Lofting the Brewer catboat

[StevenBauer]

I bet he's got Tracy holding it for him.





Steven

[Jim Ledger]

Given that you've nought but poly sheeting wrap and thin metal tubes above the build I'm intrigued as to what that hook and chain holding the engine up is attached to at the other end. Is the floor strong enough for an engine crane?

Hello, Mr. Gibbs. I made a temporary overhead beam out of a 4x4, using two other 4x4's for legs and braced the lot with 2x4's, all held together with clamps. My chain hoist has some quirks that must be taken into account, but since I paid fifteen dollars for it at a yard sale I'm OK with that. You see, it does fine going up. Coming down is another story. As soon as you switch it into "Down" and move the ratchet, it unspools until whatever was being held up is now down. It's an old friend though, and one of my better ones at that, so I'm inclined to overlook it's few faults. Awareness of it's lack of capability and some planning make it work to a sufficient degree.

[Duncan Gibbs]

In that case I'm glad I have Peter Sibley for a neighbour I can borrow a spare block and chain from for my lifting work yesterday!

Looking good Jim. That's one very white engine! Does it need to be run every month or so?

[Jim Ledger]

In that case I'm glad I have Peter Sibley for a neighbour I can borrow a spare block and chain from for my lifting work yesterday!

Looking good Jim. That's one very white engine! Does it need to be run every month or so?

Lucky you, Duncan. If I could choose a neighbor, which has never yet been the case, Peter Sibley would certainly be at the top of a very short list, yanno, him with that bronze casting shed and all.

As for running the engine...I hope not. Never run yet. Theres an oil cup on the cylinder head that lets you dribble some oil into the cylinder for starting. I oil it and wind it over some on days when I'm feeling particularly affectionate towards it. It's not a Maseratti, you know.

Here's the reason for all that boring. These are the studs that will bolt down the engine. They are made if half inch stainless steel threaded rod and go completely through the beds to be nutted on the bottom. As seen here they are hanging in their holes while the epoxy hardens. They were first coated with thickened epoxy then dropped into the holes. Under the washers the holes have been drilled oversize for an inch down. Tomorrow this oversized cavity will be filled with more thickened goop to anchor the bolts securely. The piece of Angelique with the holes drilled in...the one the square is sitting in...yeah, that one, is one of the shims that goes under the engine mounts. Some of you might notice, as I did, that the tongue of the square is sticking out the exact distance that the studs are poking up out of the engine beds. Why this should be I can't imagine, but coincidence abounds.

[Breakaway]

Why this should be I can't imagine, but coincidence abounds all around.

Good fortune shines like the sun in your bowshed! Some builders may have had to set that square to the proper distance. That would help ensure the bolts end up at the right height before, via the magic of exothermic chemistry, they are held in place faster than a mushroom anchor. But by the grace of all things catboat, you've found a rare self-adjusting square, saving you from the tyranny of dimming light, strained eyes, and the error inherent to human manipulation. Good on you!

Kevin

[Mrleft8]

And not a belt sander in sight.....

[BBSebens]

It's not a Maseratti, you know.

No, no it isn't.

This is several orders of magnitude above and beyond anything that a mere Maserati will ever be.

[hokiefan]

He's holding it up with one hand while he operates the camera apparatus with the other!

Gee, I thought Jim had finally found those mythical thinks call sky hooks...

Cheers,

Bobby

[P.L.Lenihan]

the studs are poking up out of the engine beds. Why this should be I can't imagine

Hi Mr.Ledger,

Very nice and clean work, as usual, with clear explanations to enlarge on the story told by the pictures. Those studs wouldn't be sticking up so proudly like that to allow you to lay some serious rubber down beneath the motor mounts by chance?


Cheers!


Peter

[Jim Ledger]

For Duncan, the mystery revealed...

[Paul Girouard]

And not a belt sander in sight.....

Sure there is!! Now where's the return air duct?

[Mrleft8]

Don't suppose Jim put that there on purpose....

[Tom Wilkinson]

For Duncan, the mystery revealed...

Kind of only solves half the mystery though. Sure we can see how you raise it up and down, but it had to move at least 4 ft or so horizontally to get where it is.

[Jim Ledger]

Hi Mr.Ledger,

Very nice and clean work, as usual, with clear explanations to enlarge on the story told by the pictures. Those studs wouldn't be sticking up so proudly like that to allow you to lay some serious rubber down beneath the motor mounts by chance?


Cheers!


Peter

The length of those studs is not the result of some random guesstimate, rather a carefully worked out addition of sums with a certain fudge factor tacked on, all in accordance with the "better too long than to short rule". Thick rubber does not enter into the equation, though. You need under the engine mounts a firm unyielding foundation that's not going to compress when you tighten the bolts. The alignment of the engine depends on the motor staying in the proper location in relation to the propeller shaft.

There is a thick wood spacer on top of the beds, the thickness of the mounts, washer, lock washer and double nuts, which should leave about a quarter inch of bolt left over.

Kind of only solves half the mystery though. Sure we can see how you raise it up and down, but it had to move at least 4 ft or so horizontally to get where it is.

I've seen ingenious rolling cradles made to do exactly what you describe, and my hat's off to the maker. Indeed, I had considered making a version of this myself, ball-bearing, lathe-turned rollers and all. It would have complemented a rolling welded tubing scaffold that would have both astounded and amazed any onlookers who might have stopped by. Came the dawn these hashish dreams evaporated with a quick glance at the calendar and wallet.

The way the engine is moved sideways is quite simple. You lift it up outboard of the boat, put a sawhorse beneath with a plank going from the engine beds to the horse. Set the engine down on the plank. Undo the chain on which the puller hangs and move it inboard. Lift the engine again and it slides over some. Repeat once more and you're there.

Here are the studs with the epoxy, thickened with high strength filler, poured into the holes using a method described by the Gougeons for bolting hardware.

[Duncan Gibbs]

An Egyptian styled manoeuvre! Which then goes off begging the question... Well the Egyptians worshipped cats didn't they?

Here's Bastet the cat goddess from that ancient civilisation:



Although I have to say, I like the statue a lot better:



Whichever name is chosen Jim, your ship is simply Beautiful!

[adampet]

"Dizzy Gillespie" isn't a good name for a catboat, though.

Hey Diz was a cool cat, Man!

Adam

[Jim Ledger]

Hey Diz was a cool cat, Man!

Adam

Yeah, Diz was a cool cat. Maybe we should call the boat Bebop.

Not one to let the slightest bit of progress go unrecorded, I present here the...ummm...spacers... that go beneath the engine mounts. These precisely thicknessed slabs of tropical hardwood will serve to bring the engine into the proper vertical plane, or ever so slightly below. However, I don't expect things to stay in their proper alignment due to seasoning and seasonal fluctuations of humidity levels. Once the boat goes in the water and the keel absorbs water, everything should move quite a bit. Final engine/shaft alignment will have to take place a month or so after launch.

[Jayhawk]

I've seen ingenious rolling cradles made to do exactly what you describe, and my hat's off to the maker. Indeed, I had considered making a version of this myself, ball-bearing, lathe-turned rollers and all. It would have complemented a rolling welded tubing scaffold that would have both astounded and amazed any onlookers who might have stopped by. Came the dawn these hashish dreams evaporated with a quick glance at the calendar and wallet.

Jim everyone loves the way you are building this boat, including me. But you could be building some bastardized raft out of construction ply and I'd still come to this thread for little jewels of wit like the above! Many chuckles!

[Jim Ledger]

Wit? Chuckles? C'mon Jay, this is serious stuff.

One step back department. When the engine was dropped into place (no easy task, you'll remember) it was too high. All those hours of calculation down the drain. So it's lift the engine, take out the spacers, bring them to the shop and run them through the sander, bring them home and try again. Four days till the weekend, four possible tries to get it right. Something to do during that extra hour of daylight.

Trial and error...you can't beat it.

[Ian McColgin]

Jim, I so admire your can-do spirit. Beats my "I cut it twice and it's still too short" approach.

[SMARTINSEN]

"Dropped?"

[Tom Wilkinson]

Sander??? I would have figured you to hit that with the hand plane for a few strokes and be done with it.

[Jim Ledger]

Jim, I so admire your can-do spirit. Beats my "I cut it twice and it's still too short" approach.

Ian, I've got a pile of too-short boards out back I'll put up against anybodys.

"Dropped?"

Just so, you push the engine this way and that, eyeball the stud through the hole and when it looks about lined up, it's "Bombs Away".

Sander??? I would have figured you to hit that with the hand plane for a few strokes and be done with it.

Tom, I claim as a dependent on my tax return a monster sanding machine. I work about three days a month to keep it dry and buy electricity to push through it. Nights are spent thinking of things to use it for.

Plenty of sharpening pencils and sweeping the clean floor today as we get ready to shift gears. The engine is in place and it's time to get back to frames and floors. You wanted an overall view...here's two...

[Sailor]

Love the second view. Shows alot, thanks Jim.

[Larks]

Well I've got nothing to say, except that I found myself staring at the wonderful symetries of that first overall view trying to think of something to say.................nup, nuthin'!! Gobsmacked as usual I guess.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Y'know Jim, it's people like you who are to blame for my current condition of "the sickness," not that I'm complaining!

What Greg said...

[Jim Ledger]

Thanks, guys.

Let's make some molds. I wasn't going to, but now it seem like it's probably a good idea.

[P.L.Lenihan]

I was just thinking( cough,cough,hack,spit) about how this picture would really benefit from a human in it, just to give some scale to the sculpture...ooops!...I mean the boat taking form before our eyes.

Other then that, the wonderful precision and care you continue to bring to this build almost defies description Mr.Ledger and I hope we all live long enough to see your happy face when you launch her.


Cheers!


Peter

[Jim Ledger]

Humans for scale, eh? Right you are, Peter, and I've taken the liberty of ordering a couple of Sports Illustrated swimsuit models to drape provocatively over the framework. Unfortunately, finances being what they are, they are of the pneumatic, swimsuit-optional, variety, so getting the proper drape might take some tweaking of their PSI valves...but the sense of scale will be apparent, nonetheless. If by chance, the feedback shows a slight uptick, I might emphasize scale more in future posts.

As for living long enough, I'm on borrowed time already, as are we all. I do look forward to our sailing in company with the mighty Turtle Bay. If I had a bucket list, that would be near the top.

Meanwhile, the making of molds continues...

[Mrleft8]

Nice dogs, Jim! I finally gave the ones I got from my grandfather 40 years or more ago away to a guy who makes rustic furniture in Vermont, a few years ago.I used them exactly once, about a week after I got them.... Now I see where they'd come in handy in a real life situation....

[Jim Ledger]

This is not real life. We're in the cocoon here.

[Brian Palmer]

How are those mold pieces held together after you take the dogs out? I do not see any scarfs or butt blocks. The power of positive thinking?

Brian

[Jim Ledger]

How are those mold pieces held together after you take the dogs out? I do not see any scarfs or butt blocks. The power of positive thinking?

Brian

Brian, even with all the positive thinking going on here, I have yet to find a way use it to stick one bit of wood to another...but if I could...hmmmm... no, the secret ingredient is a couple of Dominos. These are temporary fasteners only, the joints will soon be backed up with the traditional plywood scabs. The advantage is that the mold halves can lay flat on the lofting while being marked with the waterlines and buttocks and the mold halves joined together.

[P.L.Lenihan]

You know something,Mr.Ledger, it is precisely this onslaught of the most well thought out,crafty and meticulous attention to the smallest details which leaves me all too often thumbing through the 2012 issue of "The Doctors Diagnostic Compendium",psychiatric edition, a bit more often than I like. It leaves me with the most excruciating sense of complete incompetence I have ever known, to the point where I wonder if I shouldn't take up crossword puzzels or cooking instead of messing with wood of any type!

It has now come to the point where I must brace myself before checking in on your latest efforts, so firm is the hit across the back of my head reminding me how even the common beaver works with wood better then myself.

Nevertheless, like many, I harbour secret thoughts and ambitions and like many more yet again, I endeavour to learn or at least pick up something,anything,which miight one day inch me further up the learning curve. I just wish it wasn't so steep and I at the bottom!

Please take the above bleetings as nothing more then a compliment and a desire by me to continue getting wacked up the side of the head. It helps nurture my inner masochist.



Cheers!


Peter

[TerryLL]

Been a while since I looked in here, but I can see the wizardry continues unabated.

[Breakaway]

A Starbucks mug!? I woulda figgered a clam-digging cabinetmaking cat boater to be a 7-11 man? ( Hey...maybe Triple Sea should grace your transom!)

Kevin

[TerryLL]

Just one question Jim.
Where on earth did you find my dad's old hammer? I've been looking for that thing for years.

[Jon Agne]

That's my favorite hammer also!

[Duncan Gibbs]

My favourite hammer is the fine adjustment hammer: It's head weighs in at 4lbs. I've also grown to like router jigs.

What's the mould timber Jim?

[Jim Ledger]

Kevin, I used to be a Seven-Eleven man. Matter of fact, you might have seen a primer gray International Travelall parked in front of the East Quogue 7-11, one with a couple of pairs of clam tongs tied to the roof. This would be back around 1978. That would have been me getting a coffee. Things have changed though, and their coffee isn't now what I remember it being then. The mug is my new favorite mug, the coffee in it I make myself.

I'm sorry, Terry. I don't know there the hammer came from. Send me an address and I'll return it back pronto.

Jon, it's the best trimming hammer there is. Not so good at pulling nails, but then I never have a need to.

Duncan, the wood is Eastern White Pine. This particular stack was given to me in 1989 by a lumberyard that was closing down. It was left outside and had water stains. It's been drying ever since while I waited for just the right project on which to use it. I've moved the stack at least a half dozen times. Some of it was nice and clear, but there was a lot of staining and other defects. This is the perfect use for it, and there's a nice space left where the stack used to sit that might be good for an extra bathroom.

[WX]

Well I've got nothing to say, except that I found myself staring at the wonderful symetries of that first overall view trying to think of something to say.................nup, nuthin'!! Gobsmacked as usual I guess.

I do so rather agree.

[G.Sherman]

Amazing work..... I'll take two, please.

[Sailor]

Greedy. We all want one, wait your turn. Once we've all got one, THEN he can build you a second one.

[G.Sherman]

Just trying to get into the "One Percent Club".... oh, and where's my new heart?

[Jim Ledger]

Mold number eight, second from the bow, just behind the mast. By looking at the location of the waterline, you can see how little boat is in the water up forward. It's almost as if the bow, carrying the entire weight of the rig, is cantilevered out, getting little support from buoyancy.

[donald branscom]

Mold number eight, second from the bow, just behind the mast. By looking at the location of the waterline, you can see how little boat is in the water up forward. It's almost as if the bow, carrying the entire weight of the rig, is cantilevered out, getting little support from buoyancy.

What are those black things called that are holding the parts together?

[StevenBauer]

What are those black things called that are holding the parts together?

Pinch dogs: http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...=1,43456,57657

[Breakaway]

Mold number eight, second from the bow, just behind the mast. By looking at the location of the waterline, you can see how little boat is in the water up forward. It's almost as if the bow, carrying the entire weight of the rig, is cantilevered out, getting little support from buoyancy.



Interesting posit, Jim. Yeah. almost as if its cantilevered. But of course it cant be.Not really, anyway. While there's more buoyancy aft, there's also more displacement;more weight. Were you to launch sans rig, would the boat squat a bit?
These kinds of questions are beyond any formal training I have, though perhaps not entirely beyond my life experience and the intuition that comes from that experience. I'd be real interested in the "real" answer to that question.

Kevin

[andrewpatrol]

geez if that mould is just behind the mast the planking must do a fearsome turn in to the stem. I been wondering how long it would take someone to invent a way to use a domino on a build.
Jim, I imagine moulds go alongside frames, then how come you only stated making them now - what about the frames that are already up?

[Jim Ledger]

geez if that mould is just behind the mast the planking must do a fearsome turn in to the stem. I been wondering how long it would take someone to invent a way to use a domino on a build.
Jim, I imagine moulds go alongside frames, then how come you only stated making them now - what about the frames that are already up?

The garboard and half a dozen strakes up do take a lot of twist and will require steaming of the forward end.

Some of the frames do go alongside the molds. I was hoping to use just the laminated frames without molds, or incorporate them into molds, but now it seems that a set of molds will give me the best way to define the shape of the hull with the least work.

Interesting posit, Jim. Yeah. almost as if its cantilevered. But of course it cant be.Not really, anyway. While there's more buoyancy aft, there's also more displacement;more weight. Were you to launch sans rig, would the boat squat a bit?
These kinds of questions are beyond any formal training I have, though perhaps not entirely beyond my life experience and the intuition that comes from that experience. I'd be real interested in the "real" answer to that question.

Kevin

The boat will ride noticeably bow-high on launching without the rig. I would make a guess that the rig would weigh in the area of five hundred pounds, mast boom, gaff, sail, rigging, maybe more. It would be like sitting an engine on the bow. No problem in a boat shaped like this one, with high sides to impart strength, but what about those low Gil Smith cats? A heavy rig, low sides, lightly built, and very little bury for the mast. It's a wonder they managed to stay together at all.

The number nine station mold getting set in place. You can get some idea of the garboard twist here.