We put a lid on it!

Before I get into a boat update, take a look at these photos.

For those of you who haven't been to our boat shop, its not in the wilderness, it pretty much in the middle of the city, except for the creek that runs by.  The weather has been almost good enough to eat on the dock again, so I walked over to take a look and noticed one of the trees was halfway cut through.  In disbelief that there was a beaver around we took a closer look and found little beaver paw prints.  

This tree is a little farther down the way, its amazing to me that these animals are living here in Salt Lake City.  We are hoping that our little neighbor builds a dam, but despite falling one tree already he/she has yet to land one in the creek.  I just watched this beaver video, I hope those little rascals stick around.  We could use more wood workers and less chop shops in the complex.

Speaking of wood working.  I bought a bunch of mahogany a little while ago to use for exterior trim and got around to using most of it this week.  This is the scarf joint in one of the toe rails.  These rails give you something to brace your feet against when walking up the side decks.  Usually the scarf joints are cut to feather edges, but because this joint will be exposed to hard use we left the ends square.  This will keep them from chipping or splitting.  

Our two toe rails, ready to be installed.  They are about 27 ft. long, you can see the scuppers(drain holes) that are cut out in the middle.  The scuppers of course allow any water that makes its way onto the deck to quickly drain overboard.

The Cabin Top!!

We just cut out the windows, its wild how much like a real boat its starting to look.

Beth taping off an area to be painted, I have pretty much left the interior to her and am now focusing on the exterior and getting it ready for paint.   Which believe it or not isn't that far away!

The interior looks great, the ceiling will be painted white except for the beams, and there will be windows on the left side as well. 

Beth and I are headed to Saint George for the weekend to do some much needed climbing, and maybe some suntanning.  

Always psyched, Cody and Beth

One Year Mark

It has officially been one year since we started work on the boat! 

Hard to believe it's been that long. And only that long.  

Here's the shop on February 15th, 2012.  Lots of brand-new tools, not a stitch of sawdust...

Things have certainly changed!  What a year it's been!   

Our latest progress has been pretty exciting.  We've installed the cabin sides and roof, and it really feels different to be inside the boat, with everything enclosed.  I can't wait to put in the portlights! 

The cabin roof was definitely the largest piece of plywood we've ever created.  It took four large scarf joints and three sheets of plywood.  It was quite a bear to wrestle up onto the boat.  

Here it is, pre-coated and ready to go. 

Getting from point A to point B..... Can be tricky.  Especially when there's wet epoxy on everything.

But we made it!  And check out that camber!  (The curve of the roof)  

We used stainless steel screws to hold the curve.  It's under so much tension, we decided some mechanical fasteners should remain in there.     

These handles are alongside the companionway, to allow us to get in and out easily. 

 They're also handy for clamping the roof on.  

Here's to another year of living dreams.....

Great Expectations

The last ten days on the boat have been full of ups and downs.  After the foredeck went on, we started working on the side decks, which went on in just a few days.  Then only a few days after that the two stern quarters were on, which means all the decks are on!!!  (The first layer, anyway.)

Side panels being prepped for install.  We traced the spots between the beams when we fit the pieces, and pre-painted the first coat.  The less overhead painting we have to do, the better.

Side panels being installed!

Stern quarters are on and some of the hatches are cut out.

Everything was going great, so fast, too good to be true.  It was too good to be true.  I furnished Beth with plans to make the deck beams, and she made them according to the plans.  Unfortunately, after starting to frame out the cabin I realized the plans were wrong.  Initially I thought we would be making 4 or 5 new deck beams, but after some rearranging I think we will just have to make 1 or 2.  I had been getting so excited, I could see things just flying together and was setting schedules in my mind.  I had a ways to fall before I hit the ground.  

Its just so easy to get caught up in things like this that look like you're getting a lot done.  But in reality the last ten days were no more productive than the 10 days I spent fairing the hull.  They were however much more fun.

lots of stuff on the table, everything from a fork to an angle grinder.

This took me some time to commit to doing this, the first hole cut in the hull.  That funny looking triangle block is cut to the shape of the through-hull fitting that will go there.

No more hopeful projections for us. 

We're just putting in the hours and we will get there when we arrive.

Riding the storm out

Winter is seriously here now, we were hoping for a repeat of last the mild winter we had last year, but no such luck.  We had about 10 days of highs in the 20's, followed by well over a foot of snow overnight.  Now the snow has gone, but the cold has returned, at least its crystal clear and sunny.

I got stuck for the last week helping a friend on a remodel here in SLC, so I haven't been able to work much on the boat.   However Beth has been picking up my slack and gluing up the beams for the cabin roof.  

I got the mast step in finally, its a big chunk of Ash with two layers of plywood on top.  The plywood ensures that the subsequent layers of Ash won't split.  This is where the mast will rest, the channel at the back of it is where any water that makes it into the mast will drain.  I used heavy 8" lag bolts to hold it in between the floor timbers.

This is a new addition.  That arrow looking piece is what is called a breasthook.  It helps tie the bow together and gives us a place to bolt the bowsprit to.

Super exciting!  Finally the deck is going on.  I scarfed 2+ sheets of 1/2" ply together to make one giant foredeck piece.  Then Beth and I wrestled it into place, marked where we would glue it and painted the rest.  The less overhead painting the better!

Those to cutouts will be Delorean style doors that open into the anchor locker.  I don't know why Beth is in there.

Just finishing up glueing the foredeck down.  In typical fashion we used minimal amounts of screws and will pull them out as soon as the epoxy sets up.

We just glued up the cabin top beams, using the side of the boat as a form to get the curve right.

Clamp limbo.  Its a pattern in the pants.

Christmas!

Once upon a time...  

There was a place called "Christmas."

Cody and I decided to go there. 

We found ourselves a Snow Beast, (on loan),

Strapped on some snowshoes, and headed out to find Christmas.  

 

We found it!  And some friends.  

We played hockey on a frozen pond- and even though it was very cold, we stayed toasty warm.  

Cody and I even won the hockey game.  

We were rewarded with gifts and buffalo steak. 

The End.

Thank you Gramma Jane for the most amazing sweater! 

MADNESS

Using lots of clamps and as much pressure as I could physically manage, I glued the knee together!

The end grain of my knee, 12 1/8" laminations.

Here it is holding up the table, the knee is more than strong enough, but the table flexes a little.

Beth wanted a table that opened up so she can store trinkets and other stuff.  This requirement ended up working great, it gave the table enough strength to cantilever the whole way and not sag.  I recessed the hinges and then veneered over them, so you can't really see them at all.

The companion way ladder, the sides are VG fir and the treads are some of the salvaged Teak from the Tartan we ransacked.

Beth gluing in the vent line for one of the water tanks.

Back to/from work?

I have been busy working on a climbing wall in Park City lately and have had to put the boat aside.  However the wall turned out pretty cool.  The wall is in a condo that sits on a little pond,  I'm guessing the condo is about 700 sq. ft. and the climbing wall is 170 sq ft.   Pretty committing, but I think that means he will actually put the wall to use.





 This wall was a little different than most I build  in that it is wood framed.  Wood sounds much easier to work with but I find it more difficult for climbing walls.  The problem is all the connection points, steel is just like gluing everything together, the possibilities are endless.  Wood on the other hand has two issues of wood grain and splitting.  Wood makes a lot of sense when things are square, but climbing walls are not sqare.

I did almost break a 2X6 in a way I never have before.  In order to get the sheeting to lay flat to the framing the studs have to be twisted the match the twist of the wall.  Usually I'm twisting angle iron (L shape) which is easy, but a fir 2x6 doesn't like to be twisted.  Anyway I stopped twisting it after I heard a pretty good crack, and it didn't break in half.

Check out this contraption .  I was trying to bend some mahogany trim into place and the piece broke in half, so Beth and I rigged up this steam box.  We used a camp stove and a pressure cooker for the steam.  Then I found some scrap copper pipe and a length of PVC pipe.  The trim piece goes in the tube, and we just used some old rags to block off the ends.  Turns out pressure cookers are less frightening when steaming wood than when steaming vegetables.

We steamed it for about 25 minutes and it bent into position no problem.  I forgot to take a picture, but I think the steamer was cooler than the finished product.

While I was working on the wall Beth glued together our sewage holding tank.  Which serves as part of the floor under the dinette.  Again no photo, next post.

I thought this ended up looking pretty cool.  Its the a leveling pad to mount the toilet to the hull.

 
        
I just started this madness today, 1/8 inch strips of wood  bent to a pretty tight radius, which will make really cool looking braces to hold up the table.  I'm going to try and make the table without any center or end support, so it will just be sticking out of the side of the boat.  If its possible it will look awesome, but I have my doubts as to whether it will be strong enough.

Back to work, but I guess it just depends on your definition of work.

We're puttin' tops on stuff!

This week on the boat, the icebox continues.....

We poured the outside insulation last week, and this week we are working on the lid.  The idea was to pour foam into the area where the lid would go, then pull the hardened foam block out and fiberglass the outside.  This should yield a lightweight and snug fitting lid.

I put a piece of plywood covered in plastic about three inches into the box to pour the foam onto.  Of course you can see the foam grew well out of its mold, which is good.  I cut around the edges and then Beth helped me pull it out using those three chisels.

There were a few voids, but it turned out pretty good overall.  

We rarely work on just one thing at the shop and this week has been no different.  I put some time into getting the port side deck framing in.  Beth and I glued the carlins(beam running from bow to stern) a month or more ago, so all I had to do was cut some notches and glue it in.  The trick with the carlin is getting it to run at at the same angle as the side of the boat.  It was sawn to shape, but as with most things needed to be tweaked a little.  I this photo we have laid pieces of wood across and then we just look down them to see if everything is flowing smoothly.  Then we used a clamp to raise and lower the carlin until it looked good.   

  

Here is the finished product.  We decided to go with pretty wide side decks, 18".  Our previous boat had much narrower side decks and it can be a pain to go back and forth carrying sails.  Of course on the flip side we lose some interior room.

Notch in the carlin where a side deck beam will go.

Beth, as you can see in this picture, has been on a sanding/painting tear.  Most of the interior has at least one coat of paint and some are finished.  It all looks so great with paint.

I caught Beth bashing the lid to her paint can on with the roller handle.

Freshly painted walls and Icebox.  We had just enough copper to finish the icebox top, It looks so sick!

I have been working for the man lately, so haven't been at the shop as much as I would like, but when I get this monkey off my back I'm going to start working on the Head(bathroom)(nautical terms suck).  Our toilet just arrived yesterday and now I have to find a way to fit it in the small space designated for it.  We'll see.