25 ft Hooper Island Draketail construction, Part 3, planking & onward

[Crazer]

Glad to hear it's moving along, albeit slowly. This is a really neat project.

[ILikeRust]

Excuses, excuses! We want more pics and more progress! hehehe...

Whenever you're ready; we'll be here waiting...

[Bill Perkins]

What a neat repair of the oil pan (the only part of the mechanical work I could fully comprehend).

Will the boat ,especially haveing been widened, require significant ballast to bring her down to her waterline?

[Draketail]

Bill,

Thanks again for the kind comments and your ongoing interest. I do understand that my son is a wizard machinist and fabricator. It's a pleasure watching both his mind and his hands work. He tolerates my help, but mostly because I'm his old man..

As for the boat floating on the lines, I don't think ballast will be required. Naval architect Bill Platt took the original lines from the Sucher book and adjusted them. All we knew about the original lines were that they came from an existing boat. Whether it was a good or bad boat was unknown. Calculations indicated the original wanted to float down at the stern. Bill added some volume from midships back and adjusted the beam by 10%. The bouyancy calculations were done using the new lines, fairly accurate estimates of the actual materials and actual weights for the motor and accessories. Given that, there's a reasonable chance the boat will float at the (new) waterline as drawn. I just hope I can spend enough time on the build to find out soon!

[Draketail]

And, finally! A small wet stain on the planking



Because of:



Last plank in place



Time for Brian (pictured) and I to celebrate the 5 years it took us to finish planking during our one year build... It's still progress!

[Draketail]

And the details of the last plank....

Prepped:



signed, since it is a work of art...



fitted in place:



screwed home:



Cut to length:



and planed to match:



There you have it!

And now some planing, sanding, calking, and painting followed by taking her for a spin...(turn her over).

[Breakaway]

Slainte! Congrats!

Kevin

[ILikeRust]

Hey, let me know when you're turning her over! I'd love to make a road trip out there to watch everyone flip that beast...

[Draketail]

Thank you, Kevin. It is indeed a relief to reach this milestone.

Don't worry Bill. There will be plenty of notification to the WBF denezins for the turn over. Plus hamburgers, beverages, and fellowship.. And I hope it all happens early this summer. But, I've given up trying to predict a schedule for this build. Life keeps getting in the way

[Draketail]

Ok folks, a bit of a photo essay on the chunk built bow of the draketail. This is one part of the boat that really had me buffaloed. I've done enough furniture making and timber framing that the straight forward, plank to frame assembly didn't bother me too much. And then there was this bow assembly to be sculpted out of chunks of wood attached to the boat by magic as best I could tell.

First picture shows the front end of the keel at the start of construction. I wasn't at all sure how to start the shaping process. So I didn't. For the first year or so that the keel was in the building frame I avoided the bow out of fear of doing something wrong.



Finally, as I've mentioned earlier in the thread, I basically said "screw it" and started whittling away anything on the front of the keel that didn't look like a boat. The Swedish carpenters hatchet turned out to be vary useful with the initial shaping and later on with other jobs also. I started to recognize its utility at this stage.



After the initial hatchet work some work with scrub and then smoothing planes got to this stage.



Then applied to the side of the keel are the "chunks". The area is too tight to plank so the boat shape is carved from solid wood. The initial shaping was done on the bandsaw, trying to follow an upper and lower layout line at once. The blade didn't protest too much.



Here the chunks are set in place. They were cut well oversize to ensure I had enough material to carve away. You can't carve away everything that doesn't look like a boat if you start with less than a boat.

[Draketail]

The chunks were temporarily bolted in place with all thread rod. As shaping progressed, I could pull a rod, deepen the counter sink, shorten the rod and continue. The thread rod held the chunks plenty firmly enough to take initial shaping with the hatchet. That was followed with a slick and then planes.



Further shaping and also the beginning of cutting the rabbet in the back of the chunk where the first of the thicker, shaped planks will land.



And the chunk at pretty near final shape. The threaded rod has been replaced with fabricated silicon bronze rod threaded only on the ends. Final installation was done by slathering the mating surface with PL Premium adhesive and bolting everything tight. Several silicon bronze screws were also used nearer what would be the thin edges of the chunks.



Again out of indecision, I had left the front foot or so of the rabbet uncut until I could see the shape of the chunks develop.



The rabbet was finished mostly with a framing chisel to do the gross excavation and then a slick to refine the shape.

[Draketail]

The landing surfaces on the keel and the chine log were considerably out of plane near the bow. And the planks were short enough that there was no way to twist them into shape. So the short planks were shaped from thicker stock to be carved to final shape. The inside mating surfaces were shaped with the hatchet until the plank would lay flat. Then the calking bevel was cut on one edge. The outside of the planks were left wild to be carved later.



Here are the first eight shaped planks for each side getting a coat of red lead. You can pick up some of the twist cut into the mating surfaces of you concentrate on the ends of the planks. The planks were also cut on about a two degree taper to transition from being perpendicular to the keel at the very front to being swept about 15 degrees rearward where they met the planking coming from the stern.



Eventually the bow planking worked far enough rearward to join up with the planking coming from the stern. In this area the planking also transitions from meeting the side planks at a bevel to lapping over the side plank.




To get the shape of the last four planks needed to fill the gap I used dividers. First I stepped off the keel rabbet until I had the dividers adjusted to make four even divisions for the planks. Then I repeated the process along the chine log. The divisions along the chine were wider. I could then pick up the rabbet and chine locations on the plank and set the widths at each location with the dividers.



The "dots" on the rabbet and chine lines were then connected with a pencil line defining the taper. The taper jig on the table saw was adjusted until the pencil line was parallel to the fence. Then the fence was set for width and the plank ripped to shape.

[Draketail]

The last couple of planks could almost be made from regular 7/8" bottom planking stock. They would almost twist into place, but were complaining loudly. So I gave them a sauna bath. A big pot of water was boiled with a rejected bath towel in the water. The boiling towel was flopped out on a horizontal surface, the planks dropped in and wrapped up and left to soak for about 10 min. Extra boiling wwater was poured on the towel during the soaking process



Leading to some pretty steamed planks....



The last two planks meeting the side plank in a bevel had to be steamed into place. The bevel in the side plank was then sawn off to the stern of (to the left of in this picture) the last plank. Then the final two planks were installed to the left of the transition from the bevel to lap joint. It was a whole lot easier to finish up with the lapped planks. Just leave them long and trim in place.



Here's what the bow planking looked like after final installation, but before shaping.



And another photo...

[Draketail]

And finally the process of shaping the thick planks at the bow. The outside ends of the planks were trimmed to the chine line using a slick.



Shaping then started with a scrub plane.



Followed by a smoothing plane and block plane. A lot of time was spent rubbing the surface and feeling for lumps and bumps.



In the process the chunk also got some final fine adjustments. The false stem was removed to make planing the hull to shape easier. The stem will be marked and planed to final shape later



And the final result. I guess I don't need to be buffaloed by the bow any longer.

[Bill Perkins]

Yes I think you've resolved the problem .

[SMARTINSEN]

This is wonderful to watch. How much more do you have to do before you flip her over?

[Draketail]

Bill,

Thanks for the kind words.

Steve,

Looking for some time in early June to flip her over. I still have to get through exams and graduation. The end of the semester is a bit hectic.

Plus, after the last series of post I spent the next weekend plus two days producing the following timberframe structure. Having 90 volunteers working in the side yard for four days took some time away from the boat...



But, while I was otherwise involved, the caulking elves made an appearance.



In and amongst the timber frame work, the elves finished caulking the bottom! Talk about shooting right past a mental hurdle.







On the advice of the head elf (a professional boat builder) the sides won't get caulked until the boat is flipped and settles into its new position.

So, what's next?

Well, before turning her over

- finish planing and sanding the sides
- fill blemishes with Quick Fair and sand
- fill seams with seam compound
- paint with primer and sand, and prime, and sand, and prime, .....
- mark and scribe water line
- paint with bottom paint
- install the oak worm shoe
- install rudder stay
- install false stem

What did I miss??

Shooting for turnover in early June.

[ILikeRust]

Whoa, she's so long and skinny - looks like an eel. I bet she'll be slicker n' snot slipping through the water. Prolly won't take hardly any power at all to slide her through the water at a nice pace. The best part will be that cool old engine going kachunkachunkachunkachunkachunkachunk...

[Draketail]

Yep. At some point I collected data on 11 draketails. The L/B ratios varied from 4.75/1 to 6/1 with an average of 5.47/1. Mine has a L/B ratio of 5.45/1.

length to beam ratio for Hooper Island draketails
	Length	beam	length/beam
	(ft)	(ft)
Sewell at Calvert Museum	35.00	6.35	5.51
Clark from Calvert Museum archives	34.94	6.31	5.53
Chapelle from Calvert Museum archives	35.75	6.83	5.23
Sucher plate 74	34.50	6.50	5.31
Sucher plate 75	38.00	7.08	5.36
Sucher plate 76, original lines for this project	25.00	4.17	6.00
Penguin at Calvert Museum	48.00	10.08	4.76
Martha at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum	43.25	8.25	5.24
Old Coot, built from wreck, 2005	36.00	6.00	6.00
Barbara Sylvia, 1954, Hurley built, Cambridge, MD	43.00	7.00	6.14
Mary E, now in Deale, MD	45.50	9.00	5.06
		average	5.47
New boat, 5" added beam	25.00	4.58	5.45

The original lines drawing says "Suggested power: Acadia or Atlantic two cycle 8-10 hp twin cyl, ditto Atomic Four, Palmer 22 hp, Stokes SeaScout, etc. for speeds of 9 to 13 knots".

The Michigan Marine motor I'm using is 12 hp. Seems to fit right in the recommended range. I'm looking forward to seeing what she'll do....

[Eddiebou]

Reading your to-do list above, I might offer one consideration. Perhaps don't scribe the waterline the first time. I'm making a small change in mine after last season, and I'm really glad I don't have to sand out a scribed line. I will eventually scribe it, but....

G'luck

[Draketail]

Thanks Eddie. Will (not) do...

[Draketail]

All right folks. Progress is being made in preparation for the roll over in June. Lots of time has been spent with Quick Fair and a long board, which doesn't warrant pictures as it's boring as ....

But, some other stuff. The white oak worm shoe has been fitted. It was installed wide and then planed flush with the keel. The red lead will get touched up when painting starts.



And my son has made the various bolts to permanently attach the false stem. Time has also been spent refining the transition from the planking to the false stem. Mark, remove, plane, refit, mark, remove, plane...repeat as necessary. Pictures of some of that to follow later.

[Draketail]

But, of a bit more interest, we made the lower rudder stay. Seems like that would be much easier to fit before the hull got turned over...

If you remember from way back in an earlier thread, the keel, stem, and deadwood is held together with a bunch of bronze bed bolts. Turns out that one of them, after some modification, became an excellent way to afix the rudder stay to the sternpost.

Below, to the left, you see the end of one of the 3/4" bed bolts. To the right you see the hole where one of the 3/4" "nuts" has been removed. It was removed and each end got reduced by 1/8", the thickness of the side "ears" on the rudder stay, and then threaded to accept 5/16" bolts.



Once the pieces were blanked out things were set in place to get the alignment right. The modified and tapped bed bolt was put back in place, the ears attached and squared up, and then scribed around.



You can see the scribe lines and the tapped end of the bed bolt here. While the scribing was going on the ears were also scribed to the rudder stay stock and marked for alignment. The scribed stern post was routed out by 1/8" to accept the rudder stay ears.



Then it was off to my son's shop for some of his usual magic.



And here you go.



Finally, as installed. The lower fittings for the rudder will be finalized once the hull is turned over and the rudder is installed. We can mark them, remove the stay, and my son can do some more welding. I guess I'd better stay in his good graces.

[Eddiebou]

Man, I wish I had some caulking elves. Everything looks great. What's the flipping over date again? I'd like to be there. I've got a lot going on in June and you're like 3 hrs away.

[Draketail]

OK Eddie,

Here you (and anybody else interested) go. From People and Places...

OK folks, I'm sticking my neck out. Progress on the draketail is such that I am setting the date for the turnover. Planking is done. Planing of the bottom is done. Sanding is mostly finished and the bottom is caulked. Final fairing is almost done. I should be able to finish any other upside down work in the month after graduation. Several folks on this forum have expressed interest in attending. So, here you go..

The evening of Friday, June 15, 2012, we will turn the draketail over some time between 6:00 and 7:00 PM. To be followed immediately with celebration, burgers and beverages.


PM me if you want directions.

Grigg

[Draketail]

The turnover date of June 15 is rapidly approaching. It occurred to me that once the hull is upright some way to keep it that way was needed. And, if the boat is ever to see water, I would be needing trailer supports and bunks. Why not combine both in one operation as I'm going to have to build a custom trailer anyhow.

So, my understanding from all I've read is that the boat should be supported on the keel with the side bunks serving only to keep the hull from tipping over, but not bearing any weight. So why not build a support frame that will hold the boat (waterline) level on the strongback to facilitate fitting out the interior. And then later the support can be bolted to a trailer frame, modified as appropriate. (It helps having a son who is a fabricator.)

I started by clamping a double 2"x 12" x 20' beside the keel and leveling it end to end with a water level. Then just trace the keel onto the planks, remove and saw to the line. The planks now provide full length support for the keel and the bottom is parallel to the waterline and strongback. Next I fabricated three cross pieces to support outboard bunks parallel to the keel.

Here is the sternmost cross piece. You can barely see the end of the keel support above the rudder stay. The bunk on the left has been scribed to fit the hull. The one on the right is set up to begin scribing.



There are two things to notice in the picture below. First the batten nailed to the end of the cross piece. Each cross piece has a batten on each end. The cross piece was then leveled side to side by measuring down to the building frame. Once the distances on each side were equal, the battens were clamped to the building frame. That way the bottoms of the three cross pieces are all parallel to the frame and waterline and are also all the same distance distance from the frame and waterline. Secondly the 2" x 10" bunk blank was spaced parallel to the waterline using a spacer block that you can see between the cross piece and bunk.



Here's the bunk blank clamped in place ready to scribe.



Now I needed to scribe the bunk to match the shape and bevel of the hull. The bunk would have a rolling bevel of some sort to conform to the hull. I made up a scribe with the pencil spaced equal to the largest air gap between the bull and the bunk blank. Using the speed square it was possible to keep the scribe oriented vertically while also keeping the scribe pressed against the bunk. Then the square was moved along the bunk as the tip of the scribe followed the hull. It was easier to keep the scribe in good contact with the hull by moving so that the scribe was travelling "uphill".



Here you can see the line scribed on the outside of the bunk. The process was then repeated on the inside.



Once both sides were scribed the bunk was removed, taken to the shop, and sawn to the outside line using a circular saw set just deeper than the plank thickness.

[Draketail]

Sawing the outside line defined the widest part of the bunk at each station. The outside of the sawn surface was then marked with carpenters pencil. You can see the darkened edge on the right side of the plank below. On the left side of the plank you can see the scribe line for the inside face.



Once again the carpenter's ax came in handy to connect the two lines. Closely spaced shallow chops were made to almost connect the lines defining the the rolling bevel on the bunks.



The bulk of the wood removal was then done with the ax. Near the center of the plank in the picture below you can see the transition from close chops on the left to the roughly shaped bevel on the right.



The bevel was then refined with a drawknife, spoke shave, and compass plane. The idea is to just remove the carpenters pencil line as you also cut to the inside scribe line.



Here's one bunk fitted in place after scribing. The bunks were attached leaving about 3/8" space to the hull. The space allows for final shimming of the hull for level as we start fitting out the interior. And, the space allows for some padding on the bunks when the whole assembly becomes part of the trailer.



And the whole support cradle, even if it is still upside down.....



The first coat of primer goes on the hull tomorrow. Progress is being made..

[ben2go]

Bunks and keel rollers on a trailer should support the weight of the boat evenly.To much weight on the keel could cause it to hog.

[Draketail]

Ben,

The keel is supported full length by a scribe fit piece. I'm not sure it can change shape to hog. However, are you concerend that the sides will droop if the bunks aren't on solid contact with the bottom?

And here are some pictures with the first coat of primer. Seems to cover a multitude of sins.. Sanding and a second coat tomorrow...



The false stem is not yet permanently attached so the bolt holes aren't filled yet.



The side seams are not yet calked on the advice of a professional boat builder who said wait until fit out is finished.



And the cradle turned upright.

[ben2go]

I think the sides could droop over time, while sitting on the trailer.That's a fairly unusual shaped hull that I am not familiar with, so my concerns may be unfounded.She is a real looker tho.I can't wait to see her upright and ready for the water.

[Draketail]

Ben,

Although I left about 3/8" of space between the bunks and the hull, my thoughts were that padding or carpet, etc would fill that space when the boat is on the trailer. So the hull would be in contact with the bunks keeping the sides from moving appreciable. For now as we finish the build the unpadded space over the bunks allows a little room for leveling the hull side to side using shingle wedges.

I appreciate the kind words, as I also think the hull is quite attractive. Her big sister, Martha, at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum stole my heart about 30 years ago and started me on the path to this build.

[ben2go]

Ben,

Although I left about 3/8" of space between the bunks and the hull, my thoughts were that padding or carpet, etc would fill that space when the boat is on the trailer. So the hull would be in contact with the bunks keeping the sides from moving appreciable. For now as we finish the build the unpadded space over the bunks allows a little room for leveling the hull side to side using shingle wedges.

I appreciate the kind words, as I also think the hull is quite attractive. Her big sister, Martha, at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum stole my heart about 30 years ago and started me on the path to this build.

You got it covered.

I look forward to visiting the Chesapeake Bay Museum in a couple years.Hear lots of good things about it.

[Draketail]

Waiting for Friday.........

[orbb]

I was hoping to be able to come to the turning - you are only around 3.5 hours from me, and I passed through that area last week on the way to and from Warrenton. Alas, a trial will keep me on this side of the mountains.

Good luck with the turning, and takes lots of pictures. An upright boat will make a nice Father's Day present for you.

[Draketail]

Orbb,

Sorry you can't make it. We will indeed take and post pictures. Next time you travel by, holler and stop in.

Seems like a decent Father's day present to me too....

[Draketail]

OK. What is it we're about to do???



Oh, that's right. We're taking the boat for a drive.



Oops! We're headed the wrong way. Dang this thing is hard to steer!



Now we're headed in the right direction



Oh! You meant turn it the other way! That takes a different approach!



Hey buddy. Can I have a lift?

[Draketail]

Well, looks like we won't be needing this piece for a bit.



But we may need this part a bit later.



What is it we're hanging around for?



Something like this, I think....



Bottoms up! No, wait a minute.. that's supposed to be bottoms down!



Or perhaps we should look at it from a different angle?

[Draketail]

Just out taking the boat for a spin.....









Yep, looks like we did need that gray thing a bit later...



Setting on blocks to get the rigging out of the way.

[P.L.Lenihan]

What a darned fine build thread and all with good old fashioned lumber. Beautiful! If I knew I could have caulking elves like yours to help me too, I dare say I would start building another boat real soon. Mind you, that would also be the quickest way for me to end up 6 feet under, give or take an inch!

Glad the roll-over went so smoothly(so many hands!) and looking forward to the happy day you launch her!



Cheers!


Peter

[Draketail]

And down in the cradle to stay.



First time in daylight and right side up.



And the best part of the whole thing: A little help from your friends! (OK, a lot!) Thanks to all who turned out to make the roll over of Ms. Sue a resounding success! The "happy snap" was followed hamburgers, beans, salad, cherry cobbler, and beer. A good time was had by all!

[tigerregis]

A boat turning bee, with all the fixin's. Just wants one to weep for the pleasures of yesteryear. Best wishes for your splash.

[ILikeRust]

Very sorry I couldn't make it! But as I mentioned to you, it always was kinda "iffy" as to whether I'd be able to make the trek out there... looks like I missed a really neat day. My loss. Ah well, hopefully someday I'll be able to see that fine vessel in person when she's afloat!

[orbb]

I love this picture - this young lady doing her best Hermione Granger to turn the boat over. If only you old people would get out of the way!

[Draketail]

And after a day of fiddling around with the upright boat...

[Draketail]

Peter,


Thanks for the kind words. Part of the challenge of this build for me has been learning how boats are built using traditional methods and materials. As for the calking elves...You're right. I think Springsteen has an appropriate line in one of his songs. But they really did set themselves to the task of calking.

Tiger,

Much like a timber frame raising, many hands make light work. And living in a small community does have its benefits.

Bill,

We missed you. But I knew you might be scarce. I'm sure you and I and the boat will all end up in the same place sometime soon. They were representatives of the WBF here. UCanoe2 (Reese) and WoodboatCoop (Ed) lent a welcome hand.

Orb,

I had'nt made the connection to Hermoine. Thanks. Belief and wonder are delightful things.

Thanks all,

Grigg

[wollybugger]

I love this picture - this young lady doing her best Hermione Granger to turn the boat over. If only you old people would get out of the way!

That picture immediatly caught my eye as well ... She really captures the excitement of the moment! What a great picture!

Congrats on the turn Grigg!!!

[ILikeRust]

That's a sexy sheer line! Like a fine lady's slipper. She's already a lovely vessel. Very much looking forward to the rest of the build.

[Eddiebou]

Grigg,
Glad to hear everything went well. I wish I could have been there. This page has gotten so long, I can't see but pieces of the pics, so I'll be glad when we go to the next page. What sort of antifouling did you use? Does it keep indefinately while out of the water? All I can see is the rooftop of your shed.

[ben2go]

I really like that fine entry and rounded stern.Looks like an old launch.

[Draketail]

Thanks wolly (Rob). Very excited to have her turned over. And it was a pleasure to have all ages excited and involved.

Bill: I too was surprised with the shear line once we got all cleaned up. All I'd ever seen was upside down and cluttered with frames. I just had to trust the original builder (1920's, I think) had a good eye. Hats off to whoever that gentleman was.

Eddie: I hope your wedding catering went well. We missed you here. The anti fouling is Petit Hydrocoat, which from all the reviews I read is supposed to last just fine on a trailer sailed boat. The Hydrocoat is supposed to reman effective even after long spells out of the water.

Ben, she is indeed a recreation of an old launch. Good eye!

Today was spent starting the process of putting in deck beams and king planks. It's beginning to feel like there might be a complete boat sooner rather than later... But I'm sure Murphy will be back to visit at least once more, though. We'll get past that, too.