New build : Stick-up sharpie

[timo4352]

Flipping Day!

What a great feeling to get her flipped over today!
I’ve gotta thank my brother Bob, and my neighbors Mike and Ben for helping me. Of course we didn’t weigh her, we’re guessing less than 100 pounds right now. Mike said he felt like only 20 pounds – or maybe he wasn’t trying too hard…
She looks great right side up. The lines look better than I could have imagined – really. The pics look very cluttered with all the molds and bracing still in there. I’ll need to get her leveled and secured and braced before the molds come out. There’s no stopping me now! Got a fresh head of steam for the interior fitting. Centerboard trunk first, I think. Then thwarts and the rest. I’m just a tad excited – I think I peed a little
Mr Toad was nowhere to be found today. I’m sure he’d approve.
Tim
That sheer!

The boy was shocked! it's a boat!

sexy rear

pretty lines


-- Sorry if it's pics overload --

[johnno]

Brilliant Tim, she does look terrific! I'm not surprised you're excited mate!

[timo4352]

Thanks John,
Did you get your helpers for your re-flip?

[johnno]

Yep, we're lining up for next Wednesday I think. I'll do a bit of work on rudders and tillers in the meantime, and final prep inside the lower part of the centreboard case. I still keep smiling every time I see 'warranty and installation instructions' on your bow...it should stay I think!!!!

[timo4352]

Yeah, my brother got a kick out of it too.
Sorry to disappoint you two, but that will get epoxied and painted over. You'll have these pics though - if you need a smile

[Oyster]

very nice timo,
Looks like the lad is ready to yard on a sail sheet. Nothing finer than having your house apes out on the water with you.
royce

[Eddiebou]

Lookin' good. Now the real work begins!

[timo4352]

Oh sh*t -- there's more???

[timo4352]

Spent quite a bit of time today getting the boat leveled and secured in the upright position. Took some thinking but I came up with an easy solution – I cut 3 little blocks all the same height, and screwed them to my molds on the waterline marks. Then I could lay my level across them and level the boat fore and aft easily, of course athwartship was no problem. Once all was right on, I cut my blocking and secured all that – she shouldn’t be moving around on me now.
I then cut and glued up my centerboard trunk posts – they’ll be ready for tomorrow. And made a brace for amidship and got rid of the center mold. The brace held perfect and she didn’t move at all. Gotta do that twice more for the other molds. I had to butcher the mold to get it out, but I told my self – I set out to build a boat, not a set of molds – screw the molds – save the boat.
You’ll see on the front page of the blog – I set myself a completion date – July 4th 2012. I actually think she’ll get wet and be rowable before that. By the 4th of July I want her complete – sailing.
I think it’s doable.
Tim
leveling

blocking

center mold gone

[Oyster]

Oh sh*t -- there's more???

Just like beer or potato chips
Royce

[hokiefan]

Looks great. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Bobby

[PaulT]

Timo:

Great thread.. You're making great (and fast) progress. Very nice boat.

Thanks:
PaulT

[timo4352]

Thanks guys.
I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Tim

[timo4352]

Not much work got done on the fitting out this week. Alot of head scratching did take place however – so I have been doing something.
I’ve discovered the hard way, I guess, the case for buying plans. Making a boat shaped item from a table of offsets and a few pictures is OK. But, once I got her flipped right side up, things kinda stalled out for me. What should I do first? How should I do it? This will have to be done before I can do that – and what about this? and that? — and on and on… I’m gonna get it one way or another, but a clear plan of what to do and how, sure would come in handy about now. On the other hand I do like kinda “building on the fly” – just seeing what develops as I go along.
I did finally start by making a deck crown template. That allows me to bevel the inwales to the right angle. And I’ll be using it to trace out the deck beams, of course. So I got out some quarter knees and a rear deck beam while using my template as a guide. The small rear deck was a “building on the fly” decision, — and I like it – so it can’t be all bad working this way. So some work accomplished but alot of head scratching too – I think I’m on a roll now – we’ll see where it takes me.
Tim
quarter knee and rear deck beam

deck crown template

little progress

[timo4352]

I have been making some fairly good progress on the boat this week. Got out the false stem. I’m happy with the result there. Next, I made the breasthook – Lots of times on and off the boat getting the fit right. Drilling the forward mast hole was challenging, tricky to get the angle right, but it came out OK. Then I went to work on the main mast partner. I made a beam marking jig from two plywood strips and two wooden blocks the same thickness as the deck beam. Card stock butted up against the inwale and taped in place gives me the proper angle for a perfect fit, front and back. You can see in the pic that the cards need to be on the inside of the jig, as on the right side. Slide the beam up inside the jig and trace the outside edges of the cards and you have a perfectly marked beam. It’s a trick I learned and carried over from my kayak building. The main mast partner notches into the beams. Everything will get epoxied in a little later – after I’m sure it’s all fitting together just the way I want it. Lots of breath holding, tense moments making up these pieces and I’m kinda glad to have this hurdle behind me now. You can see I had to rig up some pretty hokey setup to drill the mast parnter hole at the correct angle – I don’t always have the right tool but somehow have to figure out a way to make it work. Maybe someday I’ll have all the right tools. Maybe. Someday.

[timo4352]

One more - mocked up masts

[johnno]

Some very nice thinking through a few problems there Tim..very impressed. I know the feeling of not having the ideal tool for the job, and having to think your way around it. You're going great guns still!

[Oyster]

great headway timo,
if you don't mind, i have a little concern that your math skills might suffer if you continue to burn up your flash cards as templates.
royce

[timo4352]

Thanks guys,
My test piece of the Sureply after nearly a month in the dishwasher - no signs of delamination.
I'm convinced my boat will last a while. Probably longer than me.

[timo4352]

I got started on the centerboard trunk today. I had the posts made up already. So I cut two pieces of the Sureply roughly oversize. You can see the little marking gauge I made up and used. Marked one side and clamped both together to plane them down to the line. It worked perfect for me – I can’t imagine getting any better fit. I quit for the day after test fitting the trunk to see how it looked. My plan it to trace the plywood onto my trunk logs once I get them made up. Don’t see how it shouldn’t give me a perfect fit – we’ll see when I get there. This was another one of those jobs I worried about beforehand, but once I did it, it was almost too easy. I like when things work out that way.
trunk marking gauge

start of the centerboard trunk

[timo4352]

I've spent all week (couple hours a day) working on the trunk logs. Made each of them from two pieces and epoxied them together. I found it was fairly easy to do this way - just time consuming. Getting the rocker curve cut otherwise, (with a chisel maybe?) seem too difficult. They're gluing up now so no pics yet. Once this glue dries I'll put a layer of glass on the insides. Also I'm thinking of West's graphite powder mixed in for the final coat. Graphite on the centerboard too, I think. Probably the bottom of the hull too. Unless somebody talks me out of it for some reason. I like the idea, for now. Pics when I've got something interesting to show.
Total 150 hours and $290.

[johnno]

Graphite powder on the bottom? Sounds like you want this thing to go fast! Hope you're reading NACA and the flat bottomed boys threads...if you stick a QANTAS wing on the bottom you can gain .1 of a knot and 2 degress of pointing

[timo4352]

I wouldn't mind her being a little fast... (crossed fingers)
Lots more hours on the centerboard trunk today. My idea was to run the stringer down the middle of the height of the trunk. (if that makes sense)
I drilled the 2" holes first, then split the thing down the middle. The aft ends hang over to support the middle of the thwart there. Another two piece thwart (half each side of the trunk) goes up front where the stringer is solid. Those seats will be pretty narrow, but usable,I think. The series of holes will give me places to tie stuff in. I've got the most of it "squared in" today - I'll be rounding over lots of edges next. It all needs to come back out, get rounded, epoxy on the stringers and such, and then reinstalled with epoxy in the hull for good. That will wait until I get the frames and thwarts fitted. I'd have to agree with anyone who says the trunk is a very involved part of the boat. Lots and lots of time and fussy fitting just to get to this point. I'ts all fun though... The hole at the aft top end of the trunk is for that part of the centerboard to stick up through - sticks up like 10 inches...


I took a few minutes to play with the laser level and everything still looks OK

[wely]

Man you are moving along. Keep up the good work and keep the pics flowing.

Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using Tapatalk 2

[timo4352]

Made some more progress this week inside the boat, once I finally figured out what I wanted to do. I put two frames on each end of the center thwart. The thwart was notched to fit between them, and another notch locates the centerboard trunk. There was some tricky marking & cutting to make it all fit right, but it came out pretty good. Very solid – and I got to remove the temporary brace there. Then I got a start on the sternsheets. Again, I spent alot of time figuring out how I wanted to do things there also. I made sure to check all my measurements against my body – meaning mostly that the seats are at a comfortable height and the space between the center thwart and the sternsheets is such that I can brace my feet on the sternsheets when I’m rowing. I’ve been trying to think of all the variables like this so I end up with a comfortable and usable vessel when I’m done. All this extra thinking stuff out takes alot of extra time, but it’s worth it. A split thwart will go at the forward end of the centerboard case. That will come next after I finish the sternsheets. The sheets will get trimmed up nice after while. Right now there just kinda rough cut oversize. I’m planning on a “U” shape cutout for them and some rounded edges there. More thinking it out to come.
elementary boatbuilding

what's this disaster?





roughing out the sternsheets

[johnno]

I like the way you're thinking this out Tim, and the results seem to be paying off.

Are you putting floorboards in? I've had to design my seats (not really thwarts in my case) to be removeable so that I can take the floors out in one piece.

[timo4352]

Thanks, John. I've been going back and forth about floorboards. My bottom is only 1/4" ply. At first I was thinking I would need to fit floors and floorboards. But then I thought lots more work, and weight, plus I would not be able to bail her out completely if I should get too much water inside or capsize. So now I'm leaning towards fiberglassing the inside of the bottom as well as the outside. I think this should stiffen it up enough and then my bailing scoop can get right to the bottom. Easier to keep clean too. I'm open to opinions on this idea for sure - anybody tried it? How'd it work out for ya?
Tim

[johnno]

I've bought a little hand operated bilge pump, but a good quality one. I'll have some hose on both sides of the centreboard case, joined, and then fed into the pump. I will see how it goes. It will either exit via a hose over the side, or perhaps into the upper side of the centreboard case with a permanent hose fitting.

Another option is a couple of self-draining venturi type bailers, but I don't want two holes in my hull.

Of course, a bucket will be needed for any manoeuvres I make 90 degrees to the horizontal.

The little fisherman's skiff I borrow from a mate just has the bottom, and it's not even fibreglassed. Paint is basically waterproof, so I'm not sure what the fibreglassing would achieve. You could just coat it with a thin epoxy before painting, like I did.

[Daniel Noyes]

excelent set of photos, looks like a fun boat, thanks.
It's surprising how similar this sharpie hull is to the Windmill sailing dinghy design from the 1960's-70's... or mabey it's the other way around!

[Breakaway]

My two cents: Launch her and use her first and then you'll know if you need/want the extra stiffness, weight and work.

Kevin

[Oyster]

good progress timo
royce

[timo4352]

I had a kinda slow week on the boat but still managed a little progress. Got the sternsheets finished. I just did a simple fan pattern. I’m pleased with the results. What do you think? I’ve got one half of the forward half-thwarts done. Probably get the other half tomorrow. The centerboard trunk will really be rock solid when it’s all together. Things are coming together – little bits at a time.

forward half-thwart

[Breakaway]

Looks great!

Kevin

[timo4352]

Thanks, Kevin

Well, I got the front split /thwart done today. And as I suspected the centerboard trunk is now soild as a rock. I think I’d have to whack it with a sledgehammer to get it to move any – and no – I’m not gonna try it just to see. I thought I’d be done for the day, but I said to myself “just one more thing”. So I got out the cap for the trunk – rounded the edges and screwed it down. That’s one less thing I’ll need to do later and it didn’t take but maybe one extra hour. Speaking of time, I’d guess I’m roughly 175 hours into my little project here. Still only spent about $290. Next week I’ll be working on the mast steps and the framing for the washboards. And all this interior work still need to come back out and get epoxied back in.
Now, somebody’s gonna have to clean up this mess…. No takers?
I guess that’ll be me then

[kharder]

Lookin good! You'll be sailing in no time.

[timo4352]

This week I only managed a few hours during the week. Got more done on the weekend though. I decided to put the mooring bitt in. wasn’t sure I wanted it at first, but now I like the look. And if I use a plank bowsprit with a balanced jib at some point, I’ll be glad I have the bitt. It’s just a dummy bitt in there now – it’ll get a better piece of wood. Got a couple knees up front put in and played around with the front deck to see how it will look. And got the centerboard glued up, cut out and started shaping it to a “somewhat foil” shape. We”ll have to wait and see if it’s actually a foil or not when I’m done. I did plot the foil curve and cut out a template NACA 0009 and cut it in half to use at either end. My board is wider. Once the foil is cut then both sides will get sheated with 1/4″ ply as described in Parkers book. It’ll be a fun project. In the one pic you can see the board in the down position in the boat. It hangs down 19 1/2″ and there is still quite a bit of board in the trunk at that point so it should be pretty solid, I hope.
Here’s a few pics for this week…

marking the cb


cb down

shaping the foil

[timo4352]

Hi All
Made some progress on my centerboard. Got the lead poured in a seperate mold and epoxied it into the board.
five pound pan

[johnno]

I feel as though there's a bit of a link across the pond with these two builds..really enjoying watching things that are still fresh in my memory being played out on another (related) design, and always with slightly different ways of doing things. Look forward to the next shots in the sequence. What's the original piece of lead and how heavy?

By the way, loved the read on the cat ketch rig...fantastic! Thanks for pointing me to it.

[timo4352]

5# ingot. used two of them -- That article, to me, really makes the rig sound irresistable. Someday I'll have to have
one.

[UCanoe_2]

Tim, in the photo in #86 that shows the centerboard down, there is a turnbuckle attached to the sawhorse at lower left with a cable leading out of the picture. I'm guessing it's some kind of adjustment for keeping your strongback straight? Can you tell us more about this piece of engineering?

[timo4352]

Tim, in the photo in #86 that shows the centerboard down, there is a turnbuckle attached to the sawhorse at lower left with a cable leading out of the picture. I'm guessing it's some kind of adjustment for keeping your strongback straight? Can you tell us more about this piece of engineering?

The cable is my staight and level center line. It runs down the center of the length of the strongback. Everything on the boat, during setup, was measured or referenced from that line. It kinda shows in this pic - look for it down the center of the strongback. I had to move it over to get the board to go down. The first I'd touched it since I started. The turnbuckles keep it taught and so centered.

[Eddiebou]

What are the semi circular cut-outs in the strip on the cb case for?

[timo4352]

What are the semi circular cut-outs in the strip on the cb case for?

There just places where I can tie stuff in so it doesn't get lost overboard or flop around inside.

[timo4352]

I took the clamps off the centerboard today and started trimming and cleaning it up. I was suprised how heavy it is , so I weighed it with the bathromm scale. 28 pounds roughly. My question is: with ten pounds of lead inserted in there I've got roughly 18 pounds of wood plywood and epoxy. Destined to get a little heavier after the glass goes on. Do you think it will want to float or sink at this ratio of wood to lead weight. Just to lift it it seems it would drop like a rock - but of course wood floats...
What do you think? Will the board drop and stay down? Guess I could float it in the pool or something to see

[timo4352]

Two bitt ---

[Breakaway]

I'd go with one crosspiece, the lower one, if that is what you are asking. I'd also round or taper the front and back faces the way you did the sides ( maybe you did, I cant tell from the image).

Nice progress, thoroughly enjoying watching the process. Thanks for all the posts

[Oyster]

I took the clamps off the centerboard today and started trimming and cleaning it up. I was suprised how heavy it is , so I weighed it with the bathromm scale. 28 pounds roughly. My question is: with ten pounds of lead inserted in there I've got roughly 18 pounds of wood plywood and epoxy. Destined to get a little heavier after the glass goes on. Do you think it will want to float or sink at this ratio of wood to lead weight. Just to lift it it seems it would drop like a rock - but of course wood floats...
What do you think? Will the board drop and stay down? Guess I could float it in the pool or something to see

timo,
there are 231 cubic inches in a gallon and a gallon of water weighs 8.33 lbs. so your centerboard at 28 lbs would need to displace over 3.36 gallons or 776.47 cubic inches to sink. here is something that i had a time getting my head around, i was launching bowling balls into the pond with a mortar and the 12 lb and less would float and the 13 lb and more would sink. it was hard to believe a bowling ball would float. so my bet is it will float but stay down in the slot
royce

[Wayne Jeffers]

. . . so your centerboard at 28 lbs would need to displace over 3.36 gallons or 776.47 cubic inches to sink. . .

Actually, it would need to displace more water than that in order to float. Strictly speaking, part of the CB will be above water when it is fully lowered, so that part is displacing no water (and its volume would not count, but its weight would.)

Wayne

[Oyster]

Actually, it would need to displace more water than that in order to float. Strictly speaking, part of the CB will be above water when it is fully lowered, so that part is displacing no water (and its volume would not count, but its weight would.)

Wayne

thanks wayne,
been ass backwards all my life

[timo4352]

The two bitt comment was just a silly play on words.
I've put two crosspeices in for the possible future use of a plank bowsprit. This way if I'm not happy with the stickup jib, I can fit a balance jib in its place - and still have a usable mooring bitt. The idea is to cut a notch at the rear of the plank that'll slip around the bitt and under the lower crosspeice, and a square elongated hole forward that'll slip over the stem. The lower crosspeice on the bitt holds down the back of the bowsprit and a pin forward will be pushed through in the same way as on the bitt to hold down the front where the plank goes over the stem. If the stickup works out fine to begin with I can just cut down the bitt to have only the lower crosspeice.
Kind of a long drawn out explanation for a "what if?" - I know. Just trying to plan ahaead.