New Build

[Breakaway]

Hi everyone. I wanted to thank you all, since I've been lurking for awhile, for inspiring me to commence building a David Beede Summer Breeze. I thought the best way to express those thanks was by posting. My build progress can be seen at http://www.boatsandboatinggear.blogspot.com. Or you can simply Google " Kevin Falvey Boat Stuff." I have some questions, going forward, but I'll get to those.http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif

Kevin

[Thermo]

Your SB looks pretty good. Way better than mine, which I sort of slapped together for a cheap boat.

[Breakaway]

Thermo

I watched your speedy build and the way your daughter enjoyed the boat--it spurred me on to action.( Mines "my daughters boat", already named "Princess")

Thanks
Kevin

[Thermo]

Thermo

I watched your speedy build and the way your daughter enjoyed the boat--it spurred me on to action.( Mines "my daughters boat", already named "Princess")

Thanks
Kevin

My daughter is already picking out her private cabin on the bigger catamaran I'm doing now.

Your (kid's) summerbreeze should be pretty fun, mine is.

[Breakaway]

Thanks Thermo.
Now my first question for the WBF Brain Trust: Should I leave the outer stem or inner stem protruding as a stemhead?

The outer (false) stem is doug fir, epoxied and fastened with SB wood screws. The inner stem is white oak, also gooped and screwed. You can see I blew it by not leaving the inner stem square above the sheer and so cant use both stems as a stem head. I'd like your opinions regarding durability of my two choices (I want to attach a painter here) and also aesthics: will a sharpie look silly with an stem head in the Scandinavian fashion? Fire away, if you please....

Thanks
Kevin

PS: If this should be a new thread someone please advise.

[Breakaway]

Heres the picture...sorry.

[Breakaway]

I have'nt posted in a while on this, my first build. I've got the hull done and primed and turned over.Built and installed breasthook. Made the guards/rubrails.

Thinking I was smart, I rabbeted the rails to cover the exposed edge of the hullside ply. But since I decided on this AFTER I built and installed the transom I ran into a cosmetic problem. The rails are now 1/4" higher than the top of the transom.

Now my question, should I just glue strips atop the transom? or do I need screws as well. Ultimately I want to install bronze half-rail to cap the transom to protect that edge. (This boat will be launched bu being carted/rolled to the creek a few houses down.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[IMG]file:///Users/kfalvey/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]

[Breakaway]

PS: doesnt show in this shot, but transom is crowned.

[Thorne]

Personally I'd be tempted to put a similar caprail on the transom. Otherwise you could beltsand down the side rails at the aft ends, but that will impact your visible sheerline. Hard to say....

[Breakaway]

Thanks for that Thorne. Thats my feeling as well. Any thoughts on whether to laminate the rail in place, or just bend a stick across the top. the radius is 1.5" over 33 inches. I can get a piece of DF of the right thickness to make the bend on a dry run. I'm just not sure if that's the best way--its certainly easiest!

[MiddleAgesMan]

Transoms don't have to be flush with the gunwales, in fact it's quite common to see two different heights there. But, when that is done the transom will usually be a little higher than the gunwale.

Just cut a thin strip to bring the transom top to gunwale level. Fasten it in place with epoxy, then sand everything level once the epoxy is cured.

Cut another slightly thicker strip longer than the first, round off the ends, then stack it on top with the rounded ends reaching out about a half inch onto the gunwale caps. That will make it look like everything you've done was intentional.

[Breakaway]

Thanks. Its just a free-from-the-net plan Summerbreeze, and its going to be paint and oil finished, but the lines are nice, and this hiccup bugged me.

[Breakaway]

Here's how I did my quarter knees. Again this is my first build, and if anyone wants to criticize or suggest a better way, I'm all ears. I want this Summerbreeze to serve as a learning platform for future builds.

First I made half-lap blocks from one-by pine, epoxy glued

[Breakaway]

....then I cut them to shape with a jigsaw, using a pattern (same pattern as for my midship frame knees/gussets

[Breakaway]

Here's how they fit initially. Some final tweaking got them to sit nicely angled upwards, inboard, matching the transom crown. Its gotta get warm before I can do any more gluing.

[Breakaway]

The warm weather last week allowed me to do some more glueing so I got going. I've got 61 Hours in my Summerbreeze, though I started a year ago to date. Such is life. Here, I've cut 1 x2 lumber into 3-inch long pieces to use as the spacer blocks for my inwales ( rails that run along the sheer inside the boat, creating a sort of truss). Twenty blocks, all three inches long but for the two that support the mast partner: Those are 6-inches long. Cuts were made with precision using a simple stop on my bench saw. Rather than sand the end grain of each block one at a time, I clamped up a rack on my bench that secured the blocks end up. I then sanded the end grain of all of them simultaneously using a palm sander. Having no bottom, I simply flipped the rack to sand the other side.

[Breakaway]

Here, I spaced the inwale blocks evenely alongside each side of the boat--taking into account the eventual position of my oarlock pads. To make sure they were even on each side (remember, these are curved surfaces) I used a technique called "horning." This entailed affixing a length of string at the bow and running the other end to a block, then swinging the string across the boat and placing the other block at the same length of string. Sounds weird, but if you visualize it, its simply creating a "virtual" isosceles triangle (Thats the one with at least two equal sides.) I clamped the spacer blocks in position, remeasured, the set back and eyeballed everything. Looked good, so I taped off the mounting line. If your sharp eyed, you'll note that the blocks are set a hair higher than the sheer of the boat. This is to create some flare or camber. Once the rails are installed, everything will be planed down flush, creating a slight outboard crown. I applied straight epoxy to both the boat and the blocks. Then I overcoated with thickened epoxy and clamped the blocks in position. Since the temps were to drop into the 30's overnight, and epoxy likes at least 50 degrees to cure, I created a tent over the boat with a blue tarp. I then placed a pair of 100 W worklamps in the boat. This kept the temp on my glue-up at 61-degrees F in my unheated boatshop --er, garage.(LOL)

[Breakaway]

Here's a beautiful piece of CVG (clear vertical grain) Doug Fir from which I'll get out by inwales, as well as the mast partner, spar, boom and mast. This board is a nominal 2" x 12" x 14' and I picked through the pile to find the tightest grain and the least knots and pitch pockets.

[Breakaway]

Ripped the stock for boom and yard (square pieces) and for inwales. I use a skilsaw and a scrap aluminum fence tacked in place to guide the cuts.

[Breakaway]

My inwale spacer block and quarter knee installation came out fine. Prior to installing the inwales and mast partner, I painted the interior with a coat of Kirby's 'Red Tint." The paint was boxed by pouring back and forth into larger containers. Brushes are a Purdy sash style for cutting around the blocks and frame etc and a 3" Wooster brand recommended by Kirby. As you can see I had a helper: its her boat and she picked the color. Two more coats and then I'll install the inwales and partner.

Sharp-eyed among you might notice that I forgot to mask off where the mast step goes. It gets epoxied in place, so I guess I'll have to "wood" that spot for good adhesion, yes?

Exterior is white, the rails, stem, knees, teak plywood transom will be oil finished. I am debating what exact finish to use and so a question: Can I paint over Le Tonk, shop-mixed boat soup or tung oil?

[Breakaway]

Now that there are two coats of paint on the interior, I'll let them dry and harden a few days before sanding and applying the final interior coats of paint. Meantime, I decided to dry-fit my inwales tonight. Used my shop-made bevel gauge, a 'la Greg Rossel. Came out pretty good, for a wood butcher.

I have to soak the inwales, then clamp them on to get some pre-bend prior to gluing. Meantime, I'll sand and paint some more.

[MiddleAgesMan]

I don't think you need to get down to bare wood for bonding the mast step. Just give the area a good scraping to expose some of the wood grain through the paint, then a coarse sanding and clean-up with alcohol, and you should be good to go.

[Breakaway]

Well, I started on my mast blank. I really need to sand the interior and get anothet coat of paint on si I can install the inwales, but I need this 10-foot long chuck of wood out of my way. So, I ripped a 2 x 6 out of the 2 x 12 of doug fir I had and then ripped that into a pair of 2 x3's. I pre-coated them with straight epoxy, then a mix with colloidal silica and slapped them together. Clamping pressure is light, using the solvent cans, and I achieved good squeezout. Once I clean up the squeeze a little, I'll clamp this lamination between two boardson which I stapled plastic sheeting so they wont stick. That should cure the slight misalignment seen in the pic. Getting there.

[Breakaway]

Inwale Glue-Up I prepped by masking the boat, as I've learned that blobs of cured epoxy take more time to clean than to prevent. In this shot you can see the blocks, quarterknees, breasthook are ready to accept the rails. I dry fit them to be sure. During the dry-fit, I marked the rails so I would know where to apply a glue. I then slathered on thinned epoxy, to both the boat, and the rails, then buttered each with epoxy mixed with cabosil (colloidal silica), and snapped the rails in place. They stayed more or less put without any clamps, but I applied light clamping pressure to ensure good "squeeze-out." I let them cure for two days, then used block plane to tune everything together. Note that per the teachings of Greg Rossel, my rails display "virtual camber." That is, they are sloped outboard, giving a jaunty look. Much saltier than had I installed them horizontally. In this last shot, we see that I have planed the portside rail, but have not yet "tuned-up" the starboard rail, bringing the inwale, outwale, and spacer blocks into the same plane.

[Breakaway]

My breasthook is laminated from two 3/4" pieces of teak --cutoffs I had laying around. The glue-up was fine, but I didn't want the end grain exposed on the aft edge. So I fitted this "fashion piece" out of Douglas Fir to cap the end grain. It matches the inwales. Gotta pick the kids up from a B-day party, then yard work, then fix a bike, then...someday this skiff will get finished!

[Breakaway]

.
Fixed the bike, picked-up the kids and it rained...so I got out of yardwork. Hence, I rushed to my bench, to start building the oarlock pads for my Summerbreeze Skiff. First, I cut some leftover chine stock into 10-long pieces and dry fit them together.

Next, I coated the faying surfaces with straight epoxy; then buttered them with epoxy thickened with colloidal silica. I used wire ties to clamp the bundles together and a spring clamp to induce a little extra squeeze-out. Longitudinal alignment was achieved by eye, basically, as these 10-inch long blocks form rough stock for oarlock pads that will be 8-inches finished length. Hitting the road, so wont be back to this til next weekend, whcn hopefully, I'll shape and install the pads and locks. Then all I need do is flip the boat and give the topsides two more coats of Kirby's. At that point it will be a completed rowboat. Of course, I'm building the sailing version.....but it will be nice to splash the boat while I work on the spars, rudder, tiller, and board.

[switters]

How did I miss this build? too much time in the bilge probably. Well it looks like a great job. A few things I did differently.

1. No false stem, just rounded and layed up fiberglass tape, same for the corners of the transom. The reason is that my gunnls came out heavy and the boat is starting to weigh more than I wanted it to.

2. Mast partner, originally epoxied to the bottom of the gunnls. Had some kids playing in the boat and it broke loose. So it is now glued and screwed. A cleat would have been just as nice but it is too late now. That would have also meant another hole in the hull.

I like your knees, building knees is the most frustrating thing I do on a boat. I cheated on this one and brought the blocks all the way to the transom.

Your neatness is inspiring, I must subconsciously enjoy sanding, because I sure don't consciously. I'm a few steps behind you, but will painting this weekend. And then the sailing bits. I have the wood and the layout done but need to do the cutting for the lee board and rudder. I used a dummy mast to fit the mast partner over the step. I'm thinking of using it and making a cloths pin splice for the rest of the mast.

Goo dluck, keep the pictures coming.

[Breakaway]

Finished the oarlock pads, arriving at final shape by way of pull saw, rasp, files and abrasive paper.




Question for the brain trust: Should I let in the sockets or just let em ride atop the pads? Greg Rossel's book says letting em in is just another place for water entry. But it does look great. What say you, forumites?



Switters..

have been following your build as well. Thanks for the compliments and your 'breeze looks to be coming out fine.

Thanks for the mast partner tip. I plan to bolt it to underside of the inwale--in fact if you look close at the pictures, you can see I purposely made two of the spacer blocks extra long to accommodate the width of the partner for that very purpose.

Neatness? Its perfectionism run riot! I am a newbie but trying to do everything perfect and that on a free design for a boat meant to be kicked around. I could have prolly built a "nicer" design for all the work I'm doing. But what the hey, I'm learning new stuff etc.

[gazzer]

Nice! You are almost on the water.

-G

[Breakaway]

Thanks. I'll have it on the water as a rowboat in a week. Let the paint cure. Then I have to build spars, board, rudder, tiller. Its crabbing season around here, blueclaws, so we'll get good use out of it and maybe even be sailing it before summer ends.

kevin

[Breakaway]

(Comments/suggestions welcome...I haven't done the stem piece yet!)

While the last coat of paint dries on the hullsides and with my cart built, I decided to start working on the skeg and stem guards. These are lengths of half-round solid bronze I purchased from Hamilton Marine. First they were cut to length with a hacksaw. Then the ends were beveled down with files to make them better looking and for streamlining. ( I dont have a pic, but the end that rests on the stem head was cut and filed into a spear-shaped point) Next, using a hammer, some heat and some "persuasion" I began shaping the bronze to fit the shapes of the skeg and stem resectively, bending the metal around the corner of each piece to provide good abrasion protection if (when) the boat gets dragged around a bit on the beach/shore. Then I drilled and countersunk holes for the bronze screws. Then I bedded the faying surfaces with epoxy thickened with cabosil and installed the skeg piece. I'll do the stem tomorrow. Here are two views of the skeg guard screwed and glued in place.

[Breakaway]

Installed my stem band today. Made from solid backed bronze half-round. Cut and shaped with hacksaw and files. Drilled, countersunk, screwed and glued.

[P.L.Lenihan]

Nice work,nice pictures! I vote for keeping the oarlock sockets proud. However, letting them in is a nice touch so long as you seal the daylights out of the wood pocket with epoxy before screwing down the socket.

Keep the pictures coming!!!


Cheers!


Peter

[switters]

Bronze!!!?

I thought I was going all out just by adding an extra fiberglass tape layer. You are going to have the Bently of summer breezes.

I'll get some pictures up next Monday. I have had the same idea with the cart. If you have to carry the cart while you are out how about notching the cart again so that it fits over the gunnls up front of the mast partner or just behind to keep it secure, out of the way and hopefully balanced?

I hate having anything loose in a small boat, lost too much tackle to the unexpected.

[donald branscom]

Here's how they fit initially. Some final tweaking got them to sit nicely angled upwards, inboard, matching the transom crown. Its gotta get warm before I can do any more gluing.

Just use PL Premium Plus glue available at any hardware store and you will NOT have to wait.
Comes in a caulking tubes and is easy to use.
You can read about the tests for boatbuilding of this glue online. Perfect glue.

[Breakaway]

Thanks for the input guys! I should really check my own thread for responses more often.

Mr. Lenihan: I've left the sockets proud.

Donald B: Yup. I just might be building a box boat of some sort very soon, to use as a "stool boat"/tender for my duck blind, and plan to use PL for that.

Switters: Yeah, bronze. An extravagance, yes. But I figure it'll help the boat take some abuse. Along those lines, since I had some cutoffs, I decided to do this:

[switters]

the knees came out great, and more bronze!!!?

I believe my 18 yr old would call that pimpin'

[Breakaway]

Your 18-year old would be right! But let me say that I built this boat as much for producing a fun and useful little boat as for introducing myself to the skills and methods used in boat building. I have plans to build more "ambitious" boats down the line, so I'm using this Summerbreeze--a.k.a, Princess, as my 6-year old has named it-- as a jumping-off point. I have found that I enjoy it.

Kevin

[Breakaway]

Launched the skiff as a rowboat today--I'm still working on the spars and foils. Here she is rolled out of the shop into the sun on the cart I built. I have clamped the oarlocks in place temporarily to see how the boat trims in the water before committing to their final placement. Brightwork is 3-coats Sikkens Cetol Marine Light. Topsides paint is Kirby Hatteras Off White; Interior Paint is Kirby Red Tint. Despite my efforts at lighting in the shop (ahem, garage), the sunlight revealed some holidays in the varnish I'll have to feather in. Small thing to a giant: I'm still pleased with the way she looks.

Here, my Daughter Keira and I rolled her down the street to the beach, under the watch of Bart the Dog. The cart worked fine, and I'm glad I took the advice of fellow Wooden Boat Forum members to use a top-strap in addition to the notched "bunk."

Here I am sitting on a milk crate--a removeable seat will be built once I determine the best location for it. Ideally, the stem and transom will just clear the water when my weight is in the right spot. Here, I am a few inches too far aft, and the transom is immersed. No good.

Sliding a few inches forward, and the boat trimmed perfectly! With my two kids also aboard--one in the bow and one aft--the stem and transom just "kiss" the water. I marked the spot and will mount seat and oarlocks accordingly, She rows really nice , leaving a small, but purposeful little wake and seems to track OK. I will build the seat lower than the milcrate for more comfort. The 6mm ply bottom didn't oilcan as much as I thought it would--a pleasant surprise.

I rowed around the bulkhead seen here and into the creek to cruise our community docks and met with a few wolf whistles and thumbs-up from some boaters on the dock battening down for the big blow that's due here tomorrow. My friend and neighbor Bill, an avid sailor, really liked her and met me back at the beach to see the boat out of the water. When he saw my cart, and the simple rope tie-down, he said," Wait here," and dashed off on his bike to his house. He returned with a small, ratcheting web trailer tie down to replace the line, saying: " Here, now I've contributed a bit to your beautiful boat." Real nice.Bill and his wife Jane both ended up coming to dinner and talked about rowing, places to row, etc. Now to build the sailing bits!

Kevin

[Dave Gray]

Very nice. I must point out though that you are using half round brass, not bronze. So many people have posted over the years looking for half round bronze that I had to check Hamilton Marine to be sure.

So what is your next build? Blue water boat?

[Breakaway]

Thanks Dave. Checked my order history at Hamilton and you are correct. My brain performed alchemy in the year and a half since the order(pasted below). As for a bluewater boat, I already have one--fiberglass, power--and am regular crew aboard the boats of others, so one isnt on my horizon. Working the pond/creek/bay game...or trying!

Kevin

1 WOOD SCREW BRZ FH 6X.50 SQ DRIVE #1 BIT 100/BOX 113151Unit: BOX
$8.62 $8.62 1 WOOD SCREW BRZ FH 6X1.50 SQ DRIVE #1 BIT 100/BOX 113155Unit: BOX
$11.59 $11.59 1 HALF OVAL BRASS 3/16" X 3/4" X 6' 147380 $44.99 $44.99 1 OARLOCK SOCKET TOP MOUNT 1/2" ID BRONZE 165956 $19.99 $19.99 1 OARLOCK HORN RIBBED SZ 1 BRZ 1/2" SHANK 2" OPENING 127223 $35.49 $35.49

[switters]

woohoo! looks even better on the water.

[Breakaway]

Building the sailing bits: After laminating two d-fir boards together with epoxy, I marked tapers using battens secured by finish nails.

Then I took it outside, cut the tapers using a skilsaw--not by eye,LOL-- but with battens as a guide. I had to finish the cut in one dimesion with a handsaw. Then I belt-sanded all four sides flat and clean for marking.

Mre

More....

[Breakaway]

I then made and used an eight-siding gauge using directions learned here on the WBF. One problem I had was keeping the pencils from falling out; another was the breaking pencil points. You can see the wiggly results of these problems here. My solution was to mark one side at a time--I used the gauge with only one pencil in it and went up and down each corner twice. Seemed to work out fine. This pic also shows my clamping deal.

After planing off the corners I had an eight-sided stick. I planed those eight corners down by eye. Then I built another tool, the Rossell-Culler Sand-O-Matic Spar Rounder. Here, I am using my Makita 9227 C sander upside down as a shaper to egg shape the "barrel". The barrel is made from three holsesaw plugs glued together.

5/16 rod serves as the shaft and a sccrap piece of aluminum tube serves as the idler handle. ( In the background are the plywood laminations that will serve as leeboard and rudder stock)

I tacked some vinyl floor mat on to better grip the inside out sanding belt.


More to come...

[Breakaway]

I had intended to plane my way to round--but somewhere between 16-sides and 32-sides I started losing my "facets" ( Word?? planed surfaces) and was beginning to cut some hollows. The Spar-O-Matic worked out. I should have used some thinner rubber for grip, as my floormat scrap wouldnt take the egg shape well. That made moving the spinning belt along the spar's length more of a learning experience than I think its supposed to be. It worked like a charm, though there was a lot of hand sanding after rounding to remove all the cross-grain scratches. Of course I actually held the handle when the thing was running--took my hand off to snap the pic.




Kevin

[Breakaway]

The spar, sanded to 120, and ready for finish. I'm planning on Cetol Marine to match the rails of the boat--unless anyone cares to dissuade me for reasons this newbie might not have considered



Kevin

[Breakaway]

Drew the rudder out last night. Notice the professional set of "ships curves" used to help with radii.

[switters]

I free handed mine with about 6 dimensions taken, but I have not cut it yet. The mast looks great, I was going with a trimmed up 2X4 but you are making me feel like white trash now. did you pin the seats down yet?

I have mine as a board with a spline in the middle of the bottom. The spline fits into the cleats on either side with three notches cut out for three different rowing positions so my younger nephew can grow into it. I can get some pictures tonight at the shop if you are interested.

Very good looking build, I did some experimenting with mine and learned a few "what not to dos".

[Breakaway]

Hey Switters. Thanks.
No, I haven't nailed the seat down yet. How did you attach the cleats to the sides? Screws and epoxy? I was considering using short horizontal cleats, but a concerned about it holding. Then I thought maybe I should have "tall" cleats--rectangles of ply--resting on the inner chine and glued and/ or screwed to the sides for more support. Or...a post in the middle of the seat to help support it.

In any event, I want the seat removable, as well as sturdy.

Kevin

[Breakaway]

Rough cut from the blank. Used a skill saw and a jig saw. On to rasps, planes and sanding to foil shape.