A little more work on the transom

Tonight I cut two more holes in the transom. A 1" drain hole, and a square hole for the boomkin.
That makes a grand total of 17 perforations through my transom. Six for the Duckworks motor mount, eight holes for the gudgeons, and three more for the tiller, boomkin and drain!  I hope the boat will still float despite all these holes!

Another challenge was how to trim all the planks flush with the transom. I thought about using a saw but was afraid of scratching the surface of the transom and chipping the planks. Then I thought Id carefully whittle away at them with a sharp chisel. That would have taken forever.  I ended up using the Gain Machine


I set the Gain Machine so that the router bit was flush with the bottom of the base, like this:

Then, holding the base firmly against the transom, I used the Gain Machine to route the protruding planks flush with the transom.

The planks were perfectly flush a few minutes later.

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On old vices new media and timeless techniques

Chris Schwarz, owner of Lost Art Press and Editor-at-large of Popular Woodworking magazine, has a bit of a thing for leg vices. Though he calls them vises. Its a murican thing.
Last night after a lovely day out with our nephew in Greenwich I sent Chris a picture of the carpenters vice we saw on the Cutty Sark.
This morning its in a blog post on Popular Woodworkings website.
It used to take that vice weeks to cross the Atlantic, now its dashing back and forth shaking its unusual guide mechanism across the world.
Its such a bad picture Im not even going to post it here but he insisted on giving a credit. Its nice to be able to help someone from whom Ive learnt so much. I will, however post some photos of the ship. Which is amazing. I dont really like expensive restorations of rotting hulks that sit in dry dock and gather dust; boats should sail. The Cutty Sark exhibition is, however, astonishing. Not least because the boat seems to float over the heads of the people sitting in the cafe.
Its beautiful, educational and a masterpiece of engineering. Twice.
The restorers (or preservers I should say, since the ship wont work in its intended function) have tried to use a lot of the original material. Where they needed to add material theyve highlighted it. Original steel frames are white, new steel reinforcement is grey.  Its less obvious in the wood work. Much of the bright work is original and each restoration has added its own set of dutchmen, or patches, let in to the original, massive timbers. This has created a wonderful palimpsest that is testament to the longevity of our domestic hardwoods, the skill of the craftsmen and women who worked on the ship and the potential of wooden vessels to be maintained and repaired.
And that brings me back to the purpose of the blog: building a wooden boat. Little progress to report, Im afraid. Im building a bench at the moment. Chris Schwarz in one of his two (how much is there to say?) books on building workbenches says that a bench should have neither an apron nor a tool tray. Mine will have both. But then he also says "Disobey me!" so Ive taken him at his word. Im chopping mortices for the legs at the moment. Steve Branam has an excellent guide to building this bench, better even than Roy Underhills original description, so I wont be posting it here - its already done.

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On the Eve of the Secret History of American River People Expedition

As you may have heard, the shantyboat nears completion and we are readying it for the Secret History of American River People expedition on the Upper Mississippi starting in a few days.

This is a research journey to gather and present the lost stories of people living on or adjacent to the river. You can read all about it at the project website.

You can follow our progress on our voyage. You may want to hear about our triumphs and travails and the cool people we meet. If so, you can get automatic updates via email (or Twitter or Instagram and so on) right here: http://peoplesriverhistory.us/contact/

I also hope you will keep in touch with us and send us contacts of amazing people we want to talk to on the Upper Mississippi.

Thanks for all your support that has made this project possible.

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WoodenBoat article on John Welsford

The current issue of WoodenBoat magazine has a wonderful article that you wont want to miss entitled "Suitability for Purpose, John Welsford and the art and science of boat design".  The article describes Johns 30 year history as a boat designer and his design methodology.  There are some nice photos taken at Port Townsend and Sail Oklahoma showcasing some of his popular designs, including Scamp #1 and Mike Moneys red Scamp, Peter Van Sickles Penguin Tenatious, and my Navigator Ellie.  Dont miss it.  Congratulations, John, and keep up the good work!

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Shantyboat on the Mississippi

In July, we are bringing the shantyboat across country to launch in the Mississippi River on an art and history expedition:

Thanks to espressobuzz for the historic photo

A journey to rediscover the lost narratives of river people, river communities, and the river itself. 

Secret History is an anthro-historical artists journey through the history of a river. It weaves together threads of adventure, history, art, and story. 

We take to the river, Those forgotten waterways that flow through most towns, hidden behind levees, shoved underground or behind the seediest neighborhood.

Just a few generations ago, there were whole communities of people living right on the river in shantyboats. And people living in the bottomlands that flood every spring. Now mostly all gone.

We are fundraising right now to help make the project happen. There is also a beautiful video we produced to give you a lyrical flavor of the project.

Support A Secret History of American River People Kickstarter

The Kickstarter campaign is critical for launching the Secret History expedition. It will help pay for final outfitting of the shantyboat and transporting it across country. It will make sure we have decent audio-video equipment to record our interviews in the river communities we visit.

Thanks for helping support the project.

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Winter on Beaver Creek with Wild Rose

As promised, photo evidence from the Oregon coast on the first day of 2014.

The group of hardy individuals who brave mid-winter weather to drift quietly on local coastal rivers grows weekly. The last time we did this, temperatures were below freezing, but yesterday the most challenging problem was having worn too many layers.

From some of the shots, you can see the brilliant, low-angle winter sun played havoc with picture exposure.


May all lifes difficulties be so taxing.

Beaver Creek empties directly into the Pacific Ocean just south of Seal Rock, Oregon. The estuary is protected by recent acquisition of property by the State of Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department and is quickly becoming a popular kayak destination.

The creek meanders through a marshy estuary and upstream, soon narrows to a trickle. There is a sandbar across the mouth that prohibits salt water intrusion and limits the current flow. You can see the bar in this photo. Yes, those gulls are standing on the sand. To get this picture, I was in a narrow channel in about a foot of water, with a swift current threatening to wash me up on the sand, or out to sea. Just time for a quick shot, then paddle like mad!

Exploring this creek was the initial motivation for building Wild Rose. A row boat just takes too much width to get very far upstream, as can be seen with Lazy Duck. Wild Rose will open a whole new navigational experience for me. Im looking forward to it!




As always, more photos can be found on Dorymans Flickr site.

All the best to you and yours for the new year.

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Update on S S 30

 
We continue to receive a lot of inquiries about the S&S 30 asking about the status regarding production. We are pleased to report that the hull tooling is complete and the deck tooling is nearing completion as can be seen by the image above. We are still targeting having a boat on the water in time for the fall boat shows.

For plans, additional images, specifications and project history, please visit the Sparkman & Stephens 30 website at www.sparkmanstephens.com/ss30.  Also multiple postings can be found within these pages by doing a search for S&S 30 in the search field above.

Offered at $149,000, sail away price.

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Dorymans Kayak on Drift Creek

Youve heard me speak of Drift Creek before. The last six miles of this coastal creek are tidal, which this time of year means exploration as high into the forest as a boat can go. The tide yesterday was a whopping twelve foot drop, so a few die-hard mariners ventured up stream at mid-day.

From the start, it was apparent we had missed the incoming tide. Perhaps the winter rain run-off had canceled the incoming current, because we paddled for two hours in what was, to all appearances, still water.

But when the tide turned it was a different story. We were still headed upstream, looking for a beautiful waterfall we had seen earlier in the year, though the rush of water headed out to sea had a different agenda. About five miles up the creek, we turned around and by the time we arrived back at the mouth of Drift Creek, where it empties into the Alsea River, the water level had dropped three feet and was running at two knots.

Despite the freezing weather - or perhaps because of it - the water and the forest had a beckoning beauty and incredible stillness. With no wind, it was completely silent. One could sit still and hear absolutely nothing. Such a feeling of sensory deprivation is both eerie and wonderful.

It was a perfect day to try out the brand new Doryman kayak. Im no kayaker yet, so will need to practice more to give a full report of her capabilities.
She sure looked pretty.

This kayak could be called a freighter. She is beamy and voluminous. There was little chance she would perform as well as Curts bright yellow sea kayak. But (sorry Curt) she has more class, more narrative.

Heres a shot of Curt behind me. I must have turned around sooner.

All agreed this was a wonderful winter day on the water, despite the frosty conditions.

Thanks to Shalline for photos of the Doryman Kayak.

Chuck and Shallines new canoe is a Loon 16. Its built of hand-laid fiberglass with wood inlays inside. A high performance vessel, no doubt.



As always, the most enthusiastic mariner was Lucy the Dog, with Jim in Lazy Duck. I want to show you her most prominent position. Please note the tail. It never stops. I envy her happy enthusiasm.


Lucy the Dog from doryman on Vimeo.

For pictures of the kayak build, please visit Dorymans Flickr site.

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Tips on how not to die in a fiery ball of twisted metal on the highway

Anyone know anything about trailer tow hardware like sway bars and weight distributing whohaws and whatnots?

The shantyboat were planning will be trailer-able.  So if Im gonna be towing a heavy-ass boat on a trailer down the road with a 20 foot double axle trailer with electric brakes, I want not to experience the sheer shit-in-your-pants life-flashes-before-your-eyes terror of a swaying trailer that I remember from my years hauling my theme camp out to the Black Rock Playa back in the day.

The weight of the boat, will be maybe 5000 lbs and change (but maybe as high as 7000 lbs). Ill be towing it with a 1970 Ford 3/4 ton F250. My old work truck.  God, I love that thing.  500 bucks ten years ago.  This is the only vehicle Ive shown the commitment of purchasing a stereo for.

Chicken John whos towed big stupid heavy things around for years says:

So that truck probably weighs about 5,000 pounds. If its a 3/4 ton, itll have a heavy duty front end, more springs in the back, bigger drums/calipers, beefier suspension all around and should not sway. If it does, I would look to a repair in the truck or changing the weight of the trailer around... maybe move the boat up or back a foot or two. you want like 400 pounds of tongue weight or so.

Swaying is death on wheels. Back in the day, with my smaller 64 F150, if we kept is slow, like 50 and under, all was okay, but if we went faster than that, terror.

I hear there are nifty things called sway bars and other fancy hardware that can allow my life to feel more secure. What do I need to look at if I want to maybe go 55 without dying?

Some helpful webpage about truck and trailer towing says:

1. Chronal circuitry.  2. Mr. Fusion.  3. Flux capacitor.  4. Geissler tubes.  5. Plutonium-powered nuclear reactor

The Weight Distribution Hitch

The weight distribution hitch allows the Ford 250 to tow double the weight of the simple hitch. This hitch uses the same ball attached to the back of the truck. It adds two bars or tubes, stretching two feet back, under the frame of the trailer. Each tube connects with a chain to the trailer frame above it. When the truck slows down and the trailer wants to dip down, the tubes and chains prevent it from doing so. With this type of hitch, the trailer and the truck stay in the same plane. The trailer cant tilt forward and press the back of the truck down.

Im down with that.  There are all sorts of variations apparently, sway controls, and weight distribution styles.  I read about this until my head spun.

But again from Chicken:

Weight disribution or anti-sway bar... same same. I dont recommend them, but they are useful in over 8,000 pound applications. For you, with your 3/4 ton truck, it would be best to only tow inside your "towing capacity". Which I think you can do. However, if you find that your rig is not right after you hitch up and go on a trial run, you could try something like that. But as I said, if you are towing 5,000 pounds and you start to sway, its probably the truck needing a repair.

So I like to hear those soothing words, like "Youll be okay," and "You can do it," and "You probably will not die on the highway in the wreckage of your shantyboat."  They warm my chilled little heart.

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Clarity on Catalina 38

Catalina 38

After our posting yesterday about design #1903, the Hughes 38, we received an inquiry from a blog reader as follows:

"Didnt the Hughes 38 go forward to become the Catalina 38 and was successfully raced in the Congressional Cup for many years? How did that transition take place from the Hughes 38 to the C 38 "?

Its a good question but the answer is no. The Catalina 38 was actually a development of the Yankee 38, design #2094-C2. The story is that Frank Butler of Catalina purchased the molds from Yankee Yachts and started building the boats. When he called the firm and asked about advertising the boat as an S&S design, he apparently balked at the royalty and as a result the boats were advertised as designed by Frank Butler, as can be seen in the brochure below.


Granted Butler redesigned the deckhouse and made other changes. More information can be found on the Catalina 38 international Association website by clicking here.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 38-2"
LWL 30-3"
Beam 11-10"
Draft 6-9" (deep keel) 4-11" (shoal draft keel)
Displacement 15,900 lbs (deep keel) 16,700 lbs (shoal draft keel)
Ballast 6,850 lbs (deep keel) 7,650 lbs (shoal draft keel)
Sail Area 639 sq ft

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Celebrating Belle Starr On the Water

At the end of a very productive week, we find the sloop-rigged cutter Belle Starr in the water for the first time in many years.

Belle Starr, as you know, is a Stone Horse, built in wood, as originally designed by Sam Crocker. This classic was designed in 1931. Less than forty were built before production was interrupted by WWII. Some of the original wood models are still sailing.
An additional 150 fiberglass Stone Horse models were built by Edey and Duff between 1969 and the early 1990s.

The defining feature of the Stone Horse 23 is her raised, flush foredeck and integral coamings. Twenty three feet on deck, the overall length of the Stone Horse is 28’-3” with a bowsprit and boomkin. The hull has a full keel with hard-chined sections and a transom-hung rudder.

After a year and a half in the shop, Belle Starr touched water this week at family-owned Zittles Marina, outside Olympia, Washington. The launch was flawless, stepping the mast went smoothly and the boat sat pretty on her lines. Its fair to say, this deserves a celebration.

With an enormous amount of help from friends and the professionals at Zittles, this project has reached a milestone. My very good friends, Doug Follet of Olympia, his brother Steve, from Vermont, and Dougs son, Ian, of Seattle, all chipped in to make two days of rigging and outfitting go smoothly. My heart-felt thanks to these generous men!



Launch Day for Belle Starr from doryman on Vimeo.

The four of us took the cutter out for a trial sail and wouldnt you know, a calm day of 3-4 knot breezes suddenly built to 15 knots. We turned around and headed back but there was enough time to see what could be done to finish the rigging.




test sail from doryman on Vimeo.

Belle Starr behaved like a thoroughbred. Look for updates, right here, in the days and weeks to come. She is bound for adventure...

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Beach coaming on Hogfish Maximus

In the islands and beaches of the world are all the cast offs and discards of what most men do not want or need. I on the other hand see this as free treasure and loot to be gotten with a little bit of effort. It does help that I have a willing partner in Rachel and the good dog Bequia to keep the crabs at bay. Of course having the Hogfish Maximus is the best boat because we can with her 27 inch draft go where nobody else dare go and can carry the load with ease as she is a working craft and does not have to worry about yachty things like a few scratches and stains that can be delt with later.

This shot is taken from our upstairs porch of Rachel and I offloading our findings from a recent trip in the Abacos. The Hogfish is temporarily tied up alongside in the entrance canal. Our latest project boat is in the slip out front. Its a 39 year old Irwin sloop that will be our future Bahama boat.The Telephone pole has a boom rig for it but the halyard on Hogfish is rated for 4 tons so no problem here. All the decking, pilings ,and wood you see in this shot has been salvaged from the shore. After hurricane Sandy I went to Harbor Island to look for wood .The entire shore line was scattered with the broken dock wood from the Marinas there. I asked the owners of the shore side houses if I could takes some of the wood. They all said you can have it all as the Marinas have insurance so will be buying new wood and will leave this mess here for us to clean up. Well Rachel and I did a good job of cleaning up their shoreline. Now that mess is what you see in this Photo.

Tied alongside a friends dock in Green Turtle Cay getting our findings sorted out. The mast is from a wreck off the Hog Cays, no relation to Hogfish, that went up in Hurricane Sandy. I will cut the mast up to make collums for our porches at our place. Its 53 ft long and was made in England of aluminum by Proctor masts about 43 years ago.

Mast sections cut with a saws all while hanging alongside. The wood is from a 40 ft. Log that was on Powell Cay that I helped friends cut up with a chainsaw mill. This is some of my share of the find. Will be making a new kitchen table, a 10 ftx 38 inch long desk, a life size Mermaid for over the back door of the house,lots of fish and other sea life.

You can just see behind our friend Dr. John Rohde a 31 ft. Trimaran that we salvaged from a remote island in the Bahamas. We are towing it without effort behind the Hogfish under sail. Project # 385!!

A raw grouper waiting to come out . All you have to do is remove whats not needed.

All the wood decking and rocks you see in these photos were found by us and carried to our place by boat and hand. Will be looking for you on the shore line some where.

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Ken Basset Firefly on the Connecticut River

Upon seeing the Basset Firefly Finesse here in these pages, Lorenz Rutz wrote to tell me of his most recent creation. While Finesse is a double, Lorenz has built the original eighteen-foot single from Ken Bassets plans. However, he departed significantly by constructing a tape and glue version. The resulting boat is much lighter and Lorenz says he can easily load it on top of his truck.

Well ask him to tell the story...

"I was looking to build a performance pulling boat, something a step up from my Gloucester Light Dory and my search kept coming around to Firefly. Being new to boat building, I liked the simple plywood construction. I had successfully completed a 17 okoume/composite ocean kayak and looking at Firefly, it occurred to me that this hull was perfect for stitch and glue construction."

"I contacted Bassett and he gave me his blessing to proceed. Stitch and glue plans usually include plank expansions, a set of numbers that allow the builder to cut out the planks without setting up molds. Firefly did not come with expansions, so I had to begin by setting up the molds."

"From the mold I was able to take the four plank shapes and then proceed to stitch and glue them together. The plywood easily accommodated the twists required, no torturing involved. Though I did use 4mm okoume instead of the called for 6mm which would have resisted a bit more. I used 4mm because I fully fiberglassed the boat inside and out."

"I took a page from the Annapolis Wherry and added sealed tanks fore and aft both for stiffness and because I am a fan of positive flotation in a boat. The center frames are laminated Douglas fir. All the trim is Douglas fir. I have not weighed the boat yet, but I can easily carry it over my head."

"There is a bit more wood to add and more epoxy and paint, but I suspect the resulting boat will be quite a bit lighter than the original version. Im installing a salvaged and refurbished Alden Row Master for seat and riggers. Im shooting for a spring launch on the Connecticut River."

"My daughter built an Annapolis Wherry last summer. We are anticipating a double launch date. I’m curious to see how they compare on the water. I will send you photos."

Excellent job, dont you all agree? Well be looking forward to the launch, Lorenz. Thank you for the great photos!

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More on Design 1557 Spirit Class

As a follow up to my posting of earlier today regarding design 1557-C3, here is Orpheus, hull number five of the series.  She was built of wood by American Marine of Hong Kong.  Her cabin trunk is specific to this hull. I think the house is very nicely proportioned.  There is 6-1" headroom under the deckhouse. Image courtesy of Jeff Sanders and Wooden Boat magazine.

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