Building the CoPogy 18

[WI-Tom]

Fixes, Mods & Upgrades

Today was the first decent, sunny, warmish, moderate-wind day that we’ve had this spring, so I figured it was a good opportunity to drag the boat out from under its cover and test out my single-handed mast-raising rig.

Took longer to figure out the right order to do things and get it all set up the first time than it did to raise the mast. Once I had it rigged and adjusted properly, the mast went up and in, in less than two minutes.



Removing the mast was just as simple. Very glad that it all worked as I intended. So much easier than the brute force and ignorance method I originally used.

The legs of the rig are basically extensions of the oars. I figure if I ever embark on a long trip somewhere remote, the rig is short enough that I could take it with me, just in case I ever needed to pull the mast. The likelihood of needing it is low, but I have the option.

If you were me, your next project would be finding a way to remember the proper steps, the gear you need, and what order to do things in, to make your mast-raising rig work.

Tom

[AJZimm]

That is clever and much more portable than what I use. As you know, my tripod is part of the trailer. Good job!

Slick.

Thanks guys. The idea for using the oars was actually a suggestion from Tad Roberts when I was whining to him about my mast-raising difficulties at the Victoria Classic Boat Festival last fall. The execution of the idea, for better or worse, is mine.

[AJZimm]

If you were me, your next project would be finding a way to remember the proper steps, the gear you need, and what order to do things in, to make your mast-raising rig work.

Tom

I suppose I should make a checklist, kind of like a pilot's pre-flight list.

However, I am trying to avoid outsourcing my entire memory to external devices or pieces of paper. I figure if I practice remembering what I have to do, I will keep remembering, on the use-it-or-lose-it principle. It may be a vain hope.

[WI-Tom]

I suppose I should make a checklist, kind of like a pilot's pre-flight list.

However, I am trying to avoid outsourcing my entire memory to external devices or pieces of paper. I figure if I practice remembering what I have to do, I will keep remembering, on the use-it-or-lose-it principle. It may be a vain hope.

I completely agree. I was thinking more of making the process as organized and idiot-proof as possible. Like, for my boat tent, using different colored lines for different functions, figuring out a routine of how and where to store it (always exactly the same, etc.). That always helps me a bit with that old first-of-the-season rusty technique issues.

Tom

[AJZimm]

I completely agree. I was thinking more of making the process as organized and idiot-proof as possible. Like, for my boat tent, using different colored lines for different functions, figuring out a routine of how and where to store it (always exactly the same, etc.). That always helps me a bit with that old first-of-the-season rusty technique issues.

Tom

Good point.

I've already started to do something similar. There are so many lines on the main mast that when I decided to change out the halyards from the dyneema that I originally had, I went with two different colours of double-braid polyester for the peak and throat.

[jpatrick]

Alex, your mast raising rig seems to be a success. And dog knows that, as we age, we need all the help we can give ourselves. But does it put your oars at all into a compromised position? Being integral to your boating mission, it would be a shame to break one at the beginning (still in the launch ramp area) of a trip. You could revert to the brute force method then, but that wouldn't fix the oar.

Jeff

[AJZimm]

Alex, your mast raising rig seems to be a success. And dog knows that, as we age, we need all the help we can give ourselves. But does it put your oars at all into a compromised position? Being integral to your boating mission, it would be a shame to break one at the beginning (still in the launch ramp area) of a trip. You could revert to the brute force method then, but that wouldn't fix the oar.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I thought of that, but there really isn't much load on the oars. The mast only weighs about 40 lbs. 30, or even 20 years ago, I would have just scoffed at the notion of needing a lift rig for a mere 40 lbs, and just got on with the brute force. However, I now find that 40 lbs is an awkward bugger when the centre of gravity is 5 feet above your head, and, as both you and another friend have pointed out, I'm unlikely to get stronger as I get older.

But I digress.

My point was that 40 lbs, plus the weight of the rig above the oars (another 6-8 lbs? I haven't weighed it), isn't that much load, especially when it is solely in compression (less than 25 lbs per oar). I did spend some time properly tensioning the fore-guy and two after-guys to make sure they don't add any additional download to the the oars but still support them.

[Bruce Bateau]

I love the way there are always new things to discover in the world of boats. I just learned about sheer legs a year ago and had a hard time finding info about them online.


Recently a friend gave me The Yachtsman's A-Z by Henry Clarkson (1979), and sure enough there was an illustration in there. (Though I hope they are unstepping the mast and pumping it out in this illustration, because the boat looks like it is going down!)

[AJZimm]

I think there is a sheer legs diagram in one of the Admiralty seamanship manuals I was issued when I joined the navy a zillion years ago. it was pretty light on details, on the assumption that sailors would know all about ropework, lashings and so on. I'll see if I can find it again and post it here.

[AJZimm]

Fixes, Mods & Upgrades

I’ve always had problems with this kind of hatch – getting them tight enough by hand, and then, undoing them by hand once they are tightened. I’ve got three of these as access ports to small void spaces. I made the tool you see – a kind of wrench, I suppose:


Here it is deployed:


Works well.

[Hugh MacD]

Nice! Much more elegant than my technique of using a small block of wood I keep in my tool bag as a "cutting board" with a boot as a hammer

[jpatrick]

Good job, Alex. That's the sort of tool that the hatch makers ought to be selling in conjunction with their hatches. I'd paint it bright orange though. Because I'm always looking for "that tool!"

Jeff

[Woody Jones]

Clever solution!

[AJZimm]

Nice! Much more elegant than my technique of using a small block of wood I keep in my tool bag as a "cutting board" with a boot as a hammer

Good job, Alex. That's the sort of tool that the hatch makers ought to be selling in conjunction with their hatches. I'd paint it bright orange though. Because I'm always looking for "that tool!"

Jeff

Clever solution!

Thanks, guys.

It took me longer to figure out what I should make than to actually make it.

[Breakaway]

Good job, Alex. That's the sort of tool that the hatch makers ought to be selling in conjunction with their hatches. I'd paint it bright orange though. Because I'm always looking for "that tool!"

Jeff

Beckson sells one in bright yellow. This is 5-inches between pins.



Nice job on yours Alex!

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[AJZimm]

Beckson sells one in bright yellow. This is 5-inches between pins.



Nice job on yours Alex!

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks for posting, Kevin.

I had vaguely recalled that there might be something commercial like that but couldn't be bothered to go looking. What I made has more surface area in contact with the sides and shouldn't require as much hand force to hold it in place and should slip less (I hope)

[IanMilne]

I made a couple out of 12mm plywood, for different sized hatches. Yours are much better looking though. It must be a common problem.
Regards,
Ian

[AJZimm]

I made a couple out of 12mm plywood, for different sized hatches. Yours are much better looking though. It must be a common problem.
Regards,
Ian

The bits that fit into the hatch are actually 12mm ply, as that is the exact depth of the indents. The handle is a scrap piece of D. Fir glued and screwed to the two ply bits.

[rgthom]

I gave up on the round twist hatches except for the small size. They were too hard to turn without a tool (which I figured I would lose just when I needed it), and the O-rings would not stay in place. One got replaced by the press-in type with a lever on one side to open, the others I opened up even more to use rectangular hatches. Your tool looks great, and I bet you keep it in a safe spot.
-Rick

[AJZimm]

Your tool looks great, and I bet you keep it in a safe spot.
-Rick

Thanks Rick.

For now it lives in a hatch-closed cockpit seatback compartment. It remains to be seen how safe that spot is.

[WI-Tom]

Thanks Rick.

For now it lives in a hatch-closed cockpit seatback compartment. It remains to be seen how safe that spot is.

You keep the gadget you need to open your hatches...

inside a hatch?

Tom

[AJZimm]

You keep the gadget you need to open your hatches...

inside a hatch?

Tom

Yup.

Different hatches for different batches.

The hatches the tool is made for are actually more like inspection ports for the three small void spaces I built in - one right forward in the bow and the other two right aft below the anchor locker and the fuel locker. The latter two were to get the locker bottoms above the normal sailing waterline. I don't open these inspection ports/hatches routinely, but I do want to be able to check the spaces periodically.

The behind-the-cockpit lockers are rectangular, have regular lever/cam closings and are accessible and used many times in a day.

[AJZimm]

Fixes, Mods & Upgrades

Wood Stove Installation:
With a boat as small as Camas Moon, one might question the need for cabin heat at all. However, I entertain hopes of cruising more in the somewhat-off-seasons, when the evenings and mornings at anchor can be very cool. Additionally, I have spent days at anchor up the coast waiting out cold rainy gales, even in summer, and I would like to get back to the north coast with this boat. When all you have is non-active body heat and the occasional pulse of cook stove heat from a pot of soup or cup of coffee, you can get rather chilled. One of my design intentions from the beginning was to install a small wood stove for just such situations. And, before you ask, I decided on a wood stove because of the ease of picking up small bits of firewood from nearly every beach and rocky headland along the coast, so I wouldn’t have to carry a lot of fuel.

Now, putting a fire inside of a wooden boat, one that you can’t instantly shut off with a turn of a knob, is not an inherently safe thing to do. Consequently, I spent a lot of time thinking of the best way to ensure that neither radiant or convective heat from a stove would set the boat alight, in the short term, or pyrolyze the surrounding wood, over the long term.

I started with the smallest wood stove I could get, a Dickinson Newport Solid Fuel Heater. It has a footprint of about 8“ x 10” and is about 15” high. It’s made of SS and has a stand-off perforated SS jacket that separates the firebox from the bits you would potentially touch. It uses a 3” dia chimney, also of SS.

About the only place on the boat where there is room for the stove is in the aft port corner of the cabin, up against the bulkhead separating the cabin from the cockpit. The starboard side is taken up with the electrical panel.

Although I have seen pictures of many installations where the stove is bolted to a bulkhead or wall, with the accompanying back brackets, their own installation guide recommends a minimum distance of about 8” to the nearest surface. That seemed right to me. I decided I needed something non-combustible against the wood of the bulkhead, hull and overhead. I also decided on a metal surface facing the stove, separated from the non-combustible material by an air gap.

For the non-combustible material, I decided to use ½” cement backer board, the stuff that goes behind shower tile. I decided on gluing it on, as it takes no structural load. The first challenge was how to make somewhere for fasteners for the metal surface and to secure the stove itself. For the base, I cut out holes and glued in 1” squares of ½” plywood where needed:


For the side and back wall, how to make something to hold the sheet metal at a gap while also not exposing wood directly to radiant heat? I made some stand-offs out of 1” long sections of 1” square aluminum tubing. The stand-offs are glued through holes in the cement board, with more ½” ply plugs in the inside base of the stand-offs. The ply is for screw fastening:

[AJZimm]

Fixes, Mods & Upgrades

Wood Stove Installation, Cont’d:

The only place for the chimney to go through the overhead is through the side deck alongside the pilothouse, as the pilothouse roof right there is covered with a solar panel.

Rather than cement board overhead, I used regular glass fibre insulation, held in place with aluminum sheet. In order to do that, I first had to make a kind of collar, or ring, to constrain the insulation around the deck opening:


In the above picture, you can also see the wood bracket I glued on to fasten more aluminum tubing that would hold the aluminum sheet metal in place.

Here you can see the insulation and sheet aluminum partly installed – a work in progress at this point.


Here is the insulation installed and the tubing installed, which will ensure an air gap between the aluminum sheet yet to be installed and the overhead insulation.

[AJZimm]

Fixes, Mods & Upgrades

Wood Stove Installation, Cont’d:

Here is the stove installed in place:


I used 1/16” aluminum deck plate because my local metal dealer had a few offcuts that happened to be the sizes I needed. You can see that there is a 1” gap top and bottom at the side and back. I added wood trim to tidy up the edges and to constrain wood bits an ashes on the base.

I used the deck iron that Dickinson sells for this stove. I made a hardwood mounting ring to adapt it to the slope and curve of my deck. You can see that the deck wasn’t quite wide enough to accommodate the deck iron in its unmodified state, so I bent it on two sides. To make it fit.


As I am a single-hander, I will likely never use the stove while under way, so, when sailing, I will close the deck iron with the SS cap that Dickinson makes. I may come up with some kind of hold-down strap so that an errant jib sheet or furling line, both of which will run alongside the iron, can’t inadvertently flip it off.

Dickinson recommends a minimum of 4’ of chimney. I bought two, 2’ lengths. Here is a test fit with just one length. I am thinking I will have to come up with some kind of easily-deployed brace for the chimney and its rain cap, in case of high winds or a rolly anchorage. Suggestions welcome.

Also thinking I might want to have some kind of additional demountable heat shield that I can deploy between the above-deck chimney and the lexan windows. Not sure how much heat the chimney will radiate at that point.



So, nearly finished except for a bit of painting touch-up and the aforementioned chimney supports. I haven't yet put a fire in the stove. I'll do that before I head out to sea.

[Hugh MacD]

Waycool, Alex! I suspect you'll have to keep the fires quite small to keep from roasting yourself out. Those little Dickinsons put out a lot ​of heat! I had one in a Catalina 27 and could only run it very low. Why not just permanently affix a heatshield to the lowest pipe section? Too bulky?

[stromborg]

That is a very nice installation.

[jpatrick]

I have been thinking of a small heater for my current build so this posting is great! You've done your usual well thought out and neat installation, Alex. Thanks.

Jeff

[AJZimm]

That is a very nice installation.

Tbanks, Steve. Coming from someone with your level of attention to detail, I consider that to be high praise.

I have been thinking of a small heater for my current build so this posting is great! You've done your usual well thought out and neat installation, Alex. Thanks.
Jeff

You're welcome Jeff.

If you decide to use the same heater, I hope you won't have to wait as long to get one. It took nearly a year from ordering to delivery - pandemic supply chain issues apparently.

[AJZimm]

Waycool, Alex! I suspect you'll have to keep the fires quite small to keep from roasting yourself out. Those little Dickinsons put out a lot ​of heat! I had one in a Catalina 27 and could only run it very low. Why not just permanently affix a heatshield to the lowest pipe section? Too bulky?

I expect you are right, Hugh, with regard to heat output. The literature says it has an output capacity that varies from 3,000 - 8,000 BTUH. I suspect that even 3,000 might be about twice what I need if the day is just cool, not cold.

I hadn't considered the idea of a permanent heatshield affixed to the lower pipe section. It might work. I am planning to build a storage box of some kind for the pipe sections and smoke head in any case, to contain any soot, so making it a smidge larger shouldn't be a problem. Lots of room in the cockpit lockers at the moment. I'll have to put my thinking cap on as to the best way to do that.

[Hugh MacD]

Silly as it may sound, you may check at a commercial trucking supply, if there are any near you. They have some heatshield mounting brackets that might be useful.
I couldn't upload the pic, but here's a link to a couple that may give you some ideas:
https://budandtonystruckparts.com/5-...4aAqiJEALw_wcB
and:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/11564292056...4aAqFjEALw_wcB

[AJZimm]

Silly as it may sound, you may check at a commercial trucking supply, if there are any near you. They have some heatshield mounting brackets that might be useful.
I couldn't upload the pic, but here's a link to a couple that may give you some ideas:
https://budandtonystruckparts.com/5-...4aAqiJEALw_wcB
and:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/11564292056...4aAqFjEALw_wcB

Great tip, Hugh!

Never thought of that.

[ulav8r]

Dougle wall pipe is commonly used for wood stoves in homes. As 6 inch pipe is usually the smallest offered. it will be a roll your own. I would use the pipe clamps, bend a few U brackets, and fasten the outer shield to one leg of the U. In your application I think you could use a 270 degree shield. You need at least a 1 Inch air gap between the inner and outer walls.

There are double wall pipes for wall/ceiling/attic penetrations that have solid insulation in the cavity. Again, the smallest inside Diameter is 6 inches with an od of 8 inches. You might make one using a castable refractory material.