Smith Island Crabbing Scrape

[wollybugger]

Do you have a contact on the 16 ftr's?

And with the $$$ thing, going with the forum prefered resorcenol, there's at least $1000 in adhesice costs.

But it sure is nice having options again ...

[orbb]

Summary of the conversation was:
- a lot of the yellow pine in this area is cut too immature for boat building
- Douglas fir (and yes poplar) have been use as substitutes by local professionals
- nothing wrong with laminating pressure treated lumber

Well, those comments should light a fuse - poplar and pressure treated lumber!

I have epoxied pressure treated lumber to build my back gate, after checking with WEST first. It seems to be holding ok, but of course, it is a part of a fence and not a seagoing vessel. I don't know how resorcinol does with pressure treated lumber, but I am curious to see what other say.

[wollybugger]

Photos of the transom can be found at: http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...7/transom.html

It was fun

[Eddiebou]

I would think your amish mill could handle 16' 10x10's.
Here in the Nor'neck, I'd get Wood Presservers in Warsaw to cut 'em. However, I wouldn't get 'em treated because the treatment really won't go but an inch or two into the wood, it certainly won't penetrate to the center.
I haven't really studied your construction details in depth. I imagine that a good bit of that 10x10 will be shaped down ,beveled, rabbetted, etc. I'd be more inclined to shape the piece, then saturate it with copper napthanate.

This is why I said early on in this post that it's hard to copy an old boat. It is very difficult to find the stuff that was used in those old girls. You spend more time trying to find the unobtainable than the original builder spent building the whole boat. Then, when you finally find "something" to use, you have to make changes, either in plank lengths or widths or both. It really is quite a challenge.

I don't know who said it first, but- "The pursuit of perfection gets in the way of a lot of GOOD work."

[wollybugger]

Cool dialog going on with the original "Smith Boat" author and the technical documenter. Trying to get permission from the Smithsonian to upload some of the original photos of the Darlene on the blog. Very nice people.
Amos, the Amish mill owner got me lined up for scarfing the keel up in white oak. He wants one more crack at the single length piece, now of white oak. I took a trip out to China Lake CA on business and took the book "6 Frigates" with me. A: China Lake would be a great place for kiln drying lumber. B: 6 Frigates described the death of 70% of the Constitutions “Live Oak” lumberjacks due to mosquito-born malaria.
Waiting a little longer on mine is not too bad ...

Stocking up for Irene ... (beer and rum ... maybe ice)

[wollybugger]

Eddiebou ... good call on the model build, it's really forcing me to get all my dimensional data in a logical method. Also gaining a better understanding of the build. So I am finding out the precursor to the model is the "notebook" which will contain all the info when the saw is in hand.

Again ... good call.

[wollybugger]

My backbone lumber is being cut today ... whew ... white oak ... skarfed keel approach

[wollybugger]

Nice video from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museam

http://vimeo.com/28375193

Also going to the Amish mill to see my lumber today ... hopefully all looks good

[wollybugger]

Well, I got most of the oak home. Photos at http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.com/

Let me tell you, I need a better way of carting that stuff around. I built a dolly platform with 10" tires and a 3/4" axle. It holds the stuff OK, but it is so low to the ground I can only put the board end on it, leaving me to haul the other end (ie 1/2 the weight of some heavy stuff). That is not fun, especially since the humidity has been high and we have had a bumper crop of mosquitos since Irene ...

And I am somewhat concerned of the weight difference in oak vs pine drafts the boat more ... putting the gunwale closer to water amidship.

Also I have been researching the engine. The original plans state a 4-cyl Cummins delivering 150 hp. So the current model that matches is a Cummins 4-cylinder turbo charged diesel (4BT 3.9) ... very popular in bread trucks and Fedex Vans .... fun stuff

[thedutchtouch]

you need a 4-5 foot long strap with loops or handles at either end. put the dolly almost 1/2 of the way down the board, and the strap around the long end. you should be able to move heavy lumber around much easier if lifting only 51% and the strap'll let you keep the board roughly horizontal so it doesnt scrape and you don't have to stoop over.

4bt is a great motor choice, easily maintained/upgraded, but may be a bit heavy?

[wollybugger]

Yeah, sure is heavy at 850 lbs but it seems like there are 3 diesel manufactures whos engines are used on the Chesapeake: John Deere, Cat, and Cummins. The Deere's are the most popular (at least in my area) but their 4-cyl 4045 comes in at 1100 lbs dry. I beleive Cats are even heavier

Yanmars 4-cyl turbo comes in at 650 lbs with more HP ... and the gas engines are even less but don't have the torque ... so I am leaving those options open

[wollybugger]

I have the mold frames drawn up. I'll validate them on the model then cut them out of OSB. I'll reinforce the OSB as these things will hold the boat up while going through the planking process.

Drawings at: http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.com/

[orbb]

Cool. Looking forward to updates.

[wollybugger]

A nice visit today with Rich Scofield and Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's "Volunteer". Probably the most "hands-on" museum I have ever visited.

Some photos of the "Volunteer" are at http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.com/p/build.html

Update on the build: My molds are done and I am starting to work the keel. Unfortunatley, I found a nice size void in the smaller aft keel piece, so I will have to visit the mill again. Oh well ...

[Eddiebou]

Well, that's the thing.....Oak sure can be full of surprises. Voids, old rotted out knotholes, bug channels. Also, oak rots from the inside out. The outer shell can look fine, while the inside is gone. Pine rots from the outside in. No voids in pine, and it accepts epoxy better than oak.

[wollybugger]

A good thing that came of this was I got to prove out the "Beam Machine". Both ends of this portion of the keel have 10-deg miters. And once the prop shaft hole is bored, the excess height gets ripped (about a 4-ft rip) and another long rip is performed under the rabbit.

Pictures are at:

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c.../keel-aft.html

Reference:

http://www.beammachine.com/

[wollybugger]

I finished up the aft part of the keel today and will be moving the big logs into the garage tomorrow.

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...aft-piece.html

It will be a challange as I have to get it up/off my smaller boat trailer. I will try and get a weight on the thing ... but it's heavy for sure.

I got the planking on order from the same mill as used by Chesapeake Maritime Museum. It's a 4 hour drive but I will have peace of mind.

[orbb]

Love the picture. That's why I like boat building - you would never see a furniture maker using a chainsaw.

[wollybugger]

Kind of like in a little boring logistics, non actual boatbuilding, lull.

Hopefully this weekend I will get another keel piece in the garage, after moving it from the back of the house. And that's a whole lot easier said than done. It's a 17' piece (8-1/2 square) that's probably sitting at about 550 lbs. I was up in Gaithersburg, MD last week and purchased a 2-ton chain-hoist at Harbor Freight to help me out. And before that I built up a frame ... to hold the hoist ... to lift the log. Tried it out tonight and it works great.

At the same time, the prop shaft auger is in work. I purchased a 1-3/8" Bosch ship auger (17" long) ... that will be welded to a 4' long 1/2"dia (ID) sch 80 pipe ... that's welded to a 1/2" drill chuck adapter. On the boat, it will be a little over a 4 ft bore, so it's really do-or-die ... but if it all work, when I am done I will donate the drill to the Calvert Marine Museum.

So hope to have some pictures of a successful operation soon ... either that or some nice wood for the woodstove ... pray for me ...

Robb
http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.com/

[Draketail]

Wollybugger,

May I suggest that you bore your prop shaft hole from both ends. That way any misalignment is only half as much and you know the entrance and exit holes are in exactly the right place. Any misalignment in the middle can be cleaned up with a boring bar. Pictures of the process can be found in the thread on my draketail build.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...ight=draketail

[wollybugger]

Draketail, I sure will take that advise ... But whats a boring bar?

Thanks for the help!

[Draketail]

Wollybugger,

Go have a look at this thread:

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...ght=boring+bar

for a discussion of using boring bars to true up a prop shaft hole.

[wollybugger]

Draketail, thanks for the info and the link ... it's comforting to know there is a solution out there.

I got the log into the gargage yesterday and today I will work on getting the keel pieces fit together.

So next week I will be building up the boring jig, so I will post pictures on the blog prior to drilling ...

[Draketail]

You're welcome. I look forward to seeing your progress and pictures.

[wollybugger]

I got some work in this weekend, which was fun. This stuff sure exersices the mind

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.com/

[wollybugger]

I got the prop shaft jig completed, ran out of time to get the hole drilled (kind of don't want to rush it)

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...haft-hole.html

[Draketail]

Nice jig! Looks like you've got the setup figured out. No reason to rush the drilling. Set up, stand back and look, scratch head, check set up again, scratch head, take deep breath, start drill. Repeat process for the other side.

One note. You want to clear the chips from the hole very frequently. Drill a bit and then pull the auger completely out of the hole.It is entirely possible to jam the bit in the hole if you try to drill too far. The chips clog up around the shaft that has been welded behind the bit as there are no auger flights to keep the chips moving all the way out of the hole.

Good luck!

[wollybugger]

Learning ....

I tried the jig out last week with not-so-good results. Actually the jig wasn't the problem, it was wood/bit problem. The auger was equipped with the self-feed screw which is a no-no, but I attempted anyhow because "barefoot augers" (no-self-feed screw) are impossible to find (although there is a gentleman on the web that will convert an auger for you).

So I started the bore on the aft piece, and shortly thereafter, the wood chips were coming out "purple'.I suspected the wood had some problems before the drill, but continued just to see what was up. I bored in about 18" (short of the ~30" bore) as I noticed the drill shaft migrating left, then decided to stop.

I sacrificially cross-cut the aft keel piece to see what was up. The bit had migrated about 3/4" off center through the 18" bore. Examination of the wood at cross cut revealed it looked "almost" like healthy wood. But dark lines were adjacent to growth rings ... dark like in dead ... but the wood was very hard.

I attempted to "barefoot" the auger, but stopped shorty after cutting the feed screw off, noticing that the bit's cutting plane was half the drill diameter, but the auger's flute was about 80% of this diameter ... therefore would wobble in the hole.

Off to plan B ...

[Eddiebou]

Plan B- I have seen people re-line the shaft hole. I know one guy who rigged up an electric bar-b-que rotisserie to swab epoxy round and round inside the shaft hole until it set. Although, I really don't know why he did this.

[wollybugger]

Epoxy sure has entered my option list. But hopefully I can get the hole cut. I am going to a different bit, a 3-cutter cross between a spade and a forstner. It has a removable auger screw, that I will replace with a 1/8" standard wood bit ) and only leave about 3/16" (or less) of the bit extended. I think that way I can get the benifit of a barefoot auger and not have the screw thread gain a mind of it's own.

Cutting this shaft hole is a bit sporty, but the screwed-auger was a failure resulting in a setback ... so I'm focusing on how to recover from something thing that will proably be happening a little more frequent than desired ... although patience is one nice benifit from being 50.

I have the new bit and as soon as it's welded up, I'll post some pictures on the blog.

[wollybugger]

Well I got the mid-keel scarf joint done today (http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.com/).

I have another picture of me on the blog. One thing I noticed about this boat building stuff ... us boat builders are damn good looking ... I thought it was a coincidence, but the trend of photos I've seen proves the truth ....

[wollybugger]

My Fuel tanks arrived ... one Iron City ... one Yuengling

fuel tanks4.jpg

[Woxbox]

I'd expect more mpg out of the Yuengling, but more kick from the Iron City. We'll be looking for a report.

[wollybugger]

OK, got the new shaft hole drill welded up ... I will try it out Friday or Saturday.

It's under "Plan B"

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...haft-hole.html

[wely]

Keep up the good work! More pics the better!

[wollybugger]

Nice Christmas present: the prop shaft hole was bored in the main keel piece today.

Result was the bore was off 1 mm in 30" (http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...haft-hole.html)

My son is going to do all the drilling from here on out.

[orbb]

Congrats!

[Cmschlatt]

Chesapeake Bay Mariners Museum has a set of plans and Choptank Boatworks recently built one if you look at their recently completed works on their page.

[wollybugger]

I got half of the planking lumber yesterday

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...ng-lumber.html

And the aft main keel piece is done (just the bottom of the blog was updated with a photo).

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...keel-main.html

[wollybugger]

I finally have the aft piece of the keel done (minus a drain hole).

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...keel-main.html

The latest work is at the end of the blog page. I'll say working with the Aerodux 185 was an easy, relatively straight-forward, and generally a good experience ... a bit expensive ... but peace of mind ...

Next, I'll be working the fwd piece of the keel along with the stem

.

[Eddiebou]

Glad to see and hear that you are making progress. I look forward to seeing more.

[wollybugger]

Glad to see and hear that you are making progress. I look forward to seeing more.

Thanks. Sorry, the last link just pointed to the home page (I changed the format on the blog and now I am having difficulty linking)

... try this one instead http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...keel-main.html ... and the new work is in the 21 Jan paragraph

[wollybugger]

Fit check of the STA 6 mold today.

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...-drawn-up.html

Not much time to work on the boat next few days, as I am heading off to a couples ski weekend (ughh) complete with fancy wine and danty crackers ... figured I'd fess up ... because if I got busted from one of you guys I would be forever banned from the blog.

But got to keep the wife happy as she's putting up with this boat.

Oh yeah ... got the drain hole drilled today. But I needed a heavy duty drill (low rpm) to cut some of the bigger holes (as I rented the drill for shaft hole). Well I bought Harbor Freights 1/2" Heavy Duty 7.5A. Long story short ... busted the chuck on the first hole

... will I ever learn


...

[Eddiebou]

I would have loaned you my Milwaukee 1/2" right angle drill. 18+ years and still going strong.

[wollybugger]

Thanks Eddie that's very kind of you ... that's what I rented for the shaft hole, just a tremendous tool. I just really need to bite the bullet as there really isn't anything "light-duty" about this work.

[wollybugger]

I started on the forward keel piece after a long couple weeks of planing the bottom planking boards and stickering/stacking. I am hoping to have the keel laid in a couple of weeks ...

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.com/#!/


.

[wollybugger]

I finished up the stem today and will drill the holes for the drift pins tomorrow (http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...2/02/stem.html).

Also, exchanged some nice e-mails from a great model builder, Mr Eddie Somers, a Smith Island native ... who has since moved to see the big city lights of Crisfield, MD. An example of his works are out on the blog (http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.com/p/build.html) ... and if you would like to compliment his works it's (esomers@verizon)

Boat builders are nice folks ... that is unless you get in a recorsinol/epoxy debate.


.

[wollybugger]

Well, got the keel out of the garage and outside today. Also fit-check the scarf and everything looks pretty tight. We have some 50+ weather coming in so I am going to try and get the keel pieces aerodux'd together.

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...ying-keel.html

[wollybugger]

Let me apologize now for the future depletion of tasty soft shell crabs in the Chesapeake. Between SMARTINSEN's and my scrape, crabs are probably shaking in their claws!

Got the scarf joined and the stem got attached. I'm digging the stem hole today.

http://scrapeboatstella-r.blogspot.c...ying-keel.html

[SMARTINSEN]

You are making good steady progress.

Mine is very similar in construction, and I am watching so that I can get ideas for the construction details for my reverse engineering