Building the Maid

[J.Madison]

There are some things in life that take hold of your mind and refuse to let go regardless of logic, time or distraction. These ideas start small- but if left unchecked will quickly grow until they have consumed your every thought and, when the case becomes terminal, your every action as well. Your friends will grow tired of your constant babbling about this great idea you have discovered. You will soon find yourself spending every penny you make and every spare moment you have on things that any sane person would find ridiculous. Soon an idea becomes a lifestyle and before long you find yourself laying down the lines of the sweetest little craft that ever graced the water.



The object of my affection is, of course, the Atkin designed Maid of Endor. She is a smallish vessel of just over 20 feet on deck and something about 5000 lb displacement. She is carvel planked in the traditional way over steam bent frames and carries a large gaff rig. I find this boat to be the most beautiful I have yet laid eyes on- at least for her type. In 1978 our hosts had this to say about her "It is rare these days to see a truly classic design -- one which is virtually unchangeable, as timeless as the reasons we go to sea. This is such a boat. One can gaze at her for hours and find nothing out of place. Every line is in perfect harmony with all the others. To change an inch of her would be to offend that harmony…”






I have heard the many sound and reasonable arguments against building this particular boat: “for that much work you could have a much bigger boat…”, “that is about the most complicated boat you could build for the length…”, “you don’t have near enough experience to build that boat..”…… And I could go on. But the simple truth of the matter is this- I have been quite taken by this boat and to select another more reasonable choice would be to forsake myself. And since my friends have long ago bored of my boat talk- please- let me tell you the reasons.

This is a noble craft. She is deeply beautiful, every curve flowing perfectly and every part just right. Her beauty does not come from continuous buffing and polishing, but it is a deep beauty of form, purpose, and personality. She is graceful- able to glide through the calms and also weather the gales with poise that many similar sisters could not muster. While beautiful at the dock this boat is really meant to be out there exploring the straights and channels, dipping her bow into secluded coves and waking each morning to a different place with her trusted sailor. I want a boat that can fit in with the yacht club crowd if needed but is most at home with old friends in their swim trunks on a summer day. Many smart people may disagree with the above statements but that matters little to me. This is a sickness for sure, though I sometimes argue that it is also the cure….


Before I continue rambling please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jonathan and used to do business on this forum as submariner. I decided that made me sound a whole lot like a Navy Submariner which I am not, hence the change. I hope that is not terrible forum etiquette. I posted several years ago asking about the plank thickness for the Maid. The reasonable response I received was “you don’t even have plans? All the newbs say they are going to build this boat but none do.” If the forum had known that at that time I was an 18 year old with an $8 set of chisels and a $12 set of harbor freight planes and not much else in skill or tools they probably would have been even more skeptical. Undaunted I went out and put several nice butt logs of Doug fir from my property through the Woodmizer with the intention of using it for planking on the Maid of Endor. Time passed and I learned to spile, scarf, sharpen and sand. I acquired tools whenever I needed them for a specific job and I got the skills to operate them about halfway through that job. Last year I launched my first real new construction- a Duck Trap Wherry. Since I was sixteen I have spent most all of my free time reading on the internet about how to build boats. I started with fiberglass and did several restorations including a bare hull-up rebuild of a 41 footer. How I managed that without any real tools I am not sure. I have always had the mindset that if it can be built- I can build it.



I am in school studying Mechanical Engineering and so the boatbuilding is limited to the weekends only. I admit that I am not a crusty old curmudgeon like some of you but please don’t hold that against me. I have lurked on this forum for quite some time and learned a tremendous amount and so I thought that I would return the favor by posting a build thread. Perhaps someone who knows less than I will learn a thing or two, and in exchange for some small entertainment value I can also learn more from you about my specific problems on this build.



And so, without further ado, I present the build thread for this newest Maid of Endor:

[J.Madison]

First things first: In order to build a boat one needs tools and a space to build. Sharpening day was a few weeks ago and I snapped these pics while I had everything out.

My collection is not extensive or impressive but several of the planes were my grandfathers. I am particularly fond of the Lie- Nielson socket chisel and the two Veritas planes. I didn't used to believe there was much difference in tools and would just buy from Harbor Freight continually as they broke. The Varitas planes changed all that. They are amazing to work with. I get a silky smooth finish with no tearout and no frustration when compared to the useless planes I had before. Continuing with the shop tour:


These tools all came from exotic places. I got the plane in a rundown shop in Antalya, Turkey- long a wooden boatbuilding town and a major builder of Europe's custom yachts today. I found the drawknife in an outdoor market in Sophia, Bulgaria. It cost about five dollars. The adze (well it is kind of an adze) came from Gaziantep, Turkey. Gaziantep is in the desert very near the Syrian border and has been prized for its metal working since ancient times. I was wandering around in a market under the shadow of an old fortress on the hill watching the artists work. Tin smiths were all around carving intricate designs in their wares and men were making knives and bowls. I bought this adze from a scene that could have been 1000 years old. Smiths were pumping bellows to fuel the forge and then pulling glowing metal out and hammering it among a shower of sparks. The man I spoke to did not speak any English of course and did not seem to understand Turkish either. Language barrier aside I negotiated and he turned a handle on a lathe for me. Five dollars start to finish. I have since honed the edge and the metal is definitely too soft but I can cure that with some quenching and tempering if I choose. The sharpening stone was bought right next to the adze.

I also acquired my thickness planer in a different adventure while living in Mexico. It had been donated to some missionaries building houses and a seminary school in Baja but they had no use for it in the rough construction being used. I made an offer and it was accepted. We both got a good deal. That planer caught a ride back to Oregon via Colorado in my severely overloaded S-10.

I built the Duck Trap Wherry entirely with a small bandsaw that I had always assumed was a 14" saw. It is quite anemic and the other day I actually looked closely for the first time and realized it is a 10" saw. Time for a real bandsaw. I wanted to build a wooden one but while searching for a suitable motor I found this baby:


I got it the day I returned from my five months in Turkey and apparently my negotiating skills had improved because I got it for less than half what he was asking. It was missing a cover, the switch was bad (and ended up shocking me- 220V-OUCH!), several guides were missing and the fence did not function. All problems have been fixed and I am very happy with this tool. It has 7 times the power of my old one. (yes that is a cut skateboard wheel to adjust the fence).

And now just a vanity shot of my first new construction. This was taken after the first season just after I applied a fresh coat of oil- hence the glistening laps. It all soaked into the endgrain of the plywood and she is ready for another season on the water.


But after all this is a build thread and so far there has not been much building. I'll continue posting tonight and tomorrow as I get time to bring you up to date on the progress I've made thus far.

[David G]

Jonathan,

Very impressive early efforts. If I can be of help, my contact info is in my signature. You might also want to come to some Coot (aka the Western Oregon Messabout Society) events. Not only will you get a chance to show off your newly completed boat to an audience of very appreciative folks... you'll get nothing but support for the notion of a Maid of Endor build. A support network of sympatico madmen is always useful on a project that size.

http://www.coots.org/

Meantime... g'luck!

[J.Madison]

Progress is a word that I hold dear. It is announced in a satisfied way at the end of every good day in the shop. The first event that yielded actual progress was lofting. I came up with a solution I have not seen before, although I am sure I am not the first to think of it. Space is far too limited to have a dedicated lofting floor that stays clean and clear for the duration of its use so I built a sturdy deck to loft on and then rigged it with pulleys from the rafters. When I need it I clear out that bay of the shop and lower it down (a two person job) and when finished for the weekend I hoist it up without fear that the dog will run all over it with muddy paws while I'm off at school.


I like this shot because it shows the bows of three boats in a row. What started as Dad's car shop has completely become my boat shop...



I didn't realize the potential of this photo or I would have gotten the bow of the Duck Trap, Resistance, more in the shot. To be fair it is not only me that has taken over this shop- the fiberglass boat belongs to my younger brother. It will be the first major restoration he has completed himself. He is about a week away from pulling it out of the shop. I am very glad that I have gotten my family interested in boats- it makes this habit much easier to sustain.

After the grid was laid down the major lines in the different views were added. This is the front half of the shear in plan view (red lines).


When the shear and keel were marked in the profile and plan views I laid down the body plan from the table of offsets.



I was amazed at how many of the points just did not work. It wasn't a matter of hitting all but one- It was more about hitting the correct half. I did a lot of head scratching and in a few places picked the wrong ones to fair to. Actually, this being my first lofting, I found the whole ordeal to be rather nerve wracking. Every line was put down gingerly and the fear that I would end up with an incorrectly shaped boat was always present. In fact this did not ease until I had marked the last of the corrected stations in the body plan and they faired with all waterlines, buttocks, and diagonals. I followed the guidance of Greg Rossel in his book religiously and eventually came through with a correct shape.

A note to other beginners in this lofting business: You can do it. It requires twisting the brain a little but in the end you will have a much fuller understanding of the shape of your boat and what it is going to take to build her. I spent great quantities of time just looking at the lines thinking, trying to get my brain around how they interacted in 3 dimensions. You will find that moving point a to get the line fair might actually be worse than slightly shifting points b and c because of the way point a interacts with other areas you have laid down as law in the other views. Just look at it for a while and it will come to you.

I am quite proud of my lofting and I show it off to all the visitors to the shop.

One of my biggest fears leading up to the job was finding battens. All the battens I used were doug fir. I sawed very thin ones to do the body plan- they were about 1/8". It sort of worked but I could tell that I was still straining the wood as it would take a slight shape when I released it. I did not feel that I could go any thinner on the table saw and my thickness planer could not go below 1/8" either. The solution was to tape the batten to a thicker piece of wood and give it a pass or two on the planer. If it jumps at all due to the planers power feed it will cut right through the batten- but I was able to get a nice one that is just under 3/16" by 7' and it did all the sharp curves beautifully.

How about another picture cause everyone likes pictures.



and another for good measure:







Another note: Bud McIntosh wrote my favorite guide to building boats but I must disagree with his position on lofting. He recommends just drawing the three views from the table of offsets and being done with it- no checking by drawing the waterlines, buttocks, or diagonals. I almost went this route because I was intimidated by the job and wanted to be done with it. I was afraid of finding errors in my drawing. But I bit the bullet and followed Mr. Rossels advise and did all the lines. I was very glad that I did because I did find errors in my body plan. It wasn't hard to mark new points and fair through them as necessary to get the correct station mold shapes. (Use a pencil that is easily erased for the body plan- no colored pencils!)

Look at me gaining experience and therefore opinions of the right way to do things. I'll be an old crusty curmudgeon yet!

[PeterSibley]

I agree with you on lofting , finding your errors is satisfy if disappointing ! I really like to see a long fair buttock line !

If they are fair ,the rest seem to follow and the diagonals are pretty well your plank lines ...so it makes sense doesn't it ?

[J.Madison]

During the shop tour I neglected to show you one of the newest additions of which I am quite proud. This is a new workbench with the main bench panel made of salvaged 4x12 doug fir. It is HEAVY! It is everything I can do to slowly slide one edge along the floor with a rope tied around the legs.



In the left you can see what is left of the old bench after I cut it down to make room for the new one. It was built out of 1x2 lumber and OSB plywood top. It has bent and bowed and wobbles all around whenever you are working on it. I built the entire boat in the foreground on that bench in complete ignorance that there could be something better. In fact that bench served it's purpose well. But then I read an article in Fine Woodworking about how everyone on earth needs a rock solid, perfectly flat workbench complete with shelves, drawers, a face vise and a tail vise. A tail vise? I had never heard of this before but I knew I needed one.

I bought the plans and promptly changed the dimensions to get a much bigger bench- after all I wasn't building some measly cabinets- this is a boat building bench. I even installed both the vises, rows of dog holes, and a nice shelf underneath. The bench is everything I hoped except the wet beams that made up the top have cupped some over the past six months. I hope they are nearly done moving- this is the price I pay for using solid lumber as opposed to a laminated top. I have been working with the jack plane to get the top flat and I have it almost perfect once again.

The bench took me a couple months of working weekends. Those huge dovetails and double tenon joints did not come easily. The breadboard ends are mortised for a large tenon from each of the beams that makes up the top and dovetailed to the aprons. It was a complex bit of joinery that took some time. I love the quick release face vise. I had never worked with a proper wood working vice before and it is a real treat. The back jaws are padded with wood flush with the apron and I have a flat piece that protects work from being damaged by the front jaws as well. I find that I use the tail vise most for holding large stock flat for planing.

This is it for the shop tour. Tomorrow the boat building will begin in earnest with milling the backbone timbers and we will possibly even get to mold building. Its all to come!

[Roger Long]

I was very glad that I did because I did find errors in my body plan.!

The Atkin's were very "casual" about their fairing. It's not a big deal if you expect, as they did, that a couple days will be spent fairing on the loft floor.

[darroch]

"There are some things in life that take hold of your mind and refuse to let go regardless of logic, time or distraction. These ideas start small- but if left unchecked will quickly grow until they have consumed your every thought and, when the case becomes terminal, your every action as well. Your friends will grow tired of your constant babbling about this great idea you have discovered. You will soon find yourself spending every penny you make and every spare moment you have on things that any sane person would find ridiculous. Soon an idea becomes a lifestyle and before long you find yourself laying down the lines of the sweetest little craft that ever graced the water."

And may this enthusiasm nourish you throughout the build!

[ILikeRust]

And since my friends have long ago bored of my boat talk- please- let me tell you the reasons.

Don't bother - you had me at the line drawings.

[johngsandusky]

You write well, and your passion is evident. Stick with it, you'll do fine. Thanks for sharing.

[Sailor]

MOE BUILD THREAD??? YIPPEEEEEE. I can't wait to keep my eye on this one. You're an engineering student so I don't imagine progress will come at the same rate that Peter's build is coming at, nor Lucky Luke's massive undertaking but perhaps we can hope for progress more like Mr. Ledger's? Certainly do everything in your power to keep your progress somewhere above Sailor's Brother's progress and even mine if you can manage it. I fell in love with MOE as a kid about 12 years old and decided I would build her one day. Then all those thoughts about having much more boat for about the same amount of work started to pick at the back of my head. I've now realized, that was just puppy luv. I have well and truly found the real love of my life in Peterson's 57 foot coaster schooner design. Like you, small boat, build skills, gain confidence. Other projects, more skills, more confidence. I hope to complete one of the two boats I'm working for a summer launch this year followed by another launch next year. Then I would like to start QUINTESSENCE. Until then, I'll live vicariously through you. The thread is awesome in it's beginings and I look forward to seeing lots of progress pics and an amazing looking boat when you finish her. Good luck, have patience and we're with you every step of the way. (As long as you post pics to prove that it happened.)
Daniel

[J.Madison]

Thank you everyone for the support so far. I figured that if I can find an understanding audience anywhere it is here. As far as the rate of progress is concerned- I'm hesitant to compare it to any of the great builds taking place on this forum. My rough estimate of the time required is about 2500 labor hours. I think the rule of thumb is about 800 hours per ton of displacement. I've added an extra cushion to account for rookie mistakes and head scratching time. I'd guess it'll be about five years before launch day working only weekends. But five years from now I will be in a totally different area of life and it is possible that I will take off several months or a year after I graduate and just finish the boat in one fell swoop. We will see. The important thing to me is that steady, if not large, progress is made. I enjoy building as much as I enjoy sailing so just getting her in the water is not the goal. I want to enjoy the process and that may mean taking a few weeks off at some point if it becomes all work and no fun.

I think that it is necessary to enjoy the building as much as the sailing to undertake a project like this. Otherwise I'd just sail the boats that I have (waay to many) or buy a fiberglass boat and be on the water tomorrow. But that isn't why most of us are here and I know I needn't preach to the choir on this topic.

I'm glad to have some of you more experienced fellows validate my lofting experience.

[J.Madison]

The next step in the saga was to find myself some backbone timbers. I am trying to use as much local wood as possible. I've mentioned that I have lots of wood milled from my property that I plan to use where possible. My neighbor is planning to take down a white oak and since the plans state that the backbone should be white oak I convinced him to donate the tree to my cause. The plan was to build with it wet- sealing to keep it from warping too much. On the advice of Mr. Smalser, Mr. McMullen and several trusted others I learned that this was a bad idea. The experts said to find some doug fir and so that is what I did.

There is a local yard that I like very much and so I stopped by to see what they could get me. I asked for a quartersawn, free of heart center, free of sapwood, clear as possible, doug fir, 4x6 16 feet long for the keel. He kind of raised one eyebrow and looked at me funny, but he said he would try to find a log that could give me that. It is a small two-man operation in rural Oregon that must look the way it did 60 years ago. The trailer to move lumber around the yard looks to be the chassis of an old pickup- like 1920's old. There are two massive cast iron thickness planers that are as big as a Honda Civic that are driven by a belt run from a tractor. I'll try to get some pictures of the mill when I get back by there- it is a classic.

Anyway they did not seem too optimistic about being able to find my lumber so when I got home I walked around the property looking for a tree that had a broken top or some other reason to bring it down to make a keel. At the very end of my search I found a tree that blew over last winter not thirty yards from the shop. This tree looked a lot like backbone timbers. I cut an access trail to the shop with a machete and then bucked the log into a 22' length. The section I want to use had been suspended over the ground so it was rot free.



The end boards and strings were to facilitate the milling process to come.



You can see the roof of the shop shining in the background as the sun broke through the rain clouds for a few minutes.

This was my first experience with chainsaw milling but I got a good book from the library on the topic and that seemed to be all it took. I rigged up a milling jig made out of 2 by scrap and threaded rod and bolted it to Dad's new Stihl chainsaw. We used a 32" bar and got about 22" of cutting capacity.

Here is a shot of the first iteration of the jig. It worked fine but we added several modifications as we went to improve function and safety.


The biggest safety improvements were to use a 2x6 a foot long as the bottom block on the nose end. This stuck out past the tip and served to keep my leg out of the chain as I guided the nose end. The other safety change was to use a push stick with a hole in it that dropped over the threaded rod sticking up top. I mostly ran the push stick and Dad ran the trigger, but we switched occasionally. Other important modifications were to cut channels in the skid so that sawdust could be thrown out both above and below the cut and also to cut away the skid right where the exhaust blew on it- to prevent the whole shebang from catching fire.





This is how a straight cut is made. Only the first cut on each edge needs the board. It rests on lag bolts that are set to the two strings. Subsequent cuts are made with the jig resting on the surface of the previous cut. This log was about as large as the saw could handle and I had to roll it to cut three edges before it was narrow enough I could actually make the cuts I wanted to free my keel from the log.

To be continued....

[J.Madison]

The first cut is under way. I am making a typical snarl at the camera. Half way through the guide board needed to be shifted down because it was only 16' long and the log was 22'. When sliding the board under the weight of the saw jig several of the 1/4" lags bent over. We ended up using 1/2" lags on subsequent cuts and they worked much better. Wedges were used to keep the blade from binding. We experimented with different wedging strategies but couldn't tell much difference between them.

The smoke is from the exhaust hitting the skid rail- the 2x4 on the bottom of the stack on the motor end- and from the heat of a failed bearing in the bar nose. Both problems were fixed and the operation continued smoke free.



After sliding the guide board down for the second half. Dad thinks anything with a chainsaw is fun so it was easy to convince him to help and donate his saw to the cause. That said- this operation is quite hard on saws. It is a continuous full-power job that they are really not designed for. As such we stopped every couple minutes to let it idle and self cool. I wanted to find some ripping chain but none was easily procurable so we did the entire job with standard cross-cut chain. This was SLOOOOWWW. We could go about 6 ft on a tank of gas and it was about a 2 hr job to cut 22" wide by 22' long. I think ripping chain would improve those statistics greatly.

I did discover that the local chain shops will regrind a standard chain to a ripping chain if you find one who knows the ripping tooth angles. So that is the route I will take in the future.

Well high speed wasn't a huge consideration for us so we just kept plugging away. A couple weekends later we had this:


And then it snowed... This only happens once or twice a year here so it was exciting.



One of the two beams on the ground will become the keel and the other will be other backbone members. They are quartersawn. The log was not quite as clear as I had hoped but the beams are well oversized in all three dimensions so I think I can work around most of the knots. I took one more cut off the log- a 4x 20 and then hauled everything up out of the woods with a cable run through a turning block on a tree and hooked to the truck up by the shop. I put them on an old boat trailer and took them down to the above mentioned mill to await their next load to the kiln.

I may make the sternpost out of the large 4x 20 but it will end up being rift sawn rather than q-sawn and I don't know if that is a problem.

Any insight from the wood guys?

I still have not gotten the beams back from the kiln but I hope to soon.

[ILikeRust]

Do you know what kind of wood that is? Looks like maybe Douglas fir? Hard to tell from just the pics.

Very cool operation. You can file the rip chain yourself - just let Google be your friend - the info is out there. It's not rocket science. Buy a couple chains; regrind them rip and one when one dulls, switch them out so you can keep going; resharpen them in the evenings.

[J.Madison]

Thanks for the tip. It is indeed Doug fir.

[jalmberg]

Wow. They say that youth is wasted on the young, but not in Mr. Madison's case. Amazing work.

I'm jealous of your lumber!

[J.Madison]

So the lofting is finished and you are standing there feeling like quite the accomplished boat builder. Now the fun begins. If you are anything like me you couldn't wait to actually cut some boat shaped wood. Molds is the next operation and I found it to be fairly straight forward.

For those who don't know- molds are temporary frames that are the exact shape of the stations (minus the plank thickness). Typically one mold is built per station. This is the area that you have heard the stitch and glue guys attack as "slow, expensive and wasteful." Well perhaps building temporary molds that never go to sea with the boat does seem wasteful on some level but then again- you wont find a stitch and glue boat with such smoothly flowing wineglass sections.

And so I am building molds- not only because it is the only way to get this boat, but also because it is the proper way to build a traditional yacht and I rather enjoy it at that.

The first step is to grab yourself some mold building stock. It should be cheap, wide, and if you find something that is curved- all the better. I am using fir flitches sawn to 8/4 during the woodmizer gig. It has been stickered and airdried for two years under cover. Home depot 2x stock would work in a pinch I imagine.



8/4 is far to thick for the molds on this boat, but it is all part of the plan... you shall see.

Next set your dividers to the plank thickness (5/8" in this case) and scribe arcs at reasonable intervals. This is the deduction for plank thickness as the lofting was done to the outside of plank.



This post is really just a pictorial representation of the chapter on building molds in Bud McIntosh's book. He taught me a good chunk of what I know, but hey, there could be worse teachers.

Next pound nails heads into the lofting precisely on the marks. The nail on the right has a much stronger head that could withstand the hammer. I used it to make indents in the lofting at each mark. Then I put drywall nails- the left nail- into each indent. They have very thin and sharp heads that leave a nice mark in the mold stock- but they could not stand up to the hammer.



The mold stock I'm using was "put away wet" and so has a lot of sawdust on it. After measuring for the length of the board needed and cutting it off- I found that brushing the wood clean of sawdust went a long way to keeping the lofting clean and legible. Bring the board over to the lofting board and position it so you can lay it down on the nails and it will hit them all with enough meat left in the mold to have strength.



Gently set the mold stock on the nails and walk all over it to make imprints of each nail head. Flip the board back over and see how it went. I found that a good session left most of the nails clinging to the mold and a poor one left few or none. If none stick to the stock you will probably have a panic moment thinking that you have no hope of finding the curve. Not true. Just find one imprint and then use the lofting to show you exactly where to look for all the others. You will find them.

Stand nail in the dents and gently tap them in. Spring a batten to the nails and connect the dots. I found it best to have the batten on the outside of the nails (away from the boat's centerline) because that way the line drawn is slightly outside the nail holes. Bandsaw right to the line but never over it, clean up with a plane and spokeshave on areas where you strayed just a bit to far and take it to the lofting.



Here is where it pays to have the batten on the outside of the nails. There will be slight divots exactly where each nail was hammered upright into the marks. These divots can be lined up exactly with the marks on the lofting board from the nail heads. I didn't figure out how to index like this until the second mold and it saved me considerable head scratching and chasing of the gap.

In fact- on every mold except the first one I was able to go directly from the bandsaw to the hand plane to the lofting for a perfect first try fit. This saves time and boosts confidence but really the credit should go to the method not my personal skill. This nail head method really works.

After verifying that I have a perfect fit I mark for the centerline and the scarf at the upper end. These lines are easiest to saw at the bandsaw even though they are straight. I found that I had a hell of a time feeding them into the table saw and getting accurate results because you can't use the fence or miter bar, nor can you adjust the cut partway through like on the bandsaw. So bandsaw outside the line and hand plane it flush.

To be continued....

[J.Madison]

Repeat the process for the upper part of the mold. Either use a construction line or draw on another line for the scarf. On this mold I used LL2 which is parallel to the water line but above it. (Maybe L L stands for load line? I'm not sure.) Once both pieces hit all the marks and scarf reasonably well to each other I took them to the bandsaw and resawed them into two 1 inch thick halves that perfectly matched. This is how I got symmetrical molds. If you did not have thick stock you could just trace and plane to get them to match.

Open the molds up on the lofting and marvel at their bookmatched beauty.


You are now looking at the shape of your boat in wood. It is a good moment.

I used plywood for gussets because it is stable, strong, cheap, and can take a lot of fastenings. That said the mold stock itself can take a finite number of nails before it will start to split. So go easy. Pilot holes can help a lot as can drilling and screwing. I was in fast construction mode and opted to use glue and drywall nails without drilling because they are skinny. So far so good.



You can see that the mold itself is nailed to the lofting to keep it from moving. I did pilot drill these holes because the nail goes in and out several times and it makes this much easier. I drilled big enough that I could just push the nail in with my thumb. This makes it easier to index the mold in the exact same spot each time. Hammering the nail would just create lots of new holes.

Remove those nails, flip the mold over, and lay the other half on its back. Make sure everything is perfect and gusset it up too. (Things were more perfect than the picture makes it seem.)


Why make the second half match the first instead of the lofting? Simple- because this way the gussets are both up instead of one up and one down when the mold is opened up. This simplifies attaching the bottom gusset.

Lay everything out and tack the first half into place again. get the second half as close as you can and put just one or two nails in the bottom gusset on each side. Attach the cross spall (every mold gets its cross spall at the exact same height- LL4) to the tacked down half and mark a center line on it. Adjust the second half of the mold until the cross spall center line is exactly the same distance from each side and then proceed to nail up the bottom gusset and the cross spall to hold it all together. Add a vertical support with one edge on the center line and some diagonal supports if needed.



Mark all the construction lines from the lofting onto the mold and make sure to mark the shear as well. If you are like me you forgot until this point but it is best to mark the shear on the face even before you resaw into two halves.

Write its number all over it and admire your work.


I cut the bottom off at the exact height where it will rest on the keel. This information can be found on the lofting of course.

Then add it to the stack and make comments about how it sure looks like a boat over there against the wall.



This is station molds 0-4 and 6. (Number five was absent on class photo day- and why Atkin started at 0 instead of 1 I'll probably never know.)

I'm liking those curves!

[Peacefuljourney]

Hi,
Just want to jump in as I read you wanted quarter saw lumber for the backbone.

Ok Quarter saw are stronger and blablabla... The thing is... Quarter saw mean the grain is vertical which mean with time the check on the wood you gonna have are gonna be vertical also spliting the boat in 2, instead of horizontal where the bolt still hold it together. I had a bad check on my backbone really deep(4" deep Even if I oil it often and keep the floor wet... I guess the wood heater maybe) and it is quarter saw it took me a while to repair as it splited my backbone in 2 seperate piece vertically with nothing to hold them together....

It does bring a lot of good things but as I see you've done it already, now you have to work to reduce splitting and check at the maximum. Keep it oiled all the time, and try to don't haul out the boat too often later so the backbone doesn't dry out.

My backbone is also Douglas Fir 21rings/inch as we are 2 now with those advantage and problem can we start a club?

[J.Madison]

Hi Peaceful,
That is an interesting viewpoint and one that I have not heard before. My keel is taller than it is wide and so by quartersawn I mean that the tall vertical face has all the parallel grain lines and the horizontal face is flatsawn. The keel is cut so I can't really change it now but just to ease my conscience- if I understand the process correctly any checking should occur on the quartersawn face. This means that checks would try to separate the upper and lower part of the keel which is held quite firmly with the ballast bolts.

I think the opposite would be true on a flat plank keel that had its largest face quartersawn. It seems to me that in that case the checking would indeed try to split the boat in half.

So can I rest easy at night? The backbone is kiln dried Doug Fir which is pretty stable and I will keep it well oiled with BLO or possibly just prime it immediately with red lead.

[Peacefuljourney]

No this is the problem, quarter saw expose the grain on top and bottom of timber.
My check happen right in the middle of a 15ft pieces that was 10' thick.
On a flat saw the top and bottom are kind of sealed because the grain is not so much exposed...

And it was kiln dry stock... It will be alright but keep it always wet...

On a flat saw the check will be horizontal.. So even if spliting in 2, the bolts holding the ballast hold those 2 pieces together.

Vertical go the same way then the bolt, so nothing holding it.

[Peacefuljourney]

I don't want to alarm or say it's wrong... I did the same then you for the same reason that you've heard already.

I discover this problem with it, which I think it's well worth mentioning... I use Boiled linseed oil mix with kerosen warmed on a stove.. It stink when doing it but I had no further problem since that. I am paranoid now since that big check problem that take me a while to repair... I keep humitidy really high now and oil it often.

[Peacefuljourney]

Ok I found pictures of that time when I had this problem. This is on the gripe pieces...
As you see it's right in the middle, and it's a vertical check.





The check stopped 4" deep at the glue join of the next piece... Without the lamination it would have gone deeper.
After that I glued a 2" thick flat saw piece on my keel timber(Which was also quarter saw) to reach 5" thick... Just in case.

[J.Madison]

Ah pictures help. I see the problem. The way I have sawn my timbers they will actually be flipped 90 degrees from the way yours are. The q-sawn side will be the side that receives the planking rabbet. I have been calling that quartersawn but perhaps that is more properly called a flatsawn beam?

At any rate two of the sides are quartersawn and two are flatsawn no matter how we look at it. And I don't want any side of the beam to get nasty checks so thank you for the tip! I will keep them well oiled and once launched I plan to keep the boat permanently in the water except for the odd haul out for bottom paint.

By the way I am glad to see you are making good progress on your build and giving us the occasional update as well! A Gartside cutter has been on my short list for some time. I'm a bit too busy at the moment though!

And this sticky- I'm blushing.... I'm afraid this rapid level of progress cannot be sustained because I have posted two and a half months of work in as many days and I must confess that we are completely caught up to where the build currently stands.

I'll keep everyone updated as I accomplish things. Next week is spring break so that should be conducive to getting lots done. But next week being spring break means that this week is finals week and I'm ignoring the book in my lap for the laptop on the table..... The WBF is just so much more fun than numerical methods for higher order differential equations....

[tapsnap]

J, Madison, I am so glad you are building this boat and I admire your spirit. It's one of my favorite designs. Ignore the naysayers and go for it! You are already further along than most of us who have just dreamed of building her. I will be following this thread closely.

[Peacefuljourney]

Madison,
Oufff yes this is called flat saw

Nice that you can switch the face of your timber... I ordered VG saw when doing mine as everywhere it was only advantage for it from peoples and books... And I paid high price for it as some of my pieces are quite wide.... If I had to do it again, would be for flat saw that's for sure as just for this problem all the good are not worth it.

Thanks for my build... My I say that I was also looking for the Maid to build at the start, but end up too small to live aboard (I have now a wife and a baby waiting for the new home to be build) As I love Atkins design... Almost bought the plan for the fore & aft 28ft... But changed mind as I didn'T want the inside ballast.

[St.J]

Great work Jonathan.
I'm really looking forward to following this thread.
Terrific start. Best of luck.
St.John

[Sailor]

Is that a sticky on day one?

[chainyank]

Ya got Moxie kid! This from another one of the younger end of the crowd in here. Somedays I wish I just started building new, but I had to get a "classic" now didn't I?! You picked a great design!

You can count me in as one of your thread trackers! So what is it the old guys keep saying?........ Oh yeah, "More Pics!!"

[Sailor]

I've subscribed to the thread and will check in daily as I do on a number of other threads. MOE............ What a beaut. What do you plan to power her with? A tiny one lung perkins would be perfect. The sound they make is perfect. I want to power mine with electric drive. We're crazy, us boatbuilders, might as well be crazy all the way eh?

[andykane]

Wow, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. Best of luck with the build - I built a 13' clinker ply sailing dinghy while working on my mechanical engineering degree so I'm aware how much work balancing school with boatbuilding can be, but it looks like you've got some great resources at your disposal.

[J.Madison]

Thank you all for the support! As far as power is concerned I believe off the top of my head the plans specify an 8 hp Palmer. Whatever that is. 8 hp for a 5000 lb 21 ft boat seems only adequate. Her home cruising grounds is to be Puget Sound and the Columbia River which are both notorious for strong currents so I am looking for anything in the range of 8 to 15 hp. The difference in fuel consumption between motors in that range is not a huge concern because I will only motor occasionally when the current is strong and the wind is not cooperating. I would like to be able to pull home a nice log if I find one floating but Bob Smalser says that he does that under oar power so I guess I don't need a huge motor for that either.

Any leads on a diesel in that power range for hopefully less than $1000 would be appreciated. I don't mind doing some work to get it up to running condition if that is what it takes.

I have been toying with the idea of going the opposite direction as sailor as far as electrics are concerned and doing away with them altogether. Oil running and interior lights, a hand cranked engine, and manual bilge pumps.... But I don't think that will end up happening because I value a mast mounted VHF antennae for safety and if I have power for a VHF I might as well use it to start the engine and run lights too. And the peace of mind afforded by an automatic bilge pump during the winter wind and rains should not be underestimated.

Once again thank you all for the kind words. I am a little blown away by the attention that this has received.

[peter radclyffe]

well done

[Durnik]

Dad thinks anything with a chainsaw is fun so it was easy to convince him to help and donate his saw to the cause.

Know what you mean.. I got a (in my case, little) brother like that.. ;-)

Maid is lovely.. She and Grey Seal are the two little big boats that draw my eye in.. Looking at what you have done.. that wherry is lovely, the bench & lofting floor.. beautiful, I'm guessing you'll beat the time estimates.. & have a blast doing it. Oh to have a young mans resiliency again.. ;-)

There's a quote used as a sig floating around the forums

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do, than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

You obviously already know this..

enjoy
bobby - working on a new set of canoe paddles..

[Phil Y]

Nice-keep it up. And good luck.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Once again thank you all for the kind words. I am a little blown away by the attention that this has received.

You shouldn't be as Maid of Endor is the one design many of us wish we would build, but for all the reasons you list in your opening posts. But built it should be, and as you are building her you get the sticky and the attention! Great start Jonathan!

And the peace of mind afforded by an automatic bilge pump during the winter wind and rains should not be underestimated.

There's a terrifically brilliant rant against automated bilge pumps by ACB in not too old edition of Classic Boat magazine. He suggests cockpit covers and a reduction in live circuits that lead to nasty timber delaminations. I'll try and dig it up, or Andrew may pop by and C&P the text from his own computer.

Inspirational thread!

[PeterSibley]

Which edition of CB was that in Dunc ?

[Duncan Gibbs]

September 2007, last page in the 'Sternpost' column. I think a PM may be needed...

[PeterSibley]

I haven't got that one Duncan , my CB collection is very spotty , I'll look at yours when I visit .

[floatingkiwi]

Thank you all for the support! As far as power is concerned I believe off the top of my head the plans specify an 8 hp Palmer. Whatever that is. 8 hp for a 5000 lb 21 ft boat seems only adequate. Her home cruising grounds is to be Puget Sound and the Columbia River which are both notorious for strong currents so I am looking for anything in the range of 8 to 15 hp. The difference in fuel consumption between motors in that range is not a huge concern because I will only motor occasionally when the current is strong and the wind is not cooperating. I would like to be able to pull home a nice log if I find one floating but Bob Smalser says that he does that under oar power so I guess I don't need a huge motor for that either.

Any leads on a diesel in that power range for hopefully less than $1000 would be appreciated. I don't mind doing some work to get it up to running condition if that is what it takes.

I have been toying with the idea of going the opposite direction as sailor as far as electrics are concerned and doing away with them altogether. Oil running and interior lights, a hand cranked engine, and manual bilge pumps.... But I don't think that will end up happening because I value a mast mounted VHF antennae for safety and if I have power for a VHF I might as well use it to start the engine and run lights too. And the peace of mind afforded by an automatic bilge pump during the winter wind and rains should not be underestimated.

Once again thank you all for the kind words. I am a little blown away by the attention that this has received.

Don't be too put off by everyone saying they will check on the thread daily etc. They are just jealous' cos their thread isn't as important.
About your engine. If the plans call for an 8 hp then that is all you should need.
Correct me if I am wrong anyone, I believe each hull, unless it is a planing hull, has a top speed, or hullspeed, in that it cannot overtake its bow wake, or the hull sits in the trough of its own making, and trying to gain the extra power to push her up and over that is either gonna shake her apart or at the very least, be a noisy, gas wasting effort.
On ocean liners there is sometimes a huge bulb just below the waterline at the bow and this has something to do with making a wake more suitable to the efficiency of its own self....
I have a 5500 lb 25 ft wooden boat and I am presently putting together an old 1940,( i THINK), 5 hp outboard for her. Plenty. Nice and light and quiet etc.
Nice chainsaw jig mate.
This is interesting.""It is rare these days to see a truly classic design -- one which is virtually unchangeable, as timeless as the reasons we go to sea. This is such a boat. One can gaze at her for hours and find nothing out of place. Every line is in perfect harmony with all the others. To change an inch of her would be to offend that harmony…”

Couldn't one say this about any boat built right. I reckon they all look just right. However to me, the bowsprit or boomkin looks like it is lined up with a plane all of its own, doesn't it?
But it sure is a nice looking craft all the same
Later..

[Thad]

Horsepower rating is not exactly standardized, and the size and price of an engine are more the factors for choice. Cruising is an area where you expect lots of calms might make the difference, as would different hull shapes.

[jalmberg]

8 hp for a 5000 lb 21 ft boat seems only adequate.

I have been toying with the idea of going the opposite direction as sailor as far as electrics are concerned and doing away with them altogether. Oil running and interior lights, a hand cranked engine, and manual bilge pumps.... But I don't think that will end up happening because I value a mast mounted VHF antennae for safety and if I have power for a VHF I might as well use it to start the engine and run lights too. And the peace of mind afforded by an automatic bilge pump during the winter wind and rains should not be underestimated.

I have an equally romantic Tom Gilmer "Blue Moon" yawl: 23' LOA, 8000 lbs disp.

The original builder was a real spartan, and probably influenced by the Pardys, so he didn't have any engine at all. I added a 9hp high-thrust Yamaha out-board, which is plenty of power for her. An 8hp in-board would be better because the prop is in the water 100% of the time, instead of 98% of the time

I tried using oil running lamps on a 2000 mile cruise up the east coast. Oil lamps are just as bright as they were in the 19th century -- easily visible for a mile or two if its completely dark. The problem is, in the 21st century, when you are in a busy area when you NEED good running lights, there is a huge amount of background light from shore. Streetlights, house lights, cars, etc. When you are anchored against such a shore, your warm and friendly anchor light is like a candle held up against a wash of electric lights. It just can't compete with all that background light. After almost getting run down by a big power boat, I switched over to a D cell powered LED lamp for an anchor light, and eventually swapped the kerosene burners in my sidelights for battery powered LEDs, too. Less romantic, but a lot safer. This year I'm going to replace them with LEDs that run off my two 12V batteries, charged by the outboard & solar panel.

I use hand-held electronics for everything and they all worked very well. The handheld VHF was good enough for my very long voyage with all sorts of bridges and locks to deal with. You can always have a mast-top antenna rigged and led down into the cabin, so you can hook your hand-held up to it in an emergency.

The most useful bit of electronics, I thought, was an iPhone with Navionics GPS/chart plotter app, plus all sorts of weather apps. Even better is an iPad, which wasn't available at the time, but which I have now. Just keep them dry.

Better than an automatic bilge pump is solid construction and no thru-hulls. I have an automatic bilge pump, but the only time it gets any exercise is when I clean the interior with a bucket of soapy water and a hose, ala the Pardys. She never leaks a drop and I never have to wonder "Did I close the thru-hulls?" when I leave her.

Did you let Pat know your build is in progress? Bet she's excited.

[MoMan]

Don't be too put off by everyone saying they will check on the thread daily etc. They are just jealous' cos their thread isn't as important.

That would be me!
I'm impressed by your chainsaw milling jig-- Pretty cool idea. I'm also quite envious of your shop space.

Looking forward to frequent updates!

[J.Madison]

Couldn't one say this about any boat built right. I reckon they all look just right. However to me, the bowsprit or boomkin looks like it is lined up with a plane all of its own, doesn't it?
But it sure is a nice looking craft all the same

Well yes one could say that about many boats- it makes good print though, and since it was written about the Maid it tickled my fancy and I felt obliged to share it.

The curved bowsprit did seem a little strange to me at first but having intently looked at the drawing for the last year it now seems like it could be no other way.

There have been some good points raised about the electrical system and I will consider them all. I do have handheld instruments already and no matter what I do with the electrical system I highly doubt I will see fit to permanently install a GPS chart plotter. It is just too far out of character for this boat. If she were bigger and heading to blue water I'd consider it but not in this case. So GPS is handheld for sure, and it will probably be largely ignored in favor of paper charts. It is fun to play with the GPS speed over ground while sailing though, and it helps in estimating currents.

If electrics are installed- and they probably will be- it will be a very simple system. Lights, VHF, engine and not much more.

It is fun to plan these things and imagine being out on the water using them but I have a few steps to take between now and then. To that end I have sourced what I believe are all the materials I will need to get the backbone built and set up, including the ballast and floor timbers.

Sixty feet of 1/4" and twelve feet of 3/4" Silicon Bronze rod is on its way to Portland from Seattle courtesy of Alaskan Copper http://www.alaskancopper.com/ I was able to get it for about half of what Jamestown Distributors sells it for- thank goodness- and no shipping cost either.

This rod will be the various drifts and bolts that hold the whole ordeal together. The 3/4" is for the ballast bolts of course. It seems like massive overkill because only one bolt can hold about 24,000 lb (in tension) before reaching the yield stress of 55,000 psi. My ballast weighs 1100 lb and has six of these bolts holding it on. (This is a somewhat simplified analysis, a real one would need to account for bending moment, preload,...etc..but the result would be similar.) Why such large diameter bolts?

But Atkin was a smarter man than I and so I'll follow his specifications.

Lead Tetroxide is on its way to me from fire-fox http://www.firefox-fx.com/ChemI-L.htm so that I can make some red lead primer. The good folks down at Jamestown Distributors are sending me some Dolphinite bedding compound and nuts for the ballast bolts, and various other SB nuts and washers are coming from other sources.

Now I'm waiting on my timbers to come back to me from the kiln so I can get going on it. In the meantime I have the aft molds to complete and I'll probably get started on the mold for the lead ballast pour at some point soon.

-Jonathan

[Sailor]

What progress!!!! Awesome.

[L.W. Baxter]

Tres cool.

I don't want to slow you down, but if it were me I would find seasoned wood for the backbone. Doug fir straight from the log is going to shrink and move quite a lot during the course of a build.

[Peacefuljourney]

This rod will be the various drifts and bolts that hold the whole ordeal together. The 3/4" is for the ballast bolts of course. It seems like massive overkill because only one bolt can hold about 24,000 lb (in tension) before reaching the yield stress of 55,000 psi. My ballast weighs 1100 lb and has six of these bolts holding it on. (This is a somewhat simplified analysis, a real one would need to account for bending moment, preload,...etc..but the result would be similar.) Why such large diameter bolts?

Well my boat have 9x3/4" SB bolts to hold 4500 pounds... So yeah 6 for 1100 may be a bit over.. Well you will be sure to don't lose that piece of lead

[J.Madison]

I don't want to slow you down, but if it were me I would find seasoned wood for the backbone. Doug fir straight from the log is going to shrink and move quite a lot during the course of a build.

Yes that is true and I did originally plan to use it straight from the log but after getting some experienced advice I am now getting the wood kiln dried. One of the benefits of working with a small lumberyard and getting to know them is that they will do special favors for you. I think I am known as "that boat kid who chainsawed his own beams." They do not normally kiln lumber that they did not saw themselves at this mill but they made an exception for me which was very nice.

[ShagRock]

Yes that is true and I did originally plan to use it straight from the log but after getting some experienced advice I am now getting the wood kiln dried. One of the benefits of working with a small lumberyard and getting to know them is that they will do special favors for you. I think I am known as "that boat kid who chainsawed his own beams." They do not normally kiln lumber that they did not saw themselves at this mill but they made an exception for me which was very nice.

Awesome boat building thread and splendid writing! Most of the old time builders had connections with a local saw miller and it's nice to see the tradition carried on. All the best young man!