Catspaw question

[Russ]

Will be starting Joel White's Catspaw dinghy here very shortly as soon as I finish getting
the boatshop (garage) cleaned out. I've been studying the plans for several days now
and I'm not sure about the rib placement. The only reference I can find is in the how-to
book that says the first rib to be installed is placed just aft of the centerboard box.

Looking at the pictures/layouts shows that the number of ribs vs the length of the boat
has the ribs six inches apart. Is this correct?

One other question. As I live in central Florida I have easy access to cypress as a
planking stock. Does anyone have any information on using this type of wood? Doing a
search of the archives really didn't give much for specifics.

[Frank Wentzel]

Russ

Cypress is a good planking wood except for its tendancy to absorb large amounts of water. If the wood will be sealed in epoxy, or if the boat will be dry-sailed this will not be an issue. Old growth cypress is very rot resistant but it is no longer available. Currently available cypress has little rot resistance but if it is kept dry by either of the above methods that won't be a problem. A good thing about the regrowth cypress is that it very readily absorbs wood preservatives such as zinc-tox and copper-tox. So treated new growth cypress may well be more rot resistant than old growth wood.

/// Frank ///

[ 07-08-2002, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: Frank Wentzel ]

[Russ]

Thanks Frank. One of the reasons for building this boat was to learn traditional boatbuilding skills. Because of this I'm not going to be using any epoxies or such. Kempfer's sawmill is a few miles west of town and I'll check with them about old/new growth. If it turns out that you are correct then I will turn to either fir or cedar (which is what Joel used in the book). Both are available but more difficult and definately more expensive.

[WRB]

Russ,
I am building a catspaw at the moment (4 planks to go). I ended up placing the ribs on 5 3/4" centers, this seems to have worked well.
cheers
Warren

[WRB]

P.S, even though the plans come with patterns, I strongly advise you to loft the boat (I wish I had done so) A lot of problems can be quickly sorted if you have a lofted version to refer to (including rib spacing).

[Walcheren]

Hello Russ. If you want to, go to "My Wooden Boat" section and search for Catspaw. You'll see a photograph of one I built. I was amazed I was the first one to place a photo. It is a gorgeous boat. Tomorrow is going to be great weather here so I'll be out rowing. Building her was a great experience. Your questions seem to have been answered up till now. If you have any more I'll give it a try. I am presently building a Poulsbo Boat. If interested search in this section for Poulsbo boat or Sebastion. She is also Carvel planked but larger and has an inboard engine. Dirk

[Walcheren]

Hi again. Forgot to tell you. I did loft this boat for the fun and to learn more about how boatbuilding works. I did my lofting on a sheet and two thirds of medium density fiber board, painted white, mounted on the wall. I did not have room on the floor and found that lofting on the wall is much easier and accessible for reference when building. Particularly for the Catspaw this is O.K. as any patterns you need to make are in the plans anyway. The battens are sprung over finishing nails placed in predrilled tight holes and held there with the spring loaded hand clamps you can get now cheaply. Once the line is drawn remove the clamps, the batten and pull the nails out. Hope this makes sense. I did my last boat that way also. Dirk

[Russ]

Thanks guys. I'm sure that I'll have many more questions as I go along.

I am going to be doing my own lofting for the education and using the full size patterns as a sort of answers in the back of the book type of thing. Hanging them on the wall sounds like a neat idea and would save a lot of wear and tear on my knees and won't take up precious floor space.

I set up a deal with my brother in law who is a computer guru to do a work in progress type web page for me. I'm hoping he'll get it going in the next week or two. This way everyone can see first hand all the really boneheaded mistakes I'm going to make....maybe this isn't such a hot idea.

First up, lofting and strongback construction. As Jackie Gleason used to say,"...and away we go!!".

[Alan Peck]

Walcheren: Looks like you did a beautiful job on your Catspaw: I have been thinking of building one for some time as I would really like to build a traditional carvel planked boat.

However, most everyone seems to say that a carvel planked boat is not feasible unless you keep it in the water. I would think that most dinghys are not, in fact, kept in the water all the time.

I was wondering what your experience is with the Catspaw. Do you keep it in the water most all the time or do you dry sail it? If dry sailed, does it leak badly each time you use it?

I am also curious as to how well she sails.

Thanks for any input.

[Walcheren]

Hello. I had doubts in my abilities and seaworthiness of the hull after she had sat in a barn for four years waiting to be finished. This despite cotton caulking and sikaflex seamfiller. So a friend of mine said why not use some epoxy. I did not like the idea but thought it over and did the following.I epoxied with cloth to three inches to both sides of the stem and keel. Then I covered the whole boat with just one layer of epoxy only, no cloth. So now I felt better and since the boat is more out of the water then in I had and have no problems. It is all a little double up, cotton, sikaflex and a thin layer of epoxy. But it sure made me feel more confident to continue to finish the boat. The Poulsbo boat I am buldig now is also carvel but will be in the water from March till October if I can help it. So now the cotten, putty and paint become more important for water tightness. Also now the planks will be swelling to keep things tight,(I hope). I love rowing this boat. Sailing with the sprit sail may be something for some people but not me. Today I went out and again had a hell of a time getting off-shore with the sail up and getting on shore with a stiff breeze is a real headache. The main problem, the way I see it, is that I can not drop the sail before I arrive somewhere or raise it after I am a good distance away from the shore. I make many stops to dig for clams, look around the islands and so the sprit is too complicated for me. Once she is sailing she moves along just great. So I am going to ask an "expert", anyone out there?, who can advise me on a alternate solution.

[WRB]

Walcheren
Their is a simple solution to you sail setting and striking problem. It is called (i Think) a brailing line. It is a line that is attached to the leach of the sail a little way down from the sprit and is woven through the sail to the luff. when you pull it, it quickly "brails" up the sail. let it go, and the sail sets again... very handy if your about to go over

[Walcheren]

Hello WRB from Australia. Thanks for your interest in my problem. Tell me more about your solution. Any literature you know about. I have read quite a bit about this stuff. What sticks in my mind is that someone said "the best thing to do is go ashore and take the sail down i.e. mast and all. This also when the wind picks up and things are getting tricky". However if there is a trick to it I like to apply it. After all, I have $200 Can. in the sail alone. And the boat sails well once it is all set up. Would appreciate more information though and pictures or drawings?.

[WRB]

There is a description and a good picture of a brailing setup on page 52 of "The Sailmakers Apprentice" (McGraw Hill). All you need is a length of rope, a small block and another cleat on the mast. You will also have to sew a reinforcement patch with eyelet about halfway up the leech of the sail. Attach line to top of mast, angle down across the sail and feed through brailing eylet on leech, take it back up to the top of the mast and feed through the block you have fitted there, drop it down the mast to the cleat. A fairlead about halfway down the mast would neaten things up a bit.
Hope this makes sense
cheers
Warren

[Walcheren]

Hello WRB. I got page 52 and 53 in front of me. I got it now. This is a fantastic book. Makes you want to become a sailmaker for a while. This looks like a good solution for reefing in bad weather. But if the wind is blowing the guy in the picture is not going to peddle very far against the wind. And if you are on the leeshore it will still be difficult to get away. The wind will keep blowing you back on the rocks or beach I think. But I will give it a try. Have a cringle put in my sale, put a block up on top and see how it works. I'll let you know. Dirk on Quadra

[Carlsboats]

Cypress, eh? As noted earlier, this is an very good planking material for some uses. But I think you will find that it is pretty heavy, and that it shrinks and swells a great deal. It used to be used on the Gulf Coast for a lot of work boats, because it was so rot resistant. But in them ole days, it was readily available. Today, true cypress is very hard to come by and --again as noted in earlier posts -- what is called cypress by some dealers today is anything but rot resistant. Before using it in a very small boat like this one, I would ask around and talk to someone who has used it in this application.