Honestly now I think I'm fed up with fiddley bits

Well maybe not quite yet but it sure feels like it's getting there. Sorry no pictures this time left the phone/camera in the truck and didn't really feel like photographing anything. I didn't really seem to want to be there this last time (was actually Wednesday this week). I couldn't really concentrate and decide what to do while there. I actually started to put together the building frame, even though I'm nowhere near ready for it, and then when I got home realized that I used the wrong measurements to do it. So now the next time I go back I've got to take it all apart and redo it using the correct dimensions. The spacing for the bottom braces are different from the station (frames/bulkheads). And you guessed it I used the frame spacing instead of the bottom braces. It will come apart very hard and may well not be reusable, as I ran out of coated deck screws (which can be unscrewed easily) I filled in with coated (glued, which don't come out so easily) sinkers as they are called in the framing game. Also sometimes known as green toe nails to the new guy on the crew. ("Hey newbie, bring me a box of green toe nails! Yeah, they're right next to the board stretcher!") My son heard a lot of that stuff when he used to frame houses years ago.

I guess this is just a slump of sorts and hope it doesn't last too long. So I've gone to Off Center Harbor to watch some boat building videos to help jump start me again to get going on MY boat. Trouble is the Caledonia Yawl that Geoff Kerr keeps building is beginning to look really good. And construction "looks" to be a lot simpler. Of course it's a different style boat, open double ended, bigger too! It's amazing to watch him lift the completed hull off the building frame by himself, 200 lbs approx. weight, to flip it over.

However in all the videos of Caledonia and Ness yawls and Navigators, the Navigators seem to sail more upright in similar winds. Not that I'm saying that the other boats don't or can't sail upright it's just that I see those heeled more frequently and the skipper and/or crew hiking out more than the skipper and/or crew of Navigators. I guess those pretty lines of Iain Oughtred's are very captivating. I sure would like to see more videos of Navigators either sailing in company with other Navigators or just see them from other boats to watch them sail in the same conditions. Of course it wouldn't hurt to have Geoff Kerr build a John Welsford Navigator for an Off Center Harbor video series.

Just saying, until next time,

Geoff

More fiddling about with bits

My goodness I didn't think I would have spent so many days in a row working on my boat. It is amazing how much I've gotten done and even more amazing how much more is left to do! But first I thought I'd share my not so new multi tasking work station with you.

It's a 10" table saw and a 3" belt sander,

but wait, it's also a 10' compound miter saw! What a country!

So I had every intention of starting with the rear frame sections today but when I walked into the garage I spotted the transom and just went right to it. First using some of the 2x4's that I split and cut down to 20mm thick and still 3 1/2" wide, to shape the doublers for the outside perimeter of the transom.

Transom with solid wood doublers.

Then measuring out the boomkin hole and cutting out its doubler on my multi-tasking work station!

Multi-tasking work station is also a jigsaw center.

Man it just keeps getting better and better! How cool is this work station. It's almost like it was made for boat building.

Along with the boomkin doubler, I went ahead and fashioned the tiller opening doubler and the seat risers. Then added a motor mount support as well. I'm not sure that I will use an outboard, at least not right away, but just in case I decide to at a later date.

Fitted out just not glued up yet.

I took advantage of many scraps of 6mm ply and found three pieces large enough to fill the port side of the inner transom.

Next up bulkhead #1

First the anchor well floor support then the doublers for either side of the stem spine and doublers for the stringer notches. And lastly the top deck arch doubler.

All decked out.

Next the bulkhead #2 seat riser and stringer notch reinforcements. I used the measurements from Joel Bergen's hatches but found they wouldn't fit with the mast box so a slight modification to the sizes and what do you know there's room for all.

Hatches and mast box all sharing the same space.

The seat riser shown here will actually attach to the aft side of the bulkhead.

 Also cut out a pair of bulkhead doublers the will glue to the for'd face of the bulkhead one each on either side of the mast box. Sorry I didn't get any shots of those this time. Perhaps the next time I go I can get a pic or two. Careful cutting of the hatch openings allows the use of the cut outs for the hatch doors. I am intending to imitate Joel's hatch door latches, I haven't seen any other way of doing them that's so simple and reliable. "Simplicity afloat is the best guarantee of happiness", is a quote attributed to L.Francis Herreshoff. Can't argue with logic like that.

Setting it up again to have another look.

  Setting it up again certainly shows how large this boat will be, and also helps to encourage me to keep building. I also took this opportunity to show my sweet wife how I'm getting along as she was near by when I was starting to clean up and come home anyway.

Stem, bulkhead #1, bulkhead #2, frame #3, #4 and the center board case.

I do intend to get around to the rear frames next time.

So until next time,

Geoff

 

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