End of Vacation Work

I've put in a little over 20 hours this week on the boat project. Even though I was on vacation, I didn't start until Monday afternoon. Wednesday I had interruptions and had to preach at church. Thursday Robin came home early and I spent most of the day with her. And now Friday I'm knocking off early to spend the evening with her. Saturday - Monday we'll spend together and even take a short overnight trip. 

But I have gotten a visible start! Today I finished the strongback!! Quite the little project. Obviously a lot more work than would have been involved with a kit, but this is the route I've chosen. Here is the finished project.

I ripped a 2x4 to give it more strength and rigidity and used short blocks to join the corners. Both ends are cut at an angle. I used the carpenters square to get the angle and a parallel ruler to transfer a line for a guide so that I'd get a good cut.

My "shop" has a dirt floor covered with plastic and is no where near level. I did my best to level and square the strongback which is essential! I measured the diagonals, put in cross pieces in the center to keep the width constant. I even used a long piece of tubing filled with water to level it end to end. A few closeups.

Next week I'll try to finish the main mast. Then there will be the other spars, finishing the oars, and cutting out all the pieces for the trunk, rudder, daggerboard, etc, etc. In other words, a lot of work before there's anything that looks like a boat. 

More Vacation Work

I continued work on the mast staves today. I wanted to sand the scarfs before the epoxy got too hard. Sanded up pretty well. They weren't as neat as I had hoped but I guess they'll have to do. The thickened epoxy was a little coarse with that fine saw dust in it. Guess it's not "wood flour" like you can buy. The wooden pins I inserted into the staves worked out nice. For some reason though, one of the them was a bit crooked? Not sure why. I feel like it's flexible enough that it will still work fine. 

I still need to cut the birdsmouth in each stave and glue up the hollow mast. Lots of work left to do on the main mast. (And then there are the other spars)

I also bolted the rails of the strongback together. I tried to cut them as straight as I could and assemble them the same. One turned out a bit off so I redid it. Good ol' Kidd way: why do it once when you can do it twice. I also had to go back to Lowes and buy more bolts. When I was figuring the length needed, I forgot that there would be two thicknesses of the OSB. Oh, well.....

The rest of my time today went to cleaning up and unloading the bundle of plywood I picked up Monday. It arrived from Tarpon Springs, FL. I purchased it from Bedard Yachts. BF was very helpful in securing a good shipping quote for me. Delivery to the terminal saved me a good bit of money and it was very convenient, right behind Costco. 

That top one barely made the "cut". 16'10" for a 16'9" mast!!!

More Mast Work etc

With another day off, I got in about 6 hours of work today not counting cleaning shop and shopping.

The big accomplishment of the day was getting the staves glued up. I managed to do all 8 staves with only 9 scarfs. Without getting a 17' piece of lumber, I was going to have to do 8 anyway. Only one extra. 

It took me an hour to make the jig. Then the cutting went pretty easily after I was careful to make sure all of my pieces would make a 17' stave. I also noted if either side of the stave should be inside the mast or out. A few had a "better" side so I marked those. 

Here is one scarf joint. I made them about 10:1.

After they were all cut, I had to do some housekeeping. I had let the "shop" go since starting. Here's a bit of the mess with before and after pics. 

I checked the fit on each scarf and then I clamped the joint and drilled a 1/8" inch hole on both sided of the clamp. I had bought a piece of 1/8" dowel and I cut it into 18 3/4" inch pieces to use as pins to lock the joint and keep it from slipping. Not sure what others use but I didn't want a problem and that seemed like a workable solution. I'll have little pairs of dots where the scarfs are, but I doubt it will be noticeable except on close inspection. I carefully lined them up on the bench as each one was checked and drilled. After that I glued them up. I brushed on a quick coat of straight epoxy on each member and them brushed on thickened epoxy where I used the finest sawdust from the Douglas Fir that I had from all the cutting. I strained it through a kitchen wire mesh strainer. I had done that with my other builds.

After supper I started on the strongback. Didn't get very far because I needed some things to assemble it. Here is a picture of the OSB board with a straight plank clamped on for a guide. I got four 8" wide lengths cut and two 7 and 3/4" lengths cut for joiners. The strongback will be nearly 16' feet long. 

I headed off to Lowes for an assortment of hardware and two 2x4's for assembly. That should happen tomorrow. 

 

Staves Cut

I am taking a week off while Robin is in Indianapolis. I can't work 7 days on the build but I should be able to get in 4, maybe 5 days. I'll have to go and get Robin Saturday and return probably Sunday afternoon.

Got a good jump today. After my doctor's appointment to get stitches out of my two wounds from skin cancer surgery (and getting another two spots attended to: one burned and the other frozen), I went over to the YRC terminal, which is over near Costco, and picked up my 9 sheets of plywood. Now I have just  about everything I'll need to build this boat. 

I got back to the house around 4:30 and decided it was time to start on the main mast. (I'll get back to the oars soon). I bought a new saw blade for my table saw, a 60T blade for fine finishes. I figured that would be good to cut the birdsmouth notches in the staves. I installed it and set about cutting the staves.

I had to do a little rigging to handle those 2x10 boards I picked up last week. It turned out they were just a bit twisted and I had trouble with the saw binding some. Hope it didn't ruin the new blade. Maybe should have left my old blade in until I was ready to cut the birdsmouths. I cut the 14' and 10' boards into strips about an inch wide. The saw was vibrating so much that it knocked the fence out of adjustment and some of the staves came out too wide. No harm though since I was planning on a final cut on the band saw anyway. 

To my surprise, I think I'm going to be able to get my 8 staves with having to put only one scarf in each one. One may need two. A couple of them will have a very few small knots but I think they'll be negligible. After pairing up the pieces I went downstairs and did the fine cutting. I trimmed them down to 3/4" inch wide and 1 and 3/8" thick. A couple of them "wandered" away from the fence and will be a little small, but they'll have to do. The staves are going to need tapering anyway, so maybe that will work out ok. I wound up putting a "double fence" up. Someone commented that was dangerous, but I fail to see the problem. It helped keep the staves against the main fence and thus the proper size. The proper solution is a featherboard. 

I plan to scarf them in the morning. 

Here are a few pics of tonight's labors. 

After cutting the two boards. Can you see my step stool which acted as my "extra hands"?

After pairing up two pieces each to make my 16'9" mast

My band saw with the double fence

Here's another "extra hand" set up. You might also notice lying on the work bench are the cutoffs. I believe I may have just accidentally cut out my stem pieces! We'll see. 

Here are the staves cut to size and ready for scarfing. 

At some point I've got to do some housekeeping! LOL 

Douglas Fir

For the last several days I've been trying to prepare for my upcoming week of vacation during which time I plan to get a jump start on the boat. I have accumulated almost everything I need for the build except the "small stuff".  Tomorrow or Monday I should be picking up my plywood from the freight company. 

I've also been trying to calculate the lumber I'll need for the spars. I had resigned myself to using box store lumber, either a combination of "select" or "premium" pine and "whitewood" or "common board", or one or the other. The first two are clear. The second two are not. I was leaning toward the second group due to the cost factor. 

Well, yesterday I received a reply to an inquiry I had made a couple weeks ago on Market Place regarding some douglas fir. To make the long story short, I drove to just above Rockwood, TN today (about 180 miles round trip) and bought 36' of 2x10 which had been part of a bowling alley. Cost: $54. It's old wood which is pretty tight grained. The catch is that it has knots in it.

Of course, douglas fir or sitka spruce are the preferred wood for spars, neither of which are readily available around these parts and certainly not at that price. But in buying it, I have just created a lot of extra work for myself. I'll want to splice out the knots so that means a lot of scarffing! I'll have to devise a system for making good scarffs in my staves and laminates. 

I believe I can do it. My key concern will be slippage during glue-up. I've come up with the idea of using small wooden dowels to lock the two pieces together. I'm excited to try it. 

The longest pieces available were only 16' so I was going to have to do some scarffing anyway. This will just mean more. I bought a 2x10x14" footer which looked a bit better than any of the 16's he had. I guess we'll see how it all turns out. 

Band Saw Woes and Oar Work

I was working on the oars when the bandsaw blade came off the wheels! It may have been the "back and forth" motion I was executing on the oar handles. Not sure. Well, it ruined the blade and I figured the "tires" needed changing anyway. 

I ordered new tires from Amazon and installed them tonight. The top wheel is a little less than 12" and the bottom is almost 13" in diameter. The top tire went on fairly easily. The bottom took some work. I made a couple attempts and then measured to see the wheel was bigger; so I stretched the tire holding it with my foot and pulling up hard. The next attempt was successful.

I rotated the wheel a good bit to center a new 1/2" 6 tpi blade and made the necessary adjustments with the screw in the middle of the top wheel per the instructions. Turned the blade on for a bit and all looked fine. 

I figured I would go back to working on the oar handles. I had made a jig so I tried to finish them up. I did finish one and ran out of time on the second.

The jig works pretty good. Here's my finished  (almost) handle on the first oar.

It looks a little off center. I guess I missed getting the hole in the end of the handle in the center. Hope the second turns out a little better. 

Here's a pic of my sanding getup. Not original but I believe it's going to work fine for the handles, looms and all my spars. I do need to put something on the reel to get some good friction on the inverted belt. I believe a strip of an old pool bottom will do it. Right now I'm using 60 grit paper.

I do plan on making a rounded end on the handles and a rounded transition from the looms to the handles. Not sure how yet, but I'll figure it out. 

I plan on making a longer jig to round off the looms. I'm expecting good results. We'll see. 

 

Sourcing & Costs

I have spent a lot of time sourcing materials for the boat, time that will not show up in the "build log". I've got just about everything I need now except for the "little stuff". 

A lot of the time spent has been in an attempt to economize on this build. I'm trying to do it for $3000. The kit cost over $7000 and that's before the 2021 price increase which Clint hasn't posted yet. Prices were due to go up as much as 20% which would put the CIY at well over $8000. 

The big purchases have been made. Of course, it all started with the plans which were $250.

I ordered plywood today from Bedard Yachts in Clearwater, FL. Their prices were good, not the best, but I knew they would carry quality material. I decided to go with a mix of okoume and meranti. Meranti is cheaper but weighs a little more. That's not really a concern for me. I'll use okoume for the bright parts and the meranti for the painted parts with the exception of plank #1 which has a pretty big curve at the bow. Okoume should make that turn a little better. They also found a carrier with a terminal a few miles from my house. Shipping will only be $200. I couldn't drive to Florida and back for that money. Total cost is less than $900. 

I ordered my sails a couple weeks ago. Prices for already built sails ranged from $800 to one quote for just a main for $1400. Too rich for me. I ordered a built mizzen from Duckworks which happens to be cheaper than a kit. I ordered the mainsail from Sailrite for $300. Total cost will be a little over $400. 

Of course, the trailer was a potentially expensive item. As posted earlier, I found one for $160! It will take another $100 or so to get it up to speed but a good purchase. 

My epoxy was ordered from B&B Yachts in Vandemere, NC. Three gallons cost me $190. 

Wood for my oars cost about $50. 

The last major purchase will be lumber for my spars and transom. I'll be using box store lumber for those. I will be using "select pine" for the spars which is clear. Scantlings will be a bit bigger that plans call for. I'll use some kind of pine for the transom, maybe even #2 grade if I can find some without a lot of knots. I might cover it with a layer of glass. It will be painted. I think I can get all of it for maybe a little more than $100. 

That leaves me with "incidentals": paint, rigging, hardware, wood for cleats & rail, brushes, rollers, fiberglass (I may have enough on hand), consumables such as sandpaper, etc. My expenditures so far leaves me with around $1000 left in the budget for these items.

Time will tell whether I'll make my $3000 budget, but so far, it's looking pretty good.