Sam returned today with the modified canopy.
I had the rear window and the helm window modified so they can be zipped out.
Kamis, 12 Mei 2016
...However...
...there is another new, and for true enthusiasts of model boats, perhaps more interesting, show being held in Oxford, Maryland on Saturday, November 9th. You may or may not know their names, but the lineup of talented model makers is quite impressive, thanks to Master Model Maker Ed Thieler who organized the event.
I dont know the whole list of model makers that will be in attendance, but I do know that in addition to Ed Thieler (Chesapeake vessel expert noted for the precision and beauty of his boats and dioramas), Capt. Eddie Somers (Smith Island native and Chesapeake boat expert), Capt. Don Willey (specializes in Chesapeake and various other craft and is a Marlinespike expert), Capt. Ron Fortucci (Half-hulls, Pond Yachts, professional cabinet maker and sailor), Jim Wortman ( model maker and historian from New Yorks famous South Street Seaport Museum) and others will be there, many of whom will be talking about their models and/or the history of the boats theyve replicated of the Chesapeake Bay. Well be there too, with our models and books and we will be discussing “photogrammetry”.
Whether you know their names or not, their works are among the finest in the region and the models that will be there will be something to behold. It will be a rare assembly of such highly talented artists of the type. Some models will be for sale (if youre looking for something different for Christmas), while other models, for display only, will make you say “Wow!”
As great as the Waterfowl Festival is, its worth taking the side trip to Oxford. You wont find anything like this at The Waterfowl Festival and if you like fine carvings and art, you are certain to love the model boats that will be at this show. After all, the heritage that makes the Waterfowl Festival what it is could not have been without the boats.
Come to the Model Show at the Oxford Community Center, in Oxford, Maryland, from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday, November 9th, 2012.
One of the insights I recently had was that any boat that was built outside of an industrial society in the past could also be built in a post-industrial society of the future, with some reservations. The reservations are primarily about building materials available in the past may not necessarily be available in the future.
Since I build skin on frame boats in the manner that was developed in the Arctic before it came in contact with industrial civilization, I am also partial to any kind of technology that could be sustained in a pre- as well as post-industrial society. Actually, I must correct myself. I do not build kayaks using pre-industrial technologies. I mostly build replicas of pre-industrial kayaks with the help of industrial tools and supplies. Every once in a while I go primitive and use mostly scrounged materials to build a kayak just to prove to myself that it can be done.
In any case, what gets the post-apocalyptic stamp of approval is any technology that could have been built using pre-industrial methods and materials which supposedly would also work in a post-apocalyptic or post-industrial society. Of course we are not in a post-apocalyptic situation here in the developed nations, so we can only speculate what is possible, but if we look at any so-called third world or "developing" nations we can see that people there have to improvise and get ingenious with what they can lay their hands on, all of which gets the post apocalyptic stamp of approval.
Read More..
Since I build skin on frame boats in the manner that was developed in the Arctic before it came in contact with industrial civilization, I am also partial to any kind of technology that could be sustained in a pre- as well as post-industrial society. Actually, I must correct myself. I do not build kayaks using pre-industrial technologies. I mostly build replicas of pre-industrial kayaks with the help of industrial tools and supplies. Every once in a while I go primitive and use mostly scrounged materials to build a kayak just to prove to myself that it can be done.
In any case, what gets the post-apocalyptic stamp of approval is any technology that could have been built using pre-industrial methods and materials which supposedly would also work in a post-apocalyptic or post-industrial society. Of course we are not in a post-apocalyptic situation here in the developed nations, so we can only speculate what is possible, but if we look at any so-called third world or "developing" nations we can see that people there have to improvise and get ingenious with what they can lay their hands on, all of which gets the post apocalyptic stamp of approval.
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| Kayak and umiak of St Michaels. Note steam boats in the background and local residents with European clothes. Obviously, these people had access to industrial technology and materials but at the time, still made their own boats of pre-industrial heritage with the help of industrial tools and materials. Nevertheless, if they were still around building boats in the manner shown in the photo, they would get the post-apocalyptic boat building stamp of approval. |
Rabu, 11 Mei 2016
Fitting out a Widebeam boat: The adventure begins.: So. The adventure begins. Next tuesday will see us leave our Norfolk cottage, to spend a few months in a small caravan while we fit out our ...
Yesterday I got out to the boat shop after over a month of running around with the trailer, the new job, and starting graduate school full-time. Luna looked so sweet and lovely as I approached the shop. I climbed up on her keel, situated myself where her "cockpit" will be and lingered for a few moments imagining rolling waves instead of rolling hills. Then I got to work building the L-A-S-T frame! More on that tomorrow.
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| View from Lunas cockpit. |
One thing Ive learned about boat building is that the shop needs to be a pleasant place to work. This doesnt necessarily mean lots of expensive tools (Im still a proponent of using the cheapest functional tools you can get), nor does it mean a climate controlled, deluxe barn. I guess to me it just means less exposure to the elements. The shed I work out of, while the price is right, has a dirt floor and only one wall to the North which makes exposure to all sorts of stuff inevitable.
A project like this requires thousands of hours. Given this, it is generally best to limit the "excuses" one has to not go out to work during a few spare hours. Sometimes I find myself hesitating to go to the shop because it is 110 degrees outside, or the wind is really high and I dont want to cough and sputter in the heavy Texas dust. I am no delicate petunia, but sometimes thats just a bit too much.
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| View of the shop floor. |
While I have been less-than-organized all my life, this mess is not all my fault. Let me introduce you to the beautiful part of the USA I call home:
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| It isnt quite this bad. |
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| Actual view from the back of the shop. |
When I moved here a couple of years ago, the ranch was lush and green:
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| The ranch in September, 2 years ago. |
Then the drought hit and we havent had much rain since. This, combined with the common practice of ranchers in my area desperately clearing the land of all vegetation on the false hope that it might rain (it never does), means it is pretty dusty here.
While the ridiculous amount of dust might drive me to entertain apocalyptic thoughts, I cant imagine what its like for the ranchers whose livelihoods depend on the rain. My heart breaks to see the hardworking couple who own the ranch I live on sit on the porch praying for rain as thunderheads roll in-- and then roll out-- without a drop of water hitting the ground. Heres to hoping the drought ends soon.
Boatbuilding in Hindsight
Boat shop requirements for The Next Boat:
1. no months average temperature may exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit
2. the shop must have at least 5 sides (one of these must be a roof)
While the ridiculous amount of dust might drive me to entertain apocalyptic thoughts, I cant imagine what its like for the ranchers whose livelihoods depend on the rain. My heart breaks to see the hardworking couple who own the ranch I live on sit on the porch praying for rain as thunderheads roll in-- and then roll out-- without a drop of water hitting the ground. Heres to hoping the drought ends soon.
Boatbuilding in Hindsight
Boat shop requirements for The Next Boat:
1. no months average temperature may exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit
2. the shop must have at least 5 sides (one of these must be a roof)
Selasa, 10 Mei 2016
27th Nov 2007
The Transom was fitted in just a few hours, First it was tacked on the flat truck as it is in 3 pieces.
Dimensions checked and its good to go.
Lifting the transom with lighting stands allows exact positioning.
I have to say that what looked to be hard, turned out to be very easy with the stands.
They can lift 150kg each. We will probably use 3 stands to lift the hull side plating when fitting.
Transom fitted and tacked on to the floor plates and the upright supports inside.
Read More..
The Transom was fitted in just a few hours, First it was tacked on the flat truck as it is in 3 pieces.
Dimensions checked and its good to go.
Lifting the transom with lighting stands allows exact positioning.
I have to say that what looked to be hard, turned out to be very easy with the stands.
They can lift 150kg each. We will probably use 3 stands to lift the hull side plating when fitting.
Transom fitted and tacked on to the floor plates and the upright supports inside.
Sabtu, 07 Mei 2016
The first step was bending the forward end of the long battens into position by sawing a horizontal kerf back almost to the frame and then installing screw eyes and turnbuckles to pull them down into position. The kerf was sawn on the table saw before they were epoxied in place.The fitting of the first bottom piece involved making some measurements to determine if I could start with a half sheet of plywood. The answer was "Yes, but not a perfect rectangle". I needed about 24 1/2" from center line of the keel to the widest part of the side. So I split the 4x8 sheet with a slight angular cut, 25" wide on one end and 23" on the other using my circular saw and 8 guide board. I positioned the sheet onto the bottom using the factory 90 degree corner straight edge along the centerline of the keel with enough length forward to make it to the tip of the stem. Three positioning screws were put in along the straight portion of the keel. Then screw blocks were started about midway down the side and put in every 3" to pull the bottom down into place. After several blocks were installed, a line could be traced underneath by bumping the panel down into position and marking the underneath side, however the most forward part could only be guessed at because the panel was too stiff to bend into position. Then it was removed, rough cut to shape, and reinstalled.
Then the forward part where it needed to be fit perfectly into a butt joint was marked for another rough cut. The marking was done by putting a heavy coat of purple crayola along the previously fit side edge and then bumping the bottom piece down into the crayola to leave a line marked on the underneath side of the bottom. The panel was removed again and trimmed with the circular saw to within about 1/16" of the crayola line. Back on the boat and the slow process of fitting the forward butt joint was done - inch by inch. My 1" rabbet plane was great for getting the fit pretty close. Files and a paint scraper were also used. As a part of the joint was fit (sitting on the panel would push it into place), another screw block was put in place to bring it home. As the fit progressed, screw blocks were also placed along the stem to bring this side of the panel along. The panel began to overlap the stem as it twisted into position and excess material was cut alway with a handsaw. Every bit of extra panel removed made the bending easier. After about 4 hours of trimming, sitting and fitting, it was in place.
Then all remaining screw hole placements were marked along the chine and keel, the panel removed and screw holes placements were marked for the battens. Countersunk screw holes were then drilled for the remaining chine and keel holes that would not be using screw blocks. Straight holes were drilled for the battens as machine screws would be used for these during glue up. This panel was then temporarily clamped in place upside down on the other side of the boat to make sure it would be a good starting point for the other side. It was. It was traced onto the other half of the plywood.
A coat of epoxy was spread on the underneath side of the panel and all mating surfaces on the framework were coated with epoxy. Then a batch of thickened epoxy was spread on the framework. The forward part of the long batten was un-turnbuckled, the kerf coated with thickened epoxy and then re-turnbuckled into submission. The panel was then placed on the boat, the locating screws put in place and all screw blocks reinstalled. After putting in a couple along the chine in the middle of the boat, I moved forward to the transition joint and ensured that it was all coming togther in the same location, secured a screw block and then filled in the rest moving forward towards the bow. Then remaining holes got silicon-brass screws along the keel and chine. Machine screws #6, 3/4" long were used to secure the battens. A 24" reversible squeeze clamp was converted to a pusher and used from underneath to push the battens up tight to the bottom prior to screwing.
The next day, screw blocks were removed, countersunk holes drilled and 7/8" silicon-brass screws installed. The butt joint looked good with the largest gap being about 1/32". Excess epoxy was cleaned up and the forward part of the panel trimmed along the keel back to centerline or in the most forward part, cut and filed flush with the stem.
Back to the other panel with the traced line from the first panel. A bevel was hand planed on the panel edge where it would butt along the certerline of the keel to the previously installed panel. The bevel would provide a tight fit. Then it was rough cut, put on the boat and the whole fitting process began again. I thought it would be faster, but the keel centerline where the stem begins to curve also had to be precisely fit, and I think I was getting tired. It took forever, just like the first one. No clamps could be used on this one, so I had to make a few more screw blocks. It all came together nicely...epoxing in place would be another day.
The next evening, my friend Rick was recruited again and he dismantled the second bottom piece from the boat while I cleaned off my working table so we could put in screw holes and epoxy away. Rick is now a fully trained professional grade epoxy applicator guy so Ive got him ready for helping with fiberglassing the hull. This second bottom piece went in place nicely and a couple of beers were consumed in celebration.
The next part was the last two pieces to finish the bottom. The first step was to make the reinforcing butt pieces for the joint. Pieces of 1/4" plywood were ripped the approximate width to fit between the battens. Each piece is about 9" long. They were then fit, epoxied, clamped and screwed with about 4 each of #8 3/4" screws. Then the bottom piece was cut, fit, epoxied, screwed and clamped. Pretty simple compared to the rest of the bottom and side pieces.
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