Design 2531 New Horizons 68

Here we have a preliminary design for a company called International Yachtbuilders, Ltd of New London, Connecticut. There is a note in the files regarding this design that reads "We have no idea if this boat was built or not." My supposition is that the boat was not built and that this was a marketing effort to see if they could rally any potential clients, at least to the point where this very simple brochure was produced. The design looks very well thought out. The year was 1987.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 68-3"
LWL 53-0"
Beam 17-2"
Draft 12-0"

Read More..

Chapter 7 The new shop

Before I could begin assembling the boat, or even building the larger parts, I had to take some time off and remodel the shop. When I bought our house, the previous owner had 10 kids. To obtain more bedrooms, the owner divided the original 2-car garage in half, turning it into a 1-car garage and 2 additional bedrooms. Now I needed the shop space, and, since my kids have all grown up, I had no need for two extra bedrooms. So out came the crowbars and sledgehammers. Now, at long last, my shop looks like this:

After working in a 10 x 20 shop for all these years, a 20 x 20 shop feels enormous! The Navigator lower panel sitting on the sawhorses seems almost lost, where before it would be difficult simply to walk around it.

Now that I have the space, I have been able to work at a much faster pace.

The lower panel has been scarfed and cut out.

The keel batten, made of recycled mahogany, was installed, as were the seat front stringers. Note that I chose to end the seat front stringers at bulkhead 5. I asked the designer, John Welsford, and he gave this the O.K. There is no need for them to continue forward of B5 and they are uncomfortable to step on.

Next came installing the centerboard case, which I built many months ago. It fit perfectly on the first try. I was glad that I built the centerboard and centerboard case together so that I could ensure that everything fit and operated properly before installing them in the boat. The interior of the case and the centerboard were both fiberglassed.  I was able to carefully control the amount of gap between the board and case. I was able to drill the pivot hole perfectly aligned by using the Shopsmith in drill press mode. These things would have been much more difficult to do if I had built the centerboard later on.

I used the Shopsmith in Horizontal Boring mode to drill the tow eye hole through the stem.

Installed the stem and bulkheads 1, 2 and 3.

Followed by bulkheads 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and the seat fronts. This is the most exciting part so far about building the Navigator. Its amazing how quickly the boat goes from a collection of bulkheads to something that really resembles a boat at this stage!

Next, on goes the transom

The next step is adding the stringers, but once the stringers are on it will be more difficult to reach the center of the boat. I decided this would be a good time to install the mast step, and to put a coat or two of epoxy on.

After coating with epoxy, the surface gets very rough as the epoxy raises the grain. The best tool by far for smoothing epoxy is a cabinet scraper. It is much, much faster than sandpaper and doesnt put clouds of toxic epoxy dust into the air. I got mine at Sears, but Duckworks carries them here.

To make the mast steps, I glued up a big block of mahogany, squared it up on the tablesaw, planed it to the proper thickness using the handy Safe-T-Planer.

Cut the center hole and drain hole. I lined the interior of the square hole with several layers of fiberglass and epoxy for wear protection. Before installing the step, I put a layer of fiberglass between the mast step and keel batten, again for wear protection. Then epoxied it in place and ran 4 stainless steel screws up through the lower panel, keel batten, and into the step from below.

Read More..

New Boat Vocabulary Word Coaming

One of the smarter things Ive done on the shantyboat, was to add a coaming around the edge of the cabin. A new vocab word for me as I slowly get all nautical during the one plus year shantyboat build:

coam·ing  

/?k?miNG/

Noun A raised border around a ships hatch serving to support the hatch covers and to keep out water. A similar structure around the cockpit of a boat.

The Glen-L Waterlodge plans didnt call for a coaming, since Glens cabin design was significantly different, and he wasnt nutty enough to consider board and batten as a cabin exterior material.

Take a look again at my wall cutaway diagram:

The coaming is the board labeled "edgeboard" against the inside edge of the side framing member.  My goal was to make sure that if water splashed up on the exterior board and batten, that it would not easily get into the boat, more so because I plan to fiberglass right up to and over the coaming.

Heres what it looked like without the coaming.

I had the lumberyard rip a few 2x6s edgewise to create the coaming. 

Of course, I epoxied and screwed it into place.

Later when we fiberglass the decks, we will create a curved filet at the inside corner and curve the fiberglass up over the coaming.

For some reason it strikes me as unusually handsome and boaty.

Read More..

Another New Boat Launched

My good friend Larry Cheek launched his new Sam Devlin designed Winter Wren today.  Beautiful job Larry!  Her name is "Nil Desperandum", which is advice from the Roman poet Horace to “Quit worrying".  Larry has a terrific blog here.  Nil Desperandum will be on display at the Port Townsend wooden boat festival in September.

Larry and I met when he was writing his book The Year of the Boat.  Back then, Larry and I were coincidentally both building Sam Devlins Zephyr design at the same time, a mere 30 miles apart when we crossed paths.  What are the odds of that? If you havent read Larrys book, I highly recommend it.

Congratulations on a magnificent job, Larry!  I wish you many, many years of happiness, joy, and adventure, and above all, No Worries, aboard your beautiful new craft.

Read More..

On old vices new media and timeless techniques

Chris Schwarz, owner of Lost Art Press and Editor-at-large of Popular Woodworking magazine, has a bit of a thing for leg vices. Though he calls them vises. Its a murican thing.
Last night after a lovely day out with our nephew in Greenwich I sent Chris a picture of the carpenters vice we saw on the Cutty Sark.
This morning its in a blog post on Popular Woodworkings website.
It used to take that vice weeks to cross the Atlantic, now its dashing back and forth shaking its unusual guide mechanism across the world.
Its such a bad picture Im not even going to post it here but he insisted on giving a credit. Its nice to be able to help someone from whom Ive learnt so much. I will, however post some photos of the ship. Which is amazing. I dont really like expensive restorations of rotting hulks that sit in dry dock and gather dust; boats should sail. The Cutty Sark exhibition is, however, astonishing. Not least because the boat seems to float over the heads of the people sitting in the cafe.
Its beautiful, educational and a masterpiece of engineering. Twice.
The restorers (or preservers I should say, since the ship wont work in its intended function) have tried to use a lot of the original material. Where they needed to add material theyve highlighted it. Original steel frames are white, new steel reinforcement is grey.  Its less obvious in the wood work. Much of the bright work is original and each restoration has added its own set of dutchmen, or patches, let in to the original, massive timbers. This has created a wonderful palimpsest that is testament to the longevity of our domestic hardwoods, the skill of the craftsmen and women who worked on the ship and the potential of wooden vessels to be maintained and repaired.
And that brings me back to the purpose of the blog: building a wooden boat. Little progress to report, Im afraid. Im building a bench at the moment. Chris Schwarz in one of his two (how much is there to say?) books on building workbenches says that a bench should have neither an apron nor a tool tray. Mine will have both. But then he also says "Disobey me!" so Ive taken him at his word. Im chopping mortices for the legs at the moment. Steve Branam has an excellent guide to building this bench, better even than Roy Underhills original description, so I wont be posting it here - its already done.

Read More..

A Swampscott Dory in Auckland New Zealand

A modern take on a classic design from Captain Pete Culler.

Recently, I received a note from Miles Quick in New Zealand about an old favorite of mine. You all know how much I respect and admire Pete Culler. His swampscott dory is simply perfect. It turns out, Miles thinks so too.

Miles was looking for a small boat to enjoy the excellent sailing conditions in Auckland, which lies across a volcanic isthmus separating two harbours. Waitemata Harbour to the east opens on the Hauraki Gulf and the Pacific Ocean. Westward, Manukau Harbour opens to the Tasman Sea.

Miles view from the bus on the way to work.








 For these waters he needed a well founded and seaworthy boat...

"I kept coming back to a boat I saw in the book Pete Culler on Wooden Boats.

Now THAT is a fine looking boat. It has all of the qualities I was looking for. Swampscott dories are good in rough water. They were used for several decades as commercial fishing vessels, first under oars and sail and later power. For sailing Captain Pete argues persuasively for a 2 sprit-sail rig that is easily handled in all conditions. A previous owner confirms that this is a fast and exciting boat to sail. It rows well, and the plans are available from Mystic Seaport. Definitely a boat worth considering."

Miles had never built a boat before and wanted to simplify the project by adapting to plywood a boat that was designed for traditional construction.

"When I sketched some ideas on paper I realised that with a few changes this could be a very simple boat to build. I converted the frames to bulkheads and moved the centreboard to sit squarely between the bulkheads. This is simple and strong construction and removes the need for oak frames. I converted the bulkheads into floatation chambers and seat lockers and was pleased to see that not only did the layout make sense, but the changes did not compromise the classic look and feel of the boat."

By taking construction details from three modern designers, Iain Oughtred, David Nichols and Jim Michalak, Miles created a beautiful boat he is really proud of:

"The boat, to my biased eye, is good from every angle. The beauty of Culler’s lines remains intact and the limitations of the builder are mostly concealed."

Jim Michalak inspired the bulkhead design. The frame sections are from David Nichols book on lapstrake canoes.

The planks are glue-lapped, Oughtred style.

Motor well and centerboard trunk are supported by the same bulkhead. Each end has a sealed floatation chamber.

 The dory takes shape.

 Nicely conceived, skillfully executed.

He is still working on the sail rig and for the mast positioning he is taking inspiration from Ross Lillistones Periwinkle.

"The actual sails are identical in size and shape to the original design, which has a small mizzen with a sprit boom and a larger loose-footed main. Culler’s essays describe how to get the best out of this classic rig: when the weather turns bad you furl and stow the mizzen and add some rake to the main; when it gets worse you reef the main, and when it turns really bad you use the small sail to get home."

"There is enough space between the 2 masts for a small canopy to protect skipper and crew against the severe ultraviolet we experience in New Zealand."

"The sail area is small (about 100 square feet), but that is one of the things I like about the boat. By all accounts she is very fast with the small rig. I hope to write a later report on how the sails and other ideas work in practice."

Were looking forward to it, Miles! Thank you for taking the time to write.

Read More..

Fancy Pants New Renderings

Since I originally made my 3D sketches of the shantyboat, a few things changed, a few things forgotten about were remembered, and Ive learned a lot about the boats construction. I wanted to reflect those changes in my 3D sketches.

 In these renderings, you can see the addition of the head which bumps out on the aft porch a bit. Also, of course, the motor well and Mr. Johnson have been added.

Less evident is that I positioned the floor correctly 21 inches below the deck. I also resized and repositioned the windows.

Here are colored and textured versions of same.

What you cant see from the outside is the bucket shitter in the head.

There you go. 3D rendering doesnt make anything more real, but it does help me understand some of the challenges Ill face when I start constructing the cabin.

Also, please note that I was unable to find a Queensland heeler 3D model for Hazel, so for now, the border collie continues to be a stand-in.

This is a rendering of you trying futilely to get on the boat while my 3D models callously look on unwilling to raise a finger to help.

UPDATE: I spent a ridiculous amount of time learning how to create 3D components from illustrator files.  New rendering, now with more Hazel dog!

Read More..