Amazing Grace? Yes and No

Bottom first, then Sides and a band overlapping the Chine.
Note the wrinkles low along the Bow Curve sides...
These remained manageably small.. no 'darting' was necessary.

Amazing Grace? Yes and No

Today was our 'coup de Grace'... we finished the installation of the Grace Ice and Water Shield underlayment for our copper plating.

Grace is a self-adhered, rubberized asphalt sheet material (comes in rolls of three foot width). A thin layer of plastic on its outer face protects the world from a sticky, gooey layer, which has the potential to fuse with plywood. This face has a peel-off layer of plasticized paper which must be removed before installation.

Our hope (mostly gratified) was that it would work well with the assemble, flip and join method we used to construct the Bottom.

Needless to say, the company nowhere suggests that Grace might be advisable for marine construction.
 

The Good News

When it sticks, it REALLY sticks. Especially to itself. 

Once well bonded, it's like skin on the hull. Overlaps adhere even better, with high confidence of water exclusion. It seems to thoroughly gasket fasteners... withdrawing occasional screws showed them to be coated entirely along their length!


The So-So News

Application is meticulous, demanding and slow. 

Any lapse of attention, or initial mis-alignment can result in a messy, wasteful sitchiAYshun. Still, we got through the whole thing with nothing worse than a little curl along an edge, here and there.

Peeling the paper was a challenge, at first. We took to scoring it at workable intervals to keep things manageable. 

Touching the warm, peeled sticky-side makes ya sympathize with Bre'r Rabbit. We did better by taking small folds of the paper - plasticized layer towards the Grace - and using them as grippers along the edge.


The Not So Good News

Adhesion doesn't appear fully consistent, even when temps are in the 70degF/ 20degC range. 

Initial grab drops to near nothing along with temps. In the 50degF / 10degC temps we're undergoing, we had to use a heat gun to achieve grab and bond.

Over-all handling is temperature dependant and awkwardly so. 

It's stiffer when cool, so is easy to handle, but doesn't like to grab or conform to the work. When warm, it goes limp in passive resistance... conforms well, but hard to deliver, and grabs at anything along the way.

There is a fringe of un-plastic-protected tar along each edge which caused problems. It's delicate, sticky, and once it curls back and touches itself, forget it. We finally took to trimming it off before starting.

Even simple cutting is difficult in warm weather, as it sticks to the knife and drags. Possibly, wetting in mineral spirits (a solvent which works well on the stuff) would help it slide along. If possible, plan your cutting in the cool of the day, morning or evening.

And it smells toxic... the box has ominous warnings to WEAR GLOVES and WASH YOUR HANDS. Warnings in ALL-CAPS tend to be worth heeding.


Sooooo...

We're basically happy with the results, at this point. But I'm not sure I'd use it again for this application (it's excellent for bedding hardware and between dead-wood). 

We're considering a last pass with a weed-burner, once the copper is on, warming it to hot-to-the-touch and whuppin' it all over with a mallet for good luck.

It was spendy and a lot of work, in retrospect.

In some ways, it wasn't much cleaner an operation than we could have managed with, say, a water emulsified asphalt, or even rubberized asphalt paint. Still, it didn't generate too much hard-to-dispose-of garbage (e.g., paint rollers, etc), and most of the off-cuts and remnants are still useful for other tasks.

Other alternatives we'd considered were tar (messy), elastomeric polyurethane paint (hard to find... 3M used to make some that we loved, but it's disappeared) and Irish felt (traditional and great to work with, but rare nowadays... what we found was prohibitively expensive to transport our way).


Grace is amazing. Time will tell if it has 'saved a wretch like we'.

A Pictorial Review

Our Humble Laboratory

Curvy Bits: Nailers and Bulkhead Beams

Cheat Sheet... note bevel angles drawn along sides

Deadflat Plates ready to turn and join upright...
After the first one, they are flipped onto loose copper plates which are then
nudged into position and fastened in place.

End Sections... note transverse kerfs to ease bending.
We'll flip 'em, join 'em to the Deadflat and later add their 2nd course of
planking, underlayment and copper.

Lower S'brd Wall and first Bulkheads standing.

End piece about to get joined

All of our projects seem to attract a 'Ship's Cat'!

Three stages of retro-fit SIP (from left to right):
I'm adding the inboard layer of 1/4inch ply,
Middle layer of 2x XPS foam (blueboard),
Inboard face of 1/2in hull, with 2x framing.

As of yesterday... both walls on, Whiskey Plank in sight.
Note Port Wall before Doubler Plates...
1ft lower course visible below upper, 4ft course.
3/4in Doubler Plates (visible aft) provide protection
and act as a Butt Strap, joining the two courses.

Equinoctal Status Report

Port side open for ease of acess.

Equinoctal Status Report

Well... our best laid plans done gang agley. 

Tyee has turned out to be a rather more hopping place than we'd anticipated. What with one thing and another, a good chunk of summer sped by at maybe a quarter efficiency. Maybe.

Hard to say how much time has gone into it, so far. It's been four months since we started, but I'd say there've been less than three days of full efficiency work, and at least a solid, summer month pulled completely off the job.

Sigh.

But things are happening, nevertheless. 

• We've got the bottom deadflat done, copper and all. The ends have their first course of planking and nailers.
  
• All bulkheads, including bow and stern transoms, are in.
  
• The starboard walls are up, SIPped (ply-foam-ply), and wallside furnishings complete.
  
• We built a new dory.

Yet to go are the end bottoms, port wall, pilothouse, windows and decks. These had better be complete before the first heavy snow, which will collapse our current shed. The plan is to make her weather proof, then rebuild the shed smaller for small, winter projects.

Wish us luck!


PS: TiteBond III appears to be living up to our hopes!

Bunk area in foreground, bunk and salon settee leanbanks in background.

Stove in alcove, workbench aft.
Wood stowage under and outboard.

Building on Edge

 

Murder Cove Steam Punk
Photo by David and Pearl

I knew, even then, that to love the world, you have to get away from it.
-- Priest from the movie, The King of Hearts


Building on Edge

Huzzah! The shopping is DONE. 

All the fiddly bits that go into a vessel should - if we've planned well - be wending their way toward a Seattle barge line. They'll be stuffed into a container for shipping to Petersburg, Alaska. All fairly normal stuff, to this point.

We're building at a remote site at the southwestern end of Admiralty Island called Tyee (aka Murder Cove), about 15 miles from where we are now. A lodge is being built there, which we caretook in 2012/13 and will again, this winter (2014/15).

Points in its favor:

• Good people involved.
• Remote and beautiful, the kind of place we love to hang.
• Good protection for SLACKTIDE, handy to the build.
• Work/rent/trade/tools/materials situation, simplifies, reduces and enables finances.
• Our container can be delivered by the site owner on the same run that supplies our current lodge.
• Come winter, we'll have indoor spaces for sailmaking, cushion work, details.
• Time is no object! We won't be building 'under the gun'.

Before now, building in town has been a mixed bag.  

We've been very fortunate, people-wise, in past building situations... friends who tolerate our funky ways and time overruns. BUT...

On the one hand, supplies are just down the street. On the other, supplies are just down the street! Because we don't have to plan ahead, we tend to wing it much more than we should. That means more time commuting to and fro the store, with maybe a treat or two along the way. 

On the one hand, lots of great people stop by to see what's going on and talk shop. On the other hand, lots of great people stop by to see what's going on and talk shop! I'm not the kind of fella who can talk and work at the same time (or much of anything else, for that matter), so maybe a third of our time on site goes to social pleasantry.

On the one hand, there are lots of special occasions. On the other hand, there are lots of special occasions! Picnics and parties and barn raisin's and barn burnin's. Good times all, but they don't get a boat built.

So we like it in town. We love our friends. We love the good times.

But this time, we're going to take a step back...

...and over the Edge.

Glued, Ply/Frame Construction

Sizing for the different situations around the boat.
We decided 1 3/4in nails over 1 1/2in for better bury.
3in spikes (left) are sized for mechanical assistance to glue.

Praise the Glue but pass the Fasteners!
- George Beuhler

Nail where you can; screw where you have to; bolt where you must.
 - Cap'n Pete Culler

5200
- Name of a DIY boat on the Port Townsend beach

Epoxii vincit omnias (epoxy conquers all).
- A boatbuilder friend's mantra


Glued, Ply/Frame Construction

Glue holds our boats together. Glue. Glue, glue, glue.

I have to keep reminding myself!

If one is to follow GB's advice, fasteners must be sized to function as if without glue. In other words, if the glue fails, the fasteners must take over. Completely. Otherwise we just wast money.

The problem is that both glue and fasteners are spendy items. For many of us, if we invest in one, there's less available for the other.

The holding power of simple, embedded fasteners is technically a function of surface area, but practically, it's linear, and proportional to the mass of the fastener and holding strength of the woods involved. Piddly, that is.

A 'clench', rivet or bolted fastener improves the situation immensely, but only so long as the metal of the shank remains substantially intact. Over time, even noble metals deteriorate, leaving 'icicles' to shoulder the burden. More shank diameter is expensive. Over the years, one of the most expensive refits is to 'refasten' a wooden vessel... something we've seen a lot of in other's boats.

One more consideration is that fasteners, of themselves, don't make a water tight joint. They require some mastic, gasket or caulking, none of which are known to be permanent.

Anke and I put our faith in glue.

The grip of glue on wood is proportional to area, a squared function vastly superior to mere linear ones. Glue's holding power is measured in PSI (Pounds per Square Inch), and modern glues are way the heck up there. With any appreciable area, standard fasteners' holding power is quickly dwarfed (same goes for lashings, BTW, multiplying turns for total tensile strength).

Tape and glue methods are the next logical choice. Unfortunately, resins are generally the only reasonable choice, and they are expensive, messy, and toxic. In addition, fillets and fabric take high volumes of glue, compared to films.

That leads us to quick and dirty, glued ply/frame construction. Frames provide gluing faces and material integrity for joining sheets into girders.

The goal in glued ply/frame design is to maximize the glue surface area, within reason, and complicate it, if possible (I'll get back to this).

The quality of the wood frame (now only supplying gluing surface) can be much lower than structural frames (such as a deck beam, which must support weight). All it has to do is hold together... it needn't be stiff, or hang on to its fasteners. Tight knot grades with high annular ring counts (mostly to resist rot) are fine.

Let's look at the chine logs, for instance - a 2x4, say, framing the hard, inside chine.We observe the following:

• The bottom/side connection is the highest stressed join in a box barge. We want this one to stand up to anything the sea, and some of what the shore, can throw at it.
  
• The 'weakest' face is the 2x face... the 4x face has nominally twice the holding power (a bit more, in fact). We might consider whether a 2x2 would be just as strong (is more than the weakest link a waste?), with half the material. Or should it be beefed up to a 4x4? [2x2 has worked for us up to 32ft LUNA].

• All joint rigidity is supplied by (ply) sheets joined into girder arrangements. Until this girder fails, the chine log itself is not substantially stressed. Once it's failed, the hull's come apart and the gig is up (we engineer to prevent this!).
  
• Complicating the joint adds glue surface AND mechanical strength to the joint. For this reason, Anke and I favor 'doubling plates' along the lower hull sides. These complicate the joint and 'double up' side thickness as anti-puncture insurance. Side impact above the bottom would have to 'peel' the doubling plate, as well as sheer the glue before failure.
  
• Fasteners do no harm and contribute mechanical strength, especially in sheer (across the join like a pair of scissors, aka shears). The copper plate helps distribute stress, as well. While we don't rely on either of these, they add a layer of security.

Section View of Bottom/Sides.
Note outboard doubler plate overlapping bottom...
... nearly doubles glue area and complicates joint from line to L.

So the role of fasteners - at least in terms of hull construction - is, for us, to provide clamping pressure until the glues set. Clamps are expensive and slow, and often very hard to arrange.

We prefer ringshank nails... they have holding power near that of screws but are much faster to drive. Because of copper plate, we use bronze to the top of the doubling plates, and stainless above. Stainless for relative economy.

(Hot Dip) Galvanized is an economical choice, but is more likely to cause problems down the line. Still, for a 'low road' boat, it's a big contender, and if it came down to a choice, I'd go galvanized and get out there!

The opening illustration shows how we size our fasteners. Everything's going into either 1x or 2x framing. Ply thicknesses vary by use.

Obviously, we don't want the fastener so long as to poke through. Reasonable bury is a good thing, but can be lower if used only for clamping/sheer support. Too much is expensive waste.

In our case, we had a choice between 1 1/2in and 1 3/4in nails for middle cases. Some were only clamping/sheer, but others could conceivably be called upon to resist pulling (acting in tension). Rather than order two varieties, we went with the longer ones.

One thing we try to do is keep the variety low. Each variety represents a chance to run short, while one fastener for several jobs means 'round-up' can be applied to the next job. Even if it costs a bit more per fastener, it tends to save in efficiency.

Glue is tougher. Manufacturers give coverage values (in square units), but whether it's applied a micron thicker or thinner makes a big difference (we're applying by eye, of course). We tend to round up quite a bit. Extra glue, if any, can usually be sold at the end of the project, or kept on for future maintenance.

Remember to count the gluing surface, not what's being joined. For example, hold up three fingers, representing three layers of ply. Count the spaces between them (two) to find the gluing surfaces, and multiply area accordingly. A bottom, say, made up of three layers would take two times the bottom surface area in glue... not one or three.

Anke and I are somewhat outside the pale, when it comes to glues. We use three kinds: 3M5200 for exterior hull joins (all around the permimeters); TiteBond III for faces wider than 2x, (non-structural) filleting, sealing, foam and bonding fabrics; Gorilla Glue for sheet lamination. This combination has worked well for us, and so far (knock on ply) we've never had a join fail.

But I've never run into ANYONE else doing something similar in cruiser-sized boats. Epoxy/polyester folks are happy with their choice, especially the tape 'n' glue crowd.

It's all good.




*****

When using fastetners, here's a cheap trick to multiply their holding power:

Angle every pair of fasteners slightly toward or away from the other. 

This means the force required to pull one is opposed by its partner.

Make sure the join is tight before driving, as any gap will be impossible to close. Often, you can walk a quick clamp down the line as you go, one set per pair of nails.

Filthy Lucre: The Rising Cost of DIY

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!
...
We Ante Up.

If the ante were lower, we'd play hands we shouldn't.
- Heard around Tenakee poker tables


Filthy Lucre: The Rising Cost of DIY

We have entered the dreaded and inevitable shop/buy phase of our project.

YIKES!

First, I guesstimated this boat to cost about $17.5K, all found. Materials, transportation, infrastructure and clean-up... the works.

But it seems that real world numbers have jumped up an average of 50% since we built SLACKTIDE in 2009. My guess is that this is post-peak everything at work, especially in terms of energy involved in procuring raw materials and manufacture and transportation. Our ACX Plywood, for example, is now coming from Chile, rather than our own forests (which have been cherry-picked below 'commercial viablility').

My guesstimate came up about $10K short! We threw up a broadly itemized 'worst case' scenario by supplier/service, for a 'ridiculously conservative' total of $27.7K. After shopping, it looks like that's our scenario.

To cover this, we've gone into debt for the first time in our lives (a very generous advance against next winter's caretaking commitment). While we're very grateful, this is a queasy feeling for us. But it allows us to fit the copper plate in good order, rather than retrofit, later.

Here's our list, to date, rounded a bit:

$1500     Container, SeattleWA to PetersburgAK
$1200     Sheepherder WoodStove from TransOceanLtd.com
$9500     Copper
$5000     Plywood, Foam, Underlayment (for Copper)
$2700     Red Cedar Framing, Coamings, Handrails
$2750     Home Depot and Harbor Freight - Paints, Glues, Tools, Sundries
$1200     Jamestown Distributors - Glues, Fasteners
--------------------------------------------------------------------
$24350 SubTotal

We have yet to shop for Sailcloth + Rigging, Cushions/Mattress and Electrical System. Some of this will be forwarded from SLACKTIDE, and the latter two can be deferred for later. I expect another $3K?

Ooh! Aaah!! I feel the pain of pennies, wrenched from my skinflint soul.

Admittedly, the path we've chosen for our boats is an odd mix of cheap and expensive. The low road approach (ACX Plywood, Ply-Frame Construction, Nails vs. Screws) is juxtaposed with some higher end features (remote building site in far Alaska, Copper Plate, Ply/Foam/Ply Construction, Bronze and SS Fasteners, use of 3M5200 and Gorilla Glue, Wood Stove (Range with Oven), extra-heavy 2in Bottom).

Factor these out (and lower-cost alternatives in), and we'd be left with a total of around $10K (modest rigging, cushions, electrical, included). Reclaimed framing and scrounging could drop this further.

For a 32ft boat, this is still high. Especially since we count labor as free.

Why build DIY, when the market is awash with cheap, used boats?

Our answer is that:

a) Not one of the affordable boats out there are likely to let us sail where and as we do. Ultra-shoal, insulated, armored sailboats in decent shape are rare as hen's teeth, lying far away, and tend to cost a cod-wallop.

b) Retrofitting what we want as best we may - insulation, junk rig, maybe sheer-legs and metal keel-strip - along with fixing what's iffy - keel-bolts, blisters, backing plates, rig faults, etc? - takes time and treasure, and is tricky to back-fit. DIY lets it all install in good order.

c) Knowing exactly how it's built - the whats, wheres and whys - keeps maintenance manageable.

d) Most of the upfront costs are one-time expenses. They pro-rate over the lifetime of a boat that is exactly what we make of it... that fits us and our ways like a glove. In the long run, we make up an initial price difference (vs a used boat) and more.

e) There is a feeling to setting sail in your very own creation, with which no mere acquisition can compete.

Is DIY for everyone? Nope. Not even for us in some situations. If something were to happen to this one, we'll regroup, if possible, and buy used.

This one's our last, DIY home... better make it count!

Virtual Boatbuilding

 

Puzzle Box

A goal without a plan is just a wish.
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


Virtual Boatbuilding

To build for real, it helps to build in your mind, first.

Working out the order of construction in your head(s) influences your choices of materials, tools and infrastructure (sheds, jigs, power supply, etc.). It streamlines and coordinates effort, promoting efficiency. It keeps the horse ahead of the cart.

Believe me, we need all the help we can get!

Here's a general order for upright construction:

1. Set up the Worksite - Shed, workbench, building jig.
2. Build (and assemble) the Deadflat - This makes a large, flat work surface.
3. Build and frame the Bulkheads - We'd best know ahead-of-time how furniture will fit, down-the-road!
4. Build and frame the Sides - Let's say, full length.
   
5. Erect Bulkheads and Sides - Got an order pictured? A method??
6. Complete the Bottom Ends - Vague, very vague... a solid plan required here.
7. Build Furnishings, Room by Room - Line 'em up, knock 'em down.
8. Deck the Hull - With blows and pucky, falalalalaaaa, fala, la, la.
9. Build Superstructures - Trunk Cabins, Hatches, Tabernacles, etc..
10. Finish - Putty 'n paint, to make 'er what she ain't.
11. Detail Work - Handrails, Coamings, CapRails, Hardware.
12. Launch - What's your exit strategy?
13. Rig Aloft and Alow - Masts, Sails, Hardware aloft; Stove, Cushions, Bedding, etc., alow.
14. Liquidate your Land Assets - Worksite, and whatever else you can part with.
15. Sail over the Horizon - Bet we had this part in our heads from day one!

Straightforward, in many ways. The first six are those requiring the most thought. They're the big, heavy puzzle pieces that must all be made to fit together. After that, it's pretty much a down wind reach.

If short-handed, the Bottom and Sides can be built in a modular manner... this means in small, interlocking parts that can be positioned and assembled in manageable bits.

Finish can be a floating step, working as we go. 

One of our mentors would end each work day with an hour of painting. He'd mark off where he was going to be gluing one piece to the next with a heavy hand, pressing an indent line into the plywood surface. Then he'd paint outside these lines and a little bit over the line. Next day - paint dry - he'd assemble and glue, using the indents to position his work. 

By not deferring finish issues to the end, he was able to launch as soon as carpentry was complete. Taken in one go, Finish is a sizable and somewhat daunting task.

We've manage only a bit of this... it takes true organization, and a daily dedication to shop cleanliness that we have yet to achieve. But it's an option.

*****

A clear picture in our mind(s), and at least one, workable solution in hand for each problem is strongly recommended before our first cut. 

We can wing it, here and there, especially if there's no shortage of materials available, or if we have general experience with some particular aspect. But there's a danger in this... amazing how often some unlooked-for conflict will blindside us if we haven't pictured every detail.

Visualization aids - paper and pencil, mainly - are handy. I personally like a roll of butcher paper, and a block of quarter inch graph paper. There are a lot of balls to juggle, in boatbuilding. Cheat! Consider keeping a notebook of the latest and greatest solutions. What's fresh in the moment of victory may slip away in the next round.

One thing I find... when the elegant solution comes, you know it's right. If an approach feels awkward, keep at it... think out of the box... something will occur to you.

So this is what's been keeping me up nights. Ordering and reordering in my head. Copper Plate doesn't exactly simplify things.

But it's a winning battle!