And so the parts pile continues to grow.....

Well here I am at the end of another day messing around with my boat. I just got a few things done today and the list is getting smaller until I will begin to start gluing the little fiddly bits on here and there and soon have enough to start assembling the actual boat. One thing I have come to understand is that building a boat from scratch or rather from plans, is that first you build the parts needed to then build your boat. I am in that process of building my parts. Here are some of them,

These are the frame arms for #3 bulkhead.

These are the rough cut frame arms for bulkhead #3. They still need trimming and sanding and notching for the stringers, as do most of the other frame and bulkhead pieces.

Bulkhead #1.

Bulkhead #1, the last of the frame and bulkhead pieces to be cut out. Albeit still rough cut.

Seat fronts sanded and hatch marked

Center case doublers

These were the rest of todays production. The seat fronts sort of speak for themselves, not much mystery there. The center case doublers. Although there are still two more of these to be cut out making the cheek pieces for the centerboard trunk. The doublers glue and screw to the case sides and make contact with the keel batton. The cheek pieces glue and screw to the case sides through the doublers and go all the way to the hull bottom board, thus locating the case on the keel batton side to side. (Or atharwtships for those of you endeared by naval talk.) The end posts will go through the bottom, keel batton and all and also align the case on the keel batton fore and aft over the center board hole. They will poke through and be trimmed to correct length at a later time.

And so the list gets shorter after each trip to the garage.

THE LIST!

Not necessarily in the correct order but just to keep track that it all will get done eventually. I hope.

So until next time,

Geoff

parts is parts, right?

So back in the garage the parts pile is starting to take on a life of its own. I find myself standing looking at the floor in a sweeping circle and trying to identify what ever part comes into view. Most of them are still just rough cut but a few are sanded to the line and ready for packers and pieces. The aim is to get all the frames and bulkheads the stem and transom trimmed then have a giant epoxy blowout glue up session. Ha! Fat chance, I don't have enough clamps to glue all the parts the same time.

Here are the latest parts as of this afternoon.

This is the bulkhead section of frame #3, again still just rough cut.

 The arms for this part were drawn out on the ply at the same time but not cut out. Instead I copied them onto tracing paper and will draw them later on some of the scrap ply I'm making. I thought I could get the #1 bulkhad out of the same sheet, but I guess I'm not that good at saving space.

And of course the transom.

 Pay no attention to that dark line across the bottom, it's left over from another attempt to fit as many pieces as possible onto one sheet. Oh well, I'll probably just end up buying another sheet and be done with it.

Bulkhead #2.

Bulkhead #2 was an especially intense ordeal, with part of the mast box glued to the forward face right down the center from the cutout for the king plank all the way down to the keel batton, the hatch doors needed some juggling and resizing to get them both to fit with out the mast box being in the way. I was able to connive the largest doors/hatch covers possible. they are 375mm wide and 260mm tall at the center and 220mm at the outside edges. This may or may not be the final size, we'll see how it goes.

The other thing I'm wanting to do is to cut a slot from the seat top up through the king plank just big enough to allow the 80mm lower mast section to be slid into the box and then raised/ leaned rather, up to position and then fabricate a mast gate of some sort that will not only keep the mast from falling backwards out of the box but also put some pressure onto the mast itself holding it tight in the box. Sort of closing off the opening in the king plank and restoring its integrity. I like the arrangement that Ian Oughtred uses on the Caledonia yawl being built by Geoff Kerr on the Off Center Harbor site. I am trying to think something up that works very similar. The whole object is so that there is no need to lift the mast up and over the deck then try to aim it into the deck opening. At 68, I don't know how many more lifts I have left in me so let's make this as easy as I can.

Next time in the boat shop, I will tackle bulkhead #1, centerboard and if time allows start the rudder.

Until next time.

Geoff 

More back to the boat!

I took my sweet wife to her work just for a meeting thinking that I might get a few minutes of work in on some more boat parts. She was feeling well enough to hang out with the girls and stay for lunch so I actually got about four hours in. She is feeling better and getting around pretty well for her condition. I am glad to see it, thank God!!

So seeing as I left off with the centerboard case sides (well actually only one side at the time) I decided to start there. After cutting out the side I had drawn out the other day, I took my time making sure I was creating a mirror image of it for the other side. Once that was figured out a quick slice and dice with my dads old craftsman skill saw, weighing almost 15lbs(!), I was ready to move on to the next project.

I clamped the two sides with the outer faces together leaving the markings on the outside for ease of trimming them later

 

 

 

Next was the stem which I drew out the other day also. I then cut it out and cleaned it up using it as a template for the two doublers needed to make the full thickness stem.

The inner stem piece cut and trimmed.

The doublers drawn.

The doublers rough cut.

About this time I realized that I probably should close up shop and pick up my wife. Texting her to see how she was doing, she informed me that she was doing well and that I could pick her up in a couple of hours. So with assurances from the girls that they weren't letting her "do anything" but sit and talk, I turned my attention back to the boat again.

This time I started where I had left off with the frames,  with #4 today.

Port and Starboard parts of frame #4 roughed out.

Just roughing out the frame pieces today but will clean up and properly brace the pair when I start glueing the small bits of solid wood to all the frames and bulkheads. Speaking of bulkheads, they are where I will start next time. I must admit that the more time I spend working on the boat, the more time I want to spend working on the boat.

I am taking a cue from Joel Bergen and ELLIE, by stopping the seat front stringer at frame #5 instead of running it all the way up to the bow. He said that he had consulted with John Welsford and he had no problem with it. I also believe that it would be much more comfortable walking about the forward section of the cockpit floor especially if barefooted.

In an effort to simplify the rigging and reduce set up time, I am planning to build this as a balanced lug main with the sprit boomed mizzen,

Lucky Pierre by Ken Laxague in the Boston area. Great job Ken.

without the seat front stringer to complicate the keel area immediately in front of Bulkhead #2 where the mast step will be placed along with the "mast box".  The mast box is part of the mast partner system, is glued to the forward face of B2 and requires the keel and king plank widened to 140mm, also shortening the stem spine to accommodate the mast box.

I am contemplating some manner of allowing me to insert the mast at the forward thwart and just lean it forward into a gate of some sort rather than have to lift it fully above the foredeck then down through into the box. This will take some serious thought on bracing the foredeck and coming up with a reliable mast gate.

Until next time,

Geoff

Back to the boat.

Well it's been a hectic week. Last Thursday, a week ago, my wife went into the hospital for surgery for a female issue. When she came home she had a complication and the next Tuesday was back into the hospital again for a "revision". Two surgerys in just five days. It has been a rough week for her. Leave it to be known there wasn't much time for boat building.

So now that things are less hectic, it was time to visit the garage. Not much in the way of accomplishment to show for the time spent but progress nontheless. At this stage building a boat is more about making the parts needed to build the boat. So let the pile of parts increase.

I set to draw out the stem and one of the centerboard case sides and the packers.

This is the starboard side of the centerboard case.

After drawing the case side, I taped together several sheets of tracing paper and copied the out lines of the packer pieces at the bottom of the case.

Tracing of the packers on the bottom of the case side.

I captured both of the packers on paper and can then transfer either shape at will to the necessary thickness plywood.

Next I tackled the stem drawing. On the plans John has drawn the shape at quite a distance from the edge of the ply sheet. So a little time with the calculator has adjusted the distance to bring the stem closer to the edge to help save on wood waste. First I set the water line and then adjusting all the measurements to it.

Laying out the stem with pencil and nails.

Then after marking out all the points, connecting the dots. In the process I made a bit of kindling for my son and daughter in law's previously mentioned fire pit, while trying to fabricate a flexible batton for bending around the nails. Making the curve at the bottom of the stem outside edge wound up being a two part affair as I was unable to come up with a suitable batton to go around the entire stem in one shot.

Failed candidates for battons that didn't make the grade.

I wound up starting at the top of the stem and bent down to as far as it would bend at the bottom of the stem and the mark it to there and then go to the end of the spine and work back to the mark just made and then fair the two marks by hand at the joint.

Next visit I will try to cut out and clean up the stem and then draw out the two packers for either side of the stem using the stem as the pattern. If there is any time left then I'll turn to the centerboard case and work on that also. Oh well, more bits and pieces for the parts pile.

Until next time.

Geoff

Step by step

Well here we are back at it again. When I walked away last time I had just roughed out one side of the four aft frames, #'s 5, 6, 7 and 8. Well today I spent cleaning them up and getting them trimmed to their lines and then flipped them over and drew out their twins. After another go round with my old all metal and VERY heavy skill saw, that was my dads' when I was a kid, a belt sander and a jig saw along with some sandpaper for hand sanding, it was time to trim and clean these new additions to the framework of my Navigator.

Frame pieces for #5 and #6

Frame pieces for #7 and #8

The next time I get over to my son's garage I'll begin the transom and if there is time I'll start on the stem. So for now I sit and study my plans and comb through the build logs and blogs of those who have completed their boats looking for ideas and tips on how they met the challenges of building a boat with their own hands.

So, until next time,

Geoff

Well It's about time to get started....

So on with it already!

This will all take place at my son's place in their back garage of humble means for a humble, supposed boatbuilder. So here's my humble boat shop.

It's about the size of a one car garage and there is also the back yard where I have set up my ever temporary saw mill with sawdust collection box.
  There is a fire pit back there too so all my scraps at the end won't go to waste. I've also inherited that very large pile of 2x4's for use if they will pass inspection. So far some of them have become sawhorses.

I've gotten started by marking out and cutting the aft frames for the starboard side. Just rough cut at this point so they will need triming down to the line next. Then just flop them over and mark out the port side frames.

John Welsford has a very good set of plans. These are for "my" Navigator.

Drawn in one piece instead of two pieces.

Frame #5, 6, 7, 8 still needing trimming

Rough cut and needing much care and trimming. I will tackle that probably at the next outing. It only used up half of one sheet of 3/8" sanded BCX ply. The other half will be used to create the matching frames.

While I still had the desire to get something done, I started laying out some lumber for the centerboard.

Longleaf yellow pine, very hard and heavy, mixed with regular pine.

I am intending to purchase some Douglas fir for the mast and spars it'll just have to wait for finances to be available. I plan on doing as much as I can whenever I can and there is materials on hand. I have plans, epoxy and some lumber and plywood, so let's begin.

Still visible in the background is debris left over from Hurricane Michael and the roofers who only just a couple of days ago finished putting on the roof of my son and daughter in law's house. Not bad it only took four months from the day after the storm to get done. Still many houses with blue tarps for roofs. It's not the materials that is the problem it is getting the workers. There are so many damaged homes and only a few companies to serve them. Still many out of state companies here to help but it will take a very long time yet.

Until next time,

Geoff

Uhhh, about that last post.....

With all the hubbub over the minor diversion of Hurricane Michael, what?, you say??, minor diversion?? Well actually it wasn't a minor diversion at all but a major destructive event in the history of Panama City and the surrounding areas and the peoples lives that live in and around us here. So here we are just about four months later and much of the area is still digging out and I mean literally digging!! It will be a very long time before things are anywhere near normal and even then it will be different from the way things were, a different normal.

My sweet wife and I were very blessed in that we had sold our house this past June and rented a condo out here near the beach where we were just grazed by the storm, so we didn't have any dealings with insurance companies over damage claims from the storm. For our house that is. The condo we're renting is only a few years old and a very sturdy poured concrete construction with all the latest hurricane windows and such so we suffered very little at all. The biggest thing we had to deal with, of course no water and no power, was waiting for the elevators to get fixed as we rent on the sixth floor!! I'll tell you what, these old knees didn't take that very well at all, no siree!! Well long story short and I know you will thank me for that, elevators now are working and clean up has progressed very nicely so far. Although one of the two golf courses out here may not return as there was major damage to it, but the other one, The Legends at Bay Point, a PGA quality one, is very close to reopening. I don't golf so it's just nice to walk the cart paths for exercise.

That brings me to the reason for this blog, (so you say). So I have sold one of my Glocks to get started buying plywood. Later this week either Wednesday or Thursday, I'll be heading to Lowes to search out some reasonable pieces of ply to start drawing out bulkheads and rudders and centerboards and other stuff. At least something will be started and perhaps soon there will be a boat that will take me out into the bay exploring all the little nooks and crannies of St Andrews Bay and the surrounding areas.

That's all for now.

Geoff