A Seil in California

[nrs5000]

It appears there is something in the nature of a bulkhead in the way of the thwart/cleat, is that right? Unstayed rig?

[pez_leon]

Yep - the cleats are let into a notch in the bulkhead. A beam flush with the top of the bulkhead will tie it all together. The mast thwart will sit on the glued-up bulkhead / cleat / beam assembly and be screwed into the cleats.

[nrs5000]

Seems like a pretty solid structure that’s well
tied together to take the forces. I’m no engineer but it seems like the only thing the screws would add is some additional fastening in the event of glue failure. If as it appears the cleats are oak and the glue is epoxy, careful surface prep is in order, though I’d venture to guess you know that.

[pez_leon]

One advantage of these CNC kits is that so much of the inner structure is already in place when you turn over the boat. One exception: the forward bulkhead, which now takes the place of a MDF mold. I enjoyed the challenging of Macgyvering sticks odd clamps to hold it in place while the epoxy kicked:



With this and the mast thwart support system done, I've moved on to the gunwales. Specifically I've been cutting the sticks that will form the inner two layers of the three-part laminated gunwales. They will follow the path called out in yellow on this drawing:


This is some of the trickier woodworking I've ever done and also some of the most satisfying. Each stick needs a compound bevel on each end to match the fore and aft transom; each stick also needs to be the exact correct length, accounting for the curve of the gunwale in two dimensions. I pulled the bevels easily enough but was truly stumped on the length until I thought to leave one end of my stock overhanging and clamp another scrap stick to it to find the exact length by superimposition. You know that feeling of perfect clarity you get when you hit on a solution that will absolutely work? That feeling that almost unfailingly tells you the problem is solved, done, and dusted? I reveled in that feeling as I cut the stick to the definitive angle at the precise correct length. Then I put the stick in place and found it was 4 mm short!
Back to the drawing board. I am now cutting too long and sneaking up on the right length with a chisel. So far this works every time.

Once the gunwales are laminated I'll need quarter knees connecting the gunwales to the rear transom. For want of any air-dried cherry crotches I am making these from straighter stock:


The joint is doweled with stainless steel all-thread:




- James

[The Jeff]

Enjoying your progress and it's bringing back some memories of weird clamping setups and my deck carlins getting shorter after I cut them.

[Bruce Bateau]

Here's a little inspiration.



Do I see a Seil under sail in it?

-Bruce

[pez_leon]

Here's a little inspiration. Do I see a Seil under sail in it?

-Bruce

Several sail of Seil! Thanks, Bruce, for posting this. We watched it and the oldest one said it looks like a lot of fun!

James

[pez_leon]

Inwales going in!





I'm hoping to finish the gunwales bright and want skinny clear glue lines, so I opted for unthickened epoxy. The mating surfaces of the wood were quite smooth off the tablesaw but not planed. I was amazed by how much epoxy they soaked up and by how many clamps I needed. I had imagined using my 10 spring clamps and getting plenty of squeeze-out. Instead, I applied a few coats of neat epoxy to each surface, then clamped with every single clamp I own. I got enough squeeze-out to sleep well at night but not any more.
This is where I'd normally say "you can never have too many clamps". Not anymore. I talked to a friend this weekend who had just visited an estate sale with such a magnitude of woodworking gear as to suggest a real hoarding problem. He shook his head and said the inconceivable: "The guy had too many clamps"
I think this was the listing: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/tld/7548983665.html

So now we know it's possible.

James

[nrs5000]

No such thing as too many clamps for a boatbuilder!

I've got quite a few and am not actually building anything ATM, I'd be happy to lend you some.

[pez_leon]

I'd be happy to lend you some.

This is very good of you! I have rustled up a few more and I think I'm set, but if I fall short I'll PM you. Thank you for the offer!

James

[wend]

so glad to catch up on this (apparently at some point gmail started eating my forum emails) and see that there's been so much progress. the boat is looking great. I finally made my move back to the bay, and will probably start a boat build sometime soon, but I find myself wanting some first-hand experience with epoxy, etc. so if you find yourself wanting extra hands with a work day and aren't worried about internet randos helping out, let me know!

[pez_leon]

Welcome back to the neighborhood, wend! I'll send you a PM about visiting. One of the challenges with this build is the unpredictability of my work hours. The boat is just about my last priority, well behind the manager's demands for books and playdates and the supervisor's demanding nap schedule. It's tough to know when I'll have enough time to do anything while ambient temperatures are warm enough to kick epoxy reasonably quickly. But I'm sure we can work out a visit.
We spent a very gratifying hour or two shaping the starboard gunwale this weekend. I leveled the laminations with a block plane while the manager organized shavings and recounted the plot of the last three Dog Man novels he's read.


You can see he had to wiggle to fit under those absurdly long bar clamps that were holding the last laminate on the port gunwale. We counted 39 clamps - everything we have that can fit!

These gunwales are definitely the most challenging part of the build so far and quite possibly my favorite bit of woodworking on the boat. If any prospective builders read that and feel concerned, you needn't be - they would be pretty straightforward to build with ample epoxy filler, and after the first coat of paint no one would know the difference.

[pez_leon]

Gunwales and quarter knees are installed.





The manager and supervisor have been consistently helping. Sometimes, their help advances the project toward the water.



Other times, I must recognize that their ways are mysterious even unto their father, and that it's simply not necessary I should understand why they spent an hour wrapping masking tape around odd parts of the build.

[pez_leon]

With the gunwales and quarter knees in I've moved on to installing interior compartments. Most of these pieces are provided in the CNC kit so you might think they'd pop right in, and for another builder, they might just do that. I personally have spent a lot of time staring at the plans, looking for the one given measurement or relationship that makes the whole piece fall into place. In retrospect none of it has really been complicated. I'm just learning to think in a new way.
Here you see the central buoyancy compartments. In one of my few deviations from the plans, they'll be airtight instead of foam-filled. Each will provide about 70 liters of storage. That sounds like a lot - I backpack for weeks in the mountains with the gear that fits in my 70 liter backpack- but I imagine we'll fill them up quickly. The vertical pieces are provided by the kit. They fit just about perfectly. I just had to cutout a hole for some Bomar 8" deckplates.


The top pieces I made out of marine ply. This was the first time I've templated anything with hot glue and tick sticks and it worked a treat.


I'll install the top pieces after I put in a perimeter of cleats to land them and also fillet all those inside corners. Oh, and seal and paint.


Up next are four timber pieces that will hold the rowing stretchers. The pieces get drilled together for holes into which the stretchers fit. There are many possible stretcher positions to accommodate many possible leg lengths so that the whole family may comfortably row (uh huh. Sure.).


The two short planks go along each side of the CB case, matching holes in the long outboard pieces. Those two long pieces run from the sternsheets up to the mast step. Because there are two rowing stations, the long pieces have a second set of holes.


Look closely at that picture and you'll see that one hole from each facing pair will get a slanting cutout. The rower will insert one end the stretcher into the closed hole, then slot the other end into the slanting cutout leading to the matching hole across the boat. If it sounds like I am struggling to get my head around this seemingly simple idea, you are correct. Notice how many layout errors I made. I am going to sleep on this before cutting anything.


Hey, perhaps you could ID this wood I'm using for the stretcher holders. It is not like any North American species I know. It was salvaged from a dumpster outside of a closing high school woodshop. I picked it up as ugly unpromising looking 8 cm square beams. I am delighted to find it is so clear. It's a pleasure to work - planes easily, about like Sitka Spruce - and I'm beginning to wonder if it's not in fact something fancier then I usually buy. It looks an awful lot like "fijian mahogany" decking my neighbor bought this summer.

[pez_leon]

Here's those stretcher-holders ready to glue into the boat. The two darker shorter ones will be glued to the centerboard case. The longer lighter ones run nearly the length of the boat. You can see that each closed hole faces an open hole so that the stretcher can slot neatly in.

[pez_leon]

Out here in the Bay Area we've gotten an intense constant soaking rain for the last couple weeks. To hear the news tell it we are in the midst of an extraordinary weather event- and indeed, some people in low lying areas or near tall trees are getting truly hammered. The rain and the wind are a bigger challenge to the Lady Liberty $15,000 Cash Slots Giveaway Problem Gambling? Boathouse than I had envisioned it would ever see and still it holds up magnificently, but the sides of the boathouse are open. Windblown rain was sneaking under to dampen the yet-uncoated interior so I rigged a second tarp across the gunwales. That makes getting at the hull a bit of a chore. It seems like a good time to work on the bits I can fit in the shop.

The centerboard and rudder now have two coats of paint. I do love making foils.


Here I am starting to glue up the rudder head core (larger pieces with cutout) and cheeks. The core needs to be slightly thicker than two 12mm pieces of plywood, so the first layer of thickened epoxy is applied to one face with a notched spreader and allowed to slightly harden before a second layer of thickened epoxy glues both pieces together.



I've been meditating on tolerances and clearances and how foolishly tempted I feel to make them as tight as I can, collective wisdom be damned. My centerboard pivot is currently drilled at 0.5", the exact diameter of its bronze pin, and I love to feel the two moving past each other without play. Every authority I can find says that the fit should be loose to allow the centerboard to lean against the bottom and top of the case and so reduce what would otherwise be extraordinary torque on the pin. I understand this analytically and intuitively and yet I have not yet been able to bring myself to overbore the hole. Likewise I know I should build the rudder head around the slightly smaller looser rudder bearing that I turned expressly for that purpose (documented back on page 3) and yet I keep reaching for the large, perfectly fitting piece that would probably jam at the first sight of a sandy beach. I can resist anything except temptation. That includes, apparently, a press fit.

Here is the rudder head assembly dry fit to the rudder:




And here we zoom in on the forward edge of the rudder head to illustrate three ways that deviations from a kit can cost time and set me to head scratchin'.


That bored hole with the clearance notch on the forward edge of the rudder will hold one end of the rudder lowering shock cord. The other end will loop over that hook above the upper pintle on the currently unpainted rudder head core. I formed the notch two years ago when the CNC cut rudder head didn't exist. I had to guess at the shape of the notch and my guess was off; as it stands, there's no clearance between the notch and the rudder head core for the shock cord. It's easier to cut a bit off the bottom of the core than it is to re-form the notch. That line shows the new shape of the core.

See that rectangular chunk missing from the rudder core down near its bottom? That is a thoughtful touch by the designer so that you can through-bolt a gudgeon to the rudder head. But I'm using a much more affordable set of hardware, meaning that the rudder head will get pintles with long straps, meaning that I need the space filled to hold a fastener. The same issue applies to a good chunk of the quadrilateral lightening cutout near the upper pintle. Both are now blocked with epoxy and/or hardwood.

A third place where my self-built parts have interacted with a bit of friction with the kit is that issue of the thicker rudder head core mentioned above. The core needs to be thicker than the rudder so that the rudder can pivot freely. Given that the kit makes both the core and the rudder from two layers of 12mm plywood, something must thicken the core- hence the notched spreader/thickened epoxy steps described above. But my rudder is not made from plywood, and I could just have well build it a few mm thinner to avoid this small step.

None of these are issues or complaints. Far from it! They're just places where the kit posed unusual challenges because I stepped slightly off the path. I would still encourage anyone who's thinking about a CNC cut kit to go for it.

- James

[The Jeff]

I'm enjoying your updates and thanks for letting us know how the boathouse is working. I'm planning a Long Steps build in the next year or two and it's looking like it's going to have to be an outside build under a tarp.

I get your obsession with tight fits as well. The machinist in me wants everything to be a nice sliding fit and it really pained me to oversize the hole in the centerboard. My first rudder head was a disaster as it was way too tight so I had to build a second.

[John Meachen]

It may well have crossed your mind already but there is no real reason why you shouldn't remove the bottom few inches of that rudder stock packer and replce it with something more agreeable.The centreboard pivot really does need decent clearance and I admit to being no great fan of just a pin.I strongly prefer a hole large enough to admit a plastic bush that is a very good fit for the width of the slot and a bolt through the entire assembly.With a rubber washer beneath a large washer on the outside of the case,you have both sides tied together and very little likelihood of leaks.

[pez_leon]

You are right, John: with all the modifications I've done to this rudder core, it would have been much faster to make the desired shape out of fresh plywood. Which I might yet do! Working on this standalone part feels like much lower stakes than working on anything epoxied to the hull. If I don't like this rudder head, I'll just build another.



I started roughing out the tiller:

[Bruce Bateau]

You always make this look easy. Keep up the good work!

[pez_leon]

Thanks, Bruce! I can assure you that there are five missteps for every small unit of progress. For example I spent most of my shop time today trying to carve a neat sphere at the forward end of the tiller, only to craft a shape that drew instant unwanted biological comparisons from every adult who saw it. I ended up planing things back to their specified form.






It'll join the ready-for-varnish pile once I figure out the tiller extension. I am strongly leaning toward Ben Fuller's system as shown here: https://smallboatsmonthly.com/articl...er-extensions/




One question for the crowd: is there any wisdom in reinforcing the butt of the tiller against the twisting splitting loads of the rudder? Vivier's plans show whipping or alternating screws in this area, but that’s for a three-part tiller that creates the mortise for the rudder by gluing two long thin side pieces around interior blocking. My tiller is all one piece, and when I torque it against the rudder assembly I suspect that the rudder head would break before the tiller split. I am inclined to drive a few copper rivets through anyway. Perhaps two each side of the mortise. I hesitate because I can't recall having seen one piece of wood reinforced this way. Any thoughts?




- James

[John Meachen]

I'd use either a glued dowel or a copper nail and a roveat each end of the mortise in the tiller.I'd also ease all the edges of the tiller if the mainsheet is at the transom as it would reduce the likelihood of snagging while gybing.

[pez_leon]

I'd use either a glued dowel or a copper nail and a roveat each end of the mortise

I came to the same conclusion. I got only halfway through peening when my kids yelled the noise was keeping them up. I will not argue that my kids should say up any later, so it'll have to wait for tomorrow.

I'd also ease all the edges of the tiller if the mainsheet is at the transom as it would reduce the likelihood of snagging while gybing.

No danger there - the sheet is passed between cleats on either gunwale, keeping the transom very free. But those edges are eased a bit more than they seem.


Thanks for the ideas, John!

[pez_leon]

I'm working up a tiller extension. A first edition seemed too bulky, so I tried out some 1/2' dowel laying around the shop. The end that ties into the tiller will get this brass cap that was also laying around the shop. The tubing cutter does a nice job of cutting the shoulder of the tenon.




The dowel had a bit of bend that half matched the shape of the tiller. I liked the idea of an extension that lays right back where it should, so I soaked the stick in hot water for a while then clamped and wedged it to induce it to fully match the tiller. My first attempt sprang back a bit more than I wanted, so I'm trying again with bigger wedges.



The manager liked the tubing cutter. He made himself a few enormous slightly sharp rings.

[pez_leon]

Another rainy day project: the mast traveler. I'm following this excellent photo tutorial: http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...64#post3695364

I thought that the tighter bends that form the hook for the sail and the loop for the halyard would be the hardest, but they went swimmingly. It was the big loop for the mast that made a fool of me.





I tried again using a circle of wood I sawed out to the desired diameter. This went better.




I think it's ready for a trip to my friend's wire-feed welder, but if I have time before I see him I might try to bend a better circle.
- James

[pez_leon]

[pez_leon]

The second iteration of the mast traveler is an improvement.


As usual, the key was finding the right jig.

[WI-Tom]

Just curious: how long is your mast?

I've found that unless your mast has significant length above the sheave/beehole for the halyard, these kinds of metal rings are pretty much non-functional. My Alaska is designed with the beehole so near the tip of the mast that you cannot hoist the ring high enough so the foot of the sail clears the gunwales. (Granted, this is only because I use the alternate center mast step for the full mainsail, which is quite a bit lower than the "main" mast step in the bow used for the full ketch rig).

The metal ring can't be pulled right up to the beehole and work well.

If you've got the mast height for it, though, those rings would be really nice, I bet.

Tom

[John Meachen]

I fear that you may regret fitting the pintles in that manner.There are two reasons;firstly it is usual to have the lower pintle on the transom and a shorter pintle at the top of the rudder to make it a little easier to ship the rudder assembly.Secondly,the convention is to attach the hardware to the outside of the rudder stock and as neatly done as yours may be,you will find it causes major destruction if wear occasions replacement of either.A wider distance between the straps and fasteners on the outside is the convention for good reason.

[rgthom]

My pintles are internal as well, but the cheeks are through bolted and no glue so they are removable if I ever wear out the pins. It looks to me that James has the long pin on the lower pintle unless my perspective is off.

[pez_leon]

Rick has it- nothing in that assembly is glued. I reckon I could slide the rudder pintles out for replacement without much disturbing the rest of the rudder. If that didn't work, both cheeks can be removed to access the core.

Tom, you raise a good point about mast height and luff length. I'll make a few measurements before proceeding. This second iteration is much shorter in the vertical dimension - from the top of the loop to the bottom of the hook is probably less than three inches. Maybe I can splice the halyard to the loop so as to minimize the required height of the sheave.


Thanks all!

- James

[WI-Tom]

Tom, you raise a good point about mast height and luff length. I'll make a few measurements before proceeding. This second iteration is much shorter in the vertical dimension - from the top of the loop to the bottom of the hook is probably less than three inches. Maybe I can splice the halyard to the loop so as to minimize the required height of the sheave.

I was using a metal ring on my halyard this summer despite the problems. Halfway through my Georgian Bay trip I removed it and went back to my old method of tying the halyard directly to the yard with a constrictor hitch. I'm much happier that way. The way my boat and foredeck is set up, I can leave the halyard tied to the yard even after I drop and stow the rig, so it's a knot I only have to tie (at most) once a day. Takes 30 seconds, maybe. For my situation I just don't get much benefit at all from the fancy mast traveler.

With luck, yours will work flawlessly!

Tom

[pez_leon]

My buddy with the welder asked for some scrap rod on which to practice before we got to the real mast traveler. I brought over both versions. He welded the better one, and I got to try my hand with the prototype.




I am no welder!



Both cleaned up fine and looked great after a coat of paint.



Next up is leathering.

[pez_leon]

I should mention that I will obviously only need one traveler. I have been making both in parallel because the material cost is $5 and I keep expecting to make a fatal mistake.

[pez_leon]

In the interest of keeping this build log complete, I'll add this picture of the finished rudder assembly and the still unfinished tiller.



I have plans to make each a simple padded bag.