Woodstock - A Passagemaker Dinghy

The Final Chapter - What has happened in the year since the maiden voyage?

2009-09-06T13:14:00.002-05:00

I Sailed on Lake Charlevoix –
Lake Charlevoix is an absolutely beautiful lake in northern Lower Michigan. This is where my wife sailed with me for the first time. While our water outings were uneventful in a good way the trip produced some of the first “character” markings in Woodstock. I also lost the keys to the padlocks on the trailer hitch so the car and the boat trailer were inseparable until we got home. Stopping in Traverse City on our way home caused shoppers on Main Street to gather around Woodstock with admiring looks.

Mounting the motor on the transom during trailer transport on this trip apparently placed some strain on the rear seat where the transom knee is attached. In the picture below you see a close-up of the front end of the transom knee.

Some of the plies in the seat have been pulled apart slightly as evidenced by the “scales” which show up as lighter areas. This picture shows the seat about halfway through a repair process where I used a syringe to inject epoxy into 1/16" dia. holes drilled part way through the plywood seat.

This syringe is made for injecting glue into the looses joints of chairs and it worked quite nicely for this repair. The brass nozzle seals well against the hole opening and I observed that for several of the holes I was able to force silica-thickened epoxy into a given hole and have the epoxy come out of other holes or out through the "scales" produced by the delamination. In addition I feel reasonably certain the affected area have some additional saturation of epoxy into the wood fibers.

I Displayed Woodstock at a Wooden Boat Show in Pentwater -
This is a nice little event. But I learned what passes for a winner in the Workmanship Award category. SMH (Shaking my head.)

I Sailed on Lake Michigan with Jerry! -
Very early in this blog I mentioned my dear friend Jerry whom my wife and I became acquainted with on a local bike path. I invited him to sail with me on Lake Michigan on a particularly nice day. I 'm quite certain he enjoyed it even more than I did.

I Returned to Reeds Lake -
One beautiful fall day there was a nice amount of wind so I set off to sail on nearby Reeds Lake. After completely rigging Woodstock I realized I forgot my centerboard at home. I had an elderly couple watch my boat while I went home to retrieve it. Back on the lake, during my second effort to come about, I was on the wrong side of the boat and my effort to move to the proper side only made the boat tip more. Over she went. The boat wasted no time in turning turtle completely. This was my first capsizing event but I quickly remembered that I should pull gradually on the centerboard using my weight to right the boat. But, just as I was reaching for the centerboard I watched it drop into the hull, out of sight. As I was trying to decide on a second plan of attack the boat must have settled into the water a bit more or something because the centerboard floated back up through the trunk, just a little bit. I grabbed it, pulled it out the bottom until it was seated, and slowly applied force to the end of the centerboard.

I righted the boat, lowered the sails, and tried to get back in. I successfully had the boat turn turtle once more on top of me forcing me to submerge myself to get outside the hull. I’ll admit I swallowed a bit of water and the resulting coughing made me wonder for a brief moment if this was really how it all could end. My attitude toward safety took a significant jump to the forefront of my thoughts from that point on.

Anyhow, I righted the boat again and tried to reboard both at the front transom and the rear. No luck. I couldn’t lift my body high enough to get over either transom. About that time a boat that was supervising a crew team came alongside and they lowered a rope ladder so I could board their boat and then transfer to mine. I thanked them and sat in my floating bathtub with nothing more than a centerboard to splash water out of the boat. I was drifting safely toward shore so the situation was not serious.

Then I heard this loud roar and I suspected what was up. Sure enough a resident on the lake had told the local constabulary that there was someone struggling with a sailboat and the authorities had dispatched an airboat rescue team that was flying across the lake toward me with lights flashing. Those guys pretty much took matters in their own hands. They lashed my boat to theirs and we proceeded back to the boat landing.

I lost my glasses, I lost my my hat (retrieved later via phone call from a kayaker who found it), and I lost a bit of body heat, but all ended well. The season ended with me thinking that I’m gonna have to give some thought to how I can successfully re-enter my boat in this kind of situation. Sunfish type sailboats have small cockpits that don't hold much water. My PMD only had about 4" of freeboard with all the water it had in it. I’m also gonna make sure that next time I have something to bail with (Duh!). Sure glad everything in the boat was tied to the boat!

I Did Some Research On Boat Ladders.
The solution I came up with looked like this -

This stirrup runs about $25. I backed up the cleat with stainless steel fender washers behind the rear seat bulkhead. I chose this mounting location so the ropes would be near the centerline of the boat and inside the "dip" in the transom so they would resist slipping off to the side.

I did a dry run with the boat in the garage and I think this should work. I can grab the rear seat and hoist my body up over the transom while stepping on the ladder.

Earlier This Summer I Tried Out Green Lake -
My first outing of the 2009 season! We had moved to a condominium early this spring so the best bet for a sailing lake was Green Lake. Since last fall found me capsizing and unable to get back in the boat I was a little gun shy but my overwhelming desire to get out in the boat found me choosing a day with some brisk and gusty winds.

Well, my lightning fast reflexes and catlike agility (was that a sarcasm detector I just heard go off?) kept the fabric aloft and the centerboard wet. Translation: fear had the adrenaline pumping and every wind shift and gust had me more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. But I was quite pleased that my fear had turned into some degree of forethought and fairly decent body placement. And leaving the jib in the car wasn’t a bad idea either.

I worked and worked to navigate upwind through the small portion of the lake which I have since learned local sailors avoid or get someone to tow them through. Finally I was in the larger portion of the lake and was clear to sail to the far end. I was preparing to come about when a gust became a prolonged blast, but no more than about 20 mph, and certainly no stronger than the gusts I had experienced earlier. As I was holding forth I felt a strange loss of power and I observed my sail going before me. As they say, the wind had gone out of my sails. But in this case the sail had gone out of the wind. The sight of my "modified" mast reminded me of a couple incidents I had read about on the Passagemaker Dinghy Builder’s blog.

I drifted to a dock where a couple of guys held the boat while I stowed the sails and rigging. I rowed back to the boat landing with serious doubts about whether this whole sailing thing was worth it. I found a local company where I obtained a new 10’ length of aluminum tubing ($60) which has a slightly thicker sidewall, .065" instead of the original .057".

The mast step also suffered some minor damage. I chose to use a hole saw large enough to eliminate the affected area and then put wood flour thickened epoxy in the hole. I made the mixture thin so it would pour and the wood flour basically just colored the epoxy. I used a short section of the old mast to maintain a hole for the mast.

The mast hole is displaced slightly aft of its original position. The black ring around the tubing near the dark brown epoxy is some electrical tape I used to increase the diameter of the hole for the mast so it wasn't such a close tolerance fit.

I Made Some Improvements -
I took this mast repair job as an opportunity to refine my rigging and the storage thereof. I will admit I created some “floating furniture” when I made my PMD and, as such, I don’t want to have unnecessary dings and scratches in my finish. The necessary dings and scratches are painful enough. However, even if some additions to the character of my boat weren’t a concern, transporting the boom, mast, yard, centerboard, and oars (at a minimum) and leaving room for something like say, my WIFE, was an issue.

Last year I had already made provisions for some racks for transporting the rigging in the boat. These pictures show my first efforts at securing things using ropes laced through the racks and around the items.

This was a good first effort but even with felt pads in what I thought were strategic locations the racks scarred the varnish on the seats. They were also not rigid gh so they curled upward when the ropes were pulled tight and threading the ropes was a pain. Half of the time I just wrapped up the rigging and stuffed it in the car (the other half the time my wife seemed to want a place to sit).

The pictures below show my most recent effort. These racks mount in the oarlocks and they use pivoting boards to retain the items to be transported. Wing nuts and bolts secure the pivoting boards. To attach the racks to the oarlocks I took long 1/2” dia. bolts, cut off the threaded portion, and drilled some holes for hitch pins.

I actually designed the racks using Google SketchUp which is a pretty cool 3D drawing program and there’s a version available for free download from Google.

As for the rigging itself I initially rigged the mast stays with cord as described in the construction instructions.

While that method was plenty strong and cheap it took repeated trials and much patience to get the lengths and tensions right. And as the cord stretched the attachment would have to be redone. In the course of getting things right, and under sail, I had the clips on the leeward side actually come unfastened when the stay went slack and, needless to say, the mast went down.

Since then I have obtained these stainless steel turnbuckles and the long D-shackle shown.

The little keeper rings for the turnbuckle pins are a challenge to a sailor's fine-motor skills but adjustment is much more straightforward and, short of structural failure, there is no way for the stays to come loose under sail.

A couple other refinements were the addition of a few washers behind the eye strap on the top of the mast for the jib pulley. Now it allows the jib sheet to run freely. And, while the instructions show having one cleat mounted on the fore of the mast, it really fouls up the jib lines while under way. I repositioned the cleat on the aft of the mast and all is well when I come about.

And Then,… There’s Lake Michigan Revisited-
As I said earlier I was beginning to wonder if this sailing idea was a romantic notion whose real nature consisted of repairs, always adjusting something, and “eventful” (and embarrassing) outings. But then I had the opportunity to sail Woodstock on Lake Michigan again. I had been on Lake Michigan once before, but the last time the lake was nearly asleep. There was a bit of breeze but the winds went nearly calm several times. This second time out there was a little energy in the wind. Don’t get me wrong, this was certainly not Lake Michigan unleashed. Lake Michigan is no place to be with an 11-foot boat if the lake expresses its enthusiasm. But this time I had to row into a headwind through the channel leading to the lake and the combination of the wind, the 3 foot waves, and the reflected waves off the pier made headway a challenge and, at the very least, gave me reason to consider caution.

But I discovered a few things. First, once you get into open water the confusion and treachery of the waves bouncing off the piers disappeared. Second, the unpredictable winds of small inland lakes are not as much of an issue on this expanse of water. Third, I am much more confident in my abilities. Fourth, the glitches in the rigging have pretty much been eliminated. And, finally, I discovered my boat is a fine little vessel. The steady wind, the longer swells of this Great Lake, and the fact that my boat floated on top of the swells instead of plowing through them like a heavier boat gave me confidence and made for a most enjoyable outing. An acquaintance who is an experienced local sailor confirmed my assessment when he said he was impressed by how my boat handled the lake. The sun, the blue sky, a brisk wind, and an 11 foot hole in the water called Woodstock sailing on a significant body of water. Words fail to convey the feeling you get from building a craft that is capable enough for a benevolent Lake Michigan and small enough that you can feel every message sent from the tiller, the main sheet, the hull, and from the sounds of the water and the rigging.

Was it all worth it?

Oh yeah!

Construction Complete! Woodstock takes to Flight!

2008-08-01T21:25:00.028-05:00

Wednesday's anticipated launch was postponed due to a trip to the emergency room with my mother-in-law. Somehow she had dislocated her finger. By the time we arrived at the ER the finger had relocated itself but that didn't prevent the development of a fair amount of pain and swelling. At 89 years old she did a great job of taking it in stride but had no idea how it happened.

Thursday morning - final section of varnish is done. In the process I dropped a long piece of masking tape on the wet varnish in a effort to keep boat from appearing perfect. (Yeah, right.)

Thursday night - mounted cam cleats, fairleads, oarlock sockets, and applied lettering and registration all while being supervised by a "supportive" neighbor. The construction of Woodstock is DONE! Very pleased with the results.

Friday morning - saw ten deer (including four or five fawns) while on our daily bike ride, got to farmer's market before the place was packed, and dry rigged the boat again for photos.

Friday afternoon - short trip across town to Reed's Lake for Woodstock's maiden voyage. The trailer is pretty stiffly sprung for a boat this light and the jouncing caused a buckle on the tie downs to whack the yard pretty good - gives it character and gives me some touchup to do during the off-season.

At the conclusion of the dry rigging this morning I tried to do a minimum of breakdown of the rigging and I loosely wrapped everything in the hope of minimizing the time required to set it all back up when we launched. It sounded like such a good idea at the time. Not so much. The result was summarized in a comment from a bystander at the boat launch. He was admiring my boat and I mentioned that this was the maiden voyage and it was only my second time sailing with the last time being when I was 19. His comment was, "Oh, that explains the rigging in disaray." Disarray? What do you mean disarray? This is the carefully wrapped, finely tuned rigging I placed carefully in the boat so as to speed the process here at the boat launch where the wind is blowing, the waves are making the boat bob, my 230 lb body makes the boat change attitude by just thinking about shifting my weight, and these sheets and stays seem to have tangled themselves with out any encouragement whatsoever. Fortunately the bystander was kind and held his remaining thoughts to himself for the remainder of the time and another bystander volunteered to hold the boat steady since my wife's job was to snap pictures of the event.

Anyone who has experience with sailboats knows that if you have a choice you set the rigging with the boat on the trailer before backing down the ramp. I have essentially no experience sailing and all I could remember was pictures of a fellow PMD builder rigging his boat while it was in the water. Trying to raise the rigging while the boat is moving and bobbing isn't very much like doing it in your driveway. I spent a fair amount of time breaking down the rigging just to get it organized.

Ok, I've done this rigging a couple times before. No problem. This bowline knot should be just the thing for this line. But I didn't think bowlines were supposed to be slip knots (they aren't,... what did that diagram in the book look like again?). And now the wind has picked up, it seems to continually shift direction, and the boat has become a big weather vane.

D'oh, the line securing the top of the main sail isn't in that nifty little groove I made in the top of the gunter yard. Drop the whole dang thing, slip the line into the groove, and try to get out past these rocks (and those pesky little minnows that keep tickling my legs.)

OK, it's an hour later but the rigging is set. Put one foot in, push with other foot, shift my center of gravity over gunwale, hope body does not continue in motion over opposite gunwale. I'm in the boat! Cool, I only look like an idiot instead of a complete idiot.

Tiller, mainsheet, what do I do with the jib, push the centerboard down, drop the rudder, which direction is the wind coming from, tiller, mainsheet, the sail just went limp, but I'm moving, just keep moving, don't worry about returning,.. ever.

In the midst of the swirling wind near shore I am fortunate enough to partially fill the sail (finally on just one side of the sail) and I'm off. Now, just keep heading in a straight line until you remember what to do to bring her about. For now look like this is what you intended to do. Do not turn except to get a bit more air in the sails.

I should mention here that this small local lake is known for the high ratio of sailors in comparison to the general boating population. These folks (many not yet past puberty) know how to sail. And here is where I chose to make my debut as a sailor? What was I thinking? If nothing else I suppose I provided comic relief for the locals.

In the picture above you might note the direction of the wind and my (starboard) position in the boat. Now would be the time for a nice gust don't you think?

Ok, I've set a decent course, the jib is full, the mainsail is tugging eagerly, the hull is heeling over nicely, time to think about what to do when I decide to turn this puppy around. I think I'll let the jib loose so it can come across during the turn. Push the tiller, duck, oops, didn't duck far enough, hat in water, jib lines snag on cleat on the mast. Geeze this went better 35 years ago. (And in retrospect I remember why - No hat and no jib 35 years ago! Not to mention somebody was more nimble.)

I remember thinking that if I simply turn in a circle to retrive the hat I could get into trouble. I couldn't remember why I would get into trouble or what to do about it but at least the thought did cross my mind. Of course that didn't keep me from going a complete (thankfully)circle. I gotta believe the wind swirled in coordination with my turn because I remained upright, I grabbed my hat, and I was off on a far-fetched near reach, or close haul, or all out gallop with out tipping over. Whew!

How do I unsnag that darned jib sheet. Oh look, the wind flapped the jib just right and the jib sheet is free. (Am I gonna be able to do that again?)

Things improve, coordination gets better, whoa, that was a pretty good gust of wind, glad this boat is a little beamy so it resists just rolling on over. Avoid those other boats, work on tacking back, sensory overload, this is kinda cool, what am I doing.

Better start heading back toward my wife. The place where I left her appears much smaller than when I set sail.

I'm getting closer. Need to drop the sails so I can row to shore.

Now this danged boom and yard are in the way of the oars. Must untie the yard. (Worst knot on the whole boat to untie.) Oops! There goes an oar. It has set sail on its own. Those mis-sized leather buttons I mentioned in the last posting apparently allow the oars to escape the oarlocks far esasier than I thought.

(Note "escaped" oar visible in front of boat.)

Wow, that spruce floats really high in the watter! Paddle with remaining oar to retrieve lost oar. I'm far enough from shore that my situation is not that obvious to those on land. Retrieve oar, loosen yard, row to wife.

Honey I'm dry and I'm back!

Tear down rigging, stuff rigging into Focus hatchback with mast sticking out window, mount outboard on transom, putt around the lake varying the speed according to the break in procedure, relax,... and watch Old Faithful emerge from centerboard trunk every time we hit a wave. I've heard of self-bailing cockpits but this is the first time I've experienced a self-filling cockpit.

The outing was great. It wasn't pretty but I count it a success that I didn't turn turtle. A few times I even caught myself thinking, "This is MY boat. I built it." It handled the stress on the stays, it tolerated a not-yet-novice skipper, it responded to the wind, it dug a shoulder in when heeling (as my friend Jerry says), it held the promise of less chaotic outings as I get some practice, and it looked sweeeeet through it all.

On August 1, 2008 Maritime history survived my initiation into the ranks!

Later!

P.S. When I was a kid I had several small outboards. All of them were two-cycle and they all had two cylinders. That meant they had two power strokes per rotation so they ran quite smoothly and the sound they produced was indelibly etched into my audio memory. Boy does this 4-cycle one-cylinder sound different. One power stroke every other revolution makes it sound a little like the sound track of the old-time cars that you had to use a manual crank to start.

Nearing the End

2008-07-27T07:39:00.004-05:00

On December 22, 2006 I entered the following to introduce myself at the Passagemaker Dinghy Builder's Forum:

"Well, I have officially joined the ranks. I just ordered a PMD with the sail kit. I also ordered a trailer from Harbor Freight and a trailer hitch/wiring kit. I've read these postings over and over and over again and I have to build one of these. I'm a physics/math teacher with 30 years experience from Grand Rapids, MI. I love to work with my hands, I grew up with boats, and, when I saw the kind of results you could obtain with one of these kits by visiting a guy in Holland, MI, I just couldn't resist. Unfortunately I'm a little (OK, a LOT...) obsessive compulsive. While the motto at CLC is that aircraft tolerances are not required my motto is why should I settle for aircraft tolerances? Yeah, my dad was a tool and die maker. I may get over it or it may take me two years to build the boat, but I can't wait to get started. My daughter lives near Baltimore so I intend to visit CLC in Annapolis this spring. Whether there, in Michigan, or online I hope to meet up with some of you."

"it may take me two years to build the boat" - part of me was kidding and the other part of me was being honest. In one respect it has indeed been two years - at leasty it has involved two summers. On the other hand, the weather in Michigan doesn't provide temperatures and weather that are conducive to a long garage-based building season. On the other hand, (apparently I have three hands!) there are stretches when you just don't feel like using the three thousandth piece of sandpaper while breathing through a respirator and sweating profusely.

On Wednesday Woodstock will have her maiden voyage if weather permits. The inside still needs to be lightly sanded once more and the final coat of varnish needs to be applied. Then there's just a few fittings to be mounted, a name and registrations numbers to be applied, and a couple knots to be learned.

I had occasion to go back over this blog and I was profoundly struck by how much of a project this has been. Most of it was immensely enjoyable but fillets, varnish, and primer were NOT. The combination of geometry, physics, woodworking, design, procurement, and ingenuity involved in this project fit me to a tee. In these final days I have also been struck by how narrowly focused I have been with each task as it came along whereas now that the boat is nearing completion I have more of a realization just how cool this boat is and how close the finished product is to what I envisioned at the outset. Up until now it's been like the old saying where you can't see the forest for the trees. Well I'm starting to enjoy the view of the forest, I just need a lake to complete the picture.

The final cost is about $5600. I originally thought I would spend about $3600. It strikes me that my cost estimates were off by about the same amount as my time estimates.

Can't wait for Wednesday!

All Those Ropes (and tacks, and loops)

2008-07-25T19:09:00.016-05:00

As the light at the end of the tunnel appears more likely to be daylight than the headlight of an oncoming train I get to engage in some of the final preparations for the boat.

Last Sunday I took on the task of installing the oar leathers. Not being well versed in classic boat outfitting I didn't become aware that some oar leathers are sewn rather than tacked until well after the tacked version had been delivered. The sewn version appeals to me visually and structurally but it's too late now. 122 little brass tacks later the result is decent.

I do have one issue with the oar leather kit from CLC in combination with the oarlocks and oars they sell. The thicked portion of the leathers, the button, is supposed to 'trap' the oarlock on the oar. After I had completely installed the oar leathers I discovered the oarlock could slide over the button. The oarlocks don't exactly fall off but not much effort is needed to get the oarlock over the button.

I had all of the ropes figured out last summer when I made the purchases but organizing them now into their proper place and cutting them to appropriate lengths requires a bit of review. I've only sailed once before so this doesn't come second nature. "Dry rigging" everything in the basement helped me sort it out.

I tried to anticipate the range of configurations for each line (like running with the main sail full out to determine the length of the main sheet) and I cut each piece a little extra long just in case.

After I finished cutting thge ropes in the basement I actually rigged the sails on the boat in my driveway (Sorry, no pictures.) Those who have built their own boat will probably understand my reaction. It was a beautiful blue-sky day with a bit of a breeze and seeing the two sails fully hoisted was just way cool.

The reason I rigged the sails on the boat was to properly rig the stays. The instructions suggest that instead of using turnbuckles on the stays you can use about eight loops of 250# synthetic line. It's stronger and cheaper the instructions say. Perhaps I'm not familiar enough with the various lines available and perhaps the line described in the instructions is more common on the ocean shores, but here in the center of Michigan the best I could do was some 200# neon colored yellow/green line used to tow lures in sportfishing. I gotta tell you, trying to hold a mast in postion while adjusting ten loops of line makes turnbuckles look pretty attractive. And, since the line is about 1/16th inch in diameter, wrapping the 5" length of loops takes some patience. (And I wonder why it took me two years to build this thing!)

When I placed the motor on the transom I discovered the transom doesn't provide sufficient thickness for the motor clamps. The motor clamps wouldn't tighten down enough to grip the transom. I wanted to protect the transom from having the motor clamps dig into the finished wood anyway so I took the opportunity to make some larger diameter oak pads that were thick enough to fill in the gap. The pads have rubber backing.

Here's the nylon washer I used in the mast step - an arrangement I mentioned very early in my blog. I embedded it in epoxy so it would stay put. Now that I look at it I suppose I could have just poured some extra epoxy in the hole and just forgotten about the washer!

In any event the end is near!

And Then There's the Motor

2008-07-16T21:15:00.010-05:00

The other day my wife fessed up that actually sailing in the Passagemaker was a hurdle she might have to overcome. Rowing - fine. Sailing - maybe not so fine. So she wondered if I had considered a small outboard. Considered? No. (I thought I was pushing the boat 'budget' pretty hard already.) But now that you mention it, I'll do a little digging. Whoosh! Check ebay, check local newspaper, visit motor dealers in the area, 2-cycle vs. 4-cycle, air-cooled (Honda) vs. water cooled (everybody else except Briggs and Stratton), compare specifications, recheck those 'Watched items on ebay'.

You'd think I was researching a 35' cabin cruiser with twin I/O's. But I didn't find that all elusive great motor AND great price. Then, the thing I have to work on - don't be afraid to ask questions. I'm in Gander Mountain and I notice they have some small Mercury outboards (no mention of this on their website). But they didn't have anything under 4 hp on the display floor except for electric trolling motors. So, expecting a deadend (and fighting against my natural tendency not to ask questions) I ask, "Do you have any outboards smaller than 4 hp?" I fully expected them to say no, and if they did have the motor in stock I expected the price to be the on north side of MSRP. Now by this time I had done my background work and scoped out the small outboard market pretty well so imagine my surprise when they said they had a 2.5 hp in stock. "And what's the price?" Ah,..it's $699. Whoa! Mercury, Nissan, and Tohatsu are all the same engine and the prices ranged from $800 to $850.

"So, is that a 2008 or a 2007?" That's a 2007. What the heck do I care what year it is, it's a brand new engine for cryin' out loud and it's at least $100 less than anything else I saw. But as a savvy customer (wink, wink) I had to resist the temptation to appear SOLD!, ABSOLUTELY SOLD! and the question about the model year was just a veiled attempt to appear as though I was doing a thorough investigation. I finished with a question as to whether the 'other' Gander Mountain in our area had any in stock and the salesperson said they had two.

There was a little discussion at home and we decided the two of us would spend more time in the boat together if another means of propulsion was available. So we decided to buy the motor for my wife.

We walked into the other Gander Mountain and I asked if they had any 2.5 hp Mecury outboards in stock. They said NO. Isn't that typical? You zero in on a good deal and it vaporizes. But I persisted a bit indicating the other store had said this store had two - would you please check? Sure enough they had two in stock.

But, while we were waiting we saw an application for a GanderMountain MasterCard. 10% off your first purchase. Hmm? My wife and I have developed an automatic NO response in the dozens of other situations where the checkout clerk asks if we want to save 10% on your purchase today by opening a (fill-in-the-blank) charge card. But, now we're talkin' $70. Does that apply to an outboard motor? YUP! Besides that you get a $25 gift card.\

I absolutely love it when a good deal gets better!

Repurposed Trailer and The Beginning of the End

2008-07-09T19:29:00.011-05:00

For some reason the boat didn’t ‘call’ to me this spring. Of course here in Michigan the weather and temperatures don’t really lend themselves to varnish and epoxy and sanding until May or so. And maybe I was still getting over my primer episode from last summer, but a different project caught my attention.

The boat trailer I had purchased had potential for more utility than just transporting a boat. There was, after all, that ‘finishing off the basement’ project I had started three years ago and never completed. But, in the meantime, the vehicle types in our garage had changed. Transporting sheets of drywall and sound deadening insulation wasn't a possiblity. Perhaps, for less than the cost of one delivery I could transform my trailer into something that would work for small projects that were bigger than my vehicles. I played around with some ideas and finally decided to incorporate the grid concept I had used in making the work platforms from earlier in the boat project and make a platform which could be secured to the trailer with the same four bolts as my customized bunks. Here’s the result -

The entire gridwork is made from 1/4" plywood (with a couple inserts of solid woods blocks to beef up the mounting locations) and everything is glued together. By the way, the second set of ‘cutouts’ allows me to reverse and/or flip the platform if I need fresh mounting locations on the platform.

And here’s a shot of just how useful the platform was -

After this diversion of my construction talents and some initial efforts to get my head around the basement project my wife and I decided I better get back to the boat.

As of this date I have three coats of varnish on the exterior 'bright' surfaces of the boat. In the pictures below you can see that I chose to make the rub strips and skeg bright. I really like the slenderizing visual effect this has on the boat profile.

I also found a method to suspend the ‘loose’ wood parts of the boat so I could varnish all sides at once.

On a different topic, rather than use the generic black block letters from Home Depot or Ace hardware for the registration numbers I wanted to use the same theme I had in mind for the lettering for the name of my boat. Here you can see the solution I came up with.

As I gathered quotes online and from local sign franchises some prices went over $150. Fortunately what you see here only cost $37 from the FastSign franchise. As with most lettering outfits these vinyl letters are mounted on a translucent positioning sheet which allows you to remove the protective layer from the sticky back side of the letters while they remain stuck to the translucent layer. The whole group can then be placed in position. Finally the translucent layer can be peeled off the top.

Next Phase - finish the fillets inside and varnish/sand, varnish/sand, varnish/sand.

To Prime or Not to Prime?

2008-07-09T18:35:00.012-05:00

(Written fall of 2007 - Posted Summer 2008)

The process of coating the outside of the boat with epoxy was complete and the prospect of actually applying paint was at hand. I had the outside of the hull looking nice and I wondered whether using a primer coat was really necessary. I used Google, I emailed CLC, and I read the really, really small print on the Interlux paint cans at West Marine. One builder even indicated the epoxy served as the primer and the finish coat could go right over the epoxy. All things considered I decided I would use a primer coat of Interlux Pre-Kote before the Interlux Brightside Polyurethane.

Next, do I brush, do I roll? I decided to roll. Of course the surfaces between the skid rails and the first side panel would have to be brushed but that shouldn’t be a problem. Do I apply the paint thin or do I go for a thicker coat? One of the reasons for putting this primer on is to allow for some sanding to smooth out irregularities in the shape of the hull, so let’s go for a thicker application (this in spite of the fact there was very little I needed to “hide” with a filling primer coat).

And then the “it’s my first time using this paint” monster reared its ugly head. Rolling this paint allowed me to lay a generous coat on the hull but when I got to the areas where I need to use a brush there was no way I could match the coverage of the rolled portions. Brushing the paint resulted in a much thinner coat. But hey, this is the primer coat. I can feather the brushed area into the rolled area by sanding carefully, right? Keep painting.

OK, I’ve got some sanding work ahead of me but at least I primed the hull. That’s the important thing. How long do I have to wait? I think the can said 16 hours but I waited a good 24 hours. Let’s try a small spot to see if it’s dried. Nope. The sandpaper is gumming up. I’ll wait another day.

It’s a new day but this 220 grit sandpaper is still gumming up. I’ll try something coarser like I did with the epoxy. Nope, the 100 grit gums up too. It’s been humid, let’s wait another day.

One more try, maybe even a coarser grit. Oooh, that’s not working well at all. The paint is globbing up like cottage cheese. No way I can possibly smooth that mess out. What about over here? Nope, this section of the hull is just as bad.

Note: At this point seismographs in several parts of the country recorded the shock waves from the explosion that occurred when I realized that all of that paint was going to be removed from my boat.

You know, if there was a problem with humidity and the drying time of this paint there should be a warning on the label. If you are supposed to apply it in thin layers then put that in the instructions. I had many hours and an extra coat of epoxy invested in that hull and the prospect of removing this gummy paint mess was,…well,…kids might have access to this blog so I will forego the language that adequately describes my emotions. To say I was furious is putting it mildly. While Interlux products come very highly recommended, and there are many boat builders who have obviously used the Pre-Kote product with success, I WILL NEVER APPLY THAT PRIMER TO ANYTHING.

This was the hottest part of August and my enthusiasm for sanding was at its lowest point. So it took me several days to accomplish the paint removal. Of course it also took many, many sheets of sandpaper and everything in my garage was coated with a thick layer of white paint dust. It took a day just to clean up the garage.

The sanding was accomplished with 60 and 80 grit sandpaper. As a result there were numerous areas where the epoxy coat was removed with the paint. That meant buying more epoxy, coating and recoating the bare areas, and the sanding that goes along with it.

I painted the bottom with white Interlux Brightside Polyurethane. The first coat left a bit of a blotchy coverage and there were a few runs. I made a small sanding block and put a layer of thick felt on it to produce a surface that would follow the subtle contours of the hull. The second coat covered very nicely and dried to a beautiful finish. There was only one set of runs and they will remain as evidence of my novice boat building status.

(My apologies for the lack of pictures of my painting/sanding episode.)

Here's how the boat looked at the end of August:

The summer was quickly drawing to a close and the primer experience had put a damper on my enthusiasm. The main goal now was to get the cars back in the garage before frost and snow aggravated the level of inconvenience my project had created for our parking situation.
I finished coating the bunks I had made for the trailer with epoxy and covered them with automobile carpet I had purchased from Menards. The boat was loaded on the trailer. After rearranging my storage shelves into a tall tower to create some floor space the boat was tucked into the front corner of the garage.

The finish work will have to wait until spring.

Fast(?) Forward

2007-07-07T17:30:00.002-05:00

Normally I relish the opportunity to use my computer. However, keeping up with this blog hasn't been as intrinsically motivating as I thought it would be. I think it just comes down to the fact that I would rather be building my boat than writing about it. I have also noticed that other builders who have posted progress on the web tend to be more diligent at the beginning of the project and also near the completion so my lapse is a common oversight.

So, a LOT has happened since the last post.

I have installed the skeg and rub strips on the bottom.

I have finished inlaying a CLC logo on the front seat. (Actually this was done some time ago. I just forgot to post it.)

I have fiberglassed the bottom of the inside and I was very pleased with the fillets under the fiberglass and how transparent the fiberglass turned out. I decided to follow a little bit different procedure than was suggested in the manual. The main ideas can be found at http://www.laughingloon.com/epoxy.html.

While I'm on the topic of fiberglassing, I decided, a little late, to fiberglass the outside of the #1 hull panels like some other PMD builders have done. I say a little late because the portions of the fiberglass cloth left over from fiberglassing the bottom panel had been relegated to scraps and were no longer in a condition to provide full length pieces for the #1 panel (translated: they were in pieces, some had hardened epoxy on the edges, and they needed to be retrieved from the trash can). But with the confidence I had gained fiberglassing the bottom panel and with some instructions I read on the net for making butt seams (http://www.westsystem.com/webpages/userinfo/manual/index.htm#2.4) I proceeded undaunted to the task. I discovered that cutting fiberglass cloth that has been 'wet out' with epoxy can be a challenge, even with a sharp razor, that peeling back the cloth to remove the trimmed cloth distorts the cloth weave, that the short loose fibers of fiberglass cloth get stuck EVERYWHERE, and I learned that when the process is performed at elevated temperatures you can't afford to waste any time "learning" the procedure while performing the procedure. I worked feverishly and fortunately I didn't have a huge mess to address when I was done. In the end the finished product turned out quite nice. However, the lines at each seam, produced when I cut through the fiberglass cloth with a razor blade, were visible. But you have to be pretty close to see them to notice. And, since that portion is going to get painted, the lines will never be seen.

Back to fillets - the fillets on the forward transom were nearly my Waterloo. To be honest I just cannot seem to get a handle on these fillets. Certainly part of the problem is that I am going for a 10" finish rather than a 10' finish. You see everything on this project so far had turned out as good or even better than I had hoped and my perfectionistic tendencies had been rewarded handsomely. So some fillets with "character" in the most visible portion of the boat simply could not be tolerated. These fillets are short, they involve a large radius, there are numerous transitions from one panel level to another, and they are in an awful position to sand. I must admit they held me up. I started off with smaller radius fillets leaving myself the option of filling in with larger radius fillets. I finally allowed a rather crude glopping of wood flour-thickened epoxy to harden in place (no evidence, er,... I mean, pictures available) in the hope of sanding the mess into a proper contour. Very quickly it became clear sanding was not the way to go. So, I decided to sacrifice one of my chisels that I don't use very often and I ground the end into a wide curve.

Employing the principle of the cabinet scrapers I had used earlier, I used the repurposed chisel to scrape the fillets into an acceptable shape. The final result is shown below.

Fortunately other fillets have gone much better.

I have constructed the yard and boom. The instruction book really needs some clarification on the whole sailing rig setup. I'm sure there is some significant leeway in terms of locations for cleats, blocks, holes, etc. but progress really slowed down while I tried to figure out where things went without having to reposition things later. For those having similar issues I provide the following pictures for reference, particularly related to how I chose to position the yard jaws on the yard.

The darks spots on the jaws are the holes and counter sinks that I just filled with wood flour thickened-epoxy.

I incorporated some of the suggestions from other builders regarding rigging (http://intronfilms.com/Passagemaker_dinghy/viewtopic.php?t=66). This picture shows a hole at the end of the boom as well as a groove that will make an outhaul arrangement possible

In the picture below you see my version of John Pollard's suggestion to tie a line to the top of the sail, guide it through a deep slot in the top of the yard, and secure a loop in the other end of the line to a screw. (John is active at Passagemaker dinghy site -

http://intronfilms.com/Passagemaker_dinghy/ )

In an old TV ad for Rolaids they asked the question, "How do you spell relief?" The following picuture is an answer to that question for those PMD builders who fear the hole they must cut in the hull for the daggerboard. That bright spot is a 1/2" hole nicely centered at the botom of the daggerboard trunk. That hole provides the pilot hole for a router bit used to cut the slot in the bottom of the boat. WHEW!

Peter (a fellow PMD builder) will perk up on this one. He has a trailer like mine and neither of us are pleased with the bunk arrangement. So, I duplicated the curvature of the bottom of the boat on two bunks that allow the boat to be farther forward on the trailer and support the boat over a larger area.

I've installed the rubrails, bulkheads, and center seat (OK, thwart! And as I understand it this is not the fore thwart, nor is it the aft thwart, it is the center thwart. My question is this - if you have four thwarts in a boat, how do you refer to the thwarts that are toward the center of the boat. And is it true that four thwarts make a gallon?).

I also took the advice of several others and picked up an additional block with becket to provide additional mechanical advantage for the mainsail.

The building tips at the CLC website include one by Jay Hockenberry.

http://www.clcboats.com/shoptips/shoptips_drillfill.php .

Jay makes the point that any fasteners that pierce the epoxy provide an avenue for water to spoil the appearance of the wood by seeping into the wood fibers. While silicone caulk can be used Jay suggests drilling an oversize hole, filling it with epoxy, and then drilling the pilot hole for the fastener. This provides an epoxy barrier around the fastener and prevents the opportunity for water to soak into the wood.

The picture below shows the shiny inside surface of a hole in the yard where I used this procedure. This hole happens to be for a lashing line.

In the next picture it is difficult to see but each small hole is filled with epoxy waiting for the pilot holes to be drilled for the screws used to mount the deck plates. I hope to use this procedure for every fastener. And in the case of the oarlock risers (inital 1/4" holes shown drilled below) I hope the procedure also helps prevent the incidents of splitting I have read about lately.

It is now August and I had hoped to be sailing by now. Some days progress is terrific and other days it takes forever to get things done. I tried picking up the pace for a while but I could feel myself "overdriving my headlights". I've backed off and have tried to take more satisfaction in each portion that has been completed at a level of quality about which I can feel good. My new goal is Labor Day. I think that is realistic and since I will only be teaching part-time this fall I intend to utilize some of those wonderful fall days to enjoy Woodstock.

P.S. I really hate to cover the bottom with paint. From a distance I like the way a painted hull looks but my results on the hull have been quite striking.

Later!

Fiberglassing and Boom Bends

2007-07-04T13:25:00.000-05:00

NOTE: This should have been posted two weeks ago.

I've read several different techniques for obtaining a transparent fiberglass coating over wood and I decided to put a coat of epoxy on the panel first, sand that coat, then apply the fiberglass, and then apply more coats to fill in the weave. This picture is from a position directly above the final result.

I'd have to say it turned out quite nice. Other angles are shown below.

The only two blemishes were these.

One blemish was from something trapped under the fiberglass cloth. The other was from some nonuniformity in the weave of the cloth. I have since sanded both blemishes (after a couple of coats of epoxy to protect the cloth from sanding) and recoated those areas with fine results.

The board I received to use for the boom had a bit more "character" than I wanted.

I decided I probably needed to buy a replacement but I thought I would try to see if I could correct the warp. From the diagram below you can see that I made a straight cut along the length of the board. I then switched the position of the pieces and used epoxy to glue the pieces back together.

I used a straight edge and my router to true up both edges and the board was quite straight.

Unfortunately I also tried to make a scarf joint to correct a bend in the other direction and by the time I was done the board was 3" too short. After conferring with John Harris at CLC I replaced the original cypress board with a fir board.

Later!

Transoms, Tumbles, and Tons of Holes to Fill

2007-06-23T08:43:00.000-05:00

I was feeling quite proud of myself in terms of how well the hull panels were fitting together without much hassle. Well, I guess pride goeth before transoms (or as another PMD builder put it, "those &%$^%# transoms!") I’ve developed a homeowners project motto that seems to apply here. A homeowner does a project or repair job once for practice and then does it over again to get things right. Well I tried stitching the transoms one evening and I just wasn’t happy with the result so I tried it a second time the next morning. The second time seemed to be the charm. I had very small gaps when I was finally done and the overhang of the hull panels past the transoms was a bare minimum.

That suggestion in the instructions for appling the fillet mixture works using a "pastry bag" made from a freezer bag works great!

The original version of the saying regarding pride reared its ugly head later. You know – pride goeth before a fall. It seems I needed to make a line on the floor of the boat to line up the rear bulkhead. My worksurfaces and sawhorses placed the boat at a comfortable height for most operations but even at 6’5” I couldn’t reach the bottom of the boat well enough to make my line. So, with the utmost confidence in my worksurface arrangement, which had worked so well up to this point, I got up onto the worksurface and made my line. However, as I shifted my weight to get back down off the worksurface I reached my destination, the floor of the garage, far more quickly than anticipated and with much more noise and debris than I intended. There were no major injuries to the boat or me and no lingering pains to remind me of the event but the worksurface design needs to be revisited.

In this next picture you see I have all of the stitching completed and I am making efforts to prevent something that happened to another builder that I still cringe about. You see this other builder ended up with a twist in his boat. After the boat was complete a picture taken from the same direction as this picture, but with the boat upright, clearly shows the front and rear transoms with different orientations for their lateral axes. In this picture I have used aluminum rails laying on the same supports as the front and rear of the boat and I have checked to make certain the rails (and therefore the transoms) are parallel to each other. While the application of epoxy to the seams will secure much of the shape of the boat I will repeat this alignment check when I secure the bulkheads and seats because they provide a significant portion of the structural alignment.

Since the previous picture I have partially filled the panel seams with silica-thickened epoxy and finished up with wood flour thickened epoxy. I have also filled all of the holes from the stitches. Up until now I have enjoyed each phase of this project, however, filling all those holes really tries my patience.

Fiberglassing the bottom panel is the next task.

Sanding, Scraping, and Fisheyes

2007-06-09T06:02:00.000-05:00

Being reluctant to tear into the first coat of epoxy that I had applied to the hull panels with 60 grit sandpaper I tried using 100 grit sandpaper instead. Within 18'' the sandpaper was clogged with epoxy. I used several pieces of sandpaper on that first panel. Then I decided to try the 60 grit. That was a huge improvement and I didn't need to wory about taking off too much material. I did two panels with the 60 grit and followed up with 100 grit. That worked quite well and I pretty much thought I had settled on the procedure I needed to follow. But even then I was using up sandpaper fairly quickly even when I tried to vacuum up the epoxy dust frequently to prevent it from glogging the sandpaper.

Then I remembered I had purchased some cabinet scrapers from CLC and decided to give them a serious try. I had given the scrapers a quick try previously but I didn’t quite get the hang of it. As I understand it you are supposed to file the edge of the scraper flat along the length of the scraper and square with the sides of the scraper, burnish the edge so a fine lip forms on one of the edges, and then draw the edge over the work piece while holding the scraper in a curved shape. Well, I seem to be having pretty good success just filing the edge and using it flat on the workpiece with the scraper tilted in the direction I’m scraping. The process of filing the scrapers seems to produce an adequate lip on the scraper without burnishing the edge. And, I have two edges to use instead of the one formed by burnishing. For the initial scraping where the epoxy surface is very rough I used my thickest scrapers (.032” and 0.042” )

The pictures below show some stages in the process:

Low angle view – low spots show up as slightly darker.

High angle view – Gloss from low spots clearly visible.

One thing I like about the cabinet scrapers is that the scraped surface is much flatter than when I use sandpaper. It seems like any padding on a sander allows the sandpaper to yield a bit to high spots and places where the grain of the wood is harder while removing the softer grain. The result is an undulating surface which, I suppose, has a certain amount of character but can also begin to look like you had problems applying the finish uniformly when reflections off the surface show irregularities.

The other thing I like is that scrapers produce much less of the very fine dust inherent in sanding. With scrapers most of the epoxy comes off in fine shavings. In the picture below you can see the white shavings from the epoxy and just a trace of brown shavings from the wood.

I monitor the condition of the surface until only a very few, small, glossy low spots remain. Then I use 120 grit sandpaper to achieve a completely gloss free finish necessary for follow-up coats of epoxy, paint, or varnish.

I am using far less sand paper.

One caution relates to the corners at the ends of the scraper. Sometimes my filing technique results in a very small barb at the ends of the scraper. I haven’t determined whether the barb is formed at the beginning of my file stroke or at the end. The picture below shows the line produced in the epoxy surface by such a barb.

It is important to watch very carefully during the first few strokes when changing to a fresh scraper edge and to stop immediately if the scraper is leaving these scratches and redress the edge of the scraper.

A similar situation can occur if you file too much when creating a fresh edge. It seems like if you go at the edge for too long the continuous lip created by filing sticks out a bit more some places along the edge than others. My best results have occurred when I only file until I can feel a nice continuous pull on the file which means I am getting a clean bite along the entire length of the scraper edge. I also try to place the long dimension of the file as parallel as I can to the edge of the scraper so that the edge produced on the scraper is as straight as possible. You get the hang of it after a while.

I can attest to the fact that when the scraper gets a good bite it can get pretty darned hot. Fortunately it cools off quickly.

As I was doing my research before getting my kit I kept running across the term “fisheyes” as a reference to blemishes that can occur in the surface of the epoxy. I wasn’t sure what they were. They become obvious once you get to the second coat of epoxy. The fisheyes below are about ¼'' across.

With the hull panels precoated it’s stitchin’ time.

I made two little drilling guides – one for the set of holes to be drilled adjacent to the rabbet in the hull panels and another for drilling the holes about ½'' down from the top of the panels. The first picture shows a profile view of the guide used to place holes 1/16'' from the rabbet. The second picture shows both guides.

The point of the finishing nail can just barely be seen near the right end of each guide in the second picture. That nail pokes into the previous hole to guarantee uniform spacing to the next hole. If you work from the back of the boat to the front you need to put the nail in the opposite end when you switch from port to starboard.

There is no problem using the 1/16'' guide (left above) to drill the initial holes in rabbeted edge of the panels (clamped together back-to-back as indicated in the instructions). However, when drilling the second set of holes in the top of the adjacent panel to match the first you need to check about every 5 holes to see if you need to adjust the spacing a little bit. The first set of drilling guides I made had just a little variation in the 4'' spacing of the holes and by the time you drilled 20 holes you could see the misalignment. On this second set of guides I drilled both sets of holes in the guides at the same time with the guides back to back. Even then I needed to adjust just a little every 5 to 10 holes. The picture below shows one guide “in action”.

There always seems to be something you can do on this project. If you’re watching TV you can use a 4” scrap of wood as a guide to cut lots of copper wire stitches. And I discovered the holes in adjacent hull panels were the same distance apart as the diameter of one of my sockets. So, while still watching TV I would take 3 to 6 pieces of wire in my hand and bend them together around the socket.

Made ‘em real nice to insert in the holes. They also looked kinda cool hanging over the edge of a clear plastic cup!

I mentioned last time that the operation had moved to the garage. Wow! Does a day in the high 80’s ever change the viscosity of the epoxy. My basement had been in the high 60’s. Makes you change your application technique quickly.

The worksurface I made is working out great for doing the stitching.

I am finding that if I block up the hull to produce some rocker and then use my clamping arrangement as a second set of hands to keep the portion of the panel I am working on “tangent” to the panel below it, then the stitching process and the resulting fit of the seams woks out great.

I’m leaving all of the stitches a few turns loose so the panels can shift into a comfortable position without stressing individual stitches or the adjacent wood portions of the panels too much.

The masthead is a whole other issue. The portion of the masthead that goes into the mast has a diameter that is too small. So, an “adapter” is sent along with the kit. The adapter is just a piece of aluminum tubing with a diameter a little smaller than the tubing used for the mast. The adapter also has a slit cut down the side so it can be compressed enough to slip into the mast. However, the masthead is too large to fit in this adapter. So something has to be customized. I was successful in gluing the masthead squarely on the end of a dowel that I had sanded a taper on to fit the taper in the end of the masthead. I looked for someone with a metal lathe so I could trim the masthead. No luck. Then I had a brainstorm of how I could use my router to trim the masthead. The setup is pictured here.

The adjustments on this setup were a little crude and I trimmed way too much off the first masthead. I ordered another and tried to be more careful the second time around. Let’s just say the setup was a good idea but I hope the colloidal silica does its job of filling in gaps. I got a slip fit instead of the friction fit I was hoping for.

This is still great fun!

Woodstock Begins Taking Shape

2007-05-31T19:34:00.000-05:00

When a router works properly the results are sweet. However, the temptation to take experimentation too far sometimes leads to problems. For instance, in contrast to just knocking off a sharp edge I’ve really grown to like the look of a completely rounded (i.e. half-round) edge on the transom, skeg, seats, transom knees, etc. But, while the pass on the first side goes fine (left diagram) the pass on the back side cuts into the workpiece too far because the pilot bearing now rides on part of the roundover produced by the first pass.

That’s what happened to me with the hole in the front transom knee. I had to use a hole saw to eliminate the ridge produced in the center of the hole. That resulted in a larger hole and I was concerned whether there was enough material between the hole and the edge of the knee to provide enough strength for the forestay. I decided to use a variation of the “drill and fill” technique used to provide waterproof anchoring for screws in wood where the hole for the screw is drilled oversize and then filled with epoxy. The proper size hole is then drilled in the solid epoxy. In my case I placed packaging tape on one side of the hole I had created in the transom knee. I then mixed up a small amount of epoxy and, with the transom knee laying flat, I poured the epoxy into the hole until it was flush with the top surface of the knee.

I now have a “reinforced” liner in the hole which should be (?) more durable than the original plywood in terms of standing up to the forces produced by the forestay.

In other activity, I’ve begun coating the top three hull panels with epoxy as well as coating whatever the left over epoxy will cover (e.g. rudder, daggerboard, transom). Most of the hull panels soaked up the epoxy and produced a rough surface as expected. However, one panel that was distinctly lighter in color produced a fairly glossy finish because it didn’t absorb the epoxy to the same degree as the others.

I have also had the chance to stitch the #1 hull panels to the bottom.

As you can see, the entire operation had to be relocated to the garage. There was a time when I entertained the idea of building the boat in the basement and then bringing it up the stairs, through the kitchen (the stove could be moved of course), and out through the living room. But when I brought some of the hull pieces upstairs for sanding outside, I discovered the turn at the bottom of the basement stairs allowed for 8’ sheets of drywall but a finished boat nearly 12’ long was not a possibility.

By the way, rounding over the curves on the bottom edge of the transom doublers should be done BEFORE they are glued to the transoms. The pilot bearing on the roundover bit extends too deep to trim that edge once the gluing is done. Some very sharp chisels and some coarse sand paper produced an acceptable roundover.

I was a little reluctant to go at the first coat of epoxy with sandpaper that was too coarse so I started with 100 grit. Two feet later, when the sandpaper was all gummed up, I switched to 60 grit and made much better progress. And yes, budget for sandpaper and vacuum the surface often to prevent loose epoxy particles from gumming up the sandpaper prematurely.

Gosh that wood looks good under the epoxy!

Router – Learning, Relearning, Replacing

2007-05-19T19:41:00.000-05:00

The instructions that come with the Passagemaker indicate that, while a router is very handy for dressing the edges of the wood parts, you can also do it with sandpaper. Hey, if you are going to spend $2000+ for a boat kit, buy a router. The quality of the contours produced with the router is worth it and it’s a lot faster than sanding. Once you have your router, find a nice 3/4” thick laminated shelf or something similar, drill a hole large enough (1-3/4” to 2”) to accommodate your largest diameter router bit, drill countersunk holes to mount your router, go to ACE and get screws of the proper thread (mine were 10-32 x 1-1/4”), and use some clamps to clamp the whole thing to a nice solid surface.

It’s cheap, it’s portable, and mine also came in handy for cutting the long tapers on the trailing edge of the daggerboard and rudder. In the cryptic diagram below the router, still mounted to my makeshift router table, is inverted and allowed to rest on the edges of two straight boards (shaded grey) with the daggerboard sandwiched in between.

The top edges of the guide boards must be absolutely parallel to each other and spaced far enough apart to produce the taper you desire. I chose a taper of 10:1. Since the daggerboard is 12 mm (1/2”) thick and the top board is 19 mm (3/4”) thick, for a total of 31 mm (1.25"), I placed the edges of the guide boards 310 mm (12.5”) apart. The edge of the daggerboard must also be absolutely parallel to the edges of the guide boards and placed so the top edge of the daggerboard is just below a line from one guide board to the other. The whole stack must be clamped so nothing slips out of position. Now set a larger diameter (e.g. 3/4”) straight cut bit so it extends about 1/16” below the table. Slide the table/router on the edge of the guide boards while guiding the bit over the edge of the daggerboard. Depending on the position of the daggerboard the router “table” may not actually rest on the edge of the guide boards until some material has been removed from the daggerboard. CAUTION: Don’t let the edges of the router “table” slip past the edges of the guide boards – they are preventing the router from dropping down into (ouch) the daggerboard. And, the taper on the daggerboard doesn’t go all the way to the handle so rig some kind of stop at the proper location.

Once some initial material has been removed gradually lower the bit until you have removed as much of the taper as you want. Flip the daggerboard over and repeat on the other side. The plywood in this kit is very high quality so the plies can be used as accurate depth of cut references. I tried to leave the center ply untouched so the trailing edge of the daggerboard had a thickness of about 1/8” (3mm). As I sanded and trimmed to correct slight variations I ended up with a trailing edge a bit thinner than that.

If you haven’t ruined the requisite number of projects learning what NOT to do with your router, beware, routers can be evil. Don’t get me wrong, routers like computers can be wonderful tools. But, just like computers, routers will do exactly what you tell them to do whether right or wrong. However, unlike computers there is no “Undo” choice when you tell routers to do the wrong thing. The golden rule of routers – always try out your settings on a SCRAP piece of wood before you work on the finish piece. I wanted to round off the edges of the handle hold on the skeg with my router. I carefully took a profile view of the table and lined up the flutes of my 1/4” roundover bit so they were just below the surface of my makeshift router table. Then I went ahead and routed one side of the handle hold. The edge was rounded off beautifully. It also had a beautifully uniform “race track” just below the flat surface around the handle hold (no pictures). Apparently the flutes on the bit were just above the surface of my router table.

Now, learning to use a router properly is an important part of working on a woodworking project. But, learning how to make the mistakes you make with the router not look like mistakes is the other important part of using a router. In my case I decided to use the next size larger roundover bit to take a little more material away in the hope that the racetrack would be removed. In the picture below you can still see just a little remnant of the original racetrack in the second ply from the surface.

The bonus to this solution was that I preferred the contour the larger bit gave to the handle hold and decided to do the bottom edge of the skeg with the same bit.

I’m sure there are those who don’t like having so much of the plies visible beyond the edge of the plywood but the resulting contour really felt nice to the hand.

By the way, the second rule about routers is to learn which direction to feed the wood (or feed the router into the wood) based on the rotation of the bit. Do an internet search for an explanation and practice on some stock (normal boards and plywood). After a while you will naturally bring the router to the stock (or feed the stock to the router) the proper direction. One direction the feed will be much smoother and the results will be far superior. (Feeding the proper direction is also safer!)

Some of you may remember the “gold rush” of late 1979/early 1980. Well I got enough cash for my class ring so I could buy a router. Not just any router mind you, it was a Craftsman Super Router! I still remember my first few attempts were disappointing. Burning the wood, chipping out the edge, and discovering that the motor wasn’t held perfectly vertical so I would get different cut depths depending on the side of the router I used. I was disappointed with my purchase but I figured it was ‘the nut behind the wheel’ and for the few occasions when I had to use a router it was available.

As I started using my Super Router on this boat project I was doing OK. I remembered the quirks of my router and things were going pretty well with the exception of the incident described above. And it worked really well when I discovered the aft transom doubler was out of alignment with the transom by about 1/32”. That misalignment isn’t a structural problem but sanding that much on the end grain of plywood filled with epoxy is a bit of a task not to mention trying to dress up the handle hold. A straight trim bit with a pilot bearing trimmed the transom flush with the doubler in fine fashion. The trimmed portion shows up lighter in the picture below.

A couple days ago I happened to notice the plastic housing on my Super Router was loose. Far be it from me to let that go. I can probably repair it! Turns out not so much. Some of the coercion I used to disassemble the router broke the upper bearing mount. Now why the designers at Sears would mount the top bearing in the phenolic resin used to insulate the electronics in that end of the motor is beyond me but that’s what they did. And that’s what I broke. Dang! I’ll have to buy a new tool. Of course forcing me to replace a tool with a new one is like forcing me to eat a medium-well rib-eye steak at Logans’ Roadhouse – it’s not a terribly difficult thing to get me to do ( I sense some understatement here.)

Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sears, Hitachi, DeWalt, Milwaukee, Porter-Cable, plunge, fixed-base, variable-speed, soft-start –it’s like being at the ice cream parlor. People who love tools know what I’m talking about. However, I am not making raised panel doors for a living and cost is an issue. Off to the online reviews. Boy, do a lot of people hate Craftsman. One review said any name brand was probably OK as long as it didn’t say Craftsman! I’m guessing my Super Router wasn’t followed up by many successful revisions in the past 37 years. Wait! What about this one. It looks different. And since Sears website even includes the reviews of their rotten models that are now on clearance the user reviews might be legit. One review is by a guy who does cabinetry for a living and he seems to own more routers than I do socks. He says this model is on a par with his dearly loved Porter Cable. And it’s only $80. Other reviews include equally high praise. ‘Nuff said! It’s off to Sears for a router Mfr. model #17542.

Now I am no tool connoisseur, and I certainly don’t use a router often enough to appreciate the finer points of a $500 router. But I am a fairly hard to satisfy consumer and compared to my not-so-Super-Router, this thing rocks. Soft start, variable speed, 2 hp (those alone are worth the $10 extra above the similar 17542 model), nice height adjustment, secure motor clamp, dust collection adapter, aluminum housing and base, and nylon motor enclosure. The base plate from my old router will fit if I need a backup and the motor is not nearly as noisy as my old router. It also has exactly the same mounting hole spacing and threads as my old router (although the holes are rotated 30 degrees off from the front/back axis on the old router).

(Late addition: After some use the heigth adjustment mechanism doesn't work smoothly and the router motor no longer slides through the base housing freely when the locking mechanism is released. Some shavings may be jamming things up since I have been using the router on the table - upsidedown - and the shavings drop into the space between the motor and the base housing. I'm no longer as excited about this model as I was.)

I am trying to keep a very accurate record of costs in this spreadsheet.

“Roots” and Actual Boat Construction (Finally)

2007-05-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

ANNAPOLIS - the birthplace of my boat. During my spring vacation a month ago my wife and I made our annual trip to visit our daughter and son-in-law near Baltimore, Maryland. Annapolis is only 30 minutes away. So, besides enjoying the kids and the blossoms (which bloom at least a month before they do here in Michigan) we took a side trip to Annapolis and that Mecca of homebuilt boats, Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC).

It was a beautiful day. We arrived mid-morning and parked directly in front of what was apparently an office door. I placed the keys of the rental car in my pocket and proceeded to get out of the car. As luck would have it, this was yet another of a myriad of opportunities I have had to inadvertently activate the “panic button” on the key fob of my car. (Has anyone ever actually had a legitimate reason to use that wonder of modern technology?) As always it took me far too long to realize what was happening and then I had to fumble to find the right button on the fob. Besides startling all of us the front of the car was about 40” from the front of the building and poor John Harris, the owner of CLC, was sitting on the other side of the wall. Unfortunately the startled ‘what the heck is that’ look on his face as he suddenly appeared in the window will be the lingering memory of my first meeting with John.

After allowing an appropriate amount of time to pass, which served to moderate our embarrassment and allow John’s heart rate to return to normal, we went in and had a look around. Fortunately John’s desire to make customers feel welcome outweighed his desire to whack me upside the head with a Sitka spruce oar. Upon learning I had purchased a Passagemaker kit and had traveled from Michigan he took us on the 50-cent tour of the fabrication/instruction shop, the CNC router area, and the millwork shop. He was also kind enough to pose for a picture. (That’s John on the right. I'm the guy one student refers to as 'highlighter'!)

During our tour I learned that besides their fine line of boats CLC also makes the parts for kits from several other kit sellers. That fact further underscored my confidence in choosing a kit from CLC.

Having satisfied my need to know that my boat had come from good stock we left CLC and set off for downtown Annapolis. If you ever get to Annapolis besides visiting CLC go to the Visitor’s Center and take the trolley tour of Annapolis and East Port. Annapolis is rich with history, architecture, and scenery as well as the military academy. The trolley tour gives a great overview and provides lots of suggestions for other things to see and do in Annapolis. At the very least you will want to stroll down Main Street, look in the shops, and walk around the docks at the end of the street. For those of us who don’t live on the ocean coast or who haven’t grown up sailing, visiting a place like Annapolis really places boats in a larger context of history, tradition, and technological development.

Our visit to Maryland was accompanied by wonderful spring/summer weather. However, our return trip home involved checking the wings of the airplane for icing and a snowstorm greeted us back in Grand Rapids. Indeed we had some of the worst weather of the “winter” the next two weeks.

Since our trip to Maryland I have actually had some time to complete a worksurface I had been thinking of for other projects as well as boatbuilding. I really don’t care to try to handle 4’ x 8’ sheets of ¾” material by myself and I’d like to be able to move my operation from the basement to the garage and back again without assistance. So, after some internet research, I decided to use 7/16” thick OSB and make 32 equally spaced square cutouts approximately 8” x 8” to leave a 4’ x 8’ grid of 3” wide “slats”.

The sheet ends up weighing half the original weight and the grid provides a multitude of locations for clamping things in position. Of course the 7/16” thickness bends pretty easily so I cut another sheet into 4” wide slats. I made slots in these slats so they would slip into each other on edge and match the pattern of the grid in the worksurface and provide support from below.

I made two of these assemblies and then linked them together with tie plates and used T-nuts slightly recessed into the tops to preserve a flat surface. The whole work surface ends up pretty flat.

So far I have glued up the rubrails and the hull panels and the worksurface system has worked great with one exception. The 4” wide support slats in the gridwork below the worksurface are just the right depth to interfere with turning the handles on the 2” C-clamps I am using. Keeping the handles topside is one solution. I’m thinking of trimming the support slats to a 3” as another possibility.

The scarfs on the mating ends of the rubrail strips weren’t quite parallel so they needed a little dressing before gluing.

And, even though I did some dry runs in preparation for gluing them together, I still didn’t get them lined up along the other longitudinal plane.

But, it turns out the rubrail strips warped in the dry environment of my basement and the scarf joints are no more curved than the rest of the strips so they should bend to the contour of the edges of the hull without much problem.

The whole idea of covering the surfaces adjacent to the glue joints with something like packaging tape works really well. I am using the slow hardener that comes standard with CLC’s kits and 24 hours after the joints were clamped I was able to remove the thin layer of epoxy that oozed out by just peeling the protective tape off. However, larger globs are less accomodating.

My worksurface arrangement worked out extremely well for aligning the hull panels. I could conveniently clamp alignment blocks to my grid so I could slip the panels in proper position for gluing and clamping. (Probably should have done something similar with the rubrails.)

I used alignment blocks thick enough so both sets of panels could be stacked as indicated in the instructions and held in perfect alignment.

And Now This Late Bulletin: The other night I had a little epoxy left over and didn’t want to just pitch it so I tried to glue the daggerboard handles to the daggerboard without any means to hold them in alignment. As other builders have indicated the parts are pretty slippery with the epoxy between them and getting them to line up while clamping them was a (messy) challenge. With that memory and looking ahead to other miscellaneous tasks I can accomplish while waiting for the glue joints on the hull panels to cure it struck me (Duh!) I can use the same procedure I used for aligning and clamping the hull panels with the transom doublers, skeg halves, and daggerboard trunk. I just have to make sure that I have the worksurface and alignment blocks covered with wax paper or packaging tape anywhere the epoxy may ooze out or run. Sweet!!

Here’s some pictures of the setup I had for the transom doublers and skeg halves.

It's a little difficult to identify the blocks used for positioning the parts because many are also OSB like the worksurface. In the middle picture you might be able to see the trimmed packaging tape used to mask off the area adjacent to the transom doubler.

Progress thus far:

- All four sets of hull panels glued at scarf joints.

- Bottom panels glued at scarf joints.

- Transom doublers glued to both transoms.

- Handles glued to daggerboard.

- Getting pretty good at estimating how much epoxy I need for a given step without a nice thick "medallion" left in the bottom of the mixing cup.

- Priorities straightened out (a little boat building every day).

This is way fun!

Wheels and Brushes

2007-03-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

I had been waiting for a deal at Harbor Freight so I could pick up a spare tire for the trailer I bought from them online. I got a HF coupon the other day and promptly bought a spare tire/wheel and a trailer jack. Now, wouldn’t you think a 4-bolt 8” wheel with a 4.00 x 4.80 tire from the same company that I bought the trailer from would be identical? It turns out not so much. In the picture below the tire on the left came from the store. The tire on the right came with the trailer.

In all fairness the trailer is a Haul-Master and the wheel from the local HF store probably came from another source. I liked the one from the store better and bought two more. The other three (oh, did I mention I prematurely ordered a wheel from Harbor Freight that is a replacement part for the original tires?) will go on ebay. Does anybody need a spare (or three) for their little red boat trailer from Harbor Freight?

I did have a nice surprise. I had been watching ebay for a stash of foam brushes. I spotted some “Jen” brushes. Not knowing whether Jen was a reputable brand or just something that dropped of a delivery truck I did a little search and found Jen’s website. They had one of those “ask us a question” pages so I asked whether their brushes were compatible with epoxy. The reply indicated they had never received a complaint and they offered to send me a sample pack. I assumed they thought I was a paint dealer making an inquiry and I replied that I was just building a boat and was only interested in a limited number of brushes. The reply came back that they didn’t care if I wanted 1 brush or 10,000 they treated all of their customers the same way. They even thought I might not have to buy any brushes besides those contained in the pack. So I gave them the go ahead and they UPS’ed it the same day. The picture below shows what I got. Pretty nice sample pack! If you are doing a project that involves foam brushes go to http://www.jenmfg.com/contact.htm and get a sample pack.

Later!

"In Irons" (or at least splints)

2007-02-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

OK, so I’m back teaching school. That means only the bare minimum can be accomplished on Woodstock. Not only that, but have you ever heard about the guy who got so frustrated and angry at work that he punched a wall with his fist? I happen to be very familiar with that guy and I know he finds it pretty difficult to do most everyday things let alone boat building. (Stupid, stupid , stupid,……………..,did I mention it was stupid? On the other hand, at least I didn’t hit a student. Of course then I’d have plenty of time for boat building. No! Bad idea!)

However, before I discovered walls don’t move I was able to lay out all of the parts in the basement.

I also discovered that even though our basement is dry, laying wood flat on the floor in a heated basement leads to warping. Oh well, nothing that can’t be “influenced” into a proper boat.

As I anticipate more serious building activities I also have had a chance to think about some details. One of those details is that I didn’t like the idea of the open end of the mast tubing rubbing on the bottom of the hole set in the mast step creating black aluminum oxide and probably producing lots of wear and tear on the epoxy and the plywood at the bottom of the hole. Ace is the place. I found a 1 ½” nylon washer 1/8” thick that matches the OD of the mast perfectly. The nylon washer is very durable and it can be placed in the bottom of the hole in the mast step with enough depth left to seat the mast. Buying another washer is better than trying to refinish the mast step.

One word to other builders – get the packaging tape off the wood surfaces soon after the kit arrives. Otherwise there is more of a tendency for the adhesive on the tape to peel off the tape and stick to the wood – particularly in a well heated basement. (Wish CLC's source of plywood hadn’t used stickers for much the same reason.)

It's Here!!

2007-01-26T17:34:00.000-05:00

It seems CLC got backed up a bit here at the beginning of the year. I finally received the boat today!!!! The shipper (BAX) was kind enough to leave it on my porch because the forecasts predicted rain this afternoon.

The pictures make it look like the epoxy is leaking out of the box but that's just some melting snow.

OK, gotta take inventory and start bonding with my boat!

Trailer

2007-01-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

The three boxes of trailer parts came yesterday and today. I've already assembled it (I wasn’t anxious or anything) and I’m really quite impressed with it. Far sturdier than I feared, simple construction/assembly, things lined up and fit great.

In this picture the bunks are not on the trailer because I hope to build custom cradles to support the hull better. (The dust caps aren't on the wheels either.)

The safety chains are serious!

Most things seem thought out but the bolts for the front roller support are a little long. I replaced them with bolts 1/2" shorter (lower right picture).

The sharp corner at the ends of the short crossbar sticks out beyond the side rails just a bit and I fear it may find a shin or calf.

So far two injuries from a utility knife. Only one required stitches. (I gotta start using dull utility blades.)

Now if only the boat would get here.

Hitch, trailer, tools and Blackouts

2007-01-03T20:08:00.000-05:00

The husband/wife discussion (you know the one) that resulted in the final “go ahead” for this project didn’t occur until Dec. 22. That means I ordered the hitch, the trailer, and the boat on Friday evening before the long Christmas weekend. You know what that meant don’t you? It meant that, other than the automated response kicked back by the vendor’s computers, there were no communications until the following Tuesday. In this day of instant communication and the ability to track the progress of shipments with a few key strokes, I was in a communication “blackout”. There’s just something about getting feedback that is reassuring. The activity confirms that this magic called the internet will actually result in a product showing up at your door. Oh well, Tuesday allowed me to reconnect with the process and everything was under way.

Of course the shipping feedback from UPS and FedEx entered another blackout on Friday, Dec 29, the beginning of the New Year weekend.

Well, I got the hitch today from DrawTite-Hitches.com. It had a couple scrapes from poking through the box but nothing serious. Time to fasten the hitch: 10 minutes. Time to work the rust out of the weldnuts in the frame of my Suzuki: 30 min. Time to wrestle the hitch frame and possibly cross thread one bolt due to the fact the holes in the hitch didn’t quite line up with the weldnuts - 45 minutes. Yup, that’s typical, I’ve come to expect that. Oh well, no busted knuckles, no stitches, all’s well. And the wiring module couldn’t have been easier. Much to my surprise a drawbar and pin/clip were included. The website clearly indicated they would not be included - bonus for me!

The trailer is scheduled to arrive tomorrow from Harbor Freight. No word on it from FedEx since two weeks ago. Apparently FedEx Home delivery always has the day after a holiday off too so nothing happened last Tuesday or this Tuesday. By the way, the trailer is only available online. We have a local Harbor Freight but they don’t handle the trailers. That’s the bad news. The good news is the shipping is only $11.99. Now that’s a deal. Still have to determine how high the hitch ball needs to be to see if the drawbar that came with the hitch is the right one (hope so).

Christmas saw some tools under the tree.

- Set of four roundover bits (Sears) and two flush cut bits (ebay) for the router.

- Set of four cabinet scrapers (CLC).

- Cabinet scraper holder (Woodcraft) - the guy there said the scrapers get pretty hot for bare fingers.
(I’m hoping some obsessive masking and the use of cabinet scrapers will minimize what promises to be lots of sanding.)

- A beautiful Chesapeak Light Craft inlay/onlay (CLC.)

- A 4 oz. irrigation syringe (ebay). I was looking for syringes and came across these BIG brass/chrome syringes that I hope will work well for filling in the seams between the hull panels. I’m hoping that cleaning out the syringe won’t be too difficult.

- 30 2” C-clamps (Amazon)

- 4 Irwin Qwik-Grip 6” clamps (Great deal at Lowe’s, basically four clamps for the price of one)

As always I am amazed at the range of prices on almost any item. The same drawbar ranged from $8.50 to $26.00. And the other thing I’ve become alert to are the shipping costs from some sellers on ebay. Clearly some sellers are making their profit on the shipping.

A word about the guys at CLC - I forgot to check what I had placed on my Christmas list and went ahead and ordered some items that family members had already purchased. I also had to make some other adjustments to my boat order. Doug and Ed at CLC were very willing to make the changes and communicated quickly.

Peter at the Passagemaker Dinghy Forum and the Wooden Boat Sailor blog provided a spreadsheet indicating his costs for building the Passagemaker. That record was extremely helpful to me (although my early estimates have somewhat exceeded his tally). Shortly I intend to provide a similar list for my project. Ballpark cost figures are really helpful as you try to find sources for some of these items.

OK, I just checked the FedEx site again for the trailer. The expected arrival date here in Michigan is tomorrow. However, the last update shows the trailer (3 boxes) in Bloomington, California 13 days ago.

The problem is that I need the trailer so I can transport some 4 x 8 sheets of OSB from Home Depot to use for work platforms. (Patience, ...patience,.........p a t i e n c e, . . . . . .)

Say goodnight Dave!

“Goodnight Dave”

It Begins

2006-12-22T22:07:00.000-05:00

Ok, I did it. After considerable research I ordered a Passagemaker Dinghy (PMD) wooden boat kit from CLC - Chesapeake Light Craft. I also ordered the sail kit. Then I ordered a boat trailer from Harbor freight and a trailer hitch and wiring from Draw-Tite. Why, you ask? First there was the experience I had as a kid the first time I sailed a small Sunfish-type sailboat. I was used to motor boats and this was clearly different. No fumes, no noise, but motion nonetheless. It was almost like magic! I haven't sailed since (some 37 years) but I have always wanted to. No need for a big boat, the 11'6" PMD should be just right. Second, I still remember the dirty and neglected 14' molded plywood runabout my brother bought when he was 16. He stripped it, refinished it, and it was beautiful. It had a blue acrylic windshield that identified its place in boating history and design. And it had this smell - varnish and wood and water spray. Third, my wife and I really enjoy some fairly minimal bicycling in the summertime along a river where we see a surprising abundance of wildlife and vegitation despite the fact we live in a fairly large city. I figure we can find the same simple enjoyment on small lakes here in Michigan. Nothing expensive or extravagant, just a way to enjoy the outdoors. Fourth, for 31 years I have poured myself into teaching with little time for anything else - I need a diversion. Finally, while riding our bikes my wife and I met an older gentleman who, at the age of 80, rides his bike 23 miles a day. He also builds boats in the living room of his condo. He's one of those wonderful folks who loves life and brightens your day just by talking to you. He also has that insight that comes from living long, and well, and having time to reflect on the years when he was too busy to ride 23 miles a day. After several years of meeting and talking on the bike path we discovered our mutual love of boats and he looked me straight in the eye and told me I needed to build a boat. 'Nuf said.

I've always loved the Peanuts comic strip and Woodstock was one of my favorite characters. With a slight play on words and a little levity which befits the character of this boat I think that's what her rear transom will display - Woodstock.