatne" handled the conditions beautifully. After spending some time out on the bay we came back to the river and rafted up for lunch and a chat. Another great day on the water!

Another light wind day on the bay. Kirsty came down for a swim, so I spent some time playing in the shallows so that she could film me from the water.

Watch this video in 360° mode by clicking on the "Youtube" button at the bottom left of the video. It will only display properly in desktop browsers and the Youtube app.  If you are watching in the Youtube app on a mobile device you can move your device around to change your view. If your browser doesn't support a 360° view you can watch a standard video at https://youtu.be/WMRNegp9Yh0.

While Kirsty and I were sailing our CS17 Mk3, we came across a large patch of flattened water off Sandringham. There was a very clear delimiter between where the water was flat, and where the water was being ruffled by the wind, but it wasn't simply a matter of there being no wind blowing across the water there. The edge of the patch had a lot of muck on the surface. We wondered if this was this just runoff from the Yarra River after the rain events last week, or if it is the start of an algal bloom.

Watch this video in 360° mode by clicking on the "Youtube" button at the bottom left of the video. If you are watching in the Youtube app on a mobile device you can move your device around to change your view. It will only display properly in desktop browsers and the Youtube app. If your browser doesn't support a 360° view you can watch a standard video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naAS1g8Kdss.
A lazy morning on Albert Park Lake in my Core Sound 17 Mk3. The wind was low, and the stand up paddleboard paddles that I had cut down to make them narrow enough to fit into the cockpit seat spaces worked really well when the wind dropped to nothing. Click and drag on the video to change your point of view. 

The Ballaarat Yacht Club has started a wooden boat festival, timed to coincide with the annual Begonia Festival. There was only a small number of wooden boats on the water next year, but it will grow year by year. A few members of the Wooden Boat Association brought along their boats, and it was great to catch up with them...

Will and I went for a short sail in Nyatne, launching at Half Moon Bay, on 27 February 2026.  The wind picked up a bit while we were on the water, but didn't get above 12 knots. Another great day!

We went to Paynesville, on the Gippsland Lakes, for a few days in February 2026, in the week before the Paynesville Classic Boat Rally, and sailed with the raid fleet on the Monday. Lots of boats from Victoria, of course, but also lots from New South Wales, and at least one from Canberra.

In this final build video, I have made the dodger and boom tent for Nyatne, our Core Sound 17 Mk3, sewn some line bags, built a galley box, and sewn a mast and sail cover that will let me leave the sails furled around the masts while towing the boat.

This was our first day out on Port Phillip in Nyatne. If anything, she exceeded our expectations! It was a great day out in light conditions, with several other Wooden Boat Association boats for company.

While Nyatne, our B&B Yacht Designs CS17 Mk3, has been launched, there are still lots of bits and pieces to be completed before heading down to the Gippsland Lakes Raid and the Paynesville Classic Boat Rally. In the last couple of weeks I've installed a solar panel, set up the switch panel, added the battery and bilge pump, fitted the anchor bowsprit and anchor, sewed the covers for the mattresses, and worked on tidying up the rigging.

Nyatne, our CS17 Mk3 has been launched! There are still bits and pieces to work on, but the basic boat is complete. The launch, at the Wooden Boat Association sailing day at Albert Park Lake, attracted a fair bit of attention from WBA well-wishers, and was a very satisfying day!

Getting closer to a finished boat now! The cockpit has been undercoated, the cockpit hatches have been painted, the dodger coaming has been installed, and work has started on the mattresses. Lots of other little jobs have been attended to, but at present the list of things still to do seems pretty long.

Lots of progress on our CS17 Mk3 in the last couple of weeks! The companionway hatch and the forward hatch have both been built and fitted, the masts have been fitted into their tabernacles, and the tabernacles have been installed in the boat.

The sail tracks have been added to the masts, the tabernacles have been built, the stainless steel keel strip has been installed, we have a trailer, and the boat is finally the right way up again!

The sides and transom have been repainted, several times, to get to a reasonable finish. The masts have also been assembled, and have had several coats of epoxy.

The bottom of our Core Sound 17 Mk3 has now been painted!

The bottom of our Core Sound 17 Mk3 has now been glassed, the keel has been added, the mast staves have been scarfed and the birdsmouths cut. It's been a busy couple of weeks!

The last couple of weeks have seen lots of progress with the boat, culminating in rolling her over this afternoon so that I can fair and fibreglass the hull, and paint the bottom as well. The trailer won't arrive for another month, so I've got plenty of time...

It's starting to look like a boat with a cabin now!

Time flies when you're having fun! So much has happened with the boat over the last couple of weeks!

Highlights include:

• The water ballast tank has been completed, and the cockpit sole installed
• A false floor has been made for the cabin, which lifts up to make the bunks wider
• A folding ladder has been modified and temporarily fitted
• An outboard motor bracket has been tested on the transom
• The cockpit lockers have been installed, and the third locker has had insulation added, to turn it into an icebox
• The back of the cabin is in place, and the stringers supporting the cockpit seats have been glued into the bulkheads
• The cockpit seats have been dry fitted, and will be installed in the coming week

Looking forward to the next month, when the bulk of the work on the top of the hull should be complete!

Lots of build milestones in the last couple of weeks of working on my Core Sound 17 Mk3. Cockpit locker and icebox bulkheads are in, the buoyancy and ballast tank baffles are in place, and the the bunk tops are done as well. It's a long video, but there's been lots to do in the first couple of weeks in August.

The last couple of weeks have been quite productive! The lead tip has arrived for the centreboard, so I've finally been able to shape the board, and complete the centreboard case. I had hoped to have the case in the boat by the end of the month, but didn't quite make it. Lots of other bits and pieces were worked on though, so that will speed up the process later in the build...

 I was planning on releasing an update once a month, but there's been so much happening that I have decided to break July into two updates.

After a few weeks of preparing components, it's finally time to join the hull components and unfold our new B&B Yacht Designs Core Sound 17 Mk3. This sped-up video shows the process of joining the pieces and unfolding the hull of our CS17 Mk3.

I've spent the past couple of weeks getting ready to put the hull of my Core Sound 17 Mk3 together, as there are a number of components that need to be worked on before the hull goes onto the building frame. The bulkheads have reinforcing pieces that are added to them, to give greater strength, and to provide location points for beams and stringers to be added later. For example, the aft end of the cabin has a piece of timber glued across it, angled to support the cockpit seating, and a couple of ply pieces which will hold the washboard (entrance to the cabin). I've dug out some of my old paintingclothes for this build. As the weather is getting a bit cooler I'm finding a T-shirt, flannel shirt and a windcheater is a good way of keeping warm enough for a day in the garage. The windcheater is from another life, in the 1990s, back when I made a living as a kite maker.  You can read a little bit about what I was doing back then here.

It's amazing how much of a boat you can fit into a van!

It's even more amazing that I was encouraged to store the components that aren't needed straight away inside the house.

This time I've gone down the route of having the components cut using CNC. Saves me at least 2 or 3 weeks plotting and cutting all of the components, and the level of accuracy is excellent. Because of the nesting of the various pieces, I have used perhaps 3 or 4 fewer sheets of ply as well.

Most of the pieces were cut and separated, but some were left tabbed into larger pieces of plywood. For these I used either a Japanese saw or a small hacksaw blade to cut the tabs. The pieces that I will be working on over the next few days, mainly the components for the bulkheads, were left in the garage. The rest were sorted and moved into the house. Each piece has a unique plan number engraved on it, making it easy to identify. Lines are also engraved to show where other panels will meet a piece, and where reinforcing or supporting cleats will be glued onto the ply.

The rudder was profiled, but not completely cut out, in case it distorted when released from the sheet, so this has had a couple of coats of epoxy, and will be cut out later in the week.

I've started work on the centreboard, using recycled Tasmanian Oak. There is an 8KG lead tip to install on the centreboard, which should arrive in the next couple of weeks. I did think about routing out a cavity in the centrboard, and filling it with lead shot in epoxy, but because the lead wouldn't be at the very bottom, and because of the spaces between the shot, I would have had to use over 10KG to get even close to the tip that B&B Yacht Designs can supply.

The reinforcing cleat has been glued to the bulkhead that forms the aft end of the cabin. By the middle of the week I should have all of the bulkheads done, and be ready to glue the pieces of each chine together.

The building frame is ready, so I'm now waiting for the plywood to arrive. Over-engineered? Maybe, but I prefer solid to flimsy any day... 

I've mounted the frame on 3 sets of castering wheels, for the bow, centre, and stern. This will let me move the boat in and out of the garage on my own as needed. The castering wheels can lock, and once in place I can use a spirit level to make sure the frame doesn't get out of kilter. I have some shims that can be placed under one or two wheels to lift the frame up a bit if necessary. The concrete floor is pretty level, so I'm not anticipating any problems here.

The plan for the building frame called for doublers on the legs, so that the weight of the boat is transferred to the doublers that are directly under the frame, rather than relying on the strength of the screws that hold it all together. Because I have placed wheels under the legs I have added diagonal supports to the legs, to keep everything locked in place as much as possible. The legs lift the bottom of the frame 267mm off the floor, but with the wheels installed the gap extends to 365mm, which will make it much easier for me to slide in underneath when working on the bottom of the boat.

Our double garage is just deep enough to fit the CS17 Mk3 lengthways, with the bow at the roller doors and the stern close to the cupboards, and there will be times when this the how I will be working on the boat. Most of the time though, I will be spreading out, with the building frame oriented across both parking bays, and more room to work around the boat.

After seeing the heating setup used by another Wooden Boat Association member, I ordered a 10 watt USB-powered aquarium heater through Amazon. This has a thermostat that can be adjusted from 18° to 34° C. My epoxy containers will sit in a tub with a few litres of water in it, and the heater will keep the epoxy at a good working temperature as winter gets going. My old epoxy heater used an incandescent 40 watt light bulb in an insulated box to keep the epoxy warm, but I found this was actually a bit too effective. I've beefed up the insulation on the box and have used this as a lid to go over the water tub. My test today, before my epoxy arrives, confirmed that this should work well.

To deal with the inevitable drips and spills, the epoxy work bench has been covered with core flute, recycling a sign for one of the candidates at the recent federal election.