Motor Well A Mini Project Unto Itself

Oh, the motor well.  Seems simple enough.  Build a box that bolts to the back of the boat, upon which the motor clamps.

Ive been working on the motor well since the days of the Troublesome Skegs and before the Boat Flip.

Turns out that though this earns only a brief paragraph in the Glen-L Waterlodge instructions, it is really quite time consuming.

And though the motor well shows up on various views in the plans three times, it still leaves a lot of unspecified dimensions. Despite a lot of fancy maths including tangents and the Pythagorean theorem my first effort to suss out the missing dimensions and angles was a loose collection of mismatched angles and incorrectly cut two-by stock.

The challenge of the motor well is that there are few right angles, several that are very close, but not quite 90 degrees, several similar obtuse angles and some crazy acute angles. The difficulty lies in translating perfectly good angles and lengths to actual measurements and cuts.

My second attempt -- salvaging as much of the previously cut wood as I could -- discarded the mathematical approach and did it the way a carpenter would. Rather than cutting the two-by stock first, I marked out the known angles and measurements on plywood, solving the unknowns as I went along.  I cut out the 5/8" plywood giving me a useful template that would be used for the sides of the motor well.  Finally, I measured and marked the two-by members to match the template. Magic!

After fitting everything best I could, I epoxied everything together to give me two assembled sides to the motor well.

This was a logistical challenge similar to assembling the side stringers -- you want to align the two-by members facing up, but the screws need to go in from the other side.  In this case, the motor well sides were small enough I could assemble the two-by members facing up on saw horses, then put a few screws in from the bottom to hold them together.

After that, I flipped them over and screwed the shit out of them.  All done while everything -- drill, screws, wood, hands -- are covered in sticky goo. Fun!

I completely encapsulated the wood inside the motor well with epoxy to protect it from decay.

I know from experience assembling boxes, it is easy to discover in the end that youve created a parallelogram that doesnt fit your last side.  How to prevent this?

I temporarily screwed the bottom on the motor well to square up the sides before assembling the rest of the box.  Im using wax paper to prevent the epoxy from accidentally adhering the bottom.  In fact, the bottom wont go on until after the motor well is already bolted on to the hull to allow me access to the bolts.

Now, I can go ahead and epoxy and screw on the back and the framing members.

We have to bolt this thing in with 5/8 carriage bolts no greater than six inches apart.  Turns out thats a lot, really.

I marked the bolt holes and drilled from the outside of the motor well using a carpenters square to get holes perpendicular to the rake of the hull.

Sixteen bolts for this 2 foot square box hanging off the back of the boat.

The heads of some of the carriage bolts would fall on angled members, and so needed to be countersunk.

I needed to temporarily hang this thing so I can mark the bolt holes on the hull.  I built a little support jig that took into account the missing bottom piece.

Here is the motor well on the boat.  Fancy.

Using a wax china pencil, I marked the bolt holes for mounting the motor well.

It seemed like madness to drill 16 holes in my previously watertight boat hull.  Soon, well finish the outside of the motor well and bolt it on.

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Well thats more like it

Sundays daysail was much more relaxing. The winds started out very light, so I figured this would be a good time to try the classic Gaff Cam trick. The trickiest part is guessing what angle to aim the camera at. After a couple attempts, the afternoon sea breeze started to kick in so I mounted the camera on other parts of the boat.  The breeze built to the point where I eventually went to one reef in the main, then it died off a bit. No Jib and Mizzen this time!  I ended up taking a trip around the north end of Jetty Island to check out the ospreys that nest atop the pilings there.

Heres a video of the days sail, set to more of my favorite Blue Man Group music.  Hope you enjoy.

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My Boat Has Been Built Well kind of

Jeff Spira posted a pic on his facebook page of a 27 foot Sitka.Its almost exactly what I had in mind for my build.I am wanting a slightly forward raked windshield and I will build mine to 30 feet with the Vee entry bow.I plan to stay out without needing a trip to shore for at least one full week.I also plan to do the Great Loop with the boat.

Here I am going to quote Jeff Spiras post on his Facebook page.

A 27 Sitka Pacific Power Dory was recently completed in Minnesota by Raymond Pollock.

According to Ray, it was started in January 2012 and was in the water in the end of October, working mostly alone and taking 6 weeks off in the middle. It features V-Berths, 30 gallons of fresh water, a water heater for the shower, 28 gallon septic tank and 55 gallons for fuel. It also has a full galley and cabin heater.

With the ETEC 115 horse engine, the top speed is 34 mph (according to the GPS) and will cruise over 30, but runs all day and very economically at 22. It maneuvers and handles very well, and doesnt pound when crossing even large boat wakes. It only draws 7-1/2 inches of water with full fuel tanks, two people and a 2 large dogs. For a 27 footer, it tows very easily also.

I do have a message for Mr.Pollock.

 Way to go.Your version of Sitka is top notch.I am jealous.I hope my boat turns out have as good.Looks real professionally done.Youre my hero.

 Here is Mr.Pollocks boat.Sweet ride,eh?Click pics for larger view.

Even Mr.Pollocks lovely mother took a turn at the helm.Way to go,I say.

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