Following the Pied Piper.

[RFNK]

He said he doesn't just want to race Piedys, he wants to be the fastest boat on the harbour.

An admirable goal!

Are you rebuilding that thing on the back of a truck?

Rick

[Rayjing]

What sort of timber are you building the toerails out of ?

[Redeye]

Wait, I missed something.

is this a new build?




Awesome

[Candyfloss]

Yeah, it's a new build Redeye. Way up front he's got a tiny little anchor locker (mine comes back to the second frame), then he's left out all the rest of the frames back to the companionway, then it's all empty space under the cockpit. The chainplates are mounted on Kauri blocks glassed to the topsides & deck. The bunkfront/girders are 9mm ply run down to join the hull & cut 'round the keelbolt floors as Des did with later boats including Candyfloss. There will be bunks from the forepeak to the companionway, but that's all. It really is just a big, open dinghy.

My toerail/rubrail is Fijian Kauri.

[Candyfloss]

All except the first one, "Zephyr" herself, were three skins of Radiata veneer, probably because that was what was available & affordable. Zephyr was two skins with ribs inside, but she blew apart during a very stormy sea trial, & John Peet suggested the new construction. Des would have become familiar with veneering during his apprenticeship as a coachbuilder, so he should have known what was out there. So far as I know, & I stand to be corrected, all solid timber in the Zephyrs & Mistrals was Kahikatea.

[Candyfloss]

Great few days on the boat. Got the toerails dry fitted;





Marcus is coming today to help glue them on. Not a job I fancy doing on my own, too much to go wrong, meanwhile the glue's going off......

Also went over the cabintop with a belt sander, filled the low areas & finished with a longboard;



For the first time since I bought her I now feel safe walking around my boat!

[Candyfloss]

Two sets of hands makes for light work;



They went on a piece of cake. So much so, I also had time to glue down one of my coaming top planks. Did I mention I had finished painting in the coaming pocket?;

[Rayjing]

Looks really good Graeme,are you sure your not building a steinway grand piano !!!!

[Candyfloss]

I don't think a Stienway would go to weather very well, but thanks for the complement Ray.

[Stiletto]

Looking good! what ply are you using on the cabintop?

[floatingkiwi]

ndersen handles and they nary budged on their roost.
I made upward or downward, bigger at the top, supports beneath them and they looked terrible so I slowly removed a bit at a time until it looked good, which was nothing. Erkk.

Wot 'appened there I ask?
I was talkin about how I haven't actually used my winches yet except to try and pull her off the bottom that time I did the dreaded ground thing, and applied everything I had to the wicnches short of bracing my body horizontally and, well, you can see the rest.
And my traveller support is indeed where I cleat my mainsheet, on a rotating base that I modified to rotate 360 dgrs, so I can pull it from wherever I am at the time.
Aren't ya makin a roof like I did? At your own suggestion? You know, laminated, beamless? I am shocked!

I like your front hatch. That is one thing I kept my eyes open for but never seen one for the right price of barter or next to nothing. They are expensive eh mate?

[Candyfloss]

Hi Grant, welcome to the thread. Does your moniker mean you have the good taste to own a John Spenser boat?

The original roof was the short model which Des later lengthened, & by the look of it, it was built from recycled packing crates from CKD'd Toyota cars, which means the ply probably came from here in Thames! It was also the original construction, one layer of 9mm ply over internal beams. Horrible to look at & worse to paint. I laminated an extension piece over the middle portion of the cabintop, took that off & put it aside, then laminated another layer of ply over the whole cabintop, all in treated Radiata ply, 'cos that's what I had at the time & it's good enough for the purpose, bearing in mind that I'm past 60 & don't need this boat to outlast me, & also that Auckland is a long & expensive trip for me & that's the nearest place I can get quality ply at a decent price.

I then cut the roof off the boat, ripped out the beams, cut it in half, grafted in the new section, cut it to size, painted it inside, put it back up, glued it down & finished it to the standard you can see. On reflection I could maybe have as easily built a complete new roof, I just really didn't want to. In fact it would be just about as easy to build a complete new boat, but I don't want to do that either. Or maybe not. I'll probably have this boat in the water 18 months or so after I bought her & I doubt I could build a new boat in that time frame. And it would be much more expensive to build a new boat.

[Candyfloss]

Took the clamps off the coaming this morning. Grinder & sanding block turned it into this;







Damn that's pretty, even if I do say it myself.

[Larks]

Damn that's pretty, even if I do say it myself.

You won't get anyone disagreeing with you here, it looks terrific!!!

[floatingkiwi]

Hi Grant, welcome to the thread. Does your moniker mean you have the good taste to own a John Spenser boat?

The original roof was the short model which Des later lengthened, & by the look of it, it was built from recycled packing crates from CKD'd Toyota cars, which means the ply probably came from here in Thames! It was also the original construction, one layer of 9mm ply over internal beams. Horrible to look at & worse to paint. I laminated an extension piece over the middle portion of the cabintop, took that off & put it aside, then laminated another layer of ply over the whole cabintop, all in treated Radiata ply, 'cos that's what I had at the time & it's good enough for the purpose, bearing in mind that I'm past 60 & don't need this boat to outlast me, & also that Auckland is a long & expensive trip for me & that's the nearest place I can get quality ply at a decent price.

I then cut the roof off the boat, ripped out the beams, cut it in half, grafted in the new section, cut it to size, painted it inside, put it back up, glued it down & finished it to the standard you can see. On reflection I could maybe have as easily built a complete new roof, I just really didn't want to. In fact it would be just about as easy to build a complete new boat, but I don't want to do that either. Or maybe not. I'll probably have this boat in the water 18 months or so after I bought her & I doubt I could build a new boat in that time frame. And it would be much more expensive to build a new boat.

Cripes... And to think, I'm 50 and I built mine to last another 50. WTF?

[Stiletto]

Those coamings look great! The curve is so right with the rest of the boat.

I used to own a Piver Stiletto trimaran, so no to the John Spencer question.

I was interested in your choice of ply as I used the same stuff for repairs on my tri and got a little criticism for it. (Not here)

Used appropriately I think NZ treated ply can be a good choice on ply boats given that it will be glassed over. I replaced rotted 1/4" marine ply with epoxied 7.5mm tanalised construction ply for my decks.

I like your get on with it attitude!

Floating Kiwi, different strokes for different boats. Keeping things appropriate is what it is about in my view.

[Candyfloss]

That's a beautiful coat of paint Paul. Longboarding all of that with the boat right-way-up must have been sheer bloody murder. I'm getting to where I can't put off longboarding mine for much longer. An hour a day will see it done.

I fully expect my roof to well outlast me. The places the original roof was suffering was where fittings had been, & the hole cut for the mast, & around the hatch, & where damage had never been repaired properly. In other words, neglect.

[RFNK]

Call it aerobics!

Rick

[RFNK]

A treat that awaits me, I fear : (



Rick

[Candyfloss]

Unless you have visions of being fastest in the fleet, a worthy pursuit by all means, I don't think there is much point in breaking your back to get a perfect finish on the underwater sections. Antifoul & marine growth soon make a mockery of the best of intentions, & fish don't care what it looks like. Besides, my hull is too unfair to even be bothered trying. There is a big bulge in the starboard bottom panel about midships, caused by an unfortunate choice of materials by the original builder. I reinforced the area inside the boat when I was building the water tank, just in case somebody had tried to sand it fair & weakened it in the process, but I won't be attempting to fair it out. I'll get the bottom smooth but that's all, I'm not going to be racing this boat. Now the topsides, that's another matter altogether.

[Candyfloss]

Just to keep the ship on an even keel, the coaming on the other side;



I'm even getting to where I don't mind the shape of the cut-out any more. It's still a tad too big, but looks much more in proportion with the top plank on.

[Candyfloss]

Got the starboard quarter berth dry fitted;



You'll sleep head & shoulders out in the cabin with plenty of room at your feet for your seabag.

[Candyfloss]

Over the last few days I've made some progress on the winch pillars. First I made a model of some ideas I had. Tapering from 130mm at the top to 100 mm at the bottom;



No. Sloping out won't do.;



Outside vertical. That's better;



Much better. Glued up a Mahogany block to carve them from;



And today out at Aaron's, split it in half, drew the halfcircles top & bottom, roughed them with a powerplane, got them close with a belt sander held upside-down in the vice (no, you never heard me say that), & finished them on the planisher;



As you said Paul, it only took a couple of hours, & the winch will hide those two unfortunate, impetuously-placed screw holes. Tomorrow I can grind the bevel on the back & set them on the deck at the right height. It ain't so scary as I first thought.

[RFNK]

That'll never work.

Rick

[Larks]

That'll never work.

Rick

You appear to have a "P" off of your signature Rick

[RFNK]

OK, just my little joke .....
What I really meant was - it's going to look great Graeme. I like solid winch bases and I think you're right in keeping the outside face vertical. Can you get to the inside of your box coaming to fasten these pillars?

Rick

[Candyfloss]

Rick, you're a dag.

Yeah, it's reachable, but not directly, it's kinda round the corner. I hadn't considered a need for fastenings, I was just going to glue it on. You know my style, I don't use fastenings unless I have to, & even then I usually take them back out again. However, I foresee problems as the glue hits the wood with the pillars sliding upwards as I attempt to clamp them in position, because the coamings taper upwards, & I won't be able to get a clamp inside the coamings. I think.

As Paul pointed out, all the stress on the winches is outwards & forwards, stresses that will be carried by the coamings themselves. The pillar only carries weight from the leverages involved. So my concern as I see it, is to ensure a good, close fit of the pillar to the coaming, for strength & appearance. The fit between the pillar & the deck is not so important, it can be filled with glue & will be hidden by the cove. So, keep it close to the deck by all means, but make the joint with the coaming as perfect as possible. Glue will do that & fastenings will help, but I don't rely on fastenings.

[Candyfloss]

Paul, that pic of your cockpit, I didn't notice it when I was on your boat, but the seats slope outwards, so will trap water between the seat & the coamings, with nowhere to drain. Please tell me I'm wrong.

[RFNK]

I'll take that as a compliment! My favorite Kiwi is a Dagg!

Rick

[Candyfloss]

Don't Aussies use that word? Well, it's a little obsolete in Godzone also. It means a character, a likeable character. There are three degrees of dagism; a bit of a dag, a dag, & a real dag. It was meant as a compliment Rick, & John Clark is one of my favourite people also. I thought your comment was funny.

[RFNK]

Don't worry, we use it in exactly the same way. Hasn't died out here - you dags over there are a bit ahead of us. By the way, a very good friend of mine has just bought a boat from Auckland. It's a Halberg-Rassy 38 - big plastic thing but it looks alright. He and I were hoping the owner would let us sail over with the boat but I think the broker interfered and told the bloke to get his own crew, and he's already on the way now. The broker doesn't know that my mate has done an awful lot of sailing - he built himself a Carmen 40 years ago, sailed it to Canada and spent 4 years sailing around the Pacific. I was hoping to surprise you by turning up to look at the Piedy but now we'll have to wait until we sail it back again - who knows when!

Rick

[Candyfloss]

I guess I'll just have to live with the disappointment Rick.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, I finished shaping the pillars & glued them on;





The things you have to do to get something to stay where you want it to while the glue dries. Ah well, easier than trying to get a screw into it from the inside.

I prefer the grain running vertically, but it's just a matter of taste.

[Candyfloss]

Aren't ya makin a roof like I did? At your own suggestion? You know, laminated, beamless? I am shocked!

I like your front hatch. That is one thing I kept my eyes open for but never seen one for the right price of barter or next to nothing. They are expensive eh mate?

Sorry this has taken a little while to reply to Kerry.

Of course my roof is exactly as I recommended you build yours. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The forehatch came with the boat, ready fitted. I am not enamored of it, & it is not even fitted straight nor centered. I would have prefered the designer's hatch. However it's what I've got, so I'll live with it. I believe they are pretty pricey.

[RFNK]

I guess I'll just have to live with the disappointment Rick.

Sorry, I knew you'd be upset.

Despite that, your pillars look good. Hope they don't fall off.

Rick

[Larks]

I know it's too late now Graham, but Gary (WX) posted a nifty way to stop parts sliding under pressure when being glued like you've done here: basically drive a couple of thin gauge nails or brads into one piece and then cut them off a couple of mm above the base, just enough to grab the face of the other piece.

[Candyfloss]

That's a great idea Greg. I'll have to try to remember it.

Since there are no fastenings holding the laminates of the pillars together, there does not seem to be any sense in using fastenings to hold the pillars onto the coamings. There is no force that can be applied to them that would not destroy them or the coamings in some other way, fastenings or not. By the same token, there are no screws holding the carlins to the deck, no screws holding the coamings to the carlins, no screws holding the coamings together, no screws in the roof, & only five screws left holding the roof to the coamings & the bulkheads, so why start now?

[Rayjing]

Hey Graeme,what glueing system are you using ?, must be real good to take all the loadings without any fasteners.

[Candyfloss]

But (I) did through bolt the mahogany coamings to the deck beams.

On a Townson boat there is no place you could do this, the windows occupy the whole coaming, except on the bigger boats where the windows are broken up with mullions in between, &, I think, the main reason for that being that Perspex only comes 2400mm long. It might be possible to bolt thru the mullions, but Des never suggests it, he puts hanging knees or a bulkhead there instead.

Ray, I prefer to use WEST System, but there are other good epoxys out there also.

[Candyfloss]

Got the hatch runners made today;



and glued down;



The groove is for a pin that will stop the hatch from falling off.

I also made & glued down risers for the coamings to complete the winch mounts;

[Rayjing]

Yeah,I remember using the west system on my boat,execellent stuff. Are you going to have your hatch sliding on brass strips ?,I remember I did that with my boat,and the hatch was smooth to push and pull. From my very distant memory,I also glassed the cabin top before I glued all the runners on,and installed cabin vents.

[Candyfloss]

Des suggests Formica strips, so that's what I'll use. I'm not glassing the cabin top, a couple of coats of resin & plenty of paint will do the job fine.

[Candyfloss]

This is such exciting stuff. Shaped up the winch mounting blocks & rounded all the corners on the coamings this morning;





And rounded off the cabin top corner & ran the deck-to-coaming cove down the starboard side this afternoon;

[Larks]

This is such exciting stuff. Shaped up the winch mounting blocks & rounded all the corners on the coamings this morning;





And rounded off the cabin top corner & ran the deck-to-coaming cove down the starboard side this afternoon;

I know you didn't really initially plan it this way Graeme, but these look perfect!! You couldn't have asked for a better finish I reckon. I'm impressed yet again!!

[Rayjing]

Lookin more like a steinway !!!!

[RFNK]

Looking teeerific Graham!

Rick

[Candyfloss]

Thanks guys. Just think, I'll have fresh varnish on it all by the weekend!

My to-do list is getting shorter, my to-buy list is getting longer.........

[Candyfloss]

And now for the piece de resistance in Des Townson boat building, the thing at the back end of the cabintop. It must have a name, but I forget. Anyway, today I took a pattern;



Cut it out, put it back up & sanded it to the shape I was looking for;



Transferred the port roof portion to some mahogany offcuts left over from the coamings, put away for this very purpose, & screwed that up;



One sixth of it done!

[Candyfloss]

But enough of this frivolity, I promised you varnish & here it is. Three hours of sanding, one hour of masking & half an hour with a brush;







One coat down & six to go. I'll wake you all up in a week or so.

[Rayjing]

Those windows just look soooo right...... There is hardly any straight lines in Des's plans,all the curves meld into each other,very pretty.

[Candyfloss]

Whew! Job done;



And just to fill in the rest of the day without making too much mess, I cut & fitted the washboards;