Fiddley bits

To quote Mrs. Hughes of Downton Abbey, "you just stand around getting nibbley bits stuck in your teeth, like posh people do." So not exactly the same thing but I always laugh a little when I hear her say it.

Any way I started out today by tidying up a bit out in the garage, no pictures because I don't believe you need to see how cluttered and nasty my work area has to get before I can't stand it myself and clean up. However I did get a few shots of some of the fiddley bits I was starting to work on.

Doublers for the bulkhead where the stringers pass through.

I cut out a dozen of these 9mm doublers for the bulkheads at the places where the stringers need some strengthening. Got a bit carried away with one of them though.

That's one sharp hole saw, right through the work table! Easy there fella.

After the cutout party, I ran them through the table saw and cut them in half, 24 of them now. Then I brought out both #1 and #2 bulkheads and marked out where the stringer notch was to go and numbered their individual location for each bulkhead.

Bulkhead #1, and #2 just like it.

Next I decided to have a closer look at the way the stem and #1 & #2 bulkheads line up. I had read at least two blogs where the bulkhead #1 was too low and then was modified to relieve the difference. My concern was that I didn't want to find out until it had already been glued in place and the stringers were installed.

The king plank rest nicely in the cut outs for it in both bulkheads,

and lines up just like the plan drawing even with the top of the stem.

The next thing I checked into was the mast box that is to be screwed and glued to the forward side of the bulkhead #2 and contains both the mast step and the doubler for under the king plank.

Partial mock up of the mast box.

The mast step is to be 140 mm x 140 mm and 70 mm thick. There are two 20 mm x 140 mm that rise from the keel batton to the underneath the king plank. These are glued to the mast step, the king plank doubler, and the for'd face of the #2 bulkhead. There are two 9mm box sides that are glued and screwed to all the others and the king plank.

Top view of the mast box. (sorry, not enough clamps at the moment)

Mast box, dry fit of course, at this point.

Then I set about to create some 20 x 20 battons for the stringers.

Fiddley bits for gluing to the frames and bulkheads.

These will hopefully be suitable for stringers.

Also wider pieces for the transom doublers and such.

Then I thought that I should clean up a bit before calling it a day.

It's not spotless but it sure is better than it was before I started this morning. I can even see the floor in several places, much improved.

Until next time,

Geoff

I think there might be a boat in this pile of parts!

Who could imagine that you could hide a boat in less space than a one car garage? Well you can if it's all in pieces. That's what hit me like a ton of bricks. I've been hiding a boat in my son's garage. You know how it is, you work on something for a while and you know that you're making progress but you don't see anything yet. Then one day you realize that if you stand up a few of the parts you've been messing around with, and arrange them relatively in a fashion that resembles the plan, .......well you finally have a reasonable facsimile of the project you're working on. In this case a Navigator!

A "reasonable" resemblance of the boat that is to come.

 Now remember I said "reasonable" resemblance of a Navigator. No worse than any of the others I've seen researching the design on the web. At least not at this condition anyway.

So I showed up at my son's place to mess around in the garage attempting to construct pieces and parts that will be used at a later date to assemble a boat resembling a Navigator. Dove into the pile of parts and pieces, (it was really getting to be quite a tall stack) and came up with my transom.

Dragged it over to the table saw and proceeded to trim up the edges, then laid out the holes for the tiller and boomkin and cut them out. Then marked where the seat top will attach and the stiffeners that the seat fronts will get glued to, and also where the doublers for the boomkin hole and tiller hole will be glued.

Then I turned my attention to the #1and #2 bulkheads.

Bulkheads #1 &2 all trimmed and ready.

All trimmed and ready for gluing the fiddly bits on. So I said to myself, "Self," and myself says "yes", "what say we take a sneak peek at what it might look like if it were ready to assemble now?' And myself says, "yea man, let's check it out!" So I did and was pleasantly surprised at the resulting images. So I grabbed some more parts and fiddled with them some and added them to the set up.

The #3 bulkhead and frame. Notice the centerboard case in the shot too.

So then after fiddling around with the stem and doublers some, I decided to add them to the shot too.

"the boat" from the starb'd bow,

and from the port bow.

The aft frames are up on the shelf still. I was too giddy to get them down and just play build'a'boat with all the pieces. This all started when I wanted to make sure the cutout for the king plank would fit the plank. The rest just sort of happened, I guess.

This was what started all the fun today. I really enjoyed it even though my knee was up to about a 14 on a scale of 1 to 10. Such is life, even in the midst of our pain there is happiness.

So until next time,

Geoff

Progress, not fast but still, it's progress.

I was able to spend a little more time at my son's garage again today making some more progress toward the day when I can start assembling my pile of parts into a boat. I started by drawing and cutting out the center case cheek pieces and trimming them along with the center case doublers and the bottom curve of the case sides themselves. I also dug through the pile of lumber that I have and found a fairly decent piece of long leaf yellow pine that I am using for the center case logs.

Profile of the center case with doublers and cheek pieces

Forward end of the dry fit center case

Aft end of the dry fit centerboard case

Inner doublers and out cheek pieces

Fiddling around a bit with the center case dry fitting to see how it all should go together. It turned out to be an enlightening bit of fun. I have come away with an idea of how to order the assembly of all the pieces. John shows on the plans to counter sink screws from the inside to attach the doublers and cheeks as well as the 20x20 seat supports and the top case stiffeners. I think I will then fill the screw heads with epoxy and then glass the insides then attach the case logs to one side only then the other side to the rest of the assembly. Of course there will time to insure that the centerboard itself fits and has room to move through the entire range needed to go fully down and come fully up. By glassing the inner panels first before assembly, not only assures ease of process, it also helps control the inner dimension of the case. Thus allowing room for the board itself to be glassed without becoming too thick to move freely inside. At least that is my thinking at this point in time.

I also took a little time to mess around with a couple of other parts, the lower bulkhead of frame #3 and the upper arms of it also.

Frame #3 upper arms cut out and trimmed

Lower bulkhead portion of Frame #3 with the upper arms dry fit

Not much to write about here just that these were roughed out last week I think and now they're trimmed and dry fit together. Doublers for the hatches and the seat support will be added later when I start the gluing process.

Bulkhead #1

Again not much here but bulkhead #1 is ready for doublers and the anchor well floor support when the gluing starts. The plans show limber holes at the base of the bulkhead, however I'm not sure how they will fit with the 20x20 doublers on either side of the stem piece by the time the planking goes on. There won't be much room down there if any at all.

So another day at the workbench and a few more items get checked off of the to do list. Progress, not necessarily fast but progress none the less.

Until the next time,

Geoff

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