Decks & hatches

Before I glue the decks on, I'll paint the areas that will be enclosed. Seats are next, though.

Flipped

Next step is to glass tape the inside seams.

The ends will be watertight storage with hatches, and there may be seats along the sides of the cockpit. The "off-centre board" will go on the starboard side.

Wired!

(See yesterday's post for details about the wire.)

Stitching up

The "stitches" of a stitch-and-glue boat are usually wire twists. I've found copper wire to be too soft, and it sticks to the glue (resin) too well, making it hard to pull out. This annealed stainless wire works great. It's quite strong, so one can pull quite hard on it to bring the parts together; and it's smooth and slippery, so it pulls out of the glue without breaking.

I started stitching at the very tip of the bow, because it looked like it would be the most difficult to pull together properly.

Poking the wire through the tiny holes from inside the stem—sitting on the floor working overhead—was very demanding! I needed my reading glasses and a light.

Bilge planks

Somehow, these pieces will go together to make a nicely curved, pointy bow!

The plank on the floor to the right is a trial piece, out of sub-flooring ply, that I used as a pattern for the final pieces.

3-D

Getting a boat from these simple designs into 3-D is pretty straightforward. Make the pieces, then start putting them together.

Below, the butt blocks joining the panel pieces:

 

I've been lax in the photo department. Suddenly, the boat is three-dimensional:

The middle crosswise piece above is the forward bulkhead, the only one of the three above that will be permanent.

The temporary form on the left will come out eventually. The space on the right between the aft bulkhead and the transom will be an enclosed locker or lazarette.

Lots of mistakes have been made already, but so far nothing has had to be done over.

Next, the gunnels.

The Anti-tri Majority

After sailing the kayak as a trimaran a number of times I've decided to just use it as the kayak it was meant to be, and I'm good with that. It sailed well, but I couldn't paddle it properly because the aft aka was in the way. It was also a hassle to put together and take apart and transport. I'm actually enjoying paddling it as a kayak since I've figured a better seat back. And I like that it's so seaworthy compared to the skin-on-frame boat, which I'm letting go of.

I still want a sailboat that I can keep at the Cadboro Bay compound, not to car-top. So I decided to research different designs. I want something not so large that I can't build it in John's loft, and not so heavy that I can't handle maneuvering it on a cart. I landed on Jim Michalak's "Mixer2", which he describes as a good rowboat and sailboat. It's supposed to be fairly light at around 100 lbs, and should be relatively easy to build. I like that his boats are low-tech, therefore more accessible to home builders.

I may be able to use the rudder I made for the kayak. This boat is 12' 6" long and 4' wide. Note that the pivoting board is on the outside, making for an unobstructed cockpit area.

The boat has quite a bit of waterproof storage space, and the large, open cockpit area is good for someone who dreams of sleeping aboard while camp-cruising. However, I can't sit flat on anything; I need a little drop for my feet. So I'm planning to build low, closed-in benches along the sides. That will make it more difficult to sleep on the floor, so I'm planning to have floorboards that lift up and sit on a lip on the inner edges of the benches, which will make a flat surface the whole width of the boat! We'll see how that pans out. And if I ever do go camp-cruising in it. . .

I thought I'd build with exterior grade fir ply (¼"), but the lumber yard person persuaded me not to, so I bought some marine mahogany ply, a great expense! But worth it, as it's very good to work with.

In the photo above, I'm tracing one side piece to make a duplicate; the bottom (or part of it) is drawn out on the sheet below that.

Instead of expensive epoxy, I'm using Titebond III to join wood parts. On the underside of the joints you see above are 4" wide "butt straps" that make the planks double thickness at the joint. The flat ends of the plywood are butted against each other, rather than being scarfed, or bevel-cut. Butt straps are not as elegant as a scarf joint, but they're far simpler to do.

I'm planning to call this boat Golightly 2.