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!

Flush Hatches in DIY Ply

Looks like this when put together.

Most real sailors advise not to go barefoot. HA. Muh dawgs cain't breath! If it's warm and sunny, the clothes come off; and that means gumboots, too.

But I do hate stubbin' my toe, or worse, turning an ankle. And Anke and I love to sleep on deck, of a starry night. Hatches in the cockpit, mounted proud, are rain on our parade.

So, one day I was envying fiberglass and metal boat flush hatches out loud when it came to me! A plywood sub-deck is the key. Or at least a key.

Considerations include the following:

• The cantilevered trough/coaming structure is inherently weak... it needs considerable beef.
• The trough has to be wide enough for easy (and frequent) cleaning.
• The trough has to be deep enough to keep water from spilling over the coamings.
• A gap under the hatch lips allows debris to drain without binding.
• The hatch has to have enough room to be raised - angling up, over and leaned back along one edge.

In SLACKTIDE, we built a set, and - despite beginners' mistakes - they work very well, despite needing work on the first four points.

Downside is that these are relatively complex, especially with ply/foam/ply decks. They add considerable building time and material. But, given that we dislike footwells and want a big hatch for access to the main hold,  the results are worth it to us.

Shows the two main components;
Deck and Transom with on-edge framing, and the SubDeck Assembly
The larger opening is about 3ft6in square.

The on-edge framing provides most of the stiffness. The flat, SubDeck framing should be strongly joined (glued and fastened) into it, and it, in turn should be strongly joined to any structure available. A large hatch will need a bulkhead, mid-span, to add further support. We'll put ours under the gap between hatches.

Joinery is a matter of preference... hatch lips and coamings could be ship-lapped or dove-tailed, for example. We tend to just use simple overlaps, edge gluing and nailing. Fast, has never leaked, and if something bad happens to it, it's easy to repair. We'll fillet inside corners, in some cases, but not often.

Main thing to remember is that when two pieces meet, the uphill one should overlap the downhill one. Water is thus encouraged to flow by the joint. If ship-lapping, the lowest laps follow this rule.

To tell the truth, that 1/4in ply SubDeck is mainly a contiguous membrane to cover our lazy joinery at the bottom of the trough. If you're a real boatwright, you can approach the trough/coamings in a number of more elegant ways.

One bit not shown... the end of the trough tends to dribble down the transom, meaning we have to 'wipe our beehinds' often. We've been meaning to fit some copper (flashing) to form a small spout out clear of the transom.

This aft draining hatch isn't totally necessary - the usual thing is to use a drain hose. But they are a pain when they clog. If you do use one, consider a straight shot of tubing that can be poked clear with a rod (1/4in all-thread works as well as anything's going to... the threads help grab obstructions).

If built right, you probably won't need a gasket for inshore sailing. But it doesn't hurt. We like to mount them on the underside of the Hatch itself, so that it will press down on the coamings. Neoprene works best, but closed-cell weather stripping is cheap and easily replaced. If you can find an old wetsuit, they work great.

So there ya have it... if you end up sleeping out on one of these... sweet dreams!

Honey, I Shrunk the Boat!

T32x8 with 5ft sides, 8in crown

Keep a clean mind. Change it often.
Cap'n Billy's Whiz Bag

Honey, I Shrunk the Boat!

Well, there have been a few changes at the ol' drawing board. And I'm only being funny with the title... WE shrunk the boat (y'all don't mind if I call you 'Honey', do you?).

As we started to work out the details, it became clear that the T36 gives up a lot of the synergies that make the T32 such an easy boat.

Another change is a waffle back to 5ft sides (up from 4-9-0), and now with an 8in crown (5ft8in headroom down the centerline). This allows bigger windows (though takes an extra pair of acrylic sheets). It also raises the height of the 'duck-through' the bulkhead between the raised galley sole and the lower salon, and increases the cut-out height between the galley counter and salon (lets the cook be more a part of the party).

It also gives Anke full standing headroom throughout the boat! She's 5ft6in. A 6in crown would be at a bad height, for her... she could stand, barely, but would be encouraged to slouch... resulting in 'that hang-dog' feel. At 6ft even, I'm not tempted to stand, but rather scoot into seats with ample seated headroom.

What we give up is Anke's clear view forward. At mid-deck, standing on an 8in raised sole, the bottom of the forward pilot house (galley) window is at 5-3-6... exactly her eye height. She has to crane a bit to see over. But it falls away, outboard, as the deck curves downward, and she feels as though it's a good trade for the headroom.


Consequences:

Material-wise, the T36 represents an extra half-panel of side (ply, foam, ply) port and s'brd, with an extra butt each side; an extra sheet (ply, foam, ply) of deck, spread over the boat; an extra panel of copper, an extra piece of bronze angle. The 10ft cockpit, 9ft pilot house deck and sides, and 22ft mid-deck exceed  an 8ft sheet of ply, so require piecing; that 22ft deck exceeds generally available 20ft dimensional lumber lengths, so requires piecing stringers, edging timbers and worse, hand-rails.


Displacement-wise, we lose about a ton, at any given draft, which is about the equivalent of 2in of extra immersion. And the T36 loses about 500lbs advantage to the weight of that extra 4ft of hull (not all payload, that is).

T32 allows us to be lighter - about 11Klbs at 12in draft) if we can manage - and can go as high as about 15Klbs at 16in draft, which I can't see needing to pack aboard.

In otherwords, there's about 2 tons of overlap, the upper end of which is likely moot.


Speed-wise, we lose some hull-speed, and two feet off our aft curve (increased drag). The mizzen is cropped, so we lose some sail-area, and reduce our SA/D ratio. The consequence is that we drop from potential of a 7.8kt to 7.3kt vessel (half a knot), and it will take a little more to reach hull speed. Tolerable, especially considering we spend so much time puttering along at far less, due to conditions.


Harbor-wise, or any time we have to pay length-wise rent, the T32 will be 11% cheaper.


On-the-hard-wise, I expect that extra 4ft makes a fair difference, when push comes to shove. Aground, the smaller and lighter the better! Even a kayaker can tell ya that.


Interior-wise, we lose a foot in the galley, aka 9ft3 of stowage. This is perhaps the most grievous loss of that one thing that really drove the desire for more. Yet we're gaining a foot on LUNA, whose galley was already ample. Crazily so when compared to other yachts our size. Really, we were just getting plumb greedy.

We lose 6in each in the bunk and salon. I doubt the bunk area will even notice it. The salon, neither, with the exception of guest storage.

Regarding Anke's brother, Peter (our extra-tall guest), we had a brainstorm. He sleeps on the made up dinette, which is slightly longer than he is... problem comes when he extends his feet, running up against the bulkheads. Not a big problem, but it annoys. We'll cut a removable plate in the galley bulkhead, allowing that extra few inches of clearance that should make all the difference! Problem solved.


Cockpit-wise, the two extra feet would surely have been nice for processing foods aboard on deck. But at 8ft x 8ft, The T32 gains a foot (of width) on SLACKTIDE's cockpit, which already handles everything we need. Ample for projects, and has enough room to set up a cooker in one corner, opposite the bench seat. Really, it would just have been a longer walk.

*****

And so, we give up the... ahem... sleek lines, extra space and displacement of the T36, and return to LUNA's comfortably adequate dimensions, as extended by conversion to box barge. 

After all, when it comes to stuff, more-than-enough is too much.