Carnell Nutmeg: an MVB, a “minimum viable boat”

[NeilMB]

This is a build thread, probably very slow, as I tackle my first boat build, Dave Carnell’s Nutmeg design. It’s a multi-person flatiron skiff at 15.5’ x 4.5’ and uses a Sailfish rig on a hull design from Phil Bolger’s Featherwind. Four sheets of plywood, construction lumber, chine logs, porch paint and a used sail, Carnell used to market this as The $200 Sailboat. It’ll cost me more than that, but not by much.


I’ve gotten such great answers to my questions here in deciding what to build and picking out gear, I figured start a thread for all the questions that are bound to come up. There won’t be anything impressive in this build for most of you, but hopefully I can post enough pictures to make everyone enjoy laughing at my fumbles.

Here’s the first picture, when the little duck shows up in the mailbox soon after a Christmas gift certificate:

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Next up, the stem and then plywood shopping so I can start on the gusseted frames in the nice warm basement.

-Neil

[hawkeye54]

A good start to the build process, Neil - I will be 'following'


Rick

[NeilMB]

The stem is 21 inches long, cut from a 2x4 with a 56 degree angle. I planed up a piece of wood from the salvage pile and laid out the angle. (Can anyone tell what it is from picture? It’s quite old, fir of some kind?) Bolger’s plans have a 3/16” flat on the front between the two side panels.

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Then it was off to rip it with the magic do-it-all pull saw

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The ripped surface was not very smooth or planar so I flattened it with the trusty no. 4 and checked it against the bevel gauge

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Now to plane the flat back on and trim the waste off the back.

[Peerie Maa]

Canwe organise a whip round to buy a new blade for that saw?

[NeilMB]

6588272[/URL]]Canwe organise a whip round to buy a new blade for that saw?

Ha ha!

It works much better in it’s diminished state than I ever would have expected, but it is a very good point. I think that the coffers got plump enough with boat-directed Christmas gifts to order a new one. The teeth on this saw are so hard that they don’t deal well with sawing through the occasional old nail or staple, or even against the Formica edge of the workbench. It’s the Achilles heel for a brute woodworker like me of an otherwise exceptional tool.

[Kunzwerks]

I can point you in the right direction. https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...w?item=60T5202

[NeilMB]

Thanks, on the way.

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[hawkeye54]

Just a slight drift, if you will excuse it - does anyone know who carries replacement blades for 'Irwin' brand pull saws - it encountered similar issues with the occasional nail - returning all to the original thread and content . . .



Rick

[Kunzwerks]

Just a slight drift, if you will excuse it - does anyone know who carries replacement blades for 'Irwin' brand pull saws - it encountered similar issues with the occasional nail - returning all to the original thread and content . . .

Rick

This should fit …. https://www.amazon.com/Shark-Corp-01...%2C162&sr=8-17

Sorry to the OP for sidetracking.

[NeilMB]

Never any problems with sidetracking, that’s what we’re all here for.

I finished fabricating the stem tonight. I did a little trig to figure out how far to go down to get the 3/16” flat on the front and planed down to the two lines.

Then I ripped off the excess at a right angle to the original side. Bolger draws the stem this way on the Featherwind plans and I think it’s kind of quaint to remind that the stem was made from a 2x4. I imagine some of you might have apoplexy at the asymmetry, but the quirk pleases me.

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Ripping with the big hand saw leaves a surface that just begs to be planed smooth. I love the way this wood is looking with the flecks in that pretty creamy grain. Is that feature suggestive of what species this piece of salvage is?

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It’s almost too bad that it’s all getting covered up with latex paint when complete. (Cream or tan for the inside of the hull maybe?)

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Just a slight drift, if you will excuse it - does anyone know who carries replacement blades for 'Irwin' brand pull saws - it encountered similar issues with the occasional nail - returning all to the original thread and content . . .



Rick

I've used Irwin replacement blades on Takagi Shark pullsaws - specificaly on the 7/17 ryoba (double edged thingy)

Here is a link to the UK Takagi site https://www.takagisaw.co.uk/products/pullcut-sawblade

USA Equivalent.
https://www.sharkcorp.com/shark-saw-2/

[NeilMB]

Wood Database says “sugar pine” for the streaky pine and the streaks are “resin canals”.

I worked on preparing timber for the first frame today. I am a very incremental woodworker so I am going to take them one at a time and prepare the wood for each piece individually. The sides of the frame got ripped from some 1x10 white pine off cuts that were in the salvage pile and planed to width and the bottom of the frame came from another longer piece of 1x6 salvage that ended up smelling like it was redwood as I planed it.

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I laid out the centerline on the board and then marked the angle from the full-size frame plans that are in the plan packet. Cross-cut with the pull saw and planed down to the line.

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Same thing for the sides of the frame and the fit turned out okay.

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Checking it against the plans shows some tiny gaps where the end angles aren’t perfect but there’s plenty of extra length to play with it until I get it right.

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There’s about 16 more pieces to do with this same angle and I’m considering making a wedge for the shooting board to make the rest easier to get right on the first try.

I haven’t found time for the three hour round trip to get plywood yet, so I can’t cut the gussets and glue these up, but I can make the parts for the next two frames and the transom framing before I get blocked by that.

[NeilMB]

Started through the salvage pile for the next frame, the largest middle one. Ripped up more old 1x10 off cuts for the sides and I found this board for the bottom of the big frame.

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I don’t know what lumber looks like where you live, but I don’t ever get to see anything with tight vertical grain like this at a store.

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I’ll rip off 2.5” tomorrow to make my poor mans 1x3.

[pvg]

Looks like sugar pine to me; I've used lots of it, but not on boats...

[Breakaway]

Looks like doug fir, no?

Kevin

[NeilMB]

6589367[/URL]]Looks like doug fir, no?

I agree on the second board. It was the stem that was probably sugar pine.

[NeilMB]

I finished cutting the biggest middle frame and the third aft frame. Now material for all three frames is ready.

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Quite a motley bunch of timbers but I love them all the same.

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Next up is ripping some 3/4” x 1.5” pieces for the transom framing. Once that is cut to size then I will need to make the big plywood run before I can do any more assembly: cutting gussets and final fitting and screwing and gluing all of these frames.

[NeilMB]

A rager of a Friday night at the boatbuilders house. I finished ripping the stock for the transom framing to 3/4 x 1.5 and cut the pieces roughly to size on the full-size plans. I won’t be able to fit the top part that goes inside the uprights (?) until they’re on the plywood transom and I can sneak up on a tight fit.

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I decided that I needed some help to get the ends of every frame piece shot to the same angle and so I cut out a scrap block with the complementary angle from the plans.

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Holding that along with each piece on the shooting board let me sneak up on the lines and get a consistent fit.

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I tried to use the same block to trim the frame for the transom but it didn’t work, held up to the plans, the joint had a gap! My scale model held the explanation.

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The transom is angled back far enough relative to the frames that it changes the angle of the sides. Those with better instincts than me might have seen it in the second photo as two lines that are just barely non-parallel.

Next steps are to repeat the shooting board block for the transom frame’s angle and then I might have to focus on making some small rigging parts until I get to make my lumber trip on the upcoming federal holiday.

[NeilMB]

The federal holiday gave me a chance to drive to the nearest Menards, a regional big-box lumber store. Their website had ACX pine plywood at $34 a sheet, BCX pine at $32 a sheet (!) and Roseburg marine plywood at $98 a sheet which is way outside my budget.

As expected, the ACX was by far better (even fewer voids on the edge than the marine!?) and my son and I went through the top 20 or 30 sheets and picked the best four. The knots on the back side are almost entirely solid with just a very few small empty knots in the back veneer.

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The plywood is branded Arauco and the top sheet has “product of Chile” on it which I wasn’t expecting, and when they rang it up at the register, it was as “radiata” which it certainly could be. The thickness is listed as .237 which I think is fine with me as I’m looking for light weight. It’s a bit too good to be true, so I’m going to boil a chunk for an hour to be sure it’s exterior enough.

Next steps are to trim off the spare that isn’t used in the two strips for the sides and then make frame gussets from that. After the frames are done I’ll move on to splicing and cutting the sides.

I’ve also done a bunch of reading and thinking about plywood checking and I’m starting to think about glassing the bottom with epoxy and very light fiberglass. It adds roughly $100 to the materials cost on a boat that’s running around $300 otherwise. Anyone have thoughts on what sort of increase in durability would come with the 33% cost increase?

[NeilMB]

Plywood = gussets = frames!

I sliced off the spare from two 20 inch slices of a sheet of plywood and started making gussets for the frames. The plans didn’t say what size to make the gussets, just that they were made from the spare plywood, so I made them as large as I could from the strip I had made.

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The green hand saw with the new blade did the necessary trick.

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And finally got to play with the little stainless screws from Duckworks

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[NeilMB]

I drilled the gusset, laid it on top of the bottom frame piece, drilled and screwed that, then assembled the side piece on top of the plans to get the angle right.

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Repeat on the other side (reading the half-plan from the back!??) to get a whole frame.

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Then it was time to take it apart and re-assemble it with plenty of TiteBond III.

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I left the long points on the gussets figuring that they would give me more gluing surface. Some of the frames I looked at online cut them off square, but this just took a few more clamps to make sure the ends were well held down.

I had some slight gaps in the butt joints despite my best efforts, but I think that the glue will fill the gap, at least I hope so.

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I have to check my big list but I think that next up is beveling two of the frames (the largest one is at the maximum beam and doesn’t need a bevel, what a nice simplification) or I can pull in another sheet of lay wood to cut out the transom and install the framing boards on it’s forward surface, and it gets beveled too. Then on to the really long and floppy parts, the sides.

[NeilMB]

I got the transom made yesterday, not too many in-progress pictures, sorry. I pulled another one of my sheets of plywood out of the garage, cut out a rectangle the size of the transom, laid out the angles on the sides and sawed them off. Then I planed it down to the lines, checking against the plans.

Then more drilling, screwing, and gluing

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Next on the big list was beveling the frames. The plans give angles for the side and bottom bevels of each frame that needs a bevel. The copy of Bolger’s Featherwind article that came with the plans actually still has Dave Carnell’s handwritten annotations where he converts Bolger’s given height of he bevels into angles. I set the bevel gauge and tried to figure out how to fit the frame in my vise.

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i used a scrub plane with Bolger’s measurements to start and then snuck up on the angle with the smoothing plane. I think they look okay? But the proof will be in the pudding when I try to fit them with the sides.

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Next step is to do the same for the transom.

[NeilMB]

I’m going to get behind on pictures if I’m not careful. Last night I threw a few fragments in the pot on the stove for an hour.

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Came out looking still laminated, unlike a random piece of 1/4” plywood I tried this on the other week.

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Interesting to see what the swelling did to the bottom corner where I had crushed it a little in transport.

Then it was off to bevel the transom. There is something off between the bevel angle listed on the plans and what I found when I tried it against my scale model. I spent a long time with the scale plans and dividers trying to figure out the problem, but in the end I decided to use the more conservative angle written on the plans and if I have to plane more off when I dry fit things then so be it.

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The beveled edges of the frames look so elegant, but it’s hard to capture what is so engaging about them in a picture.

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Next up is cutting the long strips for the sides, laying out the station grids and then joining the butt splices to get 16’ long strips where I can lay out the side plank dimensions.

[dbp1]

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The beveled edges of the frames look so elegant, but it’s hard to capture what is so engaging about them in a picture.

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So true! I've especially had such a hard time capturing photos of the whole boat -- they seem to get so distorted, or only getting one angle doesn't capture what is interesting about the 3D shape...

(I'm enjoying following this thread, so I hope you don't get too behind!)

[NeilMB]

(I'm enjoying following this thread, so I hope you don't get too behind!)

Thanks for mentioning that, it’s nice to know when debating whether to write up a post or go straight to bed.

(Your Apple build is gorgeous and very fun to follow too.)

[NeilMB]

The plywood for the sides got cut into 20” wide strips and then I figured out which panels went where and marked the stations on both sides. No pictures, just lots of work with a framing square and lots of notes to myself so I don’t screw up which side is which between the four identical pieces.

With the stations marked, I could sketch out where the sheer and chines will be around the butt joint. Bolger’s Featherwind plans specify a 4”x1/4” butt strap with clenched nails, but I don’t have any boatbuilding nails. Carnells version uses his epoxy and fiberglass butt joint, but I haven’t gotten any yet for this build, preferring to see how far I can get with glue and screws. Jim Michalak’s article on butt joints in plywood http://www.jimsboats.com/15sep17.htm...20In%20Plywood includes a third option, Bolger’s butt strap but using timber thick enough to screw into. That’s the method I’m going to try.

Michalak mentions tapering the butt block to lessen stress concentration at the ends and I love any excuse to use the hand plane.

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Here it is in place on the inside of the plywood butt joint. I’ll screw and glue it and do the same on he other side.

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The outer dahshed lines are the sheer and chine approximately. He gunwale and chine log are on the other side at the edges so I’m not worried about the overhang.

Here it is full size on the basement floor.

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Once the glue on the butt joint is well dried, I’ll transfer the outline of the sides from the plans to the inside of one of the long planks, stick the two together and cut both at the same time.

[NeilMB]

Some pictures from gluing up the second side plank butt joint today.

Dry fit it as tight as I could and get all the screws driven well in and then pull the screws out to get ready for glue.

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I like to size the end grain of plywood but putting on a coat of glue and letting it wick into the end grain for about 5 minutes before adding more glue and assembling the joint.

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Butter up the two parts on one side, screw that back together, deal with squeeze it, butter up the other side and screw that together and deal with that squeeze out. I added a couple C clamps to support the overhanging part where there is no butt block.

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Here’s what the joint I glued yesterday looks like.

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Next up is to lay out the side plank from the plan measurements at the stations. I haven’t ever done this before so I’m a bit worried about finding a batten and learning how to use it.

[sp_clark]

Looks like sugar pine to me; I've used lots of it, but not on boats...

Looks like SP to me too... carved hundreds of decoy repros out of it 50-odd years ago, recall unloading a flatbed in July of full 4x12's - some 16' long - for a day west of Rockford IL.

How come you didn't run that butt-block's grain cross-wise to the ply joint? What I see there isn't gonna contribute much strength...

[NeilMB]

6600146[/URL]]

How come you didn't run that butt-block's grain cross-wise to the ply joint? What I see there isn't gonna contribute much strength...

I didn’t ever think of it, honestly. Now that you mention it, I can see what you mean about splitting in the grain direction across the butt joint.

I don’t have any 15” wide planks, but I guess I could have edge jointed two pieces together to get the width I needed.

If it ever fails I’ll be very sad that I did it this way and I guess I’ll have to chisel it off and do it again the other way. For now, I don’t think that I want to spend the time and take the risk of taking it off and redoing it.

[NeilMB]

With the butt-joints glued and dried, it was time to lay out the side planks. The plans have measurements down for the sheer and the chine at each station, so I marked off each of those points. I cut a thin strip of plywood the full 8 feet long from the factory edge as a batten. It wasn’t the fairest batten of all time, but it at least interpolated the given points over about half the boat at a time. I put headless brads on the marked points and clamped the batten to them,

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Then it was just a matter of drawing in the lines, moving the batten to another part of the panel and drawing that part.

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The ends just needed a straightedge. And I called it a night, sleep on it and check on the lines tomorrow.

[NeilMB]

Once the panel is laid out on the inside of one piece, the pieces get clamped together outer face to outer face. I used some spring clamps and some 1” hardware store screws in the waste to hold them together.

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Here it is full-length, ready to cut. The plans call for a circular saw, but I’m much more comfortable with the pull saw which helps me take my time and screw up much less catastrophically. I’ll start by hand and if it isn’t working I’ll switch to the electric option.

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[sp_clark]

If it ever fails I’ll be very sad that I did it this way and I guess I’ll have to chisel it off and do it again the other way. For now, I don’t think that I want to spend the time and take the risk of taking it off and redoing it.

I wouldn't fret about it much at this point. If it ever fails (thicker stock in this case is better) you can return to the task of the repair without too much worry. Running a backer cross-grain to a butt joint adds strength of course but the stock ought to be thinner than what's there now and not much wider or you risk a hard spot where that butted panel needs to follow a smooth curve.

It's all about learning stuff anyway, and having fun at the same time.

[NeilMB]

Cutting by hand is going fine. It’s not instantaneous, but it doesn’t take too long. Like I do with most of my cuts, I stay away from the line and then I’ll plane down to the line.

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I do wonder how my #4 plane will handle the concave curve on the sheer line. If I have to, I guess I can move to the spokeshave for that section.

[robm]

Just angle the plane. Spokeshaves are for really tight curves.

[NeilMB]

6601247[/URL]]Just angle the plane. Spokeshaves are for really tight curves.

Thats a great tip and indeed the old Stanley no 4 handled the gentle concave curve of the sheer no problem.

Sides are trimmed down to the line all around now and I have to figure out how to make a bunch more space in the basement to do the assembly steps. I also have to figure out how to rip the gunwales and chines from an 18’ long 2x10.