Sooty Tern No. 93

[Max F]

Wow, that is some nice wood!
Absolutely.
I understand your troubles to start cuting.

[Alex1N]

New page, and last batch o' snaps for the moment, followed by some comments:

1. You can see the difference between the two lines. There's no way that I'm going to make the rudder head that different.


Closer view of the off forward curve of the rudder head by Alexander Newman, on Flickr.



2. Comparison of Iain's and Max's rudder blades, using the DWLs to line 'em up:


Iain’s and Max’s rudder blades compared with each other by Alexander Newman, on Flickr.



3. Rather than draw a whole new rudder head all over again, I shaped and glued a patch onto the existing template using epoxy glue. Perma-Grit files a great things for doing fine shaping work. Once the glue set up and I'd sanded it flat, I extended the 3" grid onto the patch. Note that the patch is much wider than it needs to be. The remeasured points have since been plotted.


76 mm/3” grid drawn onto the patch by Alexander Newman, on Flickr.



4. While I was at it, I also cut and sanded the centreboard and centreboard case templates to an approximate shape. I'm not happy with either, but they can wait until further down the track - as it is, there's no boat to check these - or the rudder stuff - against yet.


Centreboard and centreboard case templates by Alexander Newman, on Flickr.



5. One of my recent purchases. Again, rather early in the piece, but at least I've got it. I had to do some digging to find it, too. The gaffer tape was applied by the vendors to reduce the likelihood of the thing popping open in the post...


WEST SYSTEM 423 graphite powder epoxy additive by Alexander Newman, on Flickr.



6. Mr Snappy decided that he wanted to help with this boat again, so here he is sanding off some filler on the corner of the sander pad, where the birch ply splintered off. What a helpful little chappy he is.


Mr Snappy helping by Alexander Newman, on Flickr.


I'm hoping to have the machinery pads installed by the end of the week, or at least in an installable state. Help is going to be needed with the actual installation, so that probably means next week some time.

Further measurements of the building frame have shown it to be much more level than I had come to think - but the way that I assembled it meant that I managed to copy the dip in the floor very faithfully, while I was putting it together on its side. The main bearers therefore both show a decided curve - but at least they are level!

I am going to run a standard string centreline up the middle of the frame (not the chalk-line seen in photo 3 in the post above), which will bypass that problem entirely. I also used the laser level to plot a straight line on the 'port' bearer (nearest the shed doors) and remeasured the station positions yet again - they were only out by fractions of a millimetre if at all (this assumes that the laser line is parallel with the as-yet-theoretical centrelines, but the deviation will not be significant).

The bent main bearers have also affected the squareness of the fore and aft perpendicular (cross) bearers, and this is much more problematic than the bent main bearers. As a result, I've removed the FP bearer after marking up some adjustments to make it square(r) to the new straight line on the 'port' bearer. The AP bearer hadn't been installed while the station measurements kept changing (thy've now converged and stopped moving, happily). None of these frame issues would have cropped up had I been building the boat in the shed at home. Oh well, no point in whinging aboutit, at least I've caught some of the errors... Anyway, that's all stuff to be resolved at a later date.

Now I need to go and see what that undercoat's doing...

[Alex1N]

Wow, that is some nice wood!
Absolutely.
I understand your troubles to start cuting.

Hello Max. Yes indeed! It looks like old-growth stuff to me - most of the lengths in the same stack at the wood yard had much coarser grain, and not nearly as quarter-sawn. Not any more expensive than the rest though... Getting that into the shed from the from gate was amusing - I strapped the wrapped boards to a two-wheeled hand trolley and pushed them down the driveway in stages, resting the then-still-narky elbow (that is a lot better now!) when necessary. Cheers, Alex.

[Alex1N]

In the caption to photo 6 in post 419 (bottom of previous page, at least were paginations = 35 posts/page, current number at time of writing), I mentioned that I had slipped up with the rudderhead template, having taken the shape off the relevant Arctic Tern plan. I decided to have a closer and more definitive check and did some photocopying and cutting out wi' a pair o' scissors:


1. Arctic and Sooty Tern stern profiles:


Arctic and Sooty Tern stern profiles by Alexander Newman, on Flickr.


You can see the overlay of the ST profile on the scrap on the left, and there is a notable difference, which is consistent with the photos nos. 1 and 2 in post 422 above. Note that while the Arctic’s AP appears to be farther astern than the ST’s here, it is in reality the other way round as the Sooty is the longer boat: I just used the APs and DWLs as common lines for expediency in comparing the two. Another note: I’m assuming that the two drawings are the same scale, i.e., 1:8. The AT plan sheet says explicitly 1:16 and 1:8; the ST one only says 1:16 but there obviously two scales on that sheet (ST Sail Plans), and given Iain’s usual use of 1:8 in these two plans sets, I think that that is a reasonably fair assumption. Some measuring and calculating would confirm that, of course.

The moral of this story is that the AT stern and therefore rudderhead profiles are indeed wrong for the Sooty rudderhead. And hence the mismatch when checking the rudderhead template against the lofted ST stern profile. Rather than muck about with measurements, I'll do what I pondered doing and wait until I have the stern stem sanded to shape and mounted on the boat before changing the line. Unless, of course, I change my mind...


I got the last topcoats of gloss white Norglass Weatherfast enamel on the upper surfaces and sides of the mobile machinery pads today, and shut the shed up until the paint has become touch-dry. That leaves two topcoats (on the bottom surfaces only) remaining, to be started tomorrow. I'm hoping that I can button them up and install them within the coming week, but with Christmas, etc., coming up and the hired help on holidays, that's unlikely and will have to wait until into the New Year. I will have a think about this and see what I can do by myself with the safe use of jacks and levers. I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I'll risk getting squashed by falling equipment, but I do want to make some actual boat progress.

[Alex1N]

Happy New Year, if one can say that when almost half way to February. I have been pondering my own critical comment about this just being a diary, and came to the very rapid conclusion that that was daft - of course it's a flippin' diary! What else could it be? It's not a romance or a crime novel or a thesis or whatever. So, on with the diary, as opposed to the dairy.

I have in fact been very busy on boat-related things, albeit with the usual very little 'progress' to show for it. Initial steps are critical, as everyone here knows, so there's no point in doing anything more on the actual boat itself until all the preparatory work has been done - and done well. I have to say that the prep work has been seemingly endless - much longer than I had anticipated - and further extended by acquiring large machine tools that require being shunted about in a relatively small space, in order to maximise the utility of that space. It's been a little like - no, it's been EXACTLY like, in fact, it was - watching paint dry. After some concentrated effort, the building frame is nearing being ready, of which more later.

The biggest impediments - in more ways than one - have been the big belt sander, the wood lathe and their mobile bases. That's come to an end, I am happy to say, after a wait for shops to reopen after the Christmas/New Year shutdown to get some unexpectedly-needed essential parts (stainless steel nuts and washers). I've had to go a long way back into my Flickr archive to find some representative photos - I will work forward judiciously from the last spot, which was the AT/ST stems comparison above.

1. Lathe pads with their final topcoats:


Two out of three completed pad top-surfaces by Alex1N, on Flickr.



2. Sander pad with final topcoat. None of these pads is a slick as I would have liked them to be on account of DUST, but by that stage I was getting more than a little fed up with wet-sanding for relatively little gain, so I gave up on a showroom finish. And it doesn't need to be a showroom finish - the finish on the machines themselves leave a bit to be desired, anyway.


Final topcoat on the top and sides of the third pad of three by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. Three sets of castors assembled - I changed my mind about the fixed wheels down the track, of which more later... Mr Snappy assiting, as he likes to do. "'S roit, yeah bewdy!", says Mr S. Thank your for your contribution, oh Snappy One.


Three sets of mobile base castors ready to be attached by Alex1N, on Flickr.



4. Sander pad complete in its first iteration...


Sander pad partially complete by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. Lathe pads, ditto


Lathe pads assembled and done by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. Sander cabinet/support stand installed onto the mobile base pad. After playing with my new toy for a minute or so, I found that it was going to be rather to cumbersome to move about with just one pair of castors - and the lathe would effectively only by able to move in a straight line. The Carbatec website confirmed my thoughts by obligingly offering a four-castor-and-frame set. As I had purpose-built pads (at great expense of time and money), I side-stepped that (even more expensive) solution and ordered three more of the same sets that I had already got:


Two extra castor units added to replace the idler wheels by Alex1N, on Flickr.


That now swivels adroitly on its own axis, with which I am well pleased. Some shortening of bolts attaching the castor frames to the pads also helped, as did raising the bolt heads on the hold-down bolts for the cabinet using washers, and replacing the nyloc nuts with plain, thinner, ones. The hold-down bolts had been catching on the risibly uneven concrete floor.

To be continued (a lot)... I've used my usual method the posts in sequence in a plain text editor with bbcode in (mostly) the right spots, so it's then theoretically just a matter of copying and pasting into the forum as the right intervals. That usually blows out when doing a preview check, but even so I find that it's better than typing the bulk of the post(s) into the web browser. YMMV, etc., etc., etc., but that's what I do.

[Alex1N]

More on the mobile base saga:

1.Shotrened M8 and raised M10 bolts. I can live with that:


Better clearance by Alex1N, on Flickr.



2. I made up a little portable jig for cutting 5 mm off the castor plate bolts. It's a block of wood drilled for the diameter of the bolts, then cut in half with the widest rip saw that I could lay my grubby paws on. The bolt was clamped hard initially to register its threads - then clamped firmly in use to cut the bolt with a hacksaw fitted with a nice bi-metal blade. The jig in this photo is the one set up for the M10 bolts - I made another for the M8s and didn't actually used this one beyond its fitness-for-purpose test, but it shows the principal:


Block of wood drilled to the nominal size of the bolt, then cut in half with a hand ripsaw by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. Jig shown in operation with an experimental part-cut bolt.


A quick and portable jig for shortening bolts by Alex1N, on Flickr.




4, The lathe pads, as already mentioned, got the same treatment as the sander pad. Note the outrigger configuration of the castor pair(s) on the outer edges, as mentioned in the castors' comprehensive instruction booklet. This will help materially with stability, especially when moving the heavy, high-centre-of-gravity lathe. Having four adjustable locking feet per pad instead of two is not to be sneezed at, either.


Closer view of the new lathe pad setup by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. Because I was working by myself with 1 very heavy object, I carefully turned the sander head on its side, blocked it up with wood offcuts, did the same with the cabinet/base assembly, and joined the two...with a lot of cursing and swearing and lying on my back using one hand to locate and do up the bolts by feel. The recommended way in the instructions is to have two people lift the sander onto the cabinet - which latter alternative would have been harder in retrospect, what wiv a crook back an' all.


Sander pad blocked up with various bits of wood by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. Right way up on its new paws, at last! I waited until I had help for this final step as there was no way that I was going to be able to do it on my own, healthy back or not. It was a simple matter of removing all the chocks, pushing the base down onto the onto the floor and carefully lifting the sander head up. It was surprisingly easy! Adjusting and tuning the beast took place the follwing day, as we had the lathe to contend with next.


And on its new paws, right way up! by Alex1N, on Flickr.

[Alex1N]

Warning - this post actually has some almost-boat-building in it! Gasp, shock korror...

1. The lathe on its skateboards. This took a lot longer than anticipated because of the low clearance of the pads, and the fact that the lathe had to be done with it more-or-less upright. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and backing and filling to get it done, but it's done. After some adjustment of the locking pads on the ridiculous floor, the lathe locks down nicely on its eight rubber feet.


Lathe likewise by Alex1N, on Flickr.

Right. Well, interspersed between the mobile base conniptions, I was also working on the building frame (I am at this point of writing still working on the building frame). After my struggles with the templates for the centreboard and its case, I had a bit of a think: since I'm using Max F's new rudder - and his extended centreboard - I decided that I would also use Max's 6,000 mm between perpendiculars hull-length as well. That meant that the building frame's aft apron bearer required moving aftwards a bit. And that wasn't all, neiver...

2. The easiest way to do that was to chop the 'ear off the frame main beams, rather than laboriously notch and fit the aft apron bearer. So, out with the multitool and off with its ear. The other beam got the same treatment after I'd dealt with this one. The beam here has been levelled off with a new and very sharp Perma-Grit block.


End of the ‘port’ frame main-bearer nipped off with a mulitool by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. Here's the aft apron bearer in its approximate new position:


Stern apron bearer in its approximate new position for 6 metres between perpendiculars by Alex1N, on Flickr.



4. A lot of to-ing and fro-ing with the laser level and a rather Heath Robinson-type mockup of the forward perpendicular/centreline location at the same height as those at the aft location followed. Here's the first iteration without perpendicular/centre line:


Forward perpendicular/centreline location mockup at the same height as that of the aft setup. by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. The critical lines lined up - forward apron bearer centreline and new line on mockup.


The critical lines lined up by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. Ready to check against aft bearer.


Ready to check against aft bearer. by Alex1N, on Flickr.


More soon...

[Alex1N]

1. I clamped one of the offcut 'ears' from the aft end of the building frame main beams to act as a support for the laser target. The block had to be precisely level with the top edge of the main block, of course.


Block added at ‘aft bearer height ‘ to support laser target. by Alex1N, on Flickr.



2. Here's the initial check on the new between-perpendiculars length of 6 metres - actually 6,000.5-ish mm.



New between-perpendiculars length of 6000.5 mm by Alex1N, on Flickr.


3. After much - by which I mean a lot of - trotting back and forth to check that that the vertical line was on-target (over a length of 6 metres, even a tiny nudge of the laser meant a complete miss of the vertical target line), I got the two ends lined up on the laser's 'centreline', and again using the laser I got the aft bearer perpendicular face at 90° to the building frame centreline. It would have been so much easier with two people!


Aft bearer set square to centreline by Alex1N, on Flickr.



4. After I'd got the after bearer square to the centreline, I then tackled setting the forward apron bearer square to the building frame's (still at this point possibly somewhat arbitrary) centreline. Note that the scribbling-out on the centreline on the bearer is the scrubbing of the wrong line - fortunately, the actual more-or-less correct centreline was used. To get the squareness correct, I had to undo the screws holding the forward bearer, clamp and reset to the laser line. This took an even more mind-bending amount of to-ing and fro-ing this time, and I forgot to take any snaps after I'd written in the information on the bearer. I've still forgotten to do so, but will as the woggliness of the frame sides is such that the error is quite a bit.


Forward bearer set square to centreline using laser level by Alex1N, on Flickr.


I have, however, got the critical lines/planes correct with each other and as close to the centre of the building frame as makes no real difference to eventual outcomes. I can therefore ignore the banana-like curves in the side beams as long as I take another countermeasure - this being the required string line running between the marked forward and aft centres. Station locations will need to be marked off on this centreline and the moulds eventually aligned using a plumb bob and the laser level. The string line has been in abeyance while I've been getting the frame a little more stable as suits my liking. That'll be documented in a bit, as I've still got to upload those snaps to Flickr, and I may not quite have finished that process after detecting a leg that isn't actually sitting firmly on the concrete, unlike its nine other siblings. I'm going to have to see what's caused that - I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it was a misalignment of the jack used at that point, and not the accursèd concrete floor shifting in the currently drying weather (goodbye ,La Nina', here, for the moment at least). Out with the builders' string line again.

And it's lunchtime now, anyway.

[Alex1N]

I thought that I might as well get up to date here, for what that’s worth. I’m having a half-week off at least, on account of domestic stuff, including getting a towbar on the car, and packing up the back part of the house before builders appear for some renovations. Towbar is good because it means that we can get the (‘Duck) boat trailer somewhere for inspection and hopefully re-registration. Bushfires and covid helped stuff that up three years ago et seq. There’s a modest ‘lake’ a reasonable distance from where I’m not building the Sooty yet.

Anyway, in the course of my usual fumbling about not getting much done, it occurred to me that the building frame could benefit from being bolted to the floor. Mr Oughtred recommends that in any case - I’ve been a bit lax in ‘getting around to it’, i.e., deliberately avoiding it. And just before that, while reading one of the Ilur threads on WBF, I decided that some diagonal bracing would look quite attractive on my building frame, too.


2. Four out of the six angle brackets used to nail the frame to the floor.


Angle brackets used to hold down the boat’s building frame by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. I started amidships. The bracket on the inside can be ignored - it and its siblings with 12 mm holes weren't used as reinforcing mesh was too close to the surface to


Nailing down the building frame, starting amidships by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. Last of the six installed...


Last of the six brackets installed by Alex1N, on Flickr.



4. Starting to add diagonal bracing. Note the blocks from the stem apron moulding board awaiting treatment on the sander.


Starting to add diagonal bracing to the underside of the building frame by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. Three bases added. Pythagoras's theorem came in handy estimating the board lengths. The move of the forward apron bearer forward (on the left, towards the camera) can just be seen in this photo if you look really, really hard.


Three diagonal braces added and ends trimmed off by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. Viewed from the stern end.


Diagonals viewed from the other (stern) end by Alex1N, on Flickr.


When I was testing out the tendency of the frame to move after securing it, nine legs but one were fine . The tenth isn't actually sitting on the floor, being by a mm or so above it. This either means that I got the jacking height wrong with that one, or the floor has shifted in the drier weather. I hope that it isn't the latter, as I've remarked before, I think. Some checking to be done there. Next up - the centreline, I hope.

[WI-Tom]

Thanks for posting. It's nice to remember back to the strongback phase of my build (14 years ago now, I think!).

My secret to getting everything level and square was to bring in my brother as project manager, while I served as gopher and unskilled laborer until it was time for the relatively idiot-proof task of strip planking the hull.

Knowing myself as well as I do, I brought in my project manager for every task where precision seemed important.

It can certainly help a lot to have another person, even if you're willing to do all the thinking and precision work yourself. I was too chicken to take on that responsibility. I think my boat is better because of that decision.

Tom

[Alex1N]

Talking about the boat trailer (that may or may not be adaptable for for the Sooty) reminded me about the Wentworth Falls lake, where I am hopefully launch the Sooty on her maiden voyage. I'm also hoping to try out the 'Duck's new sail on it, too - if I can get the trailer re-registered...

1. The morning might look sunny, but it was mid-winter and very cold (not as cold as higher-latitude winters, of course - but cold for me!). These photos were taken five and a half years ago. That's at the south-eastern corner of the lake, looking northwest-ish:


Winter, 2017 by Alex1N, on Flickr.



2. Eastern edge of lake, looking north


Winter, 2017 by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. Looking towards the western end of the lake


Winter, 2017 by Alex1N, on Flickr.



4. Looking north from the southern shore.


Winter, 2017 by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. Useful jetty.


Winter, 2017 by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. A screenshot of the lake from Apple Inc's Maps app, so I suppose that the copyright belongs to Apple Inc.


Wentworth Falls Lake, copyright Apple Inc. by Alex1N, on Flickr.


It's not very big, but big enough for the purpose of launching the boat - and trying out Mr Storer's 'new' sail.

[Larks]

Looks like a nice spot for a test sail, I wonder how the lake is looking at the moment - did they have floods out that way?

[Alex1N]

Thanks for posting. It's nice to remember back to the strongback phase of my build (14 years ago now, I think!).

My secret to getting everything level and square was to bring in my brother as project manager, while I served as gopher and unskilled laborer until it was time for the relatively idiot-proof task of strip planking the hull.

Knowing myself as well as I do, I brought in my project manager for every task where precision seemed important.

It can certainly help a lot to have another person, even if you're willing to do all the thinking and precision work yourself. I was too chicken to take on that responsibility. I think my boat is better because of that decision.

Tom

Hello Tom, and welcome to this thread! Thank you very much for your comments. A project manager would be great, but unfortunately I’m mostly all I’ve got . I occasionally get some help but it’s sporadic and I can’t usually plan for it at times of my own choosing. I’m having to learn to be more patient and change my expectations to a longer time frame.

I meant to add in my building frame post above, but forgot, that I’m actually very pleased with the building frame after doing quite a bit of work on it. Quite a bit more to do on it though, but it’s still small step by small step at the moment.

Cheers,
Alex.

[Alex1N]

Looks like a nice spot for a test sail, I wonder how the lake is looking at the moment - did they have floods out that way?

Hello Larks, welcome to this thread, too - thanks for dropping by . Yes, the lake is nice, and as you can see, even gets a bit of wind on occasion. I”ll have to drag the lug rig out and see if I can remember how to set it up again. I have had in mind to re-paint the hull from its rubber-duck yellow with a wide white primer stripe on one third after repairs quite a few years ago, but that’s yet another set of tasks that I begrudge the time on at the moment, so I’ll sail it as is - eventually…

I haven’t seen the lake in a while - I’m usually intent on trying to get stuff done or get back home to bother to take a detour to look at it. I imagine that the level will be a bit under full, since despite the deluge that hit central NSW that’s making its way down the Murray-Darling system, we had relatively little here in the Blue Mountains. Even thunderstorms are becoming less frequent now. I really should plan to make the time to go and have a look at it, though.

Cheers,
Alex.

[Alex1N]

Looks like a nice spot for a test sail, I wonder how the lake is looking at the moment - did they have floods out that way?

Hello Greg, I finally remembered to make the detour to have a look - the level is in fact a lot higher than in the photos above. I had intended to stop and take a photo or two but the joint was crowded and I didn't really want to have to deal with lots of people after an afternoon working on the boat (or rather, the building frame - still) and with a sore back. I will try again on the way there one day soon.

[Larks]

- meanwhile I hope your back comes good

[Alex1N]

- meanwhile I hope your back comes good

Thanks for your kind words, Greg. The back is a lot better - it was in fact muscular rather than joints thank goodness. A period of lengthy inactivity had allowed the muscles to weaken significantly, and I'm gradually doing stuff including exercises to strengthen them. Having said that, I've just traded the back issues with a slight and very stupid 'industrial accident'. But rather than spoil a good yarn - well, a yarn - I'll fire off a series of posts instead. The (sort-of) explanation appears at the end...

[Alex1N]

In between fits and starts of packing up the back part of the house before the arrival of the builders, I'd been reading Larks' H28 Larrikin thread, followed as a direct result by Quest's Welsford Sundowner thread. Both very interesting and full of useful stuff. I then moved on to suzyj's Welsford Navigator thread and those by MoMan and Rik van der Vaart on the Welsford Pathfinder; and am now reading about johnno's Lillistone 'Little Egret'. I very nearly plumped for Ross's Phoenix III before I went for the Sooty. In my reading, I have gone steadily from multitudinous planks (H48) to one plank (Little Egret) in an almost linearly-decreasing series of planks - sort-of back where I started with the 'Duck (which was, of course, the simplest of the lot). I'm now actually reading WBF threads rather than doing boatbuilding right at the moment...

Before things came to a halt, having bolted the frame to the shed floor up at the other site and forgetting that I had to screw the forward apron bearer back onto the building frame, I found that I had somewhat painted myself into a corner. The frame couldn't be lifted up to fit the drill and 75mm screws underneath. As I didn't want to disturb the carefully-set frame again...

1. I first tried a slightly Heath Robinson lash-up of a tottering tower of adapters on a 1/2" socket wrench, with a drill bit to make new holes for shifted screw positions after the realignment of the bow bearer:


Wobbly Productions presents: a Wobbly Drill(TM) by Alex1N, on Flickr.



2. I ended up using a 1/4"-drive socket wrench, a 1/4"-square-to-1/4"-hex adapter and a square driver bit, after getting the drill bit stuck in the bearer (the chuck wasn't up to the task of holding the drill bit, being for much thinner bits and materials). Slow going, but it enabled me to get the screws up through the bearer and into their new spots in the building frame main beams, then to back them out again just enough to release the bearer from the frame again for work on the notch. Removing the stern apron bearer for notch-cutting was a lot easier because it was fastened onto the frame from the top.


Tool(s) used for repositioning the forward apron bearer-building frame screws by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. Before removing the bearer again, I rather clumsily added some extra registration marks, here's one:


Registration mark on starboard side of front apron bearer by Alex1N, on Flickr.



4. Having got that sorted out, I retreated to the shed at home with the two stem bearers to work on the apron notches. Here's my bow apron/stem area on the lofting board showing the notch angle in the bearer, complete with numbers and overlaid scribbles:


Bow apron bearer cut-out by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. Ditto for the stern. Red lines mark the bearer positions...


Stern apron bearer cut-out by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. In other exciting news, we had a towbar installed on the EV by the car dealership. Not quite as shiny as it appears here, now... The car can tow up to 1600 kg (braked), so it will deal with the Sooty and trailer no probs. It won't be faced with towing the Duck for a while since the trailer spectacularly and comprehensively failed a recent 'Blue Slip' re-registration check. The wiring needs replacing and that's just the start (rules have changes since I assembled the kit 11 years ago)...


Newly-installed towbar by Alex1N, on Flickr.


This thread really would have to win First Prize for being The Most Boring Thread in the Entire Universe(TM)...

[Alex1N]

Being a bear of VERY little brain, I decided to use elementary trig functions to work out the notch angles, rather than simply measuring them with the handy digital angle finder/bevel gauge that I always carry about between work areas. Why? Overweening Vanity, that's why. And or course that ended in Tears Before Bedtime(TM). So now I'll just be going to use the hand-measured values, which will be more than good enough.

Here's the mess that I got into with by using the wrong trig function(s). Not being able to use basic arithmetic didn't help either. This really is a cautionary tale in What Not To Do! - I really should change the thread title to "How NOT to Build a Boat"...


1. Series of cuts for bulk wood removal for the bow apron notch. Things started to go a bit shaky (over and above getting the angle wrong, of course), when despite being careful I sawed down too low in a couple of cuts:


Bulk-removal cuts for the bow apron notch by Alex1N, on Flickr.



2. Looks fine so far - pieces snapped out using a chisel


Pieces snapped out with a chisel by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. Notch sanded down a bit with coarse Perma-Grit (silicon carbide) files...


Sanded down a bit with Perma-Grit files by Alex1N, on Flickr.



4. Which is the right set of marks to sand down to? Neither of them! I even measured that out wrong. It should have been another millimetre deeper.


Bit to go here by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. On the other hand, I went too far here, making the already-wrong angle even wronger. The notch angle should in fact be a lot steeper...


Way too far here by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. What to do? Why, bog it up and start again, of course! Bote-Cote epoxy and their high-strength glue powder used in this instance, although I even stuffed that up. I meant to use their lighter-weight glue/fairing powder...


Notched with epoxy glue added by Alex1N, on Flickr.

At this point I was still blissfully unaware that I'd got the angle(s of both bearers) wrong and forged ahead.

[Alex1N]

I had a bit of a think about how I could cut down the glue without excessive filing, and came up with the 'brilliant' idea of running it across the router table using an end-cutting bit. I cut some wedges from scrap radiata and screwed them to the bearer as supports to give the 'correct' angle. Ha ha bloomin' ha.

1. The first set of wedges installed. I made the incorrect assumption that the work bench was flat - which it wasn't. I found that out on the flat router table...


Wedges cut to support bearer at the right angle when routering the notch by Alex1N, on Flickr.



2. I added a second set of wedges (on the wonky surface) for further 'support'


Second set of wedges for extra stability by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. The whole setup run over a suitable bit on the router table, being careful to avoid going too close to the sides of the notch at this point


Glue shaved off using router bit by Alex1N, on Flickr.


Something didn't look right, so I went back to the drawing board when I got home and had another look. Having decided that the angle was probably wrong, I trotted out yet another calculation, and cut another couple of wedges. I applied one of the wedges to the bow-bearer part of the stem lofting - and it was still WAY out! Not just by a little bit but by between five and ten degrees. That was rather chastening. I therefore dropped all pretensions of using trig and simply measured the blasted thing, then wrote it down on the plastic sheet that covers the board. I did the same thing with the stern bearer notch, and cut new sets of wedges, taking care to check them on the lofting board and marking which set was which on the wedges themselves. Getting the ends mixed up would really be the last straw on the creaking camel's back.

Having wasted a large amount of time mucking about with this, I'd allowed the current window of opportunity for concentrated work on the boat to close with very little to show apart from an array of mistakes - we now have the builders in and shed access at home is severely restricted (and see down below at the end of this post).

4. On the other hand, I've got a haul of Oregon from the demolished back verandah. Some of it is a bit rotten, but most of it is ok apart from knots (which I knew about). Some of it is even reasonably fine-grained. The pile on the left is denailed, the one on right is still full of nails. I've since denailed the lot.


Haul of Oregon from our recently-dismantled back verandah by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. Another haul of wood resulted from the demolition of some camellias and a lillypilly (Syzigium sp.) that were in the way of the new extension, so I had them set aside then waxed the ends for drying. Apologies for the unintended David Hamilton effect - the lens got wax on it... I have no idea what camellia timber is like in use, but it looked nice (a reddy-brown colour in the heartwood), and the Japanese use camellia oil as a rust preventive on, e.g., Samurai katanas. I bought a bottle of the oil from Carbatec a while back and applied it to various tools, and it seems to be working well so far. (I'm not intending to try oil extraction myself, I hasten to add.) I ended up replanting the lillypilly stump temporarily, next to where these trunks are lying, after a root prune, to see if I can save it. These trees can survive savage above-ground pruning, so it will be interesting to see what happens. I'm not sure about savage above-and-below-ground pruning all at once, though...


Camellia and Syzigium trunks waxed for drying by Alex1N, on Flickr.


With things in turmoil here at the moment, I've had to take stock and accept that the boat has to take a back seat. The shed here is now too full of stuff from the house to allow for safe working, not that it was particularly safe even before we started shoving even more stuff in there. After a nasty slip-up on the weekend (thankfully not worse than it was, I am having daymares and nightmares about it though), I've decided to shelve all work on the boat until things - including me - calm down a bit. That 'incident' was a definite wake-up call. It was all of a piece with a thought that I had a couple of weeks ago about "where has all the fun gone?". Too much impatient haste at the end of the day when tired, in a bad mood and in hot weather. There's a saying about haste and waste... I really need to recognise when to walk away from something - and walk away from it! And be more respectful of rapidly-rotating metal... There are always Forum threads to read instead.

[Alex1N]

OK, this might set the cat amongst the pigeons, or pull the cat’s tail, even - but probably not.

I have terrible tendency to over-think things. Here’s yet another example for you, if the previous unfinished idiotic story of the apron notches wasn't convincing enough.

A while ago I happened to see a photo of a wire centreline strung on a shed floor - I think, and I can’t remember exactly where I read it, either - and I thought that that looked useful as a decent tension could be got on it, and it would be resistant to my standard clumsy bumps and knocks. Slightly more recently I was pondering the building-frame-mounted centreline string in Iain's clinker plywood boatbuilding book, the necessity and installation thereof. A bit after that, the two things merged in the background of my ‘mind’ into the idea of installing an easily-tensionable more-or-less permanent wire centreline on the building frame. Given my inveterate clumsiness, wire is 100% esssential - string would get cut.

Stainless steel seemed to me to be the best solution for this, so I paid a visit to the local business down the hill in Emu Plains that specialises in the stuff (Stainless Steelworx). Their usual products are made for deck fences, balustrades, etc., but they were interested in my application. To my delight they had multistranded cable in 1.6 mm (1/16”) diameter, plus the various appropriately-sized bits and pieces for producing a tensionable cable, all in 316. I started work on this while waiting for paint to dry on the machiner mobile base pads in November last year, but have been keeping quiet about it, for fear of criticism, or worse, simply being ignored.

1.Here’s 10 metres (39-ish ft) of wire plus a special socket tool, a ferrule, two eyebolts and the smallest turnbuckle that they had:


Stainless steel wire and fittings for boat building frame’s centreline by Alex1N, on Flickr.


Given that the centreline at the perpendiculars will be occupied by the screws holding the aprons in place - and I didn't want to use two offset scews in an apron - other positions for anchoring the wire needed to be found. The plastic sheet currently covering the stems' lofting/moulding board was the perfect solution for working these out on:

2. Bow


Forward apron eyebolt lcation by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. Stern


Working out where to put the eyebolt for the centreline wire - stern apron bearer by Alex1N, on Flickr.


The different heights from the top of the building frame to the undersides of the apron bearers meant that a bit of thought was required as to where the wire would lead from en route to Stations 1 and 7. The best spots for the eyebolts therefore are on the undersides of the bearers, just out of the range of the 75 mm screws that will be holding the aprons in place. Once the wire is at those spots it is - in theory - simply a straight level line from A to B.

More or less. I say more or less because the wire will be recessed into the cross-beams of the frame so that the top of the wire is level with the tops of the beams. The recesses in the cross-beams closest to Stations 1 and 7 will be as shallow as possible to allow this, and as a result need to be set up exactly on target. This will be done with the laser level, and the recesses cut with a 45° V-bit in the palm router run along a clamped fence. The intervening recesses will be made deeper (and therefore wider) so that the wire can find its own straight-line path without being deflected by inaccurate routering - and save a bit of time and a few headaches in avoiding the latter.

Another alternative is to run the wire along the frame and route snug V-recesses accurately into the centrelines of the mould-spalls. I will continue to ponder this while my recent injury heals and I subsequently sort out the apron notches.

The wire will be anchored at either end using eyebolts screwed into the bearers, with the tensioning turnbuckle placed on thimbled loops between the aft bearer and Station 7. Once in place the cable will remain there even when the moulds are fastened down onto the frame. If I find that the setup is intolerable in practice, however, I can simply cut the wire using the handy cutter on the swaging tool, pull the wire out and that will be that.


4. I drilled a 4mm test hole on the marked centreline in the bow bearer notch area to check that the drilling setup was sufficienly aligned, then drilled pilot holes for the eyebolts in the actual chosen spots. I countersunk the holes to bury the eyes further down so that the wire would actually touch the bearer centrelines on the way to their respective stations. The stern bearer will get a few scraps of plywood at its aft edge to confirm that the wire is sitting on the bearer centreline, as the bearer depth won't be quite sufficient even with the deeper countersink, given the shallow angle of the wire there. If that doesn't quite work out - and there's no reason that it shouldn't given sufficient care - I get another chance at the crossing of Stations 1 and 7, but I'd prefer to get it right on the actual apron bearer exits.


Both bearers drilled for eyebolts by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. There's a handy special tool for screwing in the eyebolts. Note also the countersink in the bearer:


Special socket for installing eyebolts by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. Eyebolt installed. The dent on the left was where I used a PH screwdriver to turn the eyelet down the last little bit onto the centreline.


Eyebolt installed by Alex1N, on Flickr.

[Alex1N]

Clear as mud?

1.The thimble-less bow-apron loop was then swaged (crimped) onto it:


Swaged (crimped) ferrule, thus more-or-less permanently installing both eyebolt and centreline wire by Alex1N, on Flickr.



2. Overview of initial wire installation. The wire has since been chopped up into two lengths prior to final installation of the assembly.


10 metres of 1.6 mm twisted stainless steel wire, attached to the *underside* of the bow apron bearer by Alex1N, on Flickr.



3. The setup, wire a bit off the centremark.


Right way up - the wire comes up to the upper surface of the building frame from the lower surface of the bow apron bearer by Alex1N, on Flickr.



4. Overview of the bow bearer and wire - still a whisker or two off-centre at the moment, bearer remporarly clamped in place.


Another view of the centreline wire by Alex1N, on Flickr.



5. Centreline wire test-fitted; temporary aft-apron bearer clamped in place and the centreline carefully measured. The block of 19 mm formply on the bow bearer is a cap to cover the protruding end of the eyebolt, for safety reasons. The stern eyebolt will protrude even further as the countersink there is deeper, and will have a similar cap.


Centreline wire test-fit by Alex1N, on Flickr.



6. One end of the turnbuckle with a mockup of a thimbled loop. I've since crimped that loop, which is on the piece of wire that will be trimmed for the aft segment of the assembly. The loop crimped onto the stern apron eyebolt will be, like the bow one, thimbleless: those loops attaching onto the turnbuckle will be thimbled because of the somewhat sharper edges of the turnbuckle's hooks than those of the eyebolts' eyes. The lack of thimbles at the eyebolt connections is to allow the wire to reach the appropriate angles so that it can be trained positively onto the centreline marks.


‘Secret’ ingredient for tensioning the centreline wire: a turnbuckle by Alex1N, on Flickr.


I've already marked up the piece of wire for the vestigial aft segment, but the crimping won't be done until both properly-notched bearers are re-installed and I can check that I've got the right amount of wire to do up the turnbuckle in a stable manner - and that I will get decent tension on the wire. It's a bit of a juggle for me as this is the first time that I've played around with crimping loops in stiff wire. I've found that it needs a lot more care than crimping electrical terminals - I ended up using a pair of locking pliers as a third hand to hold the tail of the wire in place...

In hindsight it might mave been better to have nailed the wire to the floor using Dynabolts, tensioned it then lined up the frame's perpendiculars over the top of it using a plumb-bob before bolting the frame down - but as they say, hindsight is 20-20. I said at the beginning of this particular exposition that I have probably over-egged it a tiny bit. It has been an interesting exploration so far, however, and I've always secretly wanted to play around with stainless steel wire in any case.

Yes, clear as mud.

[Max F]

Nicely done Alex!
I ´ve also considered wire a while ago.
Cheers
Max

[Alex1N]

Nicely done Alex!
I ´ve also considered wire a while ago.
Cheers
Max

Thanks, Max . I started to think that it was my own loopy constructs at work, after only seeing the one reference to wire.

Moving stuff between the two work sites is doing my head in, and is probably the main reason why this build has been such a creaking slowcoach . Despite taking notes and keeping a diary I continually forget to pack essential things at either end. It’s exceedingly aggravating! The sensible alternative of consolidating things in one site is just not possible, let alone practicable, at the moment.

Cheers,
Alex.

[Alex1N]

This was originally written some months ago; I dug it out upon reading the discussion about outboards and wells in neil.henderson's great Caledonia Yawl build downunder thread; I decided that I would post it here after all. Mr Henderson's choice of motor for the heavier CY happens to be one of the ones that I'd tentatively chosen myself, so it's useful to know that I wasn't too wide of the mark.

I had been having a look at possible reliable electric outboard solutions as emergency auxiliary power for the Sooty. The choice of electric power is partly a desire to avoid what suzyj describes as "a lawnmower hanging off the back of the boat" (or words to that effect), which really appeals to me.

A search in the Materials and Tools section of the forum unearthed three very useful threads: wdr99’s Redwing 18 electric repower; rgthom’s Electric boost for a camping rowboat; and whiskeyfox’s Solar kayak. There are no doubt more that I haven't found yet. Post no. 3 by Zakwaddell.ca in wdr99’s thread provided a reference to a very useful 6-page article about real-world IC-to-electric power comparison, written by Joe Gretz in the October/November 2020 issue (no. 187) of Professional Boatbuilder (also published by Woodenboat).

I've been aware of Torqueedo for over ten years now, and although in intervening years there's been some seemingly justified criticism, they appear to have ironed out some of the technical and customer-relations issues, in luding changing hands (they are now owned by the Deutz Group). The Torqeedo 1103C long-shaft motor so far seems a good fit with the ST. Mr Oughtred shows an outboard well in the Arctic Tern plans (Construction Plans II on sheet no. 3), so I downloaded a technical drawing from the Torqeedo website which ahows the physical dimensions of the 1103C long-shaft as somewhere to start working out how it might be fitted in.

One potential problem with the 1103C is that as far as I can tell its tiller/throttle arm can only be lifted 30° from the horizontal, not 90°+ and right out of the way as with many IC outboards. It would stick out around 500 mm in front of the bulkhead where it would attach, so not being able to tuck it right out of the way could be a real nuisance. the arm can be detached completely, but that then poses the questions of where and how to store it. Clips under a side bench? Clips in the outboard well itself? Bare terminals/connectors in wet (and likely saline) conditions on either compnent aren’t a very good idea, either. Sealable plastic bag(s)? This appears to border on the complex, rarely a good thing in a boat. I'm still pondering that.

Another alternative is a mototor from the Torqeedo Cruise series, their next level up, which has a tiller-free option that uses a remote set of controls. These controls could also get in the way at inopportune moments unless carefully located, e.g., on the sternsheets bulkhead next to the motor, but at least could be squirrelled away in a recess or under a small hatch, or both. The shorter and less exposed the wire-runs the better, of course. That adds a layer of complexity too, see above. Although it would probably be overpowered for the ST under my normal intended type of sailing, the extra power could be helpful in heavier seas.

Torqeedo isn’t the only option out there by any means, but it’s the one that seems to fit best at the moment. I'm not pondering this too seriously currently in any case, as the electric outboard market is still relatively new and things appear to still be in a rapid state of flux, especially regarding batteries. Anything purchased now runs the real risk of being out-of-date by the time that I am ready to deal with the well, let alone actually sailing the boat, as both of those are going to be a while. It's something that I'm keeping in mind, though.