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Thread: I'm finally building my boat.

  1. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Waldron View Post
    All that spruce is very nice, but you do realize, I suppose, you haven't yet posted pictures of your new spar bench. Do get with it, Malcolm!

    FA8CEBFE-F327-4224-9324-72A107385958.jpg

    I just boarded a plane. This is the only pic I have. Prior to sawing the chop flush to the top. ...or did you mean a bench just for the spars? That is called a “sawhorse”. :-)

  2. How many hens teeth fit in a bird's mouth joint?

    Back in the day, there were, in fact, dedicated spar benches, often spanning the full length of the shop and, for those who built taller masts, sometimes butting against a window so longer masts could stick outside. With the decline of wooden masts and the near disappearance of hollow wooden masts and other spars, spar makers have mostly lost their benches. Reduced to saw horses and other such kludges, it has become more difficult to keep to the straight and narrow. Be sure you have enough horses for the job; don't let the work sag or you may build in a curve that you don't want.

    This is in contrast to the shipwright's spiling bench. It would be erected alongside the framing so the planks could be spiled, backed out and scarfed as needed as close to the building hull as possible. It would typically be a length at least as long as the longest planking timbers, and perhaps longer if convenient. In first class shops, there would be a spiling bench on each side of the hull. Since carvel planking has become quite rare, the spiling bench is not so common, although similar benches are often employed for preparing glass fiber for application and wetting out with resin in molding fiber glass hulls and other structures.

    For the home builder, with no customer to absorb such ancillary costs, it is quite common to do without, substituting saw horses, labor and effort.
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  3. #63
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    OK- Jim- Wasn't sure if you were talking about my Roubo build that I never posted an update about. By the way, the Lie-Nielsen Vise is the most amazing vise I've ever used- period. NO racking whatsoever, even at full extension.

    Anyway, back to the build- for the mast I am going to build a box beam to keep the mast straight during gluing. It will be clamped up with pipe clamps, and strapped to the box beam while curing. The beam will be covered in clear packing tape, which does not stick to epoxy. I'm using epoxy- it is what I know, what I trust, and gives a good slow cure time for such a large build.

    I just picked up this centerboard winch. I'm not sure it's going to work with my heavy board, but I pulled the trigger and I'm going to do some tests with it and see how fast it spools out in the event of an accidental freefall, which is my concern with this versus a block and tackle. The winch is just too cool to have passed up. If it doesn't work, I will keep it for a future project. It is solid bronze. The next question if it passes the tests I perform, is do I keep the patina, or do I soak it in vinegar and polish it up?
    Winch.jpg

    I'm cleaning up the shop this weekend and getting ready for parts making. I am sending the gudgeons and pintles off to be bronze cast. Exciting times in the Schweizer shop.

  4. #64
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    New boat, new patina.

    But that's just me..
    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."
    Andy Rooney



  5. #65
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Page View Post
    New boat, new patina.

    But that's just me..
    I agree. Usually I’m not into patina, but this does look nice in green.

  6. A box beam or a torsion box makes a fine spar bench. It will surely make it easy to build a straight mast.

    And you may have my blessing to support your box beam on saw horses. It's not going to sag, and that's the point I wanted to emphasize.
    Last edited by James Waldron; 10-21-2018 at 9:47 PM.
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  7. #67
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    I have been working on the rudder stock and rudder. I gained some ipe from the reconstruction of a deck, and it was like new. I am using it for the rudder and for the center portion of the rudder stock. The rudder stock cheeks will be teak, and the center Ipe.

    I hand jointed the Ipe for gluing up.
    Rudder 4.jpg
    Ipe is notorious for not gluing well, and so I pegged it, and am also putting three titanium drifts and skinning in 6oz glass to ensure it stays together. *** I found the titanium on ebay when looking for bronze or stainless. They were offcuts from a medical manufacturer and they sold to me for the same price as 316 stainless!!! SCORE!!!

    Rudder 5.jpg

    The patternmaker's vise came through like a champ. I used it to hold parts for preliminary shaping with a spokeshave (after cutting out rough shape with a jigsaw), and then I flipped it up and final shaped with a router. The pattern is screwed to the part and I used a router with guide bit for final shaping. The reason I used the spokeshave first is that Ipe is just nasty stuff and even hand working it makes dust that is irritating and smells like fertilizer. I prefer to hand shape it close to the line, then use the router to finesse it to the line and ensure it's 90 degrees to the face.

    Rudder 2.jpg

    The vise flips up and I can route one edge without even removing it from the vise, then turn it around and route the other edge. In this image I was actually using the vise to hold it while I used a hand saw to trim off those corners, but the same way I held it for routing. I LOVE THIS VISE!!!!

    Rudder 1.jpg

    .... more pics to follow

  8. #68
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    I also lofted the stem and stern bands. I love doing this!!! I don't know why, but lining up lofting points with a fairing batten is just rewarding to me. I took drafting back when drafting involved actually drawing stuff with pencils.

    Whaler Stern Post.jpg

    More random photos of the rudder and rudder stock.

    This is after shaping with a spokeshave and prior to finishing with a router. This makes routing much easier and less messy.
    Whaler Rudder 2.jpg

    This is the center piece of the rudder stock. The rudder fits into this shape and the "arm" at the back limits the downhaul travel. The cheeks mount to this and cover the pocket where the rudder mounts and are what the pin for the rudder is affixed to. Hope that makes sense.

    Whaler Rudder Stock 2.jpg

    This is the same part held vertical while rough shaping with the spokeshave. Did I mention that I love this vise? I love this vise.
    Whaler Rudder Stock 1.jpg

    I also got the boatbuilding shop organized with some lumber racks. That's the 21' quarter sawn spruce on the racks. Drool away!!! ** Sorry it's blurry- I had just finished the install and put those boards up there BY MYSELF! (foolish I am, hurt I shall). Note: I share this space with a welder and he is insanely messy, but it's a cheap space and so I deal with it. That pile of trash is his. The other pics are my home shop. This space (below image) is a 180 year old warehouse where I had planned to build the boat inside, but it's a bit tight, so it's where I will stage everything and I will build it outside under a portable shelter. Outside has more airflow anyway, and more light... at least during the day. :-)

    Rack.jpg

    Hold on to your bootstraps, folks, because it's starting to go fast now that I have a proper workbench and all the materials are (almost) organized. (Still have to stack the plywood which is in my van at the moment.)

    Oh, and get this, folks. The other day I logged in to Facebook and there was an ad on the "things for sale St. Thomas and St. John" page where a lady was selling four 4'x8' sheets of 2" thick closed cell foam for (wait for it) $10 USD per sheet!!!! So I got over $400 worth of foam for $40. Boom!!! I have my seat cushion material. It was brand new, still wrapped in protective plastic, and still had the shipping labels on it from when it was sent to her.

    In a very wise life move, I married the daughter of a seamstress who specializes in boat cushions, so we will fly her down to make the sunbrella covers for the cushions towards the end of the build.

    Stay tuned.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  9. #69
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    Here is how the bending jig looks. The ply has clear packing tape around the glue areas so the part doesn’t stick to it.

    E5DF584F-D574-4159-889E-989DC655BAFF.jpg

    I cleaned out a place in the warehouse to store the plywood, which has been in my van waiting all this time. I finally got to see the ribbon stripe ply for the centerboard trunk, cabin sides, coaming, and sheer strake. Wow. I have an amazing chunk of ribbon stripe to match for the hardwood bits like on the centerboard case and the cabin roof beams. Sweet stuff.

    B5960F59-A7A1-439C-8718-AAA05D6657B2.jpg 6361E0CC-8CF2-411C-90B8-BB3F3C29F4BC.jpg
    I planed the Sitka spruce and it’s just amazing. So far only two pieces planed- one for the bowsprit, and another for the stembands. I have one other cut but not planed that will be either spars or the boomkin, or both.

    3A3B91D7-4C84-4524-9E38-C06437B29728.jpg 92CA371A-7558-434C-BB89-F731301602F6.jpg A9ACC80F-AE9A-4D01-848E-DE2CA4298264.jpg
    Last edited by Malcolm Schweizer; 12-03-2018 at 6:05 AM.

  10. #70
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    That's some good looking wood.
    "Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."

  11. #71
    So you're really serious about this?

    Good progress, good looking stock. Don't use too much Ipe: it is also too heavy for boat construction and won't float. Wonky stuff to work.
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  12. #72
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    Quote Originally Posted by andy bessette View Post
    That's some good looking wood.
    I am blown away by this spruce- it is guitar top quality in 21' lengths of 2x9"

    Quote Originally Posted by James Waldron View Post
    So you're really serious about this?

    Good progress, good looking stock. Don't use too much Ipe: it is also too heavy for boat construction and won't float. Wonky stuff to work.
    Only for the rudder because I want it to be heavy and heavily built, and for the rub strips inside the centerboard trunk. Possibly the keel, which is added last on this boat after flipping over.

  13. #73
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    A part a day keeps the doctor away. Today’s part was the bowsprit. Pretty simple except it angles at the back so that it sits at an elevated angle at the bow end. I roughed in the angle with a chisel and then used a drawknife because that was going slow. Next I used the Veritas low angle jack rabbet to get it to the line, then a LN 7 to flatten the sloped area, then a No 3 and scraper to smooth it. The reason for the rabbeting LAJ is I wanted to remove at a slope and it cuts to the edge, making it easier to create an angle because it cuts at whatever angle you hold it at. A regular jack wants to register on the edges and stay flat.

    I feel like I didn’t explain that very well. It not only angles side to side, but it slopes too to bottom from a thickness at middle of 45mm to a thickness at the aft end of 30mm. That way when you bolt it to the deck it has a few degrees of slope to it.

    The whole part weighs only 3.5 pounds. This Sitka Spruce is amazing.

    2953232C-E8B8-469D-83E5-719CDC24C664.jpg 431D1D21-127E-4DCF-B815-9FD080FE62DB.jpg D0E6A196-41FE-4060-A0AA-3C9FB3720C10.jpg 217197C0-CBBF-4C03-84FE-F63B94AA0312.jpg

  14. #74
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer View Post
    ...I feel like I didn’t explain that very well...
    I'm more curious why you are starting with small, independent parts, rather than whatever requires the longest pieces of lumber.
    "Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."

  15. #75
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    Quote Originally Posted by andy bessette View Post
    I'm more curious why you are starting with small, independent parts, rather than whatever requires the longest pieces of lumber.
    I am building the bits and pieces in my home shop. The mast needs to be built on a large platform which is also where the boat will be built. I have a cut list that maximizes the lumber and I know which pieces come from where. I’m building this like a kit and then taking it all out to the build site to assemble it.

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