Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cutter

[jamieduff1981]

I think that these kinds of delays are inevitable in these kind of at-home projects. It's what makes it a hobby rather than a job -- other things can (and will) take priority. The sailwork (and workshop) sounds like it'll be a lot of fun!

Practically speaking you're spot on there. Emotively though it annoys me that the work always gets done but it's always the things I enjoy living for which suffer. I know that the first nice day in 2023 when I'm looking at some serene water I'll be kicking myself that I didn't just pull the finger out and finish the boat!

I meant to say though - your ballast tank looks to have turned out well. Hopefully it works well - for both of us

[Hugh MacD]

"I just haven't had, well, I'm not sure what"
It wasn't what you didn't have, it was that you had an overabundance of distractions. I suspect we've all been there. Trying to push through when you feel you're taking time from something with a higher priority takes the joy out of a project and building a boat should be a joyful thing. Glad you're able to get back to the joy

[jamieduff1981]

Very wise words! Thanks to you both, and have a very good 2023

[jamieduff1981]

With the glue on the mast cured, my daughter today helped me plane it down to final dimensions (and square!) before marking on the taper at the top 1000mm using a baton. The taper was cut down with a hand-held power planer which is one of my power tools I'm less confident with due to variable results. Practise makes perfect though, apparently, and whilst not actually perfect the mast is close enough and we're happy with it.





The next job is to mark on lines to guide the planer (or me, really) as we turn it from a 4 sided square to an 8 sided octogon cross section. We'll then knock the corners off again to make it 16 sided before changing to the hand planer to make it 32 sided before finishing to the final round shape with a sanding belt.



To aid marking for the first octogon shape we've made a marking gauge from a piece of wood, 2 nails and 2 pencils. They're spaced in a ratio of 7-10-7 which draws on where the new corners will be.

Unfortunately I've had an annoyingly small part break on my old Jag XJ-S which none-the-less renders it undriveable (the end of the gear selector cable has broken off - it left the gearbox in reverse when it failed and yesterday the car tried to take off backwards and would have smashed Melitele had I not been quick on the brakes) meaning the big garage is unavailable for big woodwork so I'm doing this outside. Up here in NE Scotland I'm above 57deg North so daylight is fading and it doesn't seem like a good idea to try planing my mast octagonal in the dark, so that's me done for the night I think.

[jamieduff1981]

I started planing the square down to octagon but the very low cost and rather aged power planer gave out shortly after beginning. It still runs but makes funny noises. I think a bearing may have gone. Anyway, I bought one from Screwfix on Click and Collect and drove over to Inverurie to collect it then did the rest after lunch. The light was fading so I haven't attempted the final sanding but the mast is now a 32 sided cylinder ready for that. The part came for the XJ-S too so I'll try to get that fitted tomorrow so it's not in the way any more.

[jamieduff1981]

This morning I sanded the mast round, cut it to final length and cut the tenon for the mast step. Obligatory vanity shots were required. It just fits, should I ever need or want to rig it indoors. Partially at least.

[Hugh MacD]

Nice! Love the lines on the Apple I see you're also afflicted by a Mazda and what appears to be a spridget project. I have and MGB and a '66 Spitfire that taunt me regularly.

[jamieduff1981]

Nice! Love the lines on the Apple I see you're also afflicted by a Mazda and what appears to be a spridget project. I have and MGB and a '66 Spitfire that taunt me regularly.

Hi! Yes the Mazda is a great handling car but sadly the attention to detail is characteristically lacking in regards to internal surface protection and like most of these cars mine has a lot of rust which I'm slowly working away at cutting out. I've new sills and body panels but as you'll know there are no inner wheel arches available so it's a piecemeal fabrication and welding job. The Midget is a 1972 round arch and was almost ready to go then I found another bubble I poked a screw driver into and found another area padded with body filler. It won't take much to get that car finished though to be honest. I just need more time...

[jamieduff1981]

Today I cut some wood into several smaller pieces of wood. Very useful huh? Actually today I made a good start on the foredeck. This is two halves of 6mm ply which wasn't too hard really. The overall task and much of today's sawdust, noise and time was spent making a consistent 6mm deep rebate into the hull planks for the deck to sit in flush with the gunwales, then fair off both of the bulkheads, batons and the big breasthook accordingly. It's all done now.









The deck could be glued down now leaving only final trimming of the aft edge which is close but I've deliberately left a couple of millimetres long for later. What I'm actually going to do next however is build the bowsprit, fabricate the bowsprit's fittings from stainless steel, and build out framing for a hatch either side of the batons to give access to the void between the bulkheads for some extra storage. I'll also be fitting some chunky hardwood back to back with the gunwale which I can mount some cleats too for tieing the boat up securely - one doesn't want those attached to 6mm plywood only! Once all that's done, then I'll glue the deck down with blind fittings to bolt down the bowsprit hardware to the breasthook.

[stromborg]

That's quite a list. You might consider painting the interior before closing it in, never going to be easier.

[John Meachen]

How wide is the landing for the deck,along the outboard edge?It would definitely be worth your while to get a coat of something on all the bare wood inside the tank and the underside of the deck.It isn't a huge amount of fun to crawl under a boat to paint the inaccessible areas.

[jamieduff1981]

That's quite a list. You might consider painting the interior before closing it in, never going to be easier.

How wide is the landing for the deck,along the outboard edge?It would definitely be worth your while to get a coat of something on all the bare wood inside the tank and the underside of the deck.It isn't a huge amount of fun to crawl under a boat to paint the inaccessible areas.

Morning both,

The inside of the hull at least is fully fibreglassed but yes I do want/need to paint it all before the lid goes on and of course I want the underside of the deck protected. That had temporarily slipped my mind when I typed out the above post before rushing off for a prior engagement!

John, were I to actually glue the deck pieces on now the edge landing would only be corners 6mm x 6mm. What I'll actually do though is cut and fit the inner wales next which the whole length of the hull needs and I'll fatten them up forward and aft for cleats as well as where I want to be able to fit rowlocks. Once they're on the landing glue area for the deck edges will be more like 6+25mm x 6mm which will be a nice and secure bond I should think.

[John Meachen]

That addition will make a difference!

[jamieduff1981]

I should have been making paint today but the paint machine is broken and we're awaiting a replacement part, so, dinghy it is!


It's been fairly productive and both daughters stayed off their phones/chromebooks etc to help.


First we cut out the blanks for the bowsprit from a rough sawn Douglas Fir board. This proved to be a lovely straight and close grained piece of wood once cleaned up. The diameter will eventually be 45mm for about half its length and tapered forward of this. Overall length is just shy of 2 metres. You'll have to imagine it round though because gluing it up is as far as this could go today.








It seemed a shame to waste the day (and the labour) though so we cut up another Iroko board and machined up 25mm square strips for the inner rails. The board isn't/wasn't long enough for the whole length of the boat so these will need spliced in. Obviously I had to mark out and cut corresponding notches out of the bulkheads to let these in. Overall it went smoothly.








To make the splice less visible and also where the strength these parts bring is less needed (i.e. the open cockpit area) I'm placing them forward. Without resorting to steam I realised after a few trials that I wasn't going to be able to bend the forward lengths in without breaking something.





Instead I whizzed the short forward bits through the bandsaw and the resulting two strips half the thickness bend into place easily.





I still need to cut the splice out of the long piece on the other side, and I need to trim the forward ends to fit the breast hook. Basically I'm done for the night though as I need the clamps which are on the bowsprit before I can epoxy all this in. It really is true that one can never have too many clamps. Unfortunately it's also true that one also never has enough money, so a line must be drawn somewhere and patience will supply the necessary clamps.

[sp_clark]

Spied your planer back in #84, curious what brand is it?

I have a 10" INCA dating from four or five decades ago, one of my most useful, favorite tools.

[jamieduff1981]

Hi,

Mine is just a cheap (relatively, when one is trying to pay a mortgage, utility and food bills in the 2020s) 10 inch Lumberjack branded machine but to be honest it works fine for my small scale purposes. It claims to be able to do a 2mm cut but I established quite quickly that on Iroko at least which was close to the maximum width the machine could take it was best to keep it to about 0.5mm maximum and just accept it needs more passes. The quality of the cut deteriorates beyond this and the motor will stall and cut out long before you get near 2mm on 10" width hardwood.

It's either this and learn to work within its limitations or I don't have a thickness planer, since money can only be spent once. I suppose I could have bought an expensive one, but then I wouldn't have any wood to build a boat with nor other tools...

Keeping the knives sharp though, and keeping the cut depth modest, it actually does a really nice job.

[jamieduff1981]

Today we have a bowsprit. Well, not a functioning one. It's more a wooden stick really, but it's the right length, round and tapered like it's supposed to be. I think I'll make the mast partner next.

[jamieduff1981]

I've made a start on the mast partner using Iroko. I've had a bit of a visit from the eff-up fairy though in that I managed to mis-remember the mast diameter between checking the plans and cutting a hole. The mast is 75mm, and the hole is only 70mm. Not the end of the world but I've made more work for myself...

[John Meachen]

Have you thought about making something like this from offcuts?

ECS.jpg

Costs nothing and grips nicely,while being light enough to cause no pain if it lands on your toes.

[jamieduff1981]

Hi John,

Is that to wedge the mast in place?

[John Meachen]

No, to clamp the inwales in place ,or any other battens that need holding.

[jamieduff1981]

Ahhhh. That's a brilliant idea and I certainly hadn't thought of that. As is probably usually the case when building a boat, I am now in possession of a lot of offcuts!