Hvalsoe 18: Haverchuck's Trailer, Deck Hatch, Tiller Tamer, Thwart Hinge

[Yeadon]

Here's an unedited one-take tour of the Hvalsoe 18's flatbed trailer, deck hatches and bulkheads, tiller tamer, and the hinged thwart. As always, YMMV.

[johnw]

Here's an unedited one-take tour of the Hvalsoe 18's flatbed trailer, deck hatches and bulkheads, tiller tamer, and the hinged thwart. As always, YMMV.

Nicely done!

[pez_leon]

Thanks, Tim! This is well timed for my build. Answers a few questions and raises a few more

First, I don't see any keeper hardware for your rudder assembly. What keeps it on the boat when you capsize?
Second I wonder if you'd care to tell me about your floorboards. They look to have handled hard use fairly gracefully. What wood, and what finish?

Your anti-bunk stance makes a lot of sense to me. I'm a bit less clear on how I'll apply it to my Seil, which has no flat run along the bottom at all, but I think a few cleats will do it.


Haverchuck is a beautiful boat. Very inspiring.

[rgthom]

Thanks, very helpful. I understand not resting the hull on rollers, but what's wrong with bunks? Or do you mean only static loads on the keel, not the planks? That makes sense for this boat. Some, like my Walkabout with flat sole and strong seat structure, are OK with bunks at the edge of the sole.

[TerryLL]

Very nice, thanks.

[John Meachen]

Rudder retaining clips are simple and widely available.

[Yeadon]

Thanks, Tim! This is well timed for my build. Answers a few questions and raises a few more

First, I don't see any keeper hardware for your rudder assembly. What keeps it on the boat when you capsize?

Second I wonder if you'd care to tell me about your floorboards. They look to have handled hard use fairly gracefully. What wood, and what finish?

I don't have a keeper on my pintle. I machined the fit to be pretty tight between the pintle and gudgeon, and just getting the rudder hung can take five or six swings side to side to get her to settle down and seat properly. So it's never fallen out while sailing, during capsize tests, or the couple of times I've smacked a log and the kick-up rudder kicked up. There are springs/levers that you can buy that click into place when you install the rudder. They look very useful.

Haverchuck's floorboards are Western Red Cedar. I think they're a finished half inch. The finish is a boat sauce mix of linseed, teak oil, varnish, Pettit EZSealer, Japan Drier, and turps. Basically the remainders of whatever I have in my metal cabinet. I mix it all in somewhat equal amounts (not the drier, just a little bit of that) until I feel like a real boatbuilder. Then I put on some gloves and lather it on the floorboards with a foam brush. I let it soak in for a bit, then wipe off the excess. I've also used a similar recipe built around Seafin's Ship n Shore.

[amish rob]

Is that THE trailer?

[Yeadon]

Yup! That's the most hardworking little flatbed trailer around.

[Yeadon]

Thanks, very helpful. I understand not resting the hull on rollers, but what's wrong with bunks? Or do you mean only static loads on the keel, not the planks? That makes sense for this boat. Some, like my Walkabout with flat sole and strong seat structure, are OK with bunks at the edge of the sole.

It's a fair question. I'd only use the bunks on a trailer to hold these little boats upright. I wouldn't put any weight on them. I'd want all the weight to be carried on the keel. I do think there's a lot more leeway in these monocoque glued lap structures than with traditional cedar lapstrake on oak.

BTW, a flatbed like this is amazing when you want to walk out and pull the boat up onto the trailer. Seamless.

[Toxophilite]

Damn I can't see it for some reason and I quite wanted to.

[Eric Hvalsoe]

Yeadon pretty much said it. Keep point loads away from the bilges and focus load carrying along the backbone. The idea will apply to some boats and not so much to others depending on design and structure. Point loading the bilges of a lightly constructed cedar lapstrake hull is definitely a bad idea. An ample, comfortable, safe platform, to walk the boat on and off for launching is pretty great.
Also handy if the boat has a wide enough centerline (plank keel or bottom surface) to stand upright.

[Clinton B Chase]

Good share Tim - great details - I can't believe no dogs made it into the video.

[John hartmann]

Thanks for sharing, Tim, very elegantly sorted. Figuring out stuff like this is one of my favorite aspects of dinghy cruising, and it is neat to see how folks get systems and details like this arranged. I am a huge fan of trailers with keel planks; here in New England the roads are atrociously pot holed and frost heaved, and boats with big point loads from trailers suffer badly if they spend any time over the road.

[TerryLL]

I've been obsessing over what kind of trailer to use for my Caledonia Yawl (if I manage to get the dang thing finished in my lifetime). Now I have the answer.

[Garret]

Damn I can't see it for some reason and I quite wanted to.

Will just the link maybe work?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-4dDQc9lTQ

[Toxophilite]

Thanks, able to see it now, much appreciated

[WI-Tom]

Tim,

nice to see some details of Haverchuck--thanks for posting. What a cool design. I hope you're still enjoying lots of all the best kinds of sailing/rowing adventures out in the PNW.

(Nice to see a boat that obviously sees some real use, and isn't a show queen!)

Cheers,

Tom

[Yeadon]

Ha, even though I don't put any effort into small boat cruising threads anymore you can be assured Haverchuck is still getting her annual miles. For this video, I felt like these were four topics that I saw pop up over and over on the forum. They're great topics worth weighing in on. Our little boats tend to be a collection of good ideas that we adapt for our own use.

[Garret]

Thanks, able to see it now, much appreciated

Good! Worth watching. It was fun for me to see the boat again after all these years (2010 IIRC).

[Mike1902]

I like that trailer, Tim, simple and practical.
The plastic (?) strip along the keel is a good idea too re launch and retrieval.
A few ideas to consider.

Cheers,
Mike.

[Yeadon]

The keel shoe is half inch UHMW polyethylene plastic. It's bedded with sika (or maybe boatlife) and fastened with screws to the outer keel. Super tough. You can cut it but nothing really sticks to it. Really slippery stuff as you pull the boat over cobble or on to the trailer. It's almost like having little wheels under there.

[timber_cruiser]

Thanks Tim for sharing your details. I especially like the tiller and trailer details you shared. I have a Caledonia Yawl and I built a similar trailer bunk system, basically the keel carries the weight.

Are you doing the Salish 100 this year? Cathy and I signed up again.

[Mike1902]

I had planned to place UHMW on the trailer itself but this way kills two birds as it were.

[Yeadon]

Salish 100 looks like great fun but I won't be doing it. I think Eric ought to take Haverchuck on the Salish 100 though.

[Eric Hvalsoe]

Alex wrote a piece about my pushstick keeper concept for Small Boats Monthly awhile back. The idea evolved from a saddle to a saddle and pin. On the HV16 the device sits on a thwart knee. It sat on the thwart edge of Tim's previous boat.
Years ago I inherited a flat bed boat trailer, set up for kind of a dory bottom pulling boat. The boat migrated elsewhere but I kept the trailer. Pulled the carpet off the decking. Eventually replaced the original decking with incised pressure treated lumber. Never looked back.
UHMW it turns out is not 100 percent indestructible. In the long term it has some wierd stabiity properties and I've seen it eventually crack where weakened at fastenings, like on bilge or lap runners. But that's after years with some hard use. Tough and $$$. Slippery is a big part of the attraction. I don't know if VHMW is any different re stability and cracking. I like working with it a little more then UH
Dunno about the organized salish, did part of it last year on Bandwagon. Our little gang did it way before it was a thing. I might think about it in Haverchuck.

[Yeadon]

I think a lot of people really enjoy the Salish 100. Good community forming there.

Last year I took a week and wandered down East Passage to the Narrows, to Gig Harbor, back up Colvos Passage, through Port Orchard and Agate Pass and then back over to Shilshole. I couldn’t fathom sharing sanctuary with another 100 boats. I was already stuck with McMullen and Rowan. Wasn’t that sacrifice enough?

75CD66F5-C16F-4A75-BF6D-700C4BE74E55.jpg

[timber_cruiser]

Tim, I can see how a group of 100+ boats might seem like a crowd. My wife and I have enjoyed the last two Salish sails, and it seems like the group spreads out well. For us the drive to Puget Sound is about 2,000 miles round trip, but we combine this with visits to grandkids on the route.

Good on you for sharing boat and trailer details. As mentioned above I also am a firm believer in supporting the boat weight evenly along the keel. I have two padded trailer bunks that just touch the hull inside the bilge stringers. They serve as balance rather than weight bearing.

One other suggestion I would offer is an adding a tail light bar on top aft gunnel. I think the greatest hazard to my boat while in tow is other drivers. Additional tail lights at driver eye level helps make your boat more visible.

This is a pic of my boat starting the drive back home. Does anyone recognize this spot?

IMG_7120.jpg

[Thad]

Yes.

[Yeadon]

Is that Boat Haven? Check out that massive door. Wild.

[Breakaway]

Thanks, Tim!

[timber_cruiser]

Yes, this is in front of Leo's shop. I was hoping to get a Polaroid moment with the Tally Ho in the background.

[Yeadon]

Oh interesting. I'll have to find that. It's a tough photo to nail when it's so bright outside yet so dim inside the shop.