An Off the Grid Calendar Islands Yawl Build

[Pete Bergquist]

Well, at least "mostly" off the grid...

Before we get to that, a bit about me.

I'm going to be (am?) a first time boat builder, so a kitboat was the ideal way to get into this really interesting craft. I have been woodworking for a long time, and while no one ever has "enough" skill, I can work my way through a woodworking shop and might know what most of the stuff is used for. When it comes to boat building though, I'm very wet behind the ears and because of that please excuse any poor use or misunderstanding of boat building terms. I'm a quick study but there's a lot of new territory here.

I've done a bit of sailing - mostly fresh water - and mostly small boats: sunfish, sailfish, laser, hobiecat. I've never owned one, always borrowed, rented, or tagged along with the (presumed!) owner.

The CIY. Why?

I spent quite a bit of time last winter looking for the "right" design for a boat that I could use on the lake at our summer home in Maine (3 miles x 1 mile roughly something over 1000 acres), and also trailer to the ocean once I feel my skills are up to the task. I really liked the idea of having a camping platform as well. I had narrowed it down to the GIS, the Ilur, or the CIY. I was really struck by Clint Chase's design and more importantly his attention to detail in putting together a kit that would be pretty straightforward for a first time builder like me. Also, this will become more important when you read the next section.

Off the Grid Build? Now this needs some 'splainin'.

So, our summer home is in an area of Maine called the "unorganized territories". Simply put - there's no local government (or taxes!), and in many cases unorganized territory townships have a permanant resident count of ZERO (as is the case in the one where our summer home is located). An (obvious?) consequence of this is that we have no street power, phone, internet, or any other services - which is just fine with me. In the case of building a boat however, it might present a few challenges. What we do have is some limited solar power (750w of panel), a 600Ah, 24V battery bank, and a 4000 watt, 240V inverter. This provides enough power to keep the lights on, and run a table saw or other power tools for awhile on sunny days. For the cloudy days there's an (ancient) generator that is used to recharge the batteries.

So you ordered your CIY kit in April 2019, but you're just getting started now?

Well, yeah. It seems I hit a perfect storm at Chase Small Craft. Between a stack of orders ahead of me, a number of other scheduled things Clint had going on, and his bringing his CNC work in-house, we ended up a bit far back in the queue. I had the option to pick up the entire kit in early Sept, but there just wasn't enough time to make decent headway before we were going to have to close up for the winter. So I elected to defer having the major kit parts (strongback, planking, masts, etc.) held back until next spring, and have taken many of the interior parts and other parts that require lamination home to PA to work on over the winter.

Tell me about the specifics of your kit, Pete.

I'm starting with a vanilla CIY, daggerboard version. The CB version just has too much real estate taken up with the CB (IMHO), so DB it is. I have the sheer planks fabricated from sapele plywood, as well as the transom, daggerboard, rudder and seating (along with a few other parts that Clint was able to squeeze on a sheet, such as the mast step). I haven't decided what I will do for the rubrails yet, they may be sapele hardwood, or possibly a light wood to contrast the sapele. All sapele will be varnished, the remainder of the boat (in okume plywood) will be painted.

She doesn't have a name yet, but I'm sure that will come to be at some point.

As of now, the schedule of tasks is as follows:

* Laminate bulkheads with doublers and stringers as called out in the kit.
* Laminate the inner stem.
* Laminate seat doublers.
* Laminate rudder and daggerboard components.
* shape the rudder/DB foils.
* Build the daggerboard trunk.
* epoxy coat and prep all of the above.
* other items as I figure out what's possible with the parts on hand or obtainable over the winter.

Strongback construction, setup and planking will take place starting in June 2020.

[Pete Bergquist]

The parts I was able to bring back to PA with me are strewn about the basement rec room. Parts were trimmed, bulkheads and the inner stem are mocked up. Epoxy kit arrived over the weekend, glue up next.
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[Michael_Owen]

Welcome! Looking forward to following your build.

I met Clint at Mystic this summer and saw the latest CIY (also saw Larchmont Jim's award-winning build the year before). He seems very helpful and enthusiastic, and it's a great design.

Good luck!

Mike

[Pete Bergquist]

Welcome! Looking forward to following your build.

I met Clint at Mystic this summer and saw the latest CIY (also saw Larchmont Jim's award-winning build the year before). He seems very helpful and enthusiastic, and it's a great design.

Good luck!

Mike

Mike,
Thanks! I hope my comments didn't imply Clint wasn't helpful or responsive because he was. Certainly a top notch guy. I can't wait to get to see the project take shape. I've traded emails with Larchmont Jim quite a few times, but I haven't seen his build in person. clearly a class job. I'm using his build log as a model.

[Pete Bergquist]

The first glue ups. I learned a few things, and I have a couple of questions.

Enough clamps? This glue set was every clamp I own (or made) right now.

When I made my PVC pipe clamps, I made most of them 2" wide. A couple ended up 1-1/2" wide. The 2" wide clamps seem to be pretty stiff for clamping, and most certainly won't span more than 2 pieces of 9mm plywood without a lot of strain. For anyone that has made/used this type of clamp, what width did you find most useful? I'm thinking something between 1" and 1-1/2" might be a better size.

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I think I need to work on my squeeze out cleanup. I did not spend enough time on the underside. Scraper didn't really touch it, I think I'm in for some seriously tough sanding. Any tips on cleaning up this mess? On the current glue-ups, I spent much more time cleaning squeeze out from all sides.

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[Scrib]

Looks like fun.
No need to sand, just use a heat gun and paint scraper.
Enjoy!

[jpatrick]

Try to clean the goo off before it sets. A putty knife works well. After hardening, epoxy can be heated with a heat-gun then easily scraped off. Experiment on some scrap first. Allow the epoxy to fully cure first or work in a well ventilated area. Don't breath the fumes. Uncured epoxy has health hazards.

Good luck with the build. Have fun!

Jeff

[Pete Bergquist]

Ah thank you... Yes I remember the heat gun/scraper technique now. With this last glue up I was much more careful to scrape off the excess as best I could.

I'm enjoying the departure from standard woodworking. Looking forward to having some pieces to shape. After I have these bulkheads done it will be stem and transom time.

[DeniseO30]

Maine & PA. Would have been me had things worked out differently over 10 years ago. Looks like you're off to a very "sticky" start!

[BBSebens]

The first glue ups. I learned a few things, and I have a couple of questions.

Enough clamps? This glue set was every clamp I own (or made) right now.

When I made my PVC pipe clamps, I made most of them 2" wide. A couple ended up 1-1/2" wide. The 2" wide clamps seem to be pretty stiff for clamping, and most certainly won't span more than 2 pieces of 9mm plywood without a lot of strain. For anyone that has made/used this type of clamp, what width did you find most useful? I'm thinking something between 1" and 1-1/2" might be a better size.

Epoxy actually doesn't need a huge amount of clamping force. Certainly getting all that force spread out with lots of clamps is a plus, but a lot of force is not needed. In fact, its possible to apply excessive pressure and squeeze out too much epoxy, leaving a starved joint. Probably not going to happen with your pipe clamps, but it you want to shave them own a bit to make them easier to use, you aren't hurting anything.

[J.Madison]

36 grit disk on an angle grinder will remove the epoxy instantly. With a light touch, you can avoid digging through the top veneer, but if you are going for a bright finish or don't have a steady hand it may be too much tool for the job.

Some pros nearly build boats with that tool alone...

Sort of joking. Only sort of.

[DeniseO30]

I've never really liked the PVC clamping they hard to open, hurt my fingers, have sharp edges, and produce little pressure. On the other hand, I probably have three dozen 2.5" clamps maybe a dozen 4" and about a dozen bar & pipe clamps of various sizes.

What I hate about epoxy is the sliding. So one or two well-placed finishing nails usually solve that problem.

[BBSebens]

36 grit disk on an angle grinder will remove the epoxy instantly. With a light touch, you can avoid digging through the top veneer, but if you are going for a bright finish or don't have a steady hand it may be too much tool for the job.

Some pros nearly build boats with that tool alone...

Sort of joking. Only sort of.

You're referring to the Bruce Smith School of Woodworking. It takes a steady hand.

Sort of joking.

[Pete Bergquist]

I've never really liked the PVC clamping they hard to open, hurt my fingers, have sharp edges, and produce little pressure. On the other hand, I probably have three dozen 2.5" clamps maybe a dozen 4" and about a dozen bar & pipe clamps of various sizes.

What I hate about epoxy is the sliding. So one or two well-placed finishing nails usually solve that problem.

That's one very nice thing about Clint's kits. He includes 1/8" alignment holes that one can use waxed drywall screws or - I've discovered - 6d finishing nails (which fit perfectly!) to align parts.

[DeniseO30]

That is very cool that he includes alignment! I've never built from a kit we built a couple of CLC kayaks about 25 years ago. Recently I was given a CLC Eastport dinghy. the previous owner partially assembled it and gave up. I got what it's called sloppy seconds thought it was a free boat and it's worth about $2,000.

[Pete Bergquist]

That is very cool that he includes alignment! I've never built from a kit we built a couple of CLC kayaks about 25 years ago. Recently I was given a CLC Eastport dinghy. the previous owner partially assembled it and gave up. I got what it's called sloppy seconds thought it was a free boat and it's worth about $2,000.

Assuming I get this first boat completed, I'm going to want one of those freebies too!

[DeniseO30]

Everyday on the Facebook wooden Boat group there are freebies unfinished & very cheap boats many are in Maine also.

So many people pick up old boats because they love wooden boats but they're clueless how to rebuild or restore, when they realize sandpaper paint and epoxy is the last part of restoration an actual woodworking is the largest part of the project they want to unload them to somebody else

[Paul356]

Our non-profit building venture for kids is on its third Clint Chase project. I think you'll be very happy with the kit, and the design looks wonderful.

[Pete Bergquist]

Today I spent a little time refining the tooling that I am going to have to know and love for awhile. After yesterday's comments from Denise, noting that she doesn't like PVC pipe clamps because they hurt her hands to use them, I noticed that they hurt mine too and were the cause for several ripped nitrile gloves.

So I decided to smooth the edges with a 1" roundover bit on my table mounted router and then sand the jaws smooth as well. The result is (IMHO) a much easier to use clamp.

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If anyone wants to do this, a couple of notes: If you use a dust collection system, it would be best to empty any sawdust out of the collection containers first. PVC can generate a lot of static electricity and that really doesn't mix well with sawdust. Also, if you do not have a grounding wrap on your dust collection piping you might want to consider it, just to help eliminate any static charge buildup from any source (sawdust included).

I also made (but didn't photograph), a 4-1/2" post out of some scrap 3/4x3/4 material and used it to pry open the jaws of the PVC clamps for sanding. I realized that it would also be an additional handsaver for Denise when applying clamps.

Lastly, I replenished my supply of paraffin coated drywall screws (of course, using the range in the kitchen and my very sophisticated paraffin reservoir). I think the spousal unit will be much happier when this activity is a thing of the past.

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[DeniseO30]

Very long time ago "we" tried the PVC clamps they didn't seem to have enough pressure on thin stock, they do seem to have more clamping pressure on 3/4 to 1 inch stock but not stuff in 1/4" range,

My son taught me little trick with the c clamps; Keep the threads well-oiled and you can spin em em! I've gotten pretty good at that over the years. This guy John, that comes over to work on his canoe really has a difficult time with C clamps he just can't seem to get them in place even with two hands while I'm holding the rib against the rail.


I try to keep in the one but they do tend to travel there's probably a dozen outside on ducker also

We've used PVC probably most of my lifetime it makes static by itself it doesn't need sawdust or air moving through it I forget why or how, but yes there's always seems to be static electricity when working with PVC, when we piped the dust system for the shop, we use galvanized sm pipe.

Static It can be extremely dangerous on very large commercial shop dust extraction applications... (Just thought I'd add that, as I was once a HVAC professional. ) Pete where you at in Pennsylvania?

[Pete Bergquist]

I live (in winter!) just outside of Allentown in Breinigsville. Probably about an hour or so away.

I got some energy after all my clamp management activities, so I decided to tackle the transom glue-up. When removing some of the CNC waste there ended up being a little tear out around the rudder port (OK, terminology help here?). Looks like I'll be doing a little unwanted patch work to my beautiful transom. Luckily I do happen to have some scrap sapele pieces lying around, so I may make some sapele wood flour for the patch.

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[DeniseO30]

Bummer, can that be on the inside? The transom on the Pram was badly scratched and I came up with an interesting paint scheme.

[Pete Bergquist]

Yes, it is the interior of the transom. If the patch ends up not looking nice I may just paint a racetrack stripe around the hole in the same color as the rest of the interior.

[DeniseO30]

And is your first build Pete? But hey, she can build herself according to this write-up lol
https://smallboatsmonthly.com/articl...-islands-yawl/

[Clinton B Chase]

Pete, You could make the slot larger in the direction of that torn grain, wouldn't look weird and would fix the torn grain!

[Clinton B Chase]

So you ordered your CIY kit in April 2019, but you're just getting started now?

Well, yeah. It seems I hit a perfect storm at Chase Small Craft. Between a stack of orders ahead of me, a number of other scheduled things Clint had going on, and his bringing his CNC work in-house, we ended up a bit far back in the queue. I had the option to pick up the entire kit in early Sept, but there just wasn't enough time to make decent headway before we were going to have to close up for the winter. So I elected to defer having the major kit parts (strongback, planking, masts, etc.) held back until next spring, and have taken many of the interior parts and other parts that require lamination home to PA to work on over the winter.

Tell me about the specifics of your kit, Pete.

Pete, may I take a moment to comment on this? Indeed the business has grown and keeping up with orders is a challenge as I have been trying to keep the plane flying at 30,000 feet and install new landing gear, lighting systems, etc. Yes, indeed, the new CNC is up and running, my first employee is, too, after a year of training he can pretty much cut the solid wood kits starting with the cut list as well as help run the machine. I am busy on the design end most of the time...every kit is unique. It is rare to cut more than two at a time. When I do, a couple days are spent updating the design, improving it where new revelations allow, and making the kit more efficient. Pete's kit was fun because I had just finished creating a fancy version for the Calendar Islands 18 that now has Sapele plywood options for sheer strake, transom, seating and a few other parts that fit in those sheets and benefit from the durability of Sapele. Most CIYs have shipped all Okoume; this is the first to have a Sapele version, too. So that will probably be a standard option, extra $ of course, that Sapele is pricey, but beautiful. At any rate, kits are getting out the door faster and faster these days and looking better and better to. I call the process "sneaking up on perfection" one boat at a time.

BTW, that article shows Jim's boat...the first CIY ever built. I designed the boat the couple years prior, cut the kit, and shipped it to him. So he built the prototype. The mast was built too short, so the boom is too low in the boat, otherwise he did and amazing job and built it pretty darn quickly, too!

[Pete Bergquist]

Frankly, in retrospect the wait for the kit ended up being a huge blessing in disguise for me. As I get started I'm realizing that being able to spend more time "at my leisure" learning these techniques will pay off handsomely when I get to some of the harder stuff. Making my mistakes now when things like running a heat gun won't be a major power management issue are looming larger. Clint's support has been outstanding. I know that Clint had to do a LOT of work to jigger the panels around on the cutting plan in order to separate out the parts I wanted to be in Sapele. It is just one example of how he goes the extra mile for his customers.

Also, I was a small business owner just like Clint - and I remember the day I hired my first employee. It was the scariest day of my life knowing that someone else was now depending on my business to keep their family housed and fed. It's a big big step.

So, on to the build. Today, I did nothing. I did watch some Off Center Harbor Stitch-and-Glue techniques videos. There's going to be some of that going on next spring when I get introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Garboard. It was one area (along with the mast, which is still scaring the bejesus out of me!) that I held a little trepidation - but seeing it done is helping quite a lot.

The other reason nothing got done is that our beloved mail delivery person, who habitually drops mail in the wrong boxes, seemed to do so today with my organic vapor cartridges for my mask. Some unwitting (and probably knowing my luck, on vacation) neighbor has a set in their box as we speak. Sigh.

I did look at the bit of tear out on the transom tiller port and I definitely do not have all of the little pieces to try to fit back in. I'm liking Clint's idea of expanding the hole a lot.

[DeniseO30]

Pete is it tapered birdsmouth? If you need some mast helping hands my shop is nearly 50ft long, bout an hour south, (unless you take 413 The Long road lol).

Many of us like to remove the stitch wires when doing stitch and glue the easy way to do that is to make little dabs or spot welds of epoxy before doing the fillet joints, cut and pull the wire, (although it can be embedded and be invisible also)

[Pete Bergquist]

Pete is it tapered birdsmouth? If you need some mast helping hands my shop is nearly 50ft long, bout an hour south, (unless you take 413 The Long road lol).

So right now I don't have the mast parts, the plan was to put the mast together up in Maine next summer - but Thank You for the offer!

Many of us like to remove the stitch wires when doing stitch and glue the easy way to do that is to make little dabs or spot welds of epoxy before doing the fillet joints, cut and pull the wire, (although it can be embedded and be invisible also)

The video I watched did just that for joints that weren't on a sharp angle. Removing the stitches before glassing looks like it would be the cleanest way to do it on this boat.

I'm still looking for my Organic Vapor cartridges. Whoever got my delivery hasn't dropped them off yet. I might be taking a trip to the local Woodcraft to pick some up today so I can keep moving without having more half done assemblies laying around.

[DeniseO30]

Organic vapor cartridges & mask.. for?

I know polyester resin gives off vapors but I didn't think it was a problem with epoxy, but I used to play with dads asbestos cement when I was a kid (dad was a plumber)

[Pete Bergquist]

Organic vapor cartridges & mask.. for?

I know polyester resin gives off vapors but I didn't think it was a problem with epoxy, but I used to play with dads asbestos cement when I was a kid (dad was a plumber)

I need to start using the heat gun to clean off some of the drips and mess on the parts I've laminated so far. I don't like the idea of epoxy fumes after being heated. I had enough exposure to chemical fumes back in chemistry classes! That's my excuse for the warped sense of humor.

[DeniseO30]

I reached the point where it was better to run a line of tape on either side of the fillet.

[paxtonm]

Tip for lubing screws. Buy a toilet gasket. Bury a bunch of screws in it and you're good to go. Happy wife, happy life.

[Pete Bergquist]

Tip for lubing screws. Buy a toilet gasket. Bury a bunch of screws in it and you're good to go. Happy wife, happy life.

Now that sounds like a great tip. It also brings me to an interesting side story. Many years ago I had a mischievous Golden Retriever named Radar. He literally was "Radar" for trouble. One day while the spousal unit and I were out and about he decided that the big yellow ring on the countertop (destined for the powder room toilet...) would be a fun toy. A chew toy. He consumed the whole thing, which of course precipitated a call to the doggie poison control hotline - where we learned that the ring was made up of nothing but bees wax, and the dog "should be fine". Very true, up until the point that said bees wax was ready to make an exit. Hoo boy. yellow-green yard explosions aside, Radar was no worse for wear, other than perhaps a few new well lubricated hemorrhoids.

[Pete Bergquist]

Now that's out of my system...

The past couple of days have kept me away from the shop, sadly. I hope to make better progress today, as my organic vapor cartridges were finally delivered by a neighbor who found them in their mailbox. The one thing I did get done was to elongate the transom port for the tiller, as suggested by Clint Chase. It turned out pretty well, just needs a little final cleanup.
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The hole was elongated 1-1/8" on each side using a 2" forstner bit in a hand drill. This is a technique that will increase upper body strength (and soreness) by up to 25% per hole. They can be a little beastly.

Today will be epoxy cleanup and then continue with some laminations.