Jim's blog - Boat building

Tiller lamination - step by step

nospam@example.com (Jim) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:18:04 +1300

Last week I bought a couple of lengths of timber, kauri and mahogany, to laminate up for a new tiller.

The small scale plans that are in LHF's book "Sensible Cruising Designs" specify the tiller butt end dimensions at 2" x 2". The broken tiller is slightly larger than that.

I spent a couple of evenings this week slicing my timber into strips and planing them down to 6mm thick - the first significant use I have made of my De Walt planer that has been sitting under the bench for a year or so. I have also laid out the shape I will form the laminations to to get a nice (I hope) curve on the new tiller. The old tiller used to be slightly too close to the top of the cockpit aft coaming so I have curved it up a bit more than the old one. Hopefully the curve will not spring back too much when I release the clamps.

Mahogany and Kauri alternating strips ready to glue up

Saturday - I glued up the first 5 laminations today. First I costed the side that were going to be glued with un-thickened epoxy, and then I spread on a thick mix and clamped it up. I under-estimated the quantity I would need by quite a bit and ended up making 3 batches - very quickly I might add. I managed to get the ratio on the 2nd batch wrong and put in about 20% too little hardener. Hopefully it will still be strong enough to hold it all together.

Most of my clamps are cheap bar clamps, but today I bought a better quality Urwin one with a pistol type grip. It did a much better job of pulling in the tight part of the bends than the cheap bar clamps did when I did a test assembly. I'll get more over time I think although with epoxy I don't want to overtighten the clamps as the joint depends on the epoxy in between the wood.

New clamp is great

And thanks to my helper - good job Sam.

I tapered the tiller with a combination of a jigsaw and belt sander, rounded the edges with a router and have spent quite some time carefully filing and sanding to get a good shape and finish.

I drilled the hole for the retaining bolt oversized, filled it with a stiff epoxy mix and then drilled it out the right size. That should stop water getting into the inside of the bolt hole. The holes in the rudder cheeks are a little harder to deal with tough.

And the finish is paint on the butt end where it will be inside the tiller and 8 coats of varnish on the remainder. I am pleased with the outcome.

Nav lights

nospam@example.com (Jim) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:42:48 +1300

A lot of people just seem to fit nav lights directly onto cabin or hull sides without worrying about the requirements for correct alignment to meet the rules.I have made up a couple of angled blocks for mounting my port/starboard lights on the sides of the cabin that give a much closer approximation to the correct alignment than if I just screwed the lights on - and the new location is easier to wire than the old one.

Looking closely at the inside of the cabin top while painting some of the repaired areas I am convinced that Dovekie was built without the raised cabin top and that it was lifted at a later date. There are glue lines across the cockpit bulkhead that match the lower cabin top lines and are symmetrical side to side. They also match bright wood stripping along the sides between the cabin windows at the right height.

I saw some recycled oregon in a front yard while walking the other day that could serve to make a new mizzen boom. I knocked on the door to see if they would sell some but no-one was at home. Will have to go back again.

It's booming

nospam@example.com (Jim) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:14:51 +1300

Made some good progress in the weekend with fixing reefing hooks on both sails, rigging the main sheet, fixing the patch in the coaming, painting the interior of the starboard bulkhead etc.

Having decided to fix a cheek block for the mizzen sail reefing line I drilled a couple of holes for the screws and found the wood coming out of the boom was sodden. Looks as though I have a bunch of rot and I am trying to decide whether to make a new boom as it's only 3 metres of 3x2 with a bit of shaping, or whether to pull the current one off and see whether it is a bad as first impressions seem - and what are the main boom and the masts like!

Anyone got a few metres of nice clean old oregon with close annual growth rings to spare?

Tender for Dovedkie

nospam@example.com (Jim) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 22:04:21 +1200

I need a tender for Dovekie - and there isn't much room to carry one on deck.

An inflatable has some advantages from the ease to carry perspective but I am less happy with an inflatable's ability in windy conditions.

On the other hand a rigid tender is easier to row in the wind, can be towed easily but is less convenient if you want to carry it.

I have the free plans for the D4 Dink which is a 2meter stitch&glue pram dinghy. It seems well thought of from what I have found through web searches. I also like John Welsford's Tender Behind. It is similar to the D4 Dink but a bit more complicated to build I think as it has more panels and maybe stringers.

I have rowed a Tender Behind a short distance and while it wasn't going to set the world on fire it was good and stable to climb in/out of from a boat and easy to manage in and out of the water with wheels on the transom.

Not sure which way I'll go yet.

Charlie Whipple's Tideway 14

nospam@example.com () — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:51:00 +1300

It's good to see that after the sudden end of his dreams when Resolution hit the rocks on Great BArrier Island in June Charlie has another project under way. He is building a Tideway 14 and you can read his blog at Charlie's blog - Tideway.

Seagull step 1

nospam@example.com () — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:24:01 +1200

I have cut out the transom for my Seagull (see below) from an offcut of 6mm ply left from Hookey. I'll add the doubler and reinforcing battens before I buy the 4 sheets of ply I reckon on needing for the balance. Hopefully I'll have enough offcuts for the remainder. I'm using a very light colored soft wood that was used for shipping sheets of glass for most of the solid wood components, including the oars I think.

Chuck the duck

nospam@example.com () — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:13:00 +1300

Well Chuck and Sandra's visit went well. We had about 7 JW boats at Plimmerton on Sunday. Chuck got to sail in Pat Quin's 6m Whaler and Richard Schmidt's Navigator. We then spent a few hours at Peter Murtons boat building business looking over his collection of classic boats in various stages of repair. Peter is also building a steam engine to put into his century old motor launch.

We ended the day seeing over 'Faith' - a 70 year old solid teak motor sailer in Evan's Bay and seeing a rebuild job that Bernie Perano is helping with in Island Bay. It was imported from Canada and has some interesting features.

You can see Chuck's photos here.

Duckworks Boats - NZ visit

nospam@example.com () — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:21:20 +1300

Chuck and Sandra from Duckworks Boat Building Supplies are visitng NZ. They will be staying with me Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th Feb .

Richard Schmidt has announced a get-together Sunday morning 10am at Plimmerton. We are hoping to get a few builders and owners of John Welsford designed boats together for a sail and general chit-chat. Right now the weather forecast points more to a few hours of talking and mutual admiration at the Plimmerton Boat club, Karehana Bay than any significant voyages around the bay.

Anyone interested in boatbuilding of small boats is welcome to come along.

Resolution

nospam@example.com () — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:27:45 +1300

I dropped in on Charlie a few days after Xmas and he was hard at work shaping the top wooden section of his mast to fit into the aluminium tube. He still has a lot to do but his recent updates show he is getting through them very quickly. Have a look at Charlie's blog for latest updates.

The rudder is a huge chunk of wood nearly 2 meters high with a step on the bottom to assist in getting back on-board in the unlikely event of falling overboard. A useful feature although not one I'd want to use if sailing solo or indeed anywhere offshore.

Rails etc are now fitted and Charlie has been splicing the wire rigging - it's coming together.

Another Resolution visit

nospam@example.com () — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 15:03:08 +1300

Dropped in on Charlie while in Hamilton for Mum's 80th.

Resolution is slowly but surely progressing to completion. Hatch covers being finished and at that stage nearly ready for first primer. Charlie has since updated his blog with a photo or two.

Still some work to do on trim, paint and keel before moving her to Tauranga for rigging and finishing but I'm looking forward to being there still. Hope it doesn't happen when I'm elsewhere in December.

Seagull plans arrived

nospam@example.com () — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:18:53 +1300

a few days ago. Only three sheets of plans with virtually all details on sheet 2 and in the building guide. The first sheet is lines drawing and oar details, second sheet has the boat details and the third provides details of how to build with a sliding seat. The plans also cover building a Mollyhawk which is better suited to two rowers by stretching all fore and aft dimensions by 15%.

I think I've got enough offcuts from Hookey to need to buy only 4 sheets of 6mm ply plus the frame timber and some epoxy (I still have about 2 litres). Building should be a pretty quick process once I start as it looks very straight forward. Oars are the most complex thing I think.

Take a look at John Welsford's site information on Seagull here.

Another JW boat on the way?

nospam@example.com () — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:12:52 +1300

Last night I ordered a set of plans for a John Welsford Seagull.

Seagull is a light-weight stitch & glue rowing dinghy and I'm thinking that it can go places with me on the roof rack when I go away for a weekend or longer and provide some simple fun on the water without needing to tow a trailer.

As a total novice to rowing it will be another learning experience I am sure but in time I can imagine a few days away quietly rowing up a lake somewhere and camping at night in places that are hard to get to otherwise (well other than some kind of boat.)

Take a look at John's web site for more Seagull details.

Resolution visit

nospam@example.com () — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:49:16 +1200

I was in Hamilton this weekend just gone and dropped in on John Welsford and Charlie Whipple. Charlie is building 'Resolution' a 6.8 metre long round-the-world cruiser that John designed (or is designing - I understand drawings come off the board shortly before Charlie needs them). Charlie was getting into glassing the cabin top as I left. Resolution looks to be a really solidly built boat with a huge amount of space both in the 'hold' under the cockpit and in the cabin. While she looks huge in the workshop I'm sure she will not look as big as Charlie heads out of Tauranga for a shakedown cruise in a few months.

I'm looking forward to being there when Resolution is launched and hopefully getting at least a short sail on her before Charlie heads off for his first stop in the Falkland Islands.

Hookey hits the water

nospam@example.com () — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 11:50:29 +1200

Here is my 'Hookey' setting off on the water for the first time at Evans Bay, Wellington, New Zealand.

Hookey is a John Welford Truant. See John's web site for a look at his range of small wooden boat designs.

Boatbuilding

nospam@example.com () — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 21:33:00 +1200

One of my hobbies is building and playing around with small wooden boats. At least it has been since my partner Jo gave me a gift vouchers for a set of plans from John Welsford which I eventually swapped for a set of plans for John's Truant design - a lovely little balanced lug rigged sailing dinghy.[photopress:HookeyEvansBay.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

Boatbuilding is one of my current interests.

I've just finished building Truant, a small sailing dinghy design by John Welsford. John has a large following of small boat builders keen to build and sail his traditional styled boats, using modern materials and construction methods.

First time on the water

First time

Out into Evans Bay with Rob

Evan's Bay with Rob

And some construction pics

Fitting side decks

Lot's of clamps

And after painting inside

Inside painted

Birdsmouth mast - first coat of varnish

and after the gunwales are fitted - getting close now.

Gunwales fitted