Small changes

I'm making a few small changes over the winter.  The first is a halyard hook, that I'm hoping will fix some of the upper spar issues I've had.  This should allow me to more easily control where the yard contacts the mast, be able to haul it all the way up with less of a binding due to twisting issue, and keep it against the mast when reefed.  It may twist a little bit more, but more downhaul tension can address that. 

I bent up the hook at home, making it out of two pieces, and one fo the maintenance guys at work welded it up for me.  A little paint and some leather finished it off.

I also made a small horn cleat to attach to the mast for the halyard so that I can leave it all attached together when dropping the rig and trailering. 

I also decided to add some oarlock risers.  The freeboard is just too low to row in any sort of swell, and I found my oars hitting waves faces on the return stroke far too often.  I made them out of a couple layers of leftover ash, then shaped them to something I liked.  They'll get epoxied on and then varnished.  I didn't like how proud the oarlock sockets set, so I took the time to recess them.

 

Rigging

I've been using a halyard attachment detailed by Michael Storer at http://www.storerboatplans.com/GIS/GISRigging.html.  With a small block, the line was far enough from the yard that it hung down too far.  Since my yard is fairly light and easy to raise I swapped the block for some wood with a sheave made from a grommet.

Halyard attachment.  The sail is reefed.

It worked better but I'm still not real happy with it.  When the sail is reefed the yard ends up too far aft and leads to some weather helm.  I'm going to go ahead and make a halyard traveler hook like the following:

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?164376-Ahoy-Sooty-Tern-builders

I've been very happy with the downhaul arrangement (blue line) with the exception of hooking it up, as it's a bit fussy to feed the pin through the pad eye on the mast partner.

The mast gate is working ok.  I may go to a lashing system, but I do like the ease of the gate.  The red line is my halyard.  It' works fine to cleat it off toe the belaying pin, but I think I'm going to make a cleat and attach it to the mast so I can speed up rigging and derigging by keeping the halyard attached to the mast.

The downhaul is led through a hole in the mast partner to a turning block:

This is then led aft to a cam cleat on the aft of the centerboard case below the center thwart.

It's easy to adjust while underway, but stays out of the way.

The following details the tiller and rudder configuration. The pivot bolt is 3/8" because that was the size that had a long enough un-threaded length to pass through the rudder so it wouldn't have to pivot on threads.  I used nylon washers on each side of the bolt.

The rudder uphaul threads through a hole on the aft of the tiller, which keeps the rudder from coming out of the case.  The downhaul is led up through the hardware to a fairlead.  I used a rasp to round inner piece of the front of the rudder case so when the rudder is up the downhaul will slide smoothly as the rudder is pulled down into place. The downhaul is then led forward to a quick-release cleat.  It's not really needed as there is enough friction on the rudder from the case that it stays down, but that's mostly because I didn't check my fit and got my case a shade too narrow.

My centerboard case rod is 1/4" brass.  I used a propane torch to heat the ends to soften it.  One end got hammered flat and then drilled to take a short length of the rod that sits between 2 copper pieces made from flat bar that were attached to the centerboard.

I epoxied in a small piece of copper for the rod to press against to protect the wood.

This shows an earlier plan for the rod attachment, which I didn't like once I got everything put together, but the copper pieces were left the same.

 At the front of the case, there is another piece of copper for the rod to press against.

I made up a wood handle to lift the centerboard.

The glue line is because originally the handle was flat on the bottom, but because the handle isn't vertical when the centerboard is down, it didn't lay flat on the case top, so I added a rounded piece so it doesn't matter what the angle is.  A bit of vb cord is tied around the handle and led through a pad eye. This then goes to a clam cleat on the aft of the case.

 It's then led back forward to the handle.  The allows me to cleat the centerboard down or up using the cleat.

Will it happen today?

So last Saturday I was going to launch the boat.  On Saturday it was hot and muggy with no winds and afternoon thunderstorms.  Sunday was pretty much the same, so no launch.  We have spent the last 10 days weather like this.  The only time the wind blows is when a thunderstorm rolls through.  Then I thought I'd see about a launch this Saturday, and again it was hot and muggy with afternoon thunderstorms.  However, these storms were also foiled by a front that was supposed to drop the temperatures into the low 80s and keep us under cloudy skies on Sunday.  The bulk of the rain was supposed to stay to the south of us, so this morning when I went outside and it was cool and cloudy with a hint of a breeze I thought I'd cruise to the ramp and see what conditions were like on the river.

Conditions on the river looked marginal, but I was getting desperate to launch, so I decided to go for it.  I checked the satellite to make sure the dark clouds on the horizon weren't moving out way, got things ready to go and hitched up the trailer.

Unfortunately, in the half hour it took me to return to the ramp the wind had died and it started spitting rain as I pulled.  I stuck around for 5 minutes or so and decided it wasn't going to happen, so I drive back home and tucked the boat back into the garage.

I got on with my day, which later in the afternoon led me down to the garage.  As a stepped outside I could see a little sun peeking through and some wind blowing through the leaves.  So, it was on again.  I drove back to the ramp and things looked good.  A little sun, light fluky wind, very little boat traffic.

I rigged things up in the parking lot, although because of the spars and sails laying in the boat I decided to hold off with running lines and such until I got the boat on the water and could hoist the spars.  Launching was easy.  I backed the boat in until the stern was in the water, then pushed it off the trailer.  The dock is not shiny hull friendly and it's exposed to boat wakes, so I tied on some fenders and hoped it would be ok while I parked the trailer.

I hopped aboard and started to finish rigging, at which point I lost a mainsheet block into the drink.  However, fortunes follows those who know their follies, and I had an extra block for just such an occasion, which I decided not to use because the wind was so light I decided I didn't need a stern traveler and could make do with one less block.  It was a pain to finish rigging against a dock that was open to boat wakes, not so much due to stability issues, but because I didn't feel like having the boat bashed up on it's maiden voyage.  In more wind it would have been a problem with the spars flapping around.  Next times, I'll get it all rigged on the trailer so I can hoist the spars and go.  Also, next time I won't forget to mount the rudder and tiller, which required a jog back to the car to retrieve.

I pushed myself off and ghosted up river for a few hundred yards.

You can tell there's no wind because of the wrinkle.  That wrinkle is indicative of too much tension in the downhaul, causing too much tension in the luff (back of a 4 sided sail) as compared to the leech (front).  However, since I hadn't even tightened the downhaul, that was all due to boom weight.  Lifting a little on the boom made the wrinkle disappear, as did the wind when there was enough of it to fill the sail.

I got  bored with barely moving, so I decided to try rowing.  This is what it looked like behind me (downriver):

 You can just see the downtown buildings.  And this is what it looked like in front of me (upriver).

My rowing technique sucks.  On several occasions I popped the oars out of the oarlocks with my flailing, partly because they are balanced well enough that there isn't a lot of weight pressing down on the oarlocks.  I don't have risers.  If I drop my hands low on the return stroke to raise the blades high I hit the inside of the deck with the shaft.  It's not a problem in calm water, but in chop or rollers I'd likely be smacking water on the return stroke.  It's easy enough to add risers if I decide I want them, so I'll see how it goes. 

I rowed out into the river a ways to get away from the wind shadow caused by the trees on the shoreline and hoisted the sail.

That looks much better.  A little tug on the 4:1 downhaul took care of that little horizontal wrinkle.  I got in a handful of minutes of what I would consider sailing.  For a handful of seconds it blew hard enough that I was able to sit out on the rail, but I did get back and forth across the river a couple of times.  I even got some terribly exciting video, wherein I committed the sin of taking vertically oriented because it shows off the sail better.

The boat does have a leak.  When I epoxied the center thwart over the top of the aft part of the centerboard case there was a high point or I didn't use enough epoxy, as there is a small gap that was allowing water to splash in on starboard tack when sailing through boat wakes.  It's not much, just enough to get the floor wet.  In hindsight, it's not surprising there is a leak here as it is impossible to see the area unless laying in the bottom of the boat with your head under the thwart.  I'll fix it by shooting in some epoxy sometime this week.

All in all, I'm happy with things.  The sail set wells when there is wind to fill it.  The boat has very neutral helm, is stable enough to stand in and walk around, both moves well under oars and tracks straight.  I'd like to see how easy it is to douse the rig in more wind, but it was dead simple to drop and raise in the little bit that I had today.  The biggest issue I had was that the wind was so light I couldn't sit on the decks without heeling the boat to far to windward and sitting on the rear thwart my body blocks the tiller when tacking and put too much weight aft.  I tried sitting on the floor and that worked fine, but then the pull through the mainsheet block was too low.  Next time, more wind.

Rigged

The plan was to put it in the water on Sunday.  However, after spending 2 hours in the heat and humidity for a make-up soccer game that was cancelled due to thunderstorms, the thought of more time in the heat coupled with no wind just wasn't appealing.  We'll see if we get a decent evening for a launch sometime during the week.

Mast raising

After finishing up the odds and ends this morning I pulled the boat out into the driveway to raise the mast for the first time. 

The plan was to figure out the uphaul and downhaul, block placement, mainsheet, etc. About 5 minutes after wheeling it out of the garage there was lightning approaching and the wind kicked up.  I got it back in the garage about 1 minute before the downpour hit.  I'll try again tomorrow.

It officially has a name.

Getting a straight, thin line of paint is not easy to do.  I spent several hours marking and taping it out before painting.  It's not perfect, but you have to look right down it to catch any waviness.The strip took all of about 5 minutes per side for each coat (2 in total).  The graphic work took a bit longer.  I worried about how I was going to transfer the patterns but it turned out to be super easy.  I printed out the design on printer paper.  I then roughly cut out the design, leaving about 1/2" all round it.  Then, I used a pencil to shade in in the entire back side of the design.  I taped it into place, then traced the outline with a mechanical pencil.  This left me a faint, but easily visible pencil outline.  Then, it was just a matter of painting inside the lines.   I don't have the greatest hand for this, but it looks nice from 2 feet away, so I'm happy with it.

On wheels

I ordered a trailer a couple of weeks ago and it came in this last week.  Like pretty much all small boat trailers, it's set up to be used for a jet ski, which is both shorter and heavier than my boat.  The trailer I got is actually slightly longer than the one I planned on getting, because it turns out it was cheaper.  The nice thing about it being longer is I don't have to hang the wheels off the back.  It still fits in the garage, but without a lot of room to spare while still allowing me to walk around it.

When we went to pick it up we checked the lights, and of course, they didn't work.  They had been tested when it first came it, but it didn't work on my vehicle or the truck of the guy helping us.  He had a trailer light tester and it indicated that there was a faulty ground.  We decided to take it over to the shop area, and as we followed the guy towing it, when the trailer would bounce a little the lights would come on, and then go off.  Turns out that the ground wire on the harness plug had been crimped and basically crimped through, so it was acting like an old pair of headphones where you have to jiggle and twist it to get it to work.  They replaced the harness and rather than wait around we headed back across the river and got it registered. 

Because It was going to sit in the driveway for a few days I derived an anti-theft system which consisted of a bicycle u-lock through some wheel holes with a 10lb weight slipped into it.  I know it worked, because my trailer is still here.

One of the bunks was a bit twisted as they are just 2x4s covered with carpet, so I replaced one of them.  I also added a 2x4 crossbeam to stop the centerboard from dropping down in case something happens while trailering it.  Because I may want to actually drop the centerboard and it has to pivot down to be removed through the top of the case, I notched the wood and then lashed it to the trailer.  I will probably paint it at some point.  I still need to adjust the winch and bow roller and what not.

rub rail bedding

I settled on using Vulkem116 for bedding.  It can be sanded, stays flexible and is only mildly adhesive, so I will be able to replace the rub rails without destroying the boat, should they get beat up. I found several boaters who had reported good long term results with it, it came in white, and it cost $11 including the shipping cost.  It takes days to cure, as it cures with moisture, and is thus dependent on humidity.

Dealing with a floppy 1/4" by 16' piece of wood seemed like an easy way to make a mess, so I partially screwed it on at one end and left the other end free.

Then I spread some goop on the boat for the 6 feet or so near the free end.  The Vulkem116 is fairly low viscosity and spreads easily.  It's much softer and less sticky than silicon and masonry caulks that I've used before (not on a boat)/

This allowed me to then screw the free end down for the first couple of feet, unscrew the the other and to free it up, and then continue down the length.  It also allowed me to ensure that the goop was spreading across the entire surface due to the pressure from the screws.

I got good squeeze out along most of the length, but had to use a craft stick to push in a little in some places along the top.  This was due to hand rounding over the plywood edge in advance of making the rubrails, which I shouldn't have done.  It left a bit of a wide gap at places and this is where I needed to add a little more of the goop.

Cleanup was easy.  I just wiped it off with a paper towel.  It smears a little, so I used a two towel approach, one to pick up the worst of it, and then a clean one to get the smeared part wiped off.  It may have left a thin film on the surface as some places feel slightly different, but it can't be seen.  If it discolors or something I'll give it a buffing with a scotch-brite pad and retouch the varnish if needed.

The color match was great, so despite my poor planning resulting in less than ideal fit, the bead isn't noticeable until up close, so I don't think I'll bother to sand and paint, at least for now.

Bedding

I've been bedding a few things so I thought I'd show how I am doing it:

First I drill the hole larger than it needs to be.  Then I fill it with thickened epoxy.  After the epoxy cures I drill out the epoxy enough to fit the bolt through, or if it is a screw, I drill a pilot hole.  Then, I drill a countersink.

Next, I smear butyl rubber on the part where it will make contact.  In fancy talk this is known as the faying surface.  I do the same thing with the washer that will be bolted to the other side.  The butyl is sticky on the fingers, so I use wax paper to press it down.

I squish the rubber up around the threads a bit as well, to make sure it fills in the countersink.  Then, I bolt it all together.  The butyl is pretty stiff, so I tighten it just until I get good squeez-out all around, then leave it for several hours, and tighten it a bit more.  Depending on how thick your layer, this process of tighten a little and let sit can extend over days.

To cleanup I grabbed a piece of wood scrap with a sort of pointy end and ran that around the edges.  Once you get the bulk off, you can get the little bits by balling up the stuff you removed and dabbing at the little pieces.

Also, I forgot to take picture of my tiller and extension when I made them.  But the process was to trace teh shape out on my ash stock. Rough cut it out with a circular saw.  Saw and rasp the part that slots into the tiller, as well as the rest of it.  Sand it smooth.  Coat it with varnish.

The tiller extension felt a little smooth in my hand, so I used a round rasp to make a hand friendly grip.  It feels nice in the hand and is much easier to hang onto.

The extension got connected to the tiller with a gimbal sort of device that allows for pivoting in 3 dimensions.  This got bedded to the tiller as described above.

All the shiny stuff

Each coat took about 1.5 hours.  I sanded after coats 2 and 3, which also took about 1.5 hours.  Add that up, and that  is  a lot of time spent.  Supposedly all I will need to do now is paint on 1 coat every year or two depending on how much time the boat spends in the sun, which will certainly be doable.

Start of varnising

The car has been banished from the garage so that varnishing can commence. 

I strung everything up on some line so I could get all sides at once.  There are 4 rub strips, 2 spars, the mast, a set of oars, 2 cleats, and the tiller and tiller extension. There are also a few bits attached to the boat to do: forward coaming, mast partner and transom. I'll give everything at least 3 coats and see if it needs more. 

I'm using Le Tonkinois original, mostly for ease of application.  I have no experience with varnishing and I have heard good things about getting good looking and long wearing results with Le Tonkinois over high gloss marine spar varnishes.

I have two coats on everything at this point, and it's interesting to see the difference in gloss based on what was already on the wood.  Pieces coated with fiberglass, such as the transom below, are glossy and look like they have a layer of honey on them.

The cleats, which had an overnight bath in boiled linseed oil are also glossy.  Pieces that got a good wipe down with blo are somewhat glossy, but need at least one more coat.  The spars, made of softer spruce, have a satin look to them and will need a couple more coats.  It's fairly obvious that on bare wood the Le Tonkinois penetrates into the wood.  Though it means more initial coats will have to be applied, this should improve adhesion and protection. 

Top paint and rub rails

I painted the topsides last week.  The tough part was painting under the side decks.  I had debated painting underneath and decided I should do it to give it a more finished look, though you will only see it if you're in the boat looking low.

I gave the cleats a good soaking in boiled linseed oil.

I also decided to add some rub rails.  I ripped them out of the ash board, 1" x 1/4".  They are only 1/4" thick because the boat already has a 1 1/4" by 5/8" outwale that has been glassed and painted.  Since the board was only 8' long I had to scarf.  I cut a small step to help minimize the glue line and give me a stop when clamping the scarf.

The ones going in the cockpit had to be notched at the ends to slide under the forward and aft deck where I had rounded the corners.

Then I had to round over the edges, 100 linear feet in total.  Because they are rub rails and will likely need to be replaced due to being banged into I didn't want to permanently mount them.  They are too thin to fully countersink the screws and bung them, so I'm just countersinking them below the surface.  I bought a box of 100 screws but I'm going to need 106 so I will have to pick up a few more.

I used some scrap wood to make a guide for mounting.

Without countersinks and pilot holes the wood was prone to splitting due to it being cross grained.  It's not ideal, but it's not like I have been able to get vertical grained wood.  After drilling all the pilot holes and countersinks for all of them I was able to tack them into place and figure out how I wanted to shape the ends.

They still need to get oiled and then I will mount and varnish them.