Mainsail Done!

Thursday I did day two of the sewing project. Robin stayed home so I was on my own. In her defense, she offered, but I felt I could take care of the rest of the project. After (re)learning how to load and thread the bobbin, I was good to go. I finished the sewing on Thursday. On Friday I installed the grommets. Much to my alarm, I forgot to install the grommets on the head of the sail, so did that this morning (as well as replace the grommet on the tack where I forgot to include a washer - my wife declares I'm losing it!).

I sewed the remaining three sets of patches, one on the tack and two reef patches on the luff. Then I sewed the "tape" around the entire outer edge of the sail - approximately 45'. 

The key to sewing a sail seems to be to get it up off the floor so that there is no drag on the material caused by it hanging over a small work surface.

Dacron is very slippery and will try to slide off the tables quickly. At one point in the sewing I was using eleven 6' tables. On day two, I actually set tables on top of tables to get my work plane on the same plane as the sewing machine. And because my sail was about 14-15' long, I had them lined up three on each side of the sewing machine (the one pic shows 2 but I added another at each end before I finished).

Sewing the panels together as well as the "tape" around the outer edge was actually the easiest part. You simply roll up the sail leaving the part to be sewed visible.

As seen above, I used masking tape to keep the sail rolled up while I sewed.

The patches (reefing and corners) are the hardest to do, especially the patches on the interior of the sail. In those cases you have to do some folding and bunching. My fabric is no longer wrinkle-free, but it's not too bad. Won't stay wrinkle-free for long anyway.

As you are building your sail, you stick the parts together as you go with double sided tape. They call it "Seamstik". You sew two panels together, then two more til they're all paired, add the interior parts as you go (the ones that don't fall on seams), and finally sew the pairs together into one big sail. Then you finish the patches that fall on the seams. The "tape" around the outer edge is last. Then, of course, there are the grommets to add.

My wife did help. She spent about 7 hours with me to start. She did most of the patch work. I taped; she sewed.

The sewing job is not perfect. Most of it is respectable, I guess. But apart from up-close examination, it will be fine. Most of the job went fairly smoothly though there were a few jams, rat's nests, etc. Our machine did a fine job. Chugged a little but there were times it was sewing through 8 layers of fabric!

Here's one of the grommets along with the grommets on the head of the sail which will be laced to the yard. I used 1/2" on the corners and 3/8" everywhere else. The grommets I had on hand were not the spurred ones. Kinda wish I had used them. Didn't think about it when I ordered because I knew I had a bunch I got from a member of a former church. Hopefully these will do the trick. 

All in all, I'm very satisfied. Here's the finished sail.

Pretty. Ain't it?

Time to Sew

Finally getting to the mainsail. I ordered the sails way back at the start of the project even though I knew it would be a long time getting to them. Well, that time has come.

Of course, I ordered a finished mizzen. It was virtually the same price as the kit. No brainer! I ordered a kit from Sailrite for the main. I built the sail for my SD11 but this one is 2-1/3 times bigger! The prudent plan was to use the church fellowship hall. So away I went.

Here are the panels all laid out. It is one big sail!

There are lots of tables in the hall which was one reason to use it. You have to get the sail up off the floor. Here are four tables set up together. This was especially good for rolling up the sail.

There was some prep work to be done, especially with the sewing machine. We had to check the needle size. I actually used my phone to check the size. I couldn't read numbers on the needles but with an enlarged picture I could! The directions, which I was sure to read thoroughly, called for a size 16 needle. We also had to load up a couple bobbins (we had to keep doing that too!) and thread the machine. The spool of thread is too big to sit on top of the machine and is meant to feed thread vertically anyway, so we had to rig a coat hanger in a pitcher for that.

The first order of business was sewing panels together in 2's. Here I am sewing two together. You have to roll them together to get them easily through the machine. Notice the thread setup. 

Here's my trustee "assistant" (actually I'm the assistant) seamstress taking a phone break. She was great! She did the hard work of sewing patches on the sail. I'll have to say, after sewing them on, there is no more wrinkle-free material. They were tough. 

Here is my method of keeping the rolls intact. Masking tape worked pretty well. 

Here is the sail with all panels and most patches complete. As you can see, I only requested two reef points. The sail plan actually gives two options with three reefs the recommened option. I may be sorry. Most builders are adding three points. In all my sailing I have only reefed once. This boat will require reefing more often because it carries a lot of canvas for its size (it's designed to sail well in light air), but I think two will be sufficient. 

I still have to sew three sets of patches and the tape around the edges. Then there will be grommets to install. The kit came with leather for the corners. Not sure if that'll be necessary. We'll see. 

Combined we spent a total of 17 hours on the sail yesterday. 

Wrapping Things Up

I wanted to start on the sail today, but it was a perfect day to do some burning. I had a bunch of brush to burn plus scrap wood and the temporary worktable/bench that I had made out of the pallet that the plywood came on. I cut it into a few pieces with a skill saw and lit it up. Burn, baby, burn.

I've set aside the entire day tomorrow to sew on the main sail. We'll see how it goes.

Tiller Extension

I've known that I was going to have to make a tiller extension sometime. Not a big project, but a necessary one. I knocked it out in a couple afternoons.

Before I put the tiller on the boat, I marked my bench top with its curve. I screwed down some small blocks, cut three strips of 1/4” ply 3/4” wide by 30” long, and glued them up. Once cured, I routed the edges with a 1/4” roundover bit, did some final sanding and voila: I have a strong extension. I’ll probably attach it with a piece of line or bungee cord and maybe some Velcro on the outer end. Hoping to do the sail this week. I ordered a few remaining pieces of hardware and line last night. I do have a big problem though. I discovered a huge issue with my house: HUGE. Trying to figure out if it can wait two weeks while I finish the boat. Me-o-me-o-my!

Couple Minor Things

We've been on a quick trip to Indianapolis. Got back this afternoon about 5:00. We ate some supper and I decided to fiddle with the boat.

I finished the mast step and tried to fit the boomkin. It was binding in the transom, so I took my rough file and worked a few of the edges and sanded a side of the boomkin that was "dragging". I also sanded the bottom edge of the boomkin so it would slide into the strap. It fits nicely now with just a bit of friction which it's supposed to have.

Then I took a look at the swing room for the rudder. I knew it was hitting a bit when I attached the rudder. A couple shavings with the chisel and she can swing a full arc now.

I'll need to do a little touchup painting but that will be easy.

 

Mizzen Mast

I've been laying low for the past week. Robin and I wore ourselves out doing 3 parties and the reveal in four days. However, there are several things yet to do to finish the boat.

Monday afternoon I went to work on the mizzen mast step. I cut out four small squares of ply and cut holes in each to match the diameter of the end of the mast. Then I did a trial fit before gluing them in. I used ratchet straps to position the mast in the correct orientation and rake. I just "eye-balled". That'll be good enough for me.

I did make sure it was aligned with the main mast. I think I got that one pretty straight as blogged earlier.

Here's a pic of the three straps holding it in place. 

Here's one showing the four blocks of ply being glued up. I wrapped the end of the mast in clear plastic wrap so it wouldn't stick. I was a little apprehensive about the method. The weather was quite cool, so the epoxy was a lot longer curing. In fact, after about 14 hours it was still tacky to the touch. That might have been good as I was able to get the mast out of the step. I will probably have to sand the end down slightly for an easy fit. 

I should post a pic of the step. I'll try to get that later. 

Here ya go:

It's not the prettiest thing on the boat, but it should do the trick. I may fill in those gaps at the back and side with some thickened epoxy.

The BIG REVEAL!

What a week! 30+ hours of work on the boat and trailer capped off by the BIG REVEAL! As some of you may know, I am a pastor and I wanted to let my church in on the big day.

I finished the week installing the rudder and tiller. I think they look right. I may have to shave the tiller slot a little bit to allow for a fuller range of motion, but that should be easy enough. 

Sunday was the big day. When I returned home from the a.m. service and lunch, I had to clean up the boat which was simply a matter of getting a few leaves out, vacuuming up some dirt and saw dust and wiping the inside down a little. I came up with the needed ratchet straps, two for the mast and two for the hull. I secured the bow eye to the trailer with one and the mast to the stands with two others. I wrapped the oars and mizzen mast in sheets and tied them to the thwart and aft stand. I loaded the daggerboard and boomkin into the SUV. Lastly, I applied the two sets of the name of the boat to the cove stripe and covered them with heavy white paper to be hidden until the set time. Then I had to jockey a boat and another trailer around. I moved the Hunter to the street, the utility trailer off to the side and hooked up the CIY.

By then it was time to go to church. My wife and I pulled out of the driveway and headed to church. Oops! I forgot to secure the hull to the trailer with the fourth ratchet strap! A half mile down the road I made a quick U-turn and went back home to take care of that. Once we got to church I set up the boat on the lawn behind the church ready for the big reveal. 

My wife and daughters decorated the fellowship hall very nicely in a nautical theme and set up for a "tailgate" style light supper of hotdogs and chili, chips, cookies and soda. You can see the boat in the background. 

All of the suggested boat names for the boat are on the pennants draped along the wall. 

Here I am ready to reveal the boat's name. We had let the church members offer their suggestions for boat names and we got some good ones: New Kidd on the Dock, Out to Pastor, Almost Heaven and more. We even got some funny ones like Breaking Wind - LOL! I did not guarantee that I was going to use one of their names, but, in the end, I did. 

And the name is........... (drum roll)

Perhaps you've heard of the "Jesus boat" which is the nickname that's been given to a boat excavated near the Sea of Galilee that dates to the time of Jesus, well, now there is the "Disciple Ship". I kinda like it. 

The evening went well and people liked the boat. I think it showed well. Here she is put to bed.

There are a few minor things that I need to finish on the boat and then there is the mainsail to build along with setting up the rigging. My goal is to have a launch by Thanksgiving! Let's get 'er done!