Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cutter

[jamieduff1981]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and building my first dinghy. It's Tom Dunderdale's Campion Apple 16. I've never done any work on a boat before so am learning as I go here.

I bought the plans after reading a review of the boat, watching some videos which Mr Dunderdale directed me to and after reading another thread on this forum. Then I ordered some marine ply and a few lengths of household timber just for miscellaneous use.



I have a reasonable amount of reclaimed iroko worktops from a school science lab. Many things in my house were made from it by the man who built my house, and there was a lot more left over in the outbuilding, so I'm using it where I can. Hardwood is quite difficult to get in Scotland unless paying through the nose for it both in terms of the material itself but also postal costs are just unattractive.

I started with the rudder headstock. I have two young daughters and want to involve them as much as they wish to be involved. My pace is not fast as frankly I don't get a lot of spare time with spare energy to go with it.





I'm using these Oilite bronze tophat bushes for the rudder blade so there isn't a rotating bearing surface onto softwood. It works nicely.




For the epoxy I'm using West Systems 105 with slow hardener. There's no rush and I need all the working time I can get.

[jamieduff1981]

One of the attractions of this design for me was the lack of any need to build a strong back or any moulds, partly from a time aspect but also just due to the very high costs of timber here.

The hull planks are efficiently nested in two pairs of 8' x 4' sheets of 6mm marine ply. These can be butted and glassed together or scarphed. I'm reliably assured that the former method is perfectly sound but I didn't like the sound of it so decided to scarph.


I've seen nice jigs for scarphing neatly but I didn't make one and just eyeballed it.


The epoxy joint was made using some milled fibres


There's a handy table with the coordinates to loft out the hull planks. This took me a bit longer than it probably should but it wasn't too painful.


I cut the planks out with a circular saw one pair at a time clamped together.

[jamieduff1981]

Not really knowing what I was doing, I used far too many tie-wraps (Americans call these zip ties I think) along the keel. I learned quickly enough and didn't use so many for subsequent seams.


It was good bending the first pair of planks into something 3 dimensional. I left these for a day or two to relax a little into shape. As before - no rush.


Adding the second planks, it started quickly to look like something exciting, but there was a big gap along the seam at the bow end and I was fearful I'd messed up the lofting.




With the third planks added the bow still wasn't looking too clever. I realised that the keel isn't supposed to be a straight line but rather there's a sweep end to end. I wasn't sure what effect sitting flat on the floor would ultimately have on it all but presumably nothing good, so I made up two trestles and my family helped me lift this somewhat floppy and precarious assembly up. Rather than get better, the hull was at its weakest with the third planks fitted and had a real penchant for turning inside out at the aft end and flopping down over the trestle. Adding the transom didn't help much!

[jamieduff1981]

The girls helped me hang the fourth planks. I did the holding up whilst they drilled holes and tie-wrapped it. Not difficult, but it would have been if I were doing it alone.

With those fitted it became a lot stronger and we decided to flip it over to 5 minute epoxy spots along the seams.

[jamieduff1981]

There were a number of plywood frames to mark out. I've left the curved tops marked out but uncut so I could level the boat easily to ensure I didn't twist the hull.



My eldest daughter plotted out a couple as well and learned a little about reading scale drawings from it.



Once happy it was about the right shape - and after lifting onto the trestles the keel sagged into its proper form and all those tiewraps at the bow went slack and the gaps disappeared (cue big relief!) we cut 50mm fibreglass tape into various lengths



I realised I couldn't reach the keel and I'm much too heavy to get into the boat whilst it's held together with tie-wraps, so I lifted the bigger child in who somewhat reluctantly learned how to paint on epoxy resin then stipple the cloth down to fully wet it out between the tie-wraps.



200g of resin got us the centre line and a few extra spots in the bow spot glassed together.

[biglad]

Looking good!

I'm also in Scotland, though at the opposite end of the country to you. I built a stitch and tape boat, similar to yours a few years back. I did the taping a slightly different way... I filled the v shaped seams between the planks on the outboard side between the plastic ties with thickened epoxy and let it cure. Once it's cured it'll hold the planks together, you can then cut the ties and do your glass taping in one long length.

Supplies wise - For my current build I used Timbmet in Glasgow and John Moody Marine timber (John is on the south coast of England but postage is reasonable). I did buy pre Covid so not sure what has happened to prices since. I know for other timber I buy eg fencing, CLS, cladding etc it's gone up a fair bit.

[AndyG]

What a lovely looking boat! I've just been down the Campion Apple online rabbit hole, and - gaff-rigged cutter, lug yawl or single lug rig - I think you've gone for the best sail plan. I will be following this build,

Andy

[dbp1]

Looking great -- excited to follow your progress!

[jamieduff1981]

Thanks everyone!

We got the rest of the seams spot glassed and also spot glassed the frames in place.





The glass was flatted back with a power sander a bit in preparation for taping over later in full. Naturally I was careful not to overdo it and sand through the actual glass fibres and compromising the whole point!


Next we cut out all the tie-wraps which I thought would be rewarding but actually was a bit tedious if I'm honest, then some general tidying up on the outside started to reveal something starting to resemble a boat.


Before glassing the seams in full I wanted to add the gunwales as I'm confident they will somewhat alter the shape of the hull by fairing out the shear line and I'd rather use the glass to lock it in that shape. The bow in particular preferred to straighten out somewhat.


To ensure the bow adopted a fair shape when gluing up the gunwales, rather than rely on the stiffness of the laminations themselves I made temporary braces to clamp in during the gluing. Using some scrap wood it seemed to work.

[jamieduff1981]

I had ordered some nice longer lengths of iroko as well as Douglas Fir at the same time to save on postage/shipping but because of cost these were bought as rough sawn boards which is also new to me.



I admit at this stage I got most of the above done in winter/spring this year, then got scared of ruining this timber, bought another classic car and then took it apart so I'm rapidly catching up with time-now. Having got the car back together in early August just in time for a family trip to Orkney in it, I've turned my attention back to building Melitele.

I don't keep many friends as I don't find many people enjoy my enthusiasm (or even just hide their disdain for it) for making things. My wife is really great but isn't that keen on helping me machine timber. I bought the girls some new ear defenders and recruited them to help. In truth I expected wastage and errors but the first board has gone really well. It's a simple thing, I know, but for a beginner it's been really great seeing a nice piece of iroko emerge from a rough sawn board and I think even the girls found that quite rewarding since we did it ourselves.




The next thing to do was to cut the thicknessed board down into strips. @dbp1, I think it was on your thread (forgive me if I'm mis-remembering this!) that you had breakages with the plans 20 x 20mm square strips, so to mitigate this I cut mine narrower to use more laminations. I got a 20 x 20mm strip for the stem and the hardwood keel back to the daggerboard case out of this first board. I'll have to use a second for the inners and the skeg but that still leaves me with plenty later.


Still fearful of breakages even with the thinner strips I mocked up one lamination and happily it follows the shear line without too much drama, which is nice!

[jamieduff1981]

Some imbicile has smashed the screen on my scales so I can't mix the West Systems epoxy. I cheated and used 1 hour epoxy mixed 1:1 instead to glue on the stem piece and I ordered new scales this morning. Tonight I can cut the forward ends of the gunwale laminations to fit the stem ready to glue up when the replacement scales arrive.


This brings me up to date!

Thanks for reading

[dbp1]

Yes -- I had a bunch of pieces break, and eventually went quite thin -- though they were Douglas fir, not Iroko, so who knows! Iroko seems harder to find this side of the Atlantic -- it looks very pretty though!

(instead of weight, you can mix by volume... it's more tedious, but if you have plastic cups, like that food came in or something, you can measure the two marks you want with water and mark the line on the outside with a marker. Once the epoxy cures, it _usually_ pops right out of plastic containers, so you can re-use them... though I've only done this with 2:1 ratio epoxies, not WEST, where the ratio is a bit more extreme!)

[swoody126]

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[The Jeff]

Nice! I really like that cutter rig and plumb bow. If I'd known about the Campion boats when I was looking at plans the Apple 16 would have given my First Mate a run for its money.

I'll definitely be following along!

[jamieduff1981]

Yes -- I had a bunch of pieces break, and eventually went quite thin -- though they were Douglas fir, not Iroko, so who knows! Iroko seems harder to find this side of the Atlantic -- it looks very pretty though!

(instead of weight, you can mix by volume... it's more tedious, but if you have plastic cups, like that food came in or something, you can measure the two marks you want with water and mark the line on the outside with a marker. Once the epoxy cures, it _usually_ pops right out of plastic containers, so you can re-use them... though I've only done this with 2:1 ratio epoxies, not WEST, where the ratio is a bit more extreme!)

Thanks Daniel. Fingers crossed these go ok. I have today off work (but have to make a work call anyway in quarter of an hour). I'm going to mark and cut the bow ends of the laminates after that and will hopefully get them glued up tomorrow if I can. The new scales arrived - they only go up to 200g which is the most I've been mixing in one go so far although I admit I misread in my haste and thought they went higher than this! They're very precise for small quantities though and I can get moving again which is the main thing. For the main fibreglass skinning I'll probably do as you suggest and mix by volume.

Nice! I really like that cutter rig and plumb bow. If I'd known about the Campion boats when I was looking at plans the Apple 16 would have given my First Mate a run for its money.

I'll definitely be following along!

Thank you nice person whom I assume is named Jeff ?

[Chris Narum]

Great build thread and I am following this with interest. I really like the look of the apple series.
If you don't mind sharing the videos he pointed you towards, could you paste the links here?
Or is it the raid Finland videos of Peter Lords apple?
I have never seen the boat in the flesh, but I have participated in Raid Finland a few times and talked to Peter about the boat.

By the way, which sail plan will you go for?


Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

[dbp1]

Great build thread and I am following this with interest. I really like the look of the apple series.
If you don't mind sharing the videos he pointed you towards, could you paste the links here?
Or is it the raid Finland videos of Peter Lords apple?
I have never seen the boat in the flesh, but I have participated in Raid Finland a few times and talked to Peter about the boat.

maybe there are some new videos, but the best ones I know of are from Matt Bowser (who is a member and occasional poster here):

https://youtube.com/c/MattBowser

he also wrote up his boat in small boats monthly (which requires a subscription)

[jamieduff1981]

Hi,

I didn't claim it was a great video, but good enough and not so far from me so the weather is fairly typical

This is Bill Haylock's Apple 16.

https://www.facebook.com/10000078340...1264757242942/>>


I'm building the gaff cutter sail plan, mostly because I'm not especially practical and will choose the prettier option 9 out of 10 times

[jamieduff1981]

I've peaked too soon today although maybe that's a good thing.

I remembered the chainplates which the gaff cutter version has. This detail is only on the gaff cutter versions of the drawings. The chainplates for the standing rigging pass through the gunwales so it's necessary to mark their positions and cut 4mm deep slots out of the gunwales before gluing to the hull. I'm sure if I missed this I could have drilled through and filed them out but I'm glad I didn't make life difficult for myself here. These were kerfed and chiselled out.


Like this:


Next I marked and cut the stem ends of the gunwales to neatly (a relative term wherever I'm involved...) fit the stem post. In retrospect I should have done this first then marked the slots for the chainplates afterwards as the latter is easier to get right than the former but I never was that bright...
Once the inner laminations were cut to fit I clamped up the next lamination dry to get that fettled also.


It's probably just because I'm messy but I burned through 4 or 5 pairs of rubber gloves gluing up the first set. Also, I've learned that when buying clamps one should forget the sets of 4, 6 or even 12 and just select "All" in the online shopping cart.


I assume it goes without saying but the joints in the laminations were staggered. Each strip is roughly 11ft long so they're approximately 2/3 : 1/3 of the length of the boat so the inner lamination has the joint down aft and the outer one is more forward.


Now I'm out of clamps so I'll stooge around and relax I think. Tomorrow morning I can do more.

[Hugh MacD]

Just found this thread....following! I especially like the fact that you're getting your daughters in on the build Once they get bigger, I expect the Sprite will be the next project!

[jamieduff1981]

The other side is glued up. It's starting to resemble a boat now with curves in the right places

[jamieduff1981]

Hi,

Yes they're dragged in to this often, usually with moans of complaint to begin with but they seem to genuinely enjoy themselves once they're started. Adults are the same I suppose - I think lots of us probably dread the thought of stuff that's ok once doing it.

That car is the simplest I've ever had and also the one which mocks me the most. I have a V12 XJ-S also which I find much easier to keep in good working order!

[Chris Narum]

maybe there are some new videos, but the best ones I know of are from Matt Bowser (who is a member and occasional poster here):

https://youtube.com/c/MattBowser

he also wrote up his boat in small boats monthly (which requires a subscription)

It is a bit hard to come by any videos of these boats, but I don't know how many of them that has been built.
I am a subscriber of small boats monthly and have read his write up on the boat there, plus found his blog and youtube. His boat is a looker for sure, just like yours.
I have also followed your building thread and look forward to see your boat with sails up.

[Chris Narum]

Hi,

I didn't claim it was a great video, but good enough and not so far from me so the weather is fairly typical

This is Bill Haylock's Apple 16.

https://www.facebook.com/10000078340...1264757242942/>


I'm building the gaff cutter sail plan, mostly because I'm not especially practical and will choose the prettier option 9 out of 10 times

Thanks, I have not seen this video before. Following your thread with interest

[jamieduff1981]

Work has been rather busy lately, but I had Friday off (well, it was Schrodinger's Annual Leave really) and a productive Saturday and Sunday with my wife who, uncharacteristically, was feeling very industrious towards the dinghy.


We cleared out our downstairs garage, wired in a bigger heater with more clever thermostatic control, made a cradle with trolley wheels and moved Melitele out of the shed. As it happens, this is the first opportunity I've had to look at my boat from the side.








It just fits diagonally in the downstairs garage with room to squeeze around the stem, but with wheels it's easy to swing the doors open and move the boat to a better position to work on and then tuck it away warm for the epoxy to cure.





With Melitele out of the shed, I built racks to suspend the good timber off the floor for winter and cleared out space to get my old Jag X-Type in which needs a new sill. I was planning to scrap the car, but looking at what else is out there a new sill, a brake pipe and fixing an exhaust leak seams like very cheap 3.0 V6 AWD motoring for a while to come so there's a new sill on order and I've plenty welding consumables already. It'll make a good tow car for the boat.


Without a sill here already though, my wife was quite keen that we got some immediate benefit from the relocation works, the results of which are that by 9am on Sunday we completed all of the internal seam taping. This picture was from Saturday evening where we still had the last chine and the short slash on the top plank for the tumblehome transom to deal with.





We're going to flip the hull over and tackle the outsides of the seams next and will probably glass the exterior of the hull at that point. We could glass the interior now, but turning the hull over isn't really difficult and I would like the visual progress of the outside looking more matured.

[jamieduff1981]

I managed to capsize the boat alone yesterday, but I'll admit it was pretty awkward. The outside of the hull was then power sanded to remove any splinters or drips of epoxy through the tie-wrap holes. The stem post was shaped also.










That done, my wife laid out, marked and cut the fibreglass cloth ahead of time. We made up a filler paste from epoxy and milled fibres (heavier but a lot stronger than using microballoons) and filled all the seams and tiewrap holes.





Rather than let this cure and sand it back, we went straight ahead and glassed over it. The squeegee action to wet out the cloth takes care of any rough bits of filler while it's all still wet.





This was wet out in the usual way (at least it's usual for home built aircraft builders) - pour a little resin on then squeegee the bejesus out of it to see how far the resin will go whilst still wetting it out fully.





It still used loads of resin. It's a good thing I bought another 6kg pack of the stuff!

[dbp1]

Looking great! Profile on the stem looks nice too! I tried and failed at getting it to look right, and eventually gave up and just left it squared off...

[jamieduff1981]

Looking great! Profile on the stem looks nice too! I tried and failed at getting it to look right, and eventually gave up and just left it squared off...

Thank you Daniel

I'm quite keen to give it an initial flatting back to see what I have, then get the false keel and skeg cut and fitted I should probably make up the dagger board case about now-ish also.

[Wagemaker]

Nice work!
I'm still trying to figure out what I've accomplished in the last two months!

...congrats on staying off the couch!

WgMkr

[jamieduff1981]

I need to rebuild many threads on many forums thanks to the Village Photos webhost disappearing and not renewing the security certificate.

A while ago I built the daggerboard case and cut the hull to fit it in. It's not glued in yet.












In the mean time though, I've started adding the lower rubbing strips. These are temporarily screwed in place whilst the epoxy cures.





The screws are out now, actually, and I'm ready to glue the next lamination on, which will be screwed from the inside this time.

[jamieduff1981]

This weekend I was mostly cutting up old cars, but I did manage, somehow, to singlehandedly get the second lamination of the lower rubbing strip dry-fitted. It needs some glue mixed up to final-fit it

[jamieduff1981]

This weekend I rounded off the tops of the frames and glued in the braces.









I think it's time to fibreglass the inside now, as once the large breasthook which goes all the way back to the frame ahead of the mast, to provide a solid mounting for the bowsprit, access in here will get a bit more awkward.

My dad visited today, which allowed me to get the first lamination of the remaining lower rubbing strip fitted. I'm really pleased with how this is looking. We're a long way from finished but I wasn't sure I'd ever get this far to be honest.

[dbp1]

Looking nice! Especially that last photo. It takes a second to realize it’s just a few pieces of plywood twisted to near the edge of their ability.

[jamieduff1981]

It's quite spectacular really seeing this pretty shape appear out of flat boards. Your Apple is looking great, by the way, and I must thank you for recording your build as you have done as it's helped me avoid the odd rookie mistake along the way which I may have made if I hadn't been following your posts.

[jamieduff1981]

I've done a little more work inside, then wheeled it out for a better look at it. I haven't fitted the second lamination of that last rubbing strip yet, but will do soon.


The new bits include some batons which will strengthen and support the decked areas, as well as the large breasthook which will support the bowsprit and transmit its loads back into the hull - or at least I hope it will