Gartside double-ended cutter #106

[trango]

Dear all,

I’m working on Paul Gartside 22 ft double-ended cutter, design #106.



Before telling you more about my (limited) progress – I’m a real newbie builder so please let me know if/when you see anything that doesn't make sense…

Deciding which boat to build has not been easy. I started quite open-minded with two limitations – the design must be possible to build with wood locally available in Sweden and the beam must not wider than ~8 ft. The northern part of Sweden is covered with very large areas of high quality wood that has been used for boat-building for thousands of years. Despite this - or maybe because of this - it is very difficult to find plywood suitable for boatbuilding. Moreover, after building two test-boats, ”The Honker” a Bateau plywood design and a strip-built canoe designed by Björn Thomasson, I decided that I favour the epoxy strip-building technique. After this, I spent some time with the internet identifying a number of designs that I found interesting, in particular The Eel, Grey Seal, The Maid and finally, #106. After discussions with Mr Gartside, I feel very satisfied with #106.

The plans for #106 was drawn for cold-moulding but according to the designer, the ”glass-inside out epoxy strip” technique is feasible. After browsing this forum, I’ve discovered that the use of epoxy may be controversial. From my point of view, as long as you keep control of the gluing conditions, epoxy boatbuilding is a rather forgiving technique for a newbie builder like myself. #106 will mainly be built by fir (Picea abies) and pine (Pinus sylvestris) - wood that glue very well with epoxy. Currently, I'm working with the lofting - very exciting - it's suddenly very obvious that a 22 ft boat is quite large... Luckily, I'm not building this boat because I need a boat but rather because I'm fascinated by the process. In this, threads posted at this forum has been a great inspiration. Anyway; this is the sheer before any adjustments...



I'm trying to do the lofting according to the books by Greg Rössel and Meade Gougeon. Working step by step, I hope I can sort out the process...

/Fredrik Ekström

[J.Madison]

My what a clean lofting board! And what a beautiful design. Keep us posted.

[Peerie Maa]

Have you double and triple checked the squareness, parrallelness and spacing of that lofting grid. Sounds obvious but as you are a self confessed newby, I'd suggest being certain of that now may save you grief later.

[trango]

My what a clean lofting board! And what a beautiful design. Keep us posted.

Yes, I agree - given the rather small size, Mr. Gartside has drawn a very appealing little boat! By the way, I must say that your thread "The Maid" has been great inspiration in launching this endeavour.

Have you double and triple checked the squareness, parrallelness and spacing of that lofting grid. Sounds obvious but as you are a self confessed newby, I'd suggest being certain of that now may save you grief later.

The grid was drawn using rather traditional tools (not by laser) and as far as I can say, everything looks square and fine! Thank you very much for the warning - appreciate it - details that is obvious for the seasoned builder is not always obvious for the newbie!

While struggling with the lofting, I've slowly started to prepare for the lamination of the stem and keel. The stem will be cut from a stock 4" x 4" while the keel is tapered fore and aft with a maximal width of 8" to accept the centreboard. Due to the severe bend of the stem, it will be laminated by ~ 15 thin slices of ~ 1/4 x 5" fir. Luckily, my father-in-law not only have large areas of slowly grown high quality fir, but also a few small toys...





This is just a test-cut - the saw can manage anything up to 30 ft in length and cut slices down to ~ 1/4" - very handy!



The slices where planed at one side while the other side is kept rough to avoid starving the lamination.



It's actually rather funny, I've been worrying about how to slice such thin planks for several weeks but once we started, it took maybe one hour or so to finish the job...

After building the canoe and studying the thread about a certain catboat, I have a good idea about how to laminate the stem - what bothers me is rather the keel which is both tapered and has a shallow bend. I've been thinking very much about this and as far as I can see; I have two or three choices...

I) Use the lofting floor as a jig and glue the hole junk of wood before fitting the keel to the notches of the stations/moulds. Using this method, I can adjust for the spring-back before fitting the keel to the strongback.

2/3) I can also do the lamination using the moulds/stations as a jig and possibly also modify the keel into a false keel. To my eye, this may be simpler and more straightforward solution. But what will happen with the spring-back? Will this method stress the hull?

Suggestions? Opinions?

[Lucky Luke]

2/3) I can also do the lamination using the moulds/stations as a jig and possibly also modify the keel into a false keel. To my eye, this may be simpler and more straightforward solution. But what will happen with the spring-back? Will this method stress the hull?

No it won't. The "spring-back stress" disappears after six months or so. If you do lamination with a lot of curve though, it is sometimes wise to steam the planks and let them cool in shape before gluing them together: the spring-back becomes negligible then.

[James McMullen]

You could also glue up the blank oversize and then trim to the perfect shape once you've taken it off the jig, cancel out any minor springback that way.

A lovely design to choose. Cheers to you!

[trango]

Luke and James; thanks for checking in!

No it won't. The "spring-back stress" disappears after six months or so. If you do lamination with a lot of curve though, it is sometimes wise to steam the planks and let them cool in shape before gluing them together: the spring-back becomes negligible then.

Great news! Maybe this is one of those moments when "light is right" comes true...

You could also glue up the blank oversize and then trim to the perfect shape once you've taken it off the jig, cancel out any minor springback that way.

A lovely design to choose. Cheers to you!

I very much like the boats designed by Gartside... One of the requirements was that the design would offer something that is not easily offered by the Swedish second hand market. With the thousands of lovely folkboats and kosters built - sold for just a few bucks - that is not an easy requirement to fulfill...

Hmm, maybe this is a good time for more questions about the keel... I'm planning to use wood from the lumberyard and the standard length is too short for the complete keel - the individual pices must be scarfed. Can this be done with simple staggered butt-scarfs or shold I take the time and to a proper 1:10? The ~20 ft keel will be laminated by more than 10 individual planks...


Cheers

/Fredrik

[Duncan Gibbs]

Cool already! I'm looking forward to seeing how she progresses.

[James McMullen]

Always do a proper scarph. Always. Why would you skimp on something that is the essential foundation of your entire boat? How many minutes are you going to save by building in a bunch of end-grain to end-grain stress risers and expansion failure points? Your keel isn't a replaceable part. Make one of those simple ramp jigs for your router and it'll be no problem at all to just do it right.

[TerryLL]

As far as spring-back goes, you can reduce the ply thicknesses from 1/4 down to say 3/16 or a bit less. I recently did a fir aft stem in 1/4 and got noticeable springback, and then a fore stem in 3/16 and got zero spring-back. Or, do a practice stem, measure the spring-back, and then adjust the form to compensate. Resawing the blank, as James suggests, is a workable option, but will leave you with feathered ends on the trimmed plies.

What is that fairing batten in your OP?

[trango]

Cool already! I'm looking forward to seeing how she progresses.

Thanks! It's indeed very exciting! I've been lofting the profile view today - I'm starting to see the point with a proper lofting! A small adjustment and suddenly the sheer is fair - amazing!

Always do a proper scarph. Always. Why would you skimp on something that is the essential foundation of your entire boat? How many minutes are you going to save by building in a bunch of end-grain to end-grain stress risers and expansion failure points? Your keel isn't a replaceable part. Make one of those simple ramp jigs for your router and it'll be no problem at all to just do it right.

Thanks James, appreciate the comment - I've been looking into my books (Rössel, Gurgeon, Pardey and Schade) without finding any information about a laminated keel. I'm not searching a short-cut - I'm just a newbie...

As far as spring-back goes, you can reduce the ply thicknesses from 1/4 down to say 3/16 or a bit less. I recently did a fir aft stem in 1/4 and got noticeable springback, and then a fore stem in 3/16 and got zero spring-back. Or, do a practice stem, measure the spring-back, and then adjust the form to compensate. Resawing the blank, as James suggests, is a workable option, but will leave you with feathered ends on the trimmed plies.

What is that fairing batten in your OP?

The spring-back of the stem I plan to handle by resawing the blank. My worry was rather the spring-back or rather the stress of a keel laminated directly on the moulds/strongback. The plan right now (may change) is to laminate and temporary bolt the keel on the moulds. The bolts will be removed once the hull is built - that will take some time and hopefully the stress of the keel will be neglectible...

The fairing battern is pine ~1/2*3/4 scarfed 1:20 and painted black. I think it works fine...

Cheers

/F

[Dr.Spoke]

Hej Trango!
Where are you in Sweden? ( vi kan håller oss till engelska för alla andra)

Lovely looking boat!

PhilMac

[Andy Mcconkey]

Congratulations on a spectacular choice of boat. I've been looking at #106 for years.

I have a Tumlaren that my father and I cold molded and launched nearly twenty years ago.

Good luck with your build. I'm excited to see your progress.

[trango]

Hej Trango!
Where are you in Sweden? ( vi kan håller oss till engelska för alla andra)

Lovely looking boat!

PhilMac

I'm in Umeå - northern part of Sweden - and you? Stockholm?

Congratulations on a spectacular choice of boat. I've been looking at #106 for years.

I have a Tumlaren that my father and I cold molded and launched nearly twenty years ago.

Good luck with your build. I'm excited to see your progress.

Thank's Andy. It's a very nice design - I feel the pressure to build the boat as good as the design and designer deserves - won't be easy..

Just love the shape of the stem;



/F

[Dr.Spoke]

WAAAYYY up north! And I thought my sailing season was short....
As she is a centreboarder, is she potentially trailerable? Will you be taking her to warmer waters in the winter? Or just buying extra clothing to make the most of her until the ice hits. Maybe a little stove in the cabin?
If for any reason I go north, I would love to come and see your progress... But in 15 years of exile here ( just joking) I have not been north of Åre: too cold in the winter, too many mygga in the summer

PhilMac

[trango]

WAAAYYY up north! And I thought my sailing season was short....
As she is a centreboarder, is she potentially trailerable? Will you be taking her to warmer waters in the winter? Or just buying extra clothing to make the most of her until the ice hits. Maybe a little stove in the cabin?
If for any reason I go north, I would love to come and see your progress... But in 15 years of exile here ( just joking) I have not been north of Åre: too cold in the winter, too many mygga in the summer

PhilMac

The season really isn't that bad - usually my boats splash in early May - then we have the midnight sun for almost the hole summer. Not much people is around and an unique archipelago. The winters are long and dark but lots of snow and ice, good for downhill skiing and ice climbing. You are most welcome to visit! Just give me a few years to finish her and I can show you the magnificent archipelago - in the midnight sun.

You are right, the selection of #106 it's not a coincidence... The centreboard will allow easy access to the shallow northern archipelago. If I put her on a trailer, the Norwegian Fjords and the Finish lake system are very close - I may even take her to Stockholm... What I was looking for was a compact centreboard boat that can stand to the rather severe conditions often found in my waters - choppy sea, complicated navigation and strong winds. The cold is not much of a problem, correct clothing take care of that, but I may still add a small stove to dry out the cabin.

You really should try to visit the northern parts of Sweden and Norway - the Lofoten ilands are beautiful!

Cheers

/F

[norseman]

Sounds good Trango.Write me in svensk if you like,I built the 116 glued construction.

Hej då.Rune

[trango]

Sounds good Trango.Write me in svensk if you like,I built the 116 glued construction.

Hej då.Rune

Hej Rune! I think I've seen pictures of your 116 - fantastic boat! Where in Norway are you? If possible, I would love to see her...

/Fredrik

[norseman]

Hei Trango,she is in Bygstad,Sunnfjord at the moment.Hopefully in Bodø this fall.

runebaat at gmail.com

[JoshuaIII]

L
Hmm, maybe this is a good time for more questions about the keel... I'm planning to use wood from the lumberyard and the standard length is too short for the complete keel

This is the issue of all builder... I am building the 116A Carvel planked (Almost same as Rune), took me a few months to find the keel timber in a single length... Start calling around!

[trango]

Hei Trango,she is in Bygstad,Sunnfjord at the moment.Hopefully in Bodø this fall.

runebaat at gmail.com

Great, I'm planning a trip to Lofoten in September, maybe we can take the ferry from Bodö...

This is the issue of all builder... I am building the 116A Carvel planked (Almost same as Rune), took me a few months to find the keel timber in a single length... Start calling around!

I'm following your thread closely! When it comes to the keel timber, my situation is rather uncommon. My wife's family owns large areas of forests so I could easily get a 30 ft quality timber of my choosing just by sawing it in the sawmill shown earlier in this thread. As for #106, the plans call for a laminated stem and keel. So, with such resources, why go epoxy/laminated and not fully traditional? Well, in my own opinion, I think that a combination of wood and epoxy offers advantages over both fully traditional and "commercial" polyester/glass techniques. Admittedly, epoxy can be difficult, I've just read "Details of classic boat construction" by Larry Pardey where several examples of epoxy failure are shown. However, working professionally as a chemist, I know that many (if not most) chemical reactions are sensitive and requires the correct conditions to work properly. But I also know that when these conditions are fulfilled, chemical reactions are very predictable - that why chemistry, as a subject, qualify as science. Since I believe that I will be able to control the conditions under which the boat is built I'm not very worried about using epoxy.

Coming back to the keel - I could saw my own lumber for the lamination but I prefer to use kiln dried wood - therefore I'll use wood from the lumberyard.

Working with the bodyplan - this is station 3 - lofting is fun!




Cheers

/fredrik

[JoshuaIII]

Ah, my bad. I've just reread and it's a cold molded design... Yes Laminated keel timber is better, as it is more stable for epoxy and the entire structure as it would not swell & Contract.

Have fun

[JoshuaIII]

Cheers

/fredrik

I'm just rereading your thread... May I suggest to use stiffer batten for your body plan, as the line does not seems fair from here, but it may be the picture. Do not take for granted the numbers on the offset, those are just a guideline. It is really hard and tedious to make a offset table and error are often in it. In this picture I see 2 points not fair, the second nail from the bottom and a bit below your pencil at the top.

the 2 stations before seems also to have hard spot at the top diagonal... Anyway as I said it's maybe just the pictures... Rendering of camera are something off.

Have fun!

[trango]

I'm just rereading your thread... May I suggest to use stiffer batten for your body plan, as the line does not seems fair from here, but it may be the picture. Do not take for granted the numbers on the offset, those are just a guideline. It is really hard and tedious to make a offset table and error are often in it. In this picture I see 2 points not fair, the second nail from the bottom and a bit below your pencil at the top.

the 2 stations before seems also to have hard spot at the top diagonal... Anyway as I said it's maybe just the pictures... Rendering of camera are something off.

Have fun!

Sorry - missed this post - your advice is much appreciated!

I think the picture was taken before I made any adjustments - forcing the batten through all point! But it's not always obvious this fairing thing. I've discovered that as I train my eye I rather often go back and re-draw previously drawn lines. But the process makes perfectly sense and I'm very glad that 106 is a boat that requires lofting! Right now I have most of the lines on the floor and even though I'm not completely finished, I plan to start working with wood shortly. I've spent around 30-40 hours on the lofting - is that reasonable?

I have a very nice workshop but not very many tools in it, I figured that If I wait to start building until I have everything I need I will take years until I can start so I will have to fill the shop as the need appear. Anyway, the most urgent tool is a band saw. I was considering a brand new Chinese machine but then this Rockwell/Delta 14 appeared for ~200$ - a good deal in Sweden. It's a very nice machine with lots of spare parts available and with new Carter guides it will be good enough.








A rather striking contrast to this workshop that is shown in museum nearby;




The shop belonged to a very famous local builder that built over 400 boats. I will post more information when I've sorted the pictures. They are rather peculiar fishing and hunting boats that were used in the northern part of Sweden. Not to be compared with the beautiful folkboats, kosters and snipor, but appealing and important in their own way...







/Fredrik

[JoshuaIII]

Sorry - missed this post - your advice is much appreciated!

I think the picture was taken before I made any adjustments - forcing the batten through all point! But it's not always obvious this fairing thing. I've discovered that as I train my eye I rather often go back and re-draw previously drawn lines. But the process makes perfectly sense and I'm very glad that 106 is a boat that requires lofting! Right now I have most of the lines on the floor and even though I'm not completely finished, I plan to start working with wood shortly. I've spent around 30-40 hours on the lofting - is that reasonable?

Yeah batten tend to fair them self if you use some thick enough. This is why several different thickness is good when lofting, longer line like the Waterlines need quite thick battens to have a nice fair line.

I have spent around 300 hours on my lofting(Building the floor, the grid, lofting, construction plan, backbone patterns). As I needed to repaint all once because of a major error in the offset. The stem face was use for some point instead of the CL on the offset(For all the bow of the boat, when the designer pick up the numbers. Probably a late Friday), which have made some major error at the final check. The transom also needed extra work to have a nice fair line on it.

I also draw several more diagonals and waterlines lower on the keel of the body plan, to be sure to have it fair as my deadwood is massive and this area needed extra from my point of view. As I also got saw frames, I make sure everything was alright. But this extra time saved me a lot more time in fairing for planking as all my frames are within 1/32 everywhere.

More time on lofting mean less time trying to make it fit later...

Have fun.

[trango]

Yeah batten tend to fair them self if you use some thick enough. This is why several different thickness is good when lofting, longer line like the Waterlines need quite thick battens to have a nice fair line.

I have spent around 300 hours on my lofting(Building the floor, the grid, lofting, construction plan, backbone patterns). As I needed to repaint all once because of a major error in the offset. The stem face was use for some point instead of the CL on the offset(For all the bow of the boat, when the designer pick up the numbers. Probably a late Friday), which have made some major error at the final check. The transom also needed extra work to have a nice fair line on it.

I also draw several more diagonals and waterlines lower on the keel of the body plan, to be sure to have it fair as my deadwood is massive and this area needed extra from my point of view. As I also got saw frames, I make sure everything was alright. But this extra time saved me a lot more time in fairing for planking as all my frames are within 1/32 everywhere.

More time on lofting mean less time trying to make it fit later...

Have fun.

Great, thanks for the input - I guess that I'll will end up at ~ 80 hours once the lofting and pattern making is complete. Sounds like a reasonable time given that 106 is smaller than 116 and also lack an transom. Fortunately, it seems like the offsets are good for 106, I have a few 1/2 inc deviations but nothing serious. Given your input I've decided to complete the lofting as far as possible before start building molds and patterns.

Back to work, more later!

/F

[trango]

Maybe there are some interest in some boats that I admire very much - they also have some historic importance for the northern part of Sweden. But before showing some pictures, we need some geography and history to fully appreciate these boats. Our sea, the Baltic Sea is brackish and during our cold winters, with temperatures commonly below -22 Fahrenheit the sea freezes in November/December. At this time of the year, we rarely see the sun (very good for working, ice climbing, building boats and dreaming about the midnight sun that we have in the summer). In February we start to see the sun and in March, the ice is breaking up. This process starts very slowly in the middle of the Baltic sea. Historically, at that time of year, hunting seals was a very important source of income. This was very dangerous business -the boats was transported by horse to the wake were the hunt started. The boats had to be very light due to the transport over the ice. The conditions were often severe and it was not uncommon that the crews never returned home. The gentleman in the back is my father and he remembers when the crews left for the hunt - so it's not very long time ago this hunt ended. When he was a kid, he even owned a few boats that had been used during the hunt. In this first picture you get the idea about the mother-ship with the dinghy that was used during the actual hunt. The boat was loaded with potato, wheat and syrup and the crew was more or less drifting with the wind and the wake. If a storm hit, they had nowhere to seek shelter.





This is a typical dinghy "iseka" (ice-dinghy) that was used during the actual hunt;




In this picture you can also see a long ski that was used to travel closer to the seals...




The "iseka" had a very flat bottom to allow transport over ice;




I guess life is simpler now!

/Fredrik

[trango]

The lofting continues - but I'm really having a hard time to decide if I should call it a day and continue with pattern making or continue to improve the lofting. Everyone seem to agree' that the lofting is important and that a correct lofting will give you a beautiful boat that is easier to build than a poorly lofted boat - but how do I know when it's good enough? Also, with epoxy/strip-planking, I imagine that the lofting is less critical than with techniques such as traditional lapstrake?

Anyway, I've finished the main-parts of the lofting as described by the books of Rössel - as far as I can judge, everything looks fine. Meaning that all lines has been faired with a batten and that the corrected lines agree within 1/2 inch with the offsets. Moreover, the waterlines and buttocks, transferred from the bodyplan to the profile and half-breadths views also looks fine. Is there anything else that I can use as a quality indicator or crosscheck before starting to make patterns?

Admittedly, there are a few regions that I could improve, but I honestly do not think I can build to the enhanced level of accuracy. I'm not searching a short-cut, but from previous experience I know that tend to get absorbed by what I'm doing and I don't want to stay too long with the lofting there are so many other things that will take so long time...

This is my 30*20 feet workshop located 20 seconds from our kitchen. Removing the boat from the workshop will be a challenge with the beam less than an inch narrower than the doors. I have a very basal set of tools with no fancy old planes or chisels - I'll have to buy most of the tools as the project proceeds.




Opinions? Suggestions?

/Fredrik

[Thad]

If your lines, especially diagonals, are fair, then your molds based on the lofting should allow the stripping to be fair making for a lot less trouble later on. Carry on. Most important is to have an clear idea of the whole construction process from lofting to finished boat -- if you have that you are likely make good decisions along the way.

[J.Madison]

Just a hunch- but I bet your lofting is good enough. If the errors are down to a level small enough that you think you can't build to that level of accuracy anyway I'd move on. Perfection is the enemy of progress.

How good do you want it? I try to keep things within 1/16" of perfectly fair. There are places where you can get closer to an 1/8" without noticeable problems- like the stem to sternpost distance. But its good to try to keep things as accurate as possible in the beginning and then as your errors stack up through the setup and build process you have a better chance of a nice fair shape.

Good luck!

[trango]

Thad and Jonathan - Thanks!

A few more evenings with the lofting and then pattern making! The lofting may not be perfect but I think it's good enough! Now I'm looking forward to start working with wood!

More later!

/Fredrik

[trango]

I guess in time, I will find out if my lofting is sufficient, but now I've decided to move on and start making molds. Nothing uncommon or fancy to show, as far as I understand, standard procedure...



The molds are built in 11/8 inc fir and than re-sawn using the bandsaw. Since I lack experience of the bandsaw I cut the mold ~1/16 on the generous side. At that point I discovered that my planes needed a good sharpening. After considering a few different approaches and after hints at this forum I decided to try the scary sharp method. My old planes are of varying quality and the plan is to upgrade some of them - so I also bought a low angle block plane (left in the picture) and a honing guide.



Junior really like all types of tools and every evening he ask if we can go out and build the boat...

/Fredrik

[JoshuaIII]

Wood plane are like good rum, once you've started you just never have enough! Wait to start the spokeshave collection!

[trango]

Wood plane are like good rum, once you've started you just never have enough! Wait to start the spokeshave collection!

Yes, I can see the danger in acquiring a good plane... I must say that the new plane is a pleasure to use. Hmm, I think I really need a low angle jack - and then a spokeshaven as well....

[J.Madison]

I couldn't afford my never ending need for new sizes of planes so I usually buy them used whenever I see a good one at a garage sale.

Here is a tip that I discovered when building molds- lift the piece up off of the nail heads and stand them in their divots and mark your line as usual- then cut right to the line (just leaving the pencil mark on the piece you will keep). I first tried cutting wide of the line and working it down with planes and spokeshave but I found it much more difficult to get an accurate shape and it took much much longer. When cutting to the line (with a pretty wide blade- 1" but a 1/2" would do) I almost always had an acceptably perfect fit right off the saw.

Unless your method is working well for you- then by all means continue with it.

Keep up the good work!

[trango]

I couldn't afford my never ending need for new sizes of planes so I usually buy them used whenever I see a good one at a garage sale.
Here is a tip that I discovered when building molds- lift the piece up offof the nail heads and stand them in their divots and mark your line as usual- then cut right to the line (just leaving the pencil mark on the piece you will keep). I first tried cutting wide of the line and working it down with planes and spokeshave but I found it much more difficult to get an accurate shape and it took much much longer. When to the line (with a pretty wide blade- 1" but a 1/2" would do) I almost always had an acceptably perfect fit right off the saw.

Unless your method is working well for you- then by all means continue with it.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the advice - I have exactly the same experience as you when cutting wide - takes to much work and time to get it right! I'll try to cut to the line next time - the worst thing that can happen is that I get some more wood for my stove! This always happens, I do my homework, read a couple of books check the web and then I still have to try my way first when I should do as the books tells me directly... Anyway, I has been a good opportunity to test my new plane .

This evening I used the router to duplicate station no -6. After working with planes for a couple of evenings its quite a contrast in speed, noise and dust.




More later

/Fredrik

[trango]

This is my first serious boat-building attempt, "The Honker" by Bateau.







Now- back to the star of the show...

I had a plan that I thought was very good - but now I'm not sure anymore...

In the last post, I duplicated station 6 using a router. Now, keeping the two sides firmly screwed together, I align the station on the lofting floor. Then I transfer all grid-lines to both sides of the station.





Then I add some temporary bracing to the "new" upper side. During the routing and transfer of reference lines the template was also braced. Then I removed the screws that held the two sides together.




Preparing for the keel




And back to the lofting floor. First I screwed the template to the appropriate position. The plan was to use the drawn reference lines of the copy to align the copy to the grid of the floor. In principle, it should only need to align a few of the reference lines to the grid to get a perfect match between all reference lines. In theory that is...

I've double and triple checked the grid - everything is fine. What must have happened is that the two parts must have moved with respect to each other - insufficient bracing probably. I had to remove the bracing of the copy to get a good match between the reference lines - this is exactly what I was hoping to avoid..

Do I have a problem?

[trango]

Progress is slow but steady - I've spent some weekends to prepare my other boats for winter so the building has suffered. But I've managed to finished mold #6. The idea was the saw the station on the generous side and then use a plane to trim to the line. This proved to be both time-consuming and difficult and in the end, I wasn't even satisfied with the accuracy - undoubtedly, my problems has to do with lack of skill. For the next station, I'll follow the advice of Mr Madison and try to cut directly to the line.






With a hull of 23*8 feets, #106 don't sound very large. However, with the first mold finished, I'm starting to think otherwise. I think she will be a rather substantial little boat once finished.

/F

[trango]

Im so very impressed by the level of accuracy that one can obtain with the lofting/grid system - slightest error stand out and is impossible to ignore - really a pain for a newbie like myself. Fortunately, I'm starting to learn and the work goes much faster and the result have also improved. One can almost start to imagine a boat...






The last mould took me 4 hours to finish, to be compared with over 14 hours for the first one.

/Fredrik

[trango]

Half done, no 1-6...




The autumn has been very warm but the winter will arrive any day now. I keep my shop rather cold during the winter, but for epoxy work I need to heat the shop. I've bought a 20 kWa diesel heater that should be able to do the job in 10 minutes or so. Not as elegant as a wooden stove, but very effective...






I'm hoping to start laminating the keel early next year.

/F

[J.Madison]

Looking good, keep it up! And be careful with that jet-engine of a heater. Wood dust is flammable to the point of being explosive if you get it airborne. I'm interested to see what the after sections of the boat will look like. That shape looks like it won't give you too much trouble with planking. Keep us posted...

[trango]

Looking good, keep it up! And be careful with that jet-engine of a heater. Wood dust is flammable to the point of being explosive if you get it airborne. I'm interested to see what the after sections of the boat will look like. That shape looks like it won't give you too much trouble with planking. Keep us posted...

Thanks for the warning - another reason to keep the shop clean and tidy.. I'm not worried about planking the forward sections - but the stern may give me some trouble - the solution will present itself.

/F

[JoshuaIII]

May I also suggest to take care of your timber.... Inside with a heater lower the humidity a lot, which can cause a lot of check into timber. To give you a idea, I build my boat on dirt(For humidity), when I arrive in the morning it's 85% of humidity when I start a fire to warm up it go down to 50% of humidity sometime 40%....

On the concrete floor side of the shop, it go down to 20% during winter, if I bring a glue piece of wood from the other side to the concrete side, it's check and crack within a few days. Winter is terrible for that.

I have to throw water on the floor and do all I can to keep humidity up. Join on white oak open up to 1/16" when I forget to do it for a few days, and some check did happen in the backbone during winter time.

Just something to keep in mind Well another one!

[trango]

May I also suggest to take care of your timber.... Inside with a heater lower the humidity a lot, which can cause a lot of check into timber. To give you a idea, I build my boat on dirt(For humidity), when I arrive in the morning it's 85% of humidity when I start a fire to warm up it go down to 50% of humidity sometime 40%....

On the concrete floor side of the shop, it go down to 20% during winter, if I bring a glue piece of wood from the other side to the concrete side, it's check and crack within a few days. Winter is terrible for that.

I have to throw water on the floor and do all I can to keep humidity up. Join on white oak open up to 1/16" when I forget to do it for a few days, and some check did happen in the backbone during winter time.

Just something to keep in mind Well another one!

Hmm, my shop is all concrete, 2 ft solid for floor, walls and roof... That's why I'm not worried about the weight of the snow on the roof but very nervous about getting the boat through the doors

I have a question here.. I can easily understand the importance of keeping a suitable and constant humidity during traditional building. When it comes to epoxy-strip, I've seen that many books and suppliers rather suggests very dry conditions and klin dried wood. My original plan was to build the keel during the winter and then seal it with epoxy before the humidity goes up in the spring. Comments on that strategy?

/Fredrik

[JoshuaIII]

with a laminated backbone it should not be too bad everything sealed in epoxy. But I would still look to have a reasonable amount of moisture in the shop, just to put all the chance on side

[trango]

Thanks! I'll keep an eye on the humidity and my lumber!

/F

[trango]

Progress on the boat has been slow - I've been delayed by a science meeting in Las Vegas of all places. Only work and no time to find any boat-shops . Anyway, I'm close to finishing the moulds, these are the aft moulds no 7-11. There are some minor adjustments to be done - I think I'll have to look closely to mould no 10 in this picture that looks a suspicious, but the plan is to build the base and start attaching the moulds later this week. In the end, I found a way of building the moulds that I liked and that gave very good correlation to the lofting. Basically, after advice by Mr.Madison, sawing the moulds very close to the line using the band-saw. Then using a router to fabricate the twin-side. Fitting one of the sides according to the lofting. Attaching the piece to the building base and then to the middle piece using plywood gaskets. Flipping the mould 180 degrees and repeat the same procedure for the other side.

It has been much fun but now I'm looking forward to start building things that actually will stay on the boat!





More later!

/Fredrik

[sailboy3]

Looking good. I bet that topsail is going to be fun to fool around with once the boat's in the water.

[JoshuaIII]

Come on, I want you to start planking in 2 weeks

Don't worry you discover a lot of little things that you didn't even thought possible along the way... All little tricks that you only know them when you have done it.

[trango]

Looking good. I bet that topsail is going to be fun to fool around with once the boat's in the water.

Thank you! Rigging the topsail will be another thing on my "First time in my life" list - I guess I'll figure it out if I ever get that far!

Come on, I want you to start planking in 2 weeks

Don't worry you discover a lot of little things that you didn't even thought possible along the way... All little tricks that you only know them when you have done it.

Ohh I'm really looking forwards to the day I can start planking! But I haven't really decided which wood to use yet or how to build the keel/stem. At least I have a suggestion of a name "Bifrost"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifröst

Going back to selecting wood, I'm basically seeing two different paths. Either spruce (Picea abies) which is light, glues very well with epoxy and also is readily available. The alternative is Siberian larch, which is an outstanding material, but much heavier and at least 5 times as expensive as spruce. Both larch and spruce has been successfully used in traditionally build boats here in Sweden. Larch is much more resistant wood but since I'm going for the epoxy encapsulation approach I'm leaning towards spruce.

Now, maybe I should clean the workshop and prepare for building the base - the hole procedure feels scary and I certainly will be nervous when it is time to check the fairness with a batten... I guess that if I don't report back here my lofting was inadequate and I'm feeding the mould to my stove...




/Fredrik