Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cutter

[Benny]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />
Just come across this thread, looking good ��

[jamieduff1981]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />

Looking nice! Jump test sounds fun. My son asks to go out to sit in the boat often, but he’s just over two, so not up to helping yet

Do you know how much weight the ballast tanks are going to add?

Hi Daniel, if I've got my dimensions right, the tank should hold a maximum of 125 litres of water which obviously is 125kg for fresh water, fractionally less for salt water and equivalent to about 275lbs.

Just come across this thread, looking good ��

Thank you very much

[WI-Tom]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />

Hi Daniel, if I've got my dimensions right, the tank should hold a maximum of 125 litres of water which obviously is 125kg for fresh water, fractionally less for salt water and equivalent to about 275lbs.

Salt water weighs more than fresh water, not less. About 1.025 kg/liter compared to 1 kg/liter for fresh.

Tom

[jamieduff1981]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />

Salt water weighs more than fresh water, not less. About 1.025 kg/liter compared to 1 kg/liter for fresh.

Tom

Yes of course - more buoyancy Oops!

[biglad]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />
Looks good Jamie- coming on nicely.
I totally get the advantage of water ballast- What about using part lead and part water? The aft section of the tank could have a hatch in it and be left as buoyancy or storage.

[jamieduff1981]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />
I have an update


The really short version would be "I've been working with sticks again" but it's actually been a good 6 hours work milling down softwood (and replacing the blunt knives on my planer thicknesser), clamping things up, marking out lines and measurements, cutting notches out of all the frames etc but I feel like I've made some worthwhile progress even if it doesn't look like much.




I deliberated/procrastinated over these as they need bevelled one way or another. I decided to fit them as square sections and bevel the top off horizontal. I haven't done the last part yet...



Some time later I'd cut out notches in each of the frames for a 20mm x 20mm strip along the outboard edge to support the thwarts and a 30mm x 20mm strip along the inside edge. Likewise, a 20mm x 20mm strip was laid in along the edges of the ballast tank. None of these parts are glued in yet, and the outboard strip is only very approximately clamped so the chasms visible will go when it's time to fit them permanently.





I need to box in the ballast tank but everything was moving just a little too much for my liking.





Crossing fingers that I remembered the essentials (actually I can still chain drill and rasp out anything I might have forgotten) I decided to just go for it and have glued in all the frames properly. Once this has cured I can measure up the gaps between to close in the ballast tank and the thwarts which are going to have dry(relatively) storage underneath them.

[jamieduff1981]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />
Our 17th wedding anniversary happened the other day, and as a surprise gift my wife had these made for me







Thanks for looking in!

[dbp1]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />
Looking very nice -- and wonderful gift!

Are you planning on putting in a rowing thwart? The side thwart (framing) looks nice -- running all the way to the forward bulkhead should give plenty of room for seating.

[jamieduff1981]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />
Hi Daniel,

Thanks for looking in again. About the rowing thwart - I know I definitely don't want one truncating the cockpit with this layout but I'd equally like to able to row it. I'll almost certainly give myself the option to have a sculling oar over the transom, but I have been thinking seriously about making a detachable rowing thwart that I can peg in over the back end of the daggerboard case and stowed in one of the many compartments I'm including when not in use. Any thoughts on that? Is it a terrible idea?

[dbp1]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for looking in again. About the rowing thwart - I know I definitely don't want one truncating the cockpit with this layout but I'd equally like to able to row it. I'll almost certainly give myself the option to have a sculling oar over the transom, but I have been thinking seriously about making a detachable rowing thwart that I can peg in over the back end of the daggerboard case and stowed in one of the many compartments I'm including when not in use. Any thoughts on that? Is it a terrible idea?

It sounds like a nice idea. Are the side thwart higher than the centercase? (hard to see). If they are, you could add a rail on the inboard edge, set down just a little, and have the thwart board rest on that. When the board is out of the way, they would be pretty innocuous. One nice thing about that is since the thwarts run parallel, you could move the thwart forward or backward to trim (i.e., if you passengers in the stern, you probably want to be rowing sitting on top of the daggerboard case, but on your own, probably want to be seated at the rear). You could add some holes or notches in the rail and match that in the thwart so it doesn't slide around -- then the only question is where to rest your feet, but there are lots of solutions (simpler or more complex) for that, including doing nothing at all!

[jamieduff1981]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />
I was about to just write "Yes" to your question about the thwart height relative to the daggerboard case, then had a moment of humility and decided to go and actually check



Fortunately my dimensions are within tolerance, at least for me. The supports for the thwarts are a 6mm plywood shim lower than the top of the case That should be workable, even if I make the thwarts from iroko planks instead; something I haven't quite decided upon. I've realized I've only got one sheet of 6mm plywood left which isn't the end of the world, but delivery costs would be disproportionately high to a Scotsman for just one extra sheet. I did, luckily, screw up my timber order though and have two full length rough sawn iroko boards left unused. I could use them for the half decks and thwarts which would be nice.

[John Meachen]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />

Our 17th wedding anniversary happened the other day, and as a surprise gift my wife had these made for me







Thanks for looking in!

You married well!

[jamieduff1981]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />

You married well!

Thank you, and I quite agree. I have a wonderful wife who is truly my best friend and who is very supportive of all the things I want or need to do.


Today I made the sides of the ballast tanks and glued them in.

[WI-Tom]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />

Our 17th wedding anniversary happened the other day, and as a surprise gift my wife had these made for me







Thanks for looking in!

Well, THAT is cool! Not many people can claim to sail a 16' cutter, much less one they built themselves. Can't wait to see more.

I think a removable rowing thwart is well worth the trouble. Unless you're a good sculler--I've never tried it myself, but it looks cool.

Tom

[Powerwagon]

Re: Melitele - my Campion Apple 16 Cuttebr />
Thank you for sharing your build. It’s a great looking little vessel!