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Thread: I'm finally building my boat.

  1. #1
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    I'm finally building my boat.

    I lofted the station moulds for her about six years ago, but we moved to a place with less room to build a boat, so she went on hold. I have borrowed a place to build and am going to make all the bits and pieces in my shop, then assemble them in the borrowed space. This is going to be a slow project, so don't look for frequent updates.

    She he is the John Welsford designed 6 Meter Whaler. She's double-ended and glued lap with sawn stringers and plywood ribs. She is just gorgeous. I am adding a small cabin, which I drew onto someone else's photo and it looks nice with a cabin. Sails are tanbark with an Egyptian cotton main with my Cross of Saint James trademark on the main.

    This is going to be a very seaworthy boat. She has a 4' steel centerboard, which I will make from 5/8" 316 stainless and will foil myself. I love making foil shapes. The plan calls for 1/2" only rounded on the leading edge and tapered the last 3", but I got a slightly thicker piece so I can foil it end to end and keep the designed 80kg weight. image.jpgimage.jpg

    This is an edited image of another person's boat to show my cabin design.
    image.jpg

  2. #2
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    Salty looking craft.
    Steve Jenkins, McKinney, TX. 469 742-9694
    Always use the word "impossible" with extreme caution

  3. #3
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    You need Mad Leo's help, you would have to be mad to take his project on..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKJagvumvCI

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfuPTLSBQfY
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  4. #4
    Nice lines. Nice cabin design; it fits nicely.

    I've never sailed a lug rig; always thought they were loose-footed. Has Welsford provided any comments on that?

    With three reefs, it looks like you're going to be ready for almost any wx. The smaller the boat, in my experience, the harder it is to manage reefing as the wx builds, tho. A six meter LOA isn't much in the rough stuff. If you get to the third reef, you might be better off just dousing the sail altogether. Or don't go sailing in a whole gale in the first place.

    Keep us informed as you go; we'll wait, since life in the Islands is still a bit on the raw side these days.
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  5. #5
    Way to go, Malcolm! Nice design. When does it start?
    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain

  6. #6
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    Looking forward to the build!
    That piece of 316 must've been a chunk of change.
    Please help support the Creek.


    "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
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    Sorry, folks, been on vacation in Colorado looking for Fenn's treasure. (Didn't find it, but had a great time.) Thanks for the replies.

    James, I chose the design because of the rocker, tumblehome, and double-ended design, all of which will do well in my neck of the woods... ER... Ocean. I also just love her lines and the planking really sets it off nicely. This has a 180 pound centerboard that draws 4'. As for the lug rig, she is loose footed with a balanced spar, i.e. Balanced lug which gives more control versus a sprit rig. I really love the versatility because they can be reefed and still keep cg balanced like a gaffer. Per John Welsford, she can also sail balanced with just mizzen and foresail, or mainsail alone. I really like that versatility. I also like that she will take a following sea well, which down here in the trades things stack up and waves get steep faces. We kind of surf our way around when running.

    Chris- I had not seen that video. Nice! Look at that guy's workspace!!! That's quite a project he has taken on.

    Julie, I have some travels ahead for the next month, then I build the roof for the carport. The build has started in that I actually lofted the plans to 1/8" plywood templates years back, which will be traced off to the Okoume marine ply for station moulds. I'm awaiting a quote for the stainless steel for the centerboard, and shortly will order the plywood as well as spruce for spars. Mahogany I get locally and will be used for brightwork. Everything is being prefabricated in my little shop, then will be taken to the carport to assemble. I also made the plugs for the gudgeons and pintles a while ago. Link won't copy/paste for some reason. Go to YouTube and search for "Making rudder gudgeons for bronze casting 6m whaler." I goofed because I pre drilled the holes in the casting, then realized that will not work with sand casting, so I filled those in.

    Bruce- For the 316 and laser cutting it will be over $1,000 plus shipping, but to ship carbon steel here, foil it, ship it to the galvanizer, and then ship it back, the 316 actually is reasonable because I ship it one time.



    Quote Originally Posted by James Waldron View Post
    Nice lines. Nice cabin design; it fits nicely.

    I've never sailed a lug rig; always thought they were loose-footed. Has Welsford provided any comments on that?

    With three reefs, it looks like you're going to be ready for almost any wx. The smaller the boat, in my experience, the harder it is to manage reefing as the wx builds, tho. A six meter LOA isn't much in the rough stuff. If you get to the third reef, you might be better off just dousing the sail altogether. Or don't go sailing in a whole gale in the first place.

    Keep us informed as you go; we'll wait, since life in the Islands is still a bit on the raw side these days.

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    YIKES!!!! Got the quote to cut the stainless centerboard: $2329.94 That's more than double what I was expecting, especially since I can buy the metal for about $800. Looks like I'm going to be doing something myself.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer View Post
    YIKES!!!! Got the quote to cut the stainless centerboard: $2329.94
    Malcolm, is that for laser cutting as you mentioned above, or for plasma cutting? You could also look into waterjet cutting.
    Please help support the Creek.


    "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Page View Post
    Malcolm, is that for laser cutting as you mentioned above, or for plasma cutting? You could also look into waterjet cutting.
    That was for laser cutting. I have access to a plasma cutter locally, except that it is down at the moment. I am going to wait until it's up and just order the raw materials and use that file (thanks again) you helped me with to cut it. It turns out that the price of metal with the new tariffs has gone way up. What was going to be just over $800 raw materials before is now nearly double that. Seems they are taking the opportunity to raise costs above what the tax is. I may end up having to go with ferrous metal and ship it out to be galvanized. The shipping will probably run me $400 round trip, which is how I was justifying going with stainless over galvanized. Once you add the cost of shipping and galvanizing, stainless wasn't much more. I have a guy here that works on mega yachts that sometimes has leftover stainless. I can cross my fingers and hope that he has something big enough locally, which would save me a lot.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer View Post
    I lofted the station moulds for her about six years ago...
    She has a 4' steel centerboard, which I will make from 5/8" 316 stainless and will foil myself. I love making foil shapes...
    Quote Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer View Post
    ... I have access to a plasma cutter locally, except that it is down at the moment...
    Sounds very ambitious, seeing as how you started this 6 years ago and have not yet built the first part. I would recommend that you simplify your plans. Foil-shaping a solid stainless centerboard after cutting it out on a borrowed plasma cutter that currently is non-functional? Simplify and make practical decisions aimed towards completing projects you are actually equipped to do yourself, so you can see steady progress.

    Over quite a number of years of ownership I refit this 48' 1963 Grandy Marlineer, so I know the effort required to do such a project.

    "Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."

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    Quote Originally Posted by andy bessette View Post
    Sounds very ambitious, seeing as how you started this 6 years ago and have not yet built the first part. I would recommend that you simplify your plans. Foil-shaping a solid stainless centerboard after cutting it out on a borrowed plasma cutter that currently is non-functional? Simplify and make practical decisions aimed towards completing projects you are actually equipped to do yourself, so you can see steady progress.

    Over quite a number of years of ownership I refit this 48' 1963 Grandy Marlineer, so I know the effort required to do such a project.

    I stopped because we moved and I have less space, but now that I have a space, I am picking up again. (In the meantime I also restored an 1836 home) This is the boat I want, and it's the boat I'm going to build. There's not even a close runner-up. If I have to make the centerboard out of carbon steel and have it galvanized, I will do so. The problem there is that living on an island there is no galvanizer here. Shipping combined back and forth to the galvanizer and the cost of galvanizing makes galvanized cost much closer to that of stainless. Foiling a metal centerboard isn't that difficult- just time consuming. We are talking just over 4' length to foil. It's only 5/8" thick.

  13. #13
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    Your image didn’t show up earlier. Now it does. Nice looking boat. It just needs a mast and sails. ;-)

  14. Quote Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer View Post
    Your image didn’t show up earlier. Now it does. Nice looking boat. It just needs a mast and sails. ;-)
    That or a bikini clad beauty on the foredeck!
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer View Post
    That was for laser cutting. I have access to a plasma cutter locally, except that it is down at the moment. I am going to wait until it's up and just order the raw materials and use that file (thanks again) you helped me with to cut it. It turns out that the price of metal with the new tariffs has gone way up. What was going to be just over $800 raw materials before is now nearly double that. Seems they are taking the opportunity to raise costs above what the tax is. I may end up having to go with ferrous metal and ship it out to be galvanized. The shipping will probably run me $400 round trip, which is how I was justifying going with stainless over galvanized. Once you add the cost of shipping and galvanizing, stainless wasn't much more. I have a guy here that works on mega yachts that sometimes has leftover stainless. I can cross my fingers and hope that he has something big enough locally, which would save me a lot.
    Clarification: the plasma cutter is a CNC cutter. The "file" is a .dxf file. I'm not filing it to shape! :-) Cutting to raw shape on the CNC and then shaping with a grinder and sander. The plasma cutter is being moved to a new location in the shop. By the way, they are also getting some amazing new toys like 3D printers and laser imager. Need a part? Put it in the imager, scan it, download to the 3D printer, and print a plug for casting. Technology is amazing. (*just mentioning this. I won't be needing anything made this way... But who knows!)

    Just got a bonus, so I will be ordering the wood for frames, stringers, and spars. Again, this boat can be built in pieces prior to assembly. I love the simplicity of this design- there are stringers that connect the station moulds and then the planking screws and glues to the stringers. This makes spiling planks quite easy, as you just lay them oversized to the boat and trace the stringers to the planks, cut, then hang. Also no qwerky clamping since you can screw to the stringers. The stringers also add tons of structural ridgidity. John's designs are well-thought and well-proven.

    Here is an example of one being built:
    image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg

    Note the notches in the moulds for stringers, which are laid out in the plans for you. Having built traditional lapstrake boats where you line off the planking by eye and batten and then spile the planks, this is a cakewalk by comparison. I do admit that as crazy as it sounds, I love hammering rivets, but I also won't miss it. I may put some rivets here and there as a hat tip to traditional construction.
    Last edited by Malcolm Schweizer; 07-17-2018 at 8:15 AM.

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