Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

[dalekidd]

Well, it's time to build a Calendar Islands Yawl 16. There are only a few threads on the forum about the CIY 16, so maybe there is a place for this one, especially since I'll be building from the plans and trying to economize where possible (might as well say it: I'm cheap). Clint has completely reworked the plans and made all of the updates for me. He's been great and we're just getting started.

I've built three S&G boats previously, but it's been nine years since the last. The CIY meets all of my design criteria for my next (and probably last) build: a lapstrake design using modern methods (as in ply and epoxy), able to single-hand but also take crew, simple unstayed rig, ability to sleep aboard, decent rower, good in light air but easily reefed, and last but not least - pleasing to my eye. I very seriously considered the Scamp and Walkabout (love John's boats) but the CIY won out.

My goal will be to launch by summer 2022. So let's go build a boat!!!

There will be a more details and pics on my blog for anyone interested:

https://captnkid.blogspot.com/

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[John Meachen]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

You could always build a scale model as a training exercise.The mistakes,if any occur,won't cause as much anguish and you will have had an opportunity to figure everything out.As a bonus you get a nice thing to have around the house.

[neil.henderson]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Hello Dale and welcome, Could you please enlighten me re. what you mean by S&G boats - I'm not familiar with the term. I've just finished my 2nd glued clinker boat and find them great fun to build though my learning curve was near vertical cliff in the early days! Two books worth thinking about might be 'how to build glued lapstrake wooden boats' by John Brooks and Ruth Ann-Hill, the book (name?) by Iain Oughtred.
Have fun with the build, you don't need a lot of expensive tools - and use others to learn from, we are all happy to help.

Regards Neil

[dalekidd]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Hello Dale and welcome, Could you please enlighten me re. what you mean by S&G boats - I'm not familiar with the term. I've just finished my 2nd glued clinker boat and find them great fun to build though my learning curve was near vertical cliff in the early days! Two books worth thinking about might be 'how to build glued lapstrake wooden boats' by John Brooks and Ruth Ann-Hill, the book (name?) by Iain Oughtred.
Have fun with the build, you don't need a lot of expensive tools - and use others to learn from, we are all happy to help.

Regards Neil

Thanks for the reply. I do have and have read Brooks' book. Not Oughtred's. My tool box is basic but adequate I believe. I have acquired a couple things to help with this build including a 3.5" Porter Cable saw, a Japanese pull saw, a set of wetstones, and a vice for my bench. S&G is stitch and glue as in stitching panels together and sealing the joints with epoxy and fiberglass "tape". Here are my 3 previous builds.

Pixie: a self-designed 7'6" sailing dinghy

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16' Selway Fisher Wren

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And my most recent a Jacques Mertens-Goossen Semi Dory 11 (boat builder central) which included a birdsmouth mast

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PS: I found your Gannet thread. Looks very nice. Going to go back and read it more thoroughly soon!

[dalekidd]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

The cart before the horse: or maybe I should say the trailer before the boat.

Of course, I've known that I would need a trailer for the boat I'm building, completion of which is probably a year or more away. I decided I would continue to look and if the right one showed up, I would get it. Well, one showed up this week which had just been listed. My day was flexible so I jumped. Talked to Scott, the seller, and he was very helpful in describing the trailer in more detail than just a picture. I liked him and decided to go for it. Drove 120 miles to look at it. It proved to be a very solid trailer. Needed a little work but good "bones". He helped me get her ready for the road and even threw in a jackstand, winch, and a couple extra rollers.

So I've landed this 1979 Dilly galvanized trailer for $160. I had to take a trailer light kit with me, it will need tires and a fitting or two; but a good find I believe. I'll cover it and park it 'til ready. Gonna be some motivation to get hopping!

Here she is:

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In the meantime, I'm working on building a pair of oars. Right now they're pretty rough. I've spent the last couple hours in the shop sharpening old planes. Still trying to get the hang of it. Planes are new to me.

At the moment here they are weighing in at 5.5 lbs and 9'2":

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Hoping to have them done this coming week.

The plans are the best! Not only is Clint a great designer but he's also a great draftsman! He's even modified them some to fit my situation including redesigning the middle frame and transom to be made out of ply rather than solid wood. Though his specialty is kits, this boat can certainly be done with the plans he has drawn.

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I've bought the ply I'll need for the strongback. I've ordered sails (I know it's early but, hey, I'm eager): mizzen from Duckworks and a main sail kit from Sailrite. I'll be ordering my okoume probably Monday.

We're in full blown build-a-boat mode here.

[neil.henderson]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Looks like you are leaping ahead which is great, a couple of ideas for you to ponder:
a) As you are building a clinker (yes?) boat you want the trailer to support the boats weight on the central rollers with the side bunks just stopping it rolling side to side - I would add some long (about 1 metre long) bunks to the trailer that will sit just under the turn of the bilge midway along the boat.
b) If you can go to a woodwork shop/course to learn how to sharpen blades, once learnt it is reall yquite simple but it does need to be done correctly using the correct sharpening devices - I use a Veritas honing guide to ensure that the blade is fixed at the correct angle when sharpening. And the blade is sharp when 1) you can see yourself in the bevel and b) you feel you can trim the fingerprints off your fingers with it (not necessary to try!). I personally use 3 grades of wetstones to get this finish on my chisels and planes........
c) I-shaped floor joists make a great base for a strongback - they tend not to either twist or bend.
Glad to see you making good progress.

[slycreek]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Best of good fortune with it. You may already know McLaughlin Boat Works, I got some hemp line through them a few years ago and they are good source for small quantity of cloth and other fiberglass supplies. I finally launched a Highlander at the dam a few years back, so strange to be lake level yet at elevation 681’ one is 47’ above the valley when wind is Southwest.

[KenStocker]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Welcome to the Forum, we'll be following along!

Ken

[dalekidd]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Looks like you are leaping ahead which is great, a couple of ideas for you to ponder:
a) As you are building a clinker (yes?) boat you want the trailer to support the boats weight on the central rollers with the side bunks just stopping it rolling side to side - I would add some long (about 1 metre long) bunks to the trailer that will sit just under the turn of the bilge midway along the boat.
b) If you can go to a woodwork shop/course to learn how to sharpen blades, once learnt it is reall yquite simple but it does need to be done correctly using the correct sharpening devices - I use a Veritas honing guide to ensure that the blade is fixed at the correct angle when sharpening. And the blade is sharp when 1) you can see yourself in the bevel and b) you feel you can trim the fingerprints off your fingers with it (not necessary to try!). I personally use 3 grades of wetstones to get this finish on my chisels and planes........
c) I-shaped floor joists make a great base for a strongback - they tend not to either twist or bend.
Glad to see you making good progress.

Thanks! That's a great tip re the trailer. I knew at some point I was going to have to know how to set it up.

I bought a set of whetstones, 400, 1000, 3000 and 8000 grits, and a honing guide. I've got a block plane going pretty well. I've watched a couple videos but still need to learn more. I'm sure a class would be nice.

[dalekidd]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

In the last 3 weeks a good bit has happened. I located some Douglas Fir from an old bowling alley that was sold at auction. They'd dismantled the floors and the joists were made from DF. Unfortunately the wood was not clear. However, I bought 54' of 2x10 and brought it home anyway. I was able to rip it and put together my 8 staves for the mast. I was going to have to scarf each stave once anyway (without special ordering a 17' piece of lumber) but was able to put mine together with only 9 scarfs. One stave needed two. I do have a couple small knots but I've positioned them where most will be cut out when tapering and rounding. Here they are ready to have the birdsmouths cut into them. My mast is going to be 16'9".

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My plywood arrived on Monday from Bedard's in Tarpon Springs, FL. Good prices and I knew they would carry quality material. JF was also great working a good deal on shipping. Picked a carrier with a terminal 4 miles from my house. Shipping was much cheaper going that route rather than delivery to my door. I went with a combination of Meranti and Okoume. I'll use the latter where I'm leaving the wood bright and use the Meranti where painted. Will save some money. Only exception will be plank #2 which has to make a pretty good curve at the bow.

I also undertook the strongback. I used OSB, which Clint recommended and uses in his kits, along with a ripped 2x4 for stiffness. I'm building on a dirt floor so I took pains to get it level. I used a 4' level along with a 20' piece of tubing filled with water to level it. I was more confident of a true reading using the tube to level it longways. (Don't have a laser level.)

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I need to finish my oars and the main mast. I will probably use the strongback as a work table to cut out a lot of my pieces before I set up the frames.

Hopefully will be seeing some steady progress in the weeks ahead.

A lot more details and pics on my blog for anyone interested:

https://captnkid.blogspot.com/

[dalekidd]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

I finished roughing out the spars tonight (all except the boom for the main sail which will come later - it will be hollow and made from plywood and spacers). They will need a final sanding and maybe a little more shaping (as in tapering the bottom of both masts), but I feel like I've made some good progress. I'm up to 80+ hours on the build.

I ran out of the Douglas Fir after making the two masts, so I made the yard, boomkin and sprit out of some clear pine from one of the box stores.

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After laminating two pieces for my mizzen mast, I made a jig to taper it. I know most do it differently, but this worked ok for me.

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Here's my glue-up of 3 additional spars: yard, boomkin and sprit for the mizzen.

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I used a router to cut my dado before gluing the two halves of the boomkin together.

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[dalekidd]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

I'm 90% done my spars and oars (main boom will come later as it is made with plywood). A little more "fine tuning", and sanding and they'll be ready for urethane. I'll be using Helmsman Spar Urethane. They're not going to win any awards, but I think they'll look fine and be very functional.

Here they are as of the moment.

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Next, I'll do the rudder, daggerboard and trunk, and stem. Then it will be time to set up the molds for the hull. Progress!

https://captnkid.blogspot.com/

[schoonerjay]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Rapid build, love the progress! Two side comments: love the watermelon counterweight on the trailer in post #11. Same post showing the pic of the three spars being glued up suggests the cinder block wall behind the bench has some moisture incursion? Had similar in a large crawl space in my house in western NC - it rains ALL THE TIME in that part of the mountains! Mold was quite an issue for us, is it for you? Even though my shop was in a different part of the basement and mostly above grade I had to keep a dehumidifier running in there through the winter.

[dalekidd]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Rapid build, love the progress! Two side comments: love the watermelon counterweight on the trailer in post #11. Same post showing the pic of the three spars being glued up suggests the cinder block wall behind the bench has some moisture incursion? Had similar in a large crawl space in my house in western NC - it rains ALL THE TIME in that part of the mountains! Mold was quite an issue for us, is it for you? Even though my shop was in a different part of the basement and mostly above grade I had to keep a dehumidifier running in there through the winter.

LOL! As I was sanding away on my mast, one of my church members (I'm a pastor) drove up into my driveway and took out this huge watermelon and gave it to us. I set it on the trailer and that's why it was there.

Re the moisture issue: yes it was very humid down there. If you'll notice, that is a dehumidifier there in the background. I bought it shortly before starting the build and I leave it on automatic. I have a hose connected to it that carries the water outside into my yard and down the hill. The humidity stays right around 50-52% most of the time. It is very comfortable down there now. No mold that I can tell.

As for rapid, I've logged almost 90 hours so far, averaging about 8 hours per week on actual building. I'm not counting clean-up shop time, researching computer time, shopping time etc. My goal is to put in 10 hours a week and finish in maybe 18 months. This is supposed to be a 500 hour build but I'm almost up to 1/5 of that already. We'll see.

Thanks for the comments!

[dbp1]

Re: Calendar Islands Yawl 16 in Chattanooga

Re the moisture issue: yes it was very humid down there. If you'll notice, that is a dehumidifier there in the background. I bought it shortly before starting the build and I leave it on automatic. I have a hose connected to it that carries the water outside into my yard and down the hill. The humidity stays right around 50-52% most of the time. It is very comfortable down there now. No mold that I can tell.

If you want to experiment with water based paints, humidity is your friend! Let it creep up to 80, 90% and you should have no trouble maintaining a wet edge!