The Urban Oarsman

Working out the rigging and a test sail.

Turadh rigged, with the sails furled.  In future, I will furl the main sail with the sprit boom against the mast.

Close-up of the main halyard winch and the two clutches.  One for the halyard and one for the sprit boom snotter line.  I have given the cuddy hatch two hand rails similar to the cuddy top railings. 

The transom showing the mizzen sheet fairlead hole being fitted.  You can also see the main sheet ratchet block. 

Exterior of the transom shot.  If you look through the motor cut-out, you can see that the runner tiller can be moved upright to get it out of the way of the cockpit. The boomkin has leather chafing guard where it enters the transom. 

The leather collar on the main mast.  When the mast is in place, and the stainless steel mast collar fastened, this collar will keep the mast from falling through the ss mast collar if Turadh should turtle.

Checking out the first reef (94sqft) in the mailsail.  Bolger, sadly, does not go into a lot of detail about how to reef this rig.  What I have found with my Mirror Dinghy’s Gunter rig is that it is very hard to reef.  Where the halyard attaches to the main spar is fixed and if you reef by simply dropping the spar to the first reef point, the angle of the spar will no longer be parallel to the mast.  To fix this, I have made three attachment spots for the main spar.  One at the correct height for no reef, one for the first reef and another for the second reef.  This does complicate reefing.  You have to lower the sail and spar so you can disconnect the halyard from the unreefed attachment point and re-attach the halyard to the first reef point.  This is what has been done here.  Notice how parallel the main spar is with the main mast.  I guess that I will reef in advance, before setting out.

Checking out the second reef (67sqft).  I have lowered the main spar and reattached the main halyard to the second reef point attachment spot.  You can see that the entire rig is lower now.  The main spar is parallel to the mast.

From Phil’s book “Different Boats”:

I bought two Aeré Beach rollers from Duckworks in Port Townsend.  They serve as both buoyancy bags and beach rollers.  Fit nicely into the seats.  The pump fits in nicely too. The two wing nuts to the left of the seat storage hold the centreboard case top in place.

Shot showing the rowing compass on the stern moveable seat. The mizzen sheet enters through the transom via the round bushing, goes to the turn-around block on the bulkhead and to the jambcleat. Against the Starboard seat front is the cotter pin that holds the centreboard up.

Shot showing the light bar attached.

Turadh on her trailer, ready to go.  Spars, sails and oars secured for the trip to the launching ramp in Squamish.  Note that the rudder down for the trip.

Away we go.  My son, Matthew, will be kayaking with me.  He wants to explore a kayaking camping site know as Tantalus Landing Marine Site (Sea To Sky Marine Trail In Howe Sound).

Rigging up at the Squamish boat launch.  Took about one-half hour.

 Turadh rigged and in the water.  This is one of the last photos.  Sure looks flat here. Generally, the winds in Squamish do not start up until about 11am.  It is 9:45am. when we set out. As soon as I pushed off, the winds started up.  Inflow, gusting to 15kph. Unless the centreboard is down, Turadh goes sideways very easily.  There is actually a lot of windage on the hull. I found it very hard to row any course.  With my hands full, I had to drop sail and motor.  The rudder was not very effective without the centreboard.  The centreboard did not want to stay down. My temporary rig to keep the centreboard down did not work very well.  I found that by using the Torqeedo much like a conventional outboard (i.e. steering with it) I could steer the boat.  Turadh did very well with the Torqeedo, moving into the wind and gusts, easily at 5kph, the speed Matthew was paddling at. The Torqeedo said that I had almost 40 kilometres of range at this speed. Pretty good heading into the wind and surf. The swell is just starting to break.

With the wind gusts topping 25kph, the going was very slow to Tantalus Landing.  The mizzen was indeed a steering sail.  With my hands full, I did not get a lot of photo ops.

   After three hours, we reached Tantalus Landing.  We found an unbeachable landing site under the conditions.  At mid-tide, there is a rock shelf, strewn with large cobble that could be used, but there were large angular boulders at the high and low tide lines, making landing at this tide impossible.  Too deep to anchor just offshore.

The winds were a little calmer against the cliff face, so I raised sail and motored out into the wind.  When I got into the wind, Turadh just took off.  Under full sail, I was doing over 10 knots!!!  Wing on wing, she was very steady.  I was leaving Matthew far behind.  To slow down, I let go both sheets.  With the sails streaming downwind, I slowed to 2 knots.  I was having a problem keeping the centreboard down, hanging onto the sheets and the rudder at the same time, so, no photos.  At the same time, Matthew was having a hard time paddling so no photos from him either. 

I was being blown towards Squamish and a rocky shore.  I decided to drop the mainsail, furl the mizzen and motor the rest of the way in.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Need to be able to keep the centreboard down.
• Need a tiller tamer.
• Learn how to sail a yawl.
• Reef earlier.
• Have crew.

Well, back to the shop for some “Tweeking“ and re-thinking.

Mike

After the test float, the position of the oar lock was determined.  The fitting begins.

I start by fitting the oar socket block , using the oarsman seat placement from the test float. The block is shaped with a cut-out to fit the gunnel and will be pegged in later.

The bow eye is put in, put at the right height for the winch on my trailer. I used a punch to dimple the brass. This is a threaded eye and the nut/washer are on the inside of the stem.

Fitting the oarlock socket. I made the sockets using a plan from Small Boats nation called: DIY Oarlock Sockets Oilite bearings to reduce wear. Written by  James Kealey, From Issue  August 2023. I made six of the sockets, so I could have one rower or one rower and a passenger or two rowers. For now, I am only going to fit one set of sockets.

The block is shaped.  I always want my oarlock sockets to drain overboard and not into the boat. It also has the benefit on not digging into your back when you are sailing.

The block is epoxied in and dowels are epoxied in to hold it.  The edges are routed with a ¼” round over bit, as are all of the gunnels.  Next will be routing out the slot for the oarlock socket.

The seat tops will be held down with straps secured by button snaps. The seats are notched flush to the seat top for the straps.

Red straps for Port and Green straps for Starboard. You can see the clips at the back of the seats that hold the seat in place. Undo the straps and the seat will lift up to access the storage area.

The canvas deck gets two coats of paint. No sun damage here. Note the maple caps have been sanded and varnished. Still have to put in the drain holes for the deck.

The top of the cuddy canvas gets painted too.

This is the scarfing jig I made.  The strip must be clamped at both ends or the action of the circular saw blade will jam. I ran a circular saw between the two strips to make the scarf joint.

The Mizzen mast is a solid Douglas fir one. Lots of shaping and sanding.

Test fit of the Mizzen. The top collar for the mizzen is epoxied to the top of the transom.

Glueing up the scarfs for the strips for the hollow birds’ mouth mast. The spar with the green tape is the sprit boom.

In order, the Boomkin, Mizzen sprit, Main sprit and Mizzen mast being varnished

31a Cutting the notch(s) for the birds’ mouth mast in the yellow cedar strips. Each strip is numbered. You can see the her name getting fitted onto the bow wale.

Test fit of the birds’ mouth mast strips, before tapering. Want to insure that everyting fits!

The mast all glued up.  The stands are adjusted to compensate for the taper in the mast, to keep the mast straight. I used hose clamps to clamp the staves.

Knocking off the corners in the rounding process. Lots of shaping to go.

Test fit of the Main mast. The rake of the mast is not correct. I ended up moving the mast collar in the small deck forward slightly to make the mast more upright.

To glue on the bottom of the mast, I made a plug, poured a fluid mixture of epoxy resin and sawdust into the mast and put the mast on its base.  The epoxy flowed in and around the plug, glueing it firmly in place.  I used the same procedure for the top plug of the mast.

Quick test of the Mizzen mast, sail and sprit.

Cutting a hole in the transom for the boomkin.

Block epoxied onto the inside of the transom for the boomkin. This will spread any load on the transom.

The inboard end of the boomkin fits into this block and is held in place by an eye screw. All the rigging can be taken down when inside of the boat.

The dumb sheave was formed using epoxy and cloth with a plastic tube to form the shape. The epoxy is just a wear strip for the hailyard.

I used some fake-o teak stick-on flooring.  Easy on the feet and more or less smooth to enable efficient bailing, should it ever be necessary.

Test fit of the Mainsail, Mast, spar and sprit. With the mast rake adjusted, the sprit boom clears the crew’w heads while sailing. There are two rows for reefing.

Test fit of both sails, sheeting has yet to be done.  The halyard winch and clutches have been installed onto the cuddy cabin top.  One for the halyard and one for the sprit boom sheet. The sails are furlled by wrappping them around the masts. For the mizzen, you stand on the Aft deck, undo the boomkin sheet and wrap the sail around the mast. For the main, you leave the main yard up and undo the main sheet and main sprit, stand on the forward deck (or sit on the cuddy) and wrap the sail around the mast and spar. I have done this on dry land, so, I know that it could work.

Sails up and all sheets run. Rudder is in. Heavy enough to stay down while afloat. Still have to figure out a good way to keep the centre board down.

Going for a test sail with my son end of May, I will let you know how she sails.

Mike

I liked the way the cuddy top canvas worked so I canvassed the aft deck as well.  No epoxy where the rudder goes in. I coated the deck with epoxy resin and then used the canvas like cloth, saturating the canvas. I still got a “rough”, non-skid texture on the deck. You can see the “pins” on the maple capping pieces. They will be sanded smooth later.

In the latest edition (March/April, 2024) of WoodenBoat, I like the look of the railing of the restored “Ester”, so this is my imitation of it for my cuddy top.

I cut the railing in half, steamed the two pieces for an hour and then clamped them to the hull to get the bend right.  My steam box is to the right.

The aft deck has been routed out for the rudder frame.

The railing is epoxied to the cuddy top.  I used bamboo dowels to attach the railing to the deck.  I am a little worried that the posts are too thin, hence the bamboo dowels run completely through the posts. If, in use, I end up breaking them, I will replace with stronger ones.

I had to modify the bunks on my trailer.  The hull of the Prince William Sound Yawl is flat. The new bunks will accommodate her flat bottom. I am going to determine the oarlock placement while she is afloat, with one oarsman.

Here she is on her trailer, with the light bar attached to the transom. I decided to go with the “floating” light bar, so the lights are at the transom. Less likely to break them by backing into something and less likely to get them submerged. You can see the two drain holes in the transom. Any water that gets onto the Aft deck will drain out, the same as for the forward wet storage area.

Side view.  She is strapped onto the trailer and her bow is snug into the trailer mast chock. All of the major internal structure is in place. The only unaccounted variable for trim is her sailing rig.

In the water at Cate’s Park.  She is floating just about perfectly.  I have put tape on the hull with depth marks.  She is showing that she floats in about 3″ of water!  If you allow for the bilge keels, that makes it about 4″.  The design specs say about 4″, so I feel that I am pretty close. The cassette rudder is sitting on the Aft deck. The rudder projects 14″ below the hull when it is in place, so raising it when beaching is necessary.

My friend and fellow boat builder, Matt, helps me determine where the oarlocks should go for a single rower.  Since I changed the designed fore and aft decks, I felt that I could not rely on the plans for the oarlock placement, hence the float test.

Hauled up on the beach.

Final build stats:  16′ 5½” long by 56½” wide by 24″ deep (20″ of freeboard) at the oarlocks.

Her name is Turadh (‘too-rag’), a Gaelic word for the dry spell between rain showers or a break in the clouds between showers.

Next will be the Oarlocks and sailing rig.

Mike

Centreboard Case, Rudder, Rudder Frame, Rudder Case and bottom plate.

It is still very cold here on the North Shore. It went down to -13°C (8.6°F) this week and it is very hard to work in such cold.

Applying the epoxy and cloth to the centreboard. I am doing it in two stages, first the main body of the centreboard. I will clamp the head in my vice while the epoxy sets.

I made three stands to hold the centreboard upright while I applied the next layer of epoxy and cloth.

Heat lamps keep the epoxy & cloth cooking.

Making the frame for the rudder. This is actually a little more hard than I thought it would be. The 20° slant made everything a little harder to get right.

Glueing the frame up. Here is the assembled frame being epoxied up. The plastic pipe is where the rudder shaft will go. The shaft holes are reinforced with epoxy to take any wear.

Rudder frame and case. The rudder frame fits inside of the case with about ⅛” of play on either side of the frame. I am going to dry-fit everything before I epoxy the case up and put it into the boat.

A really big hole for the rudder case. I used the rudder case to mark out the hole I needed to put into the boat for the case. It is 4″ wide!!!

Case fitting. I am doing my best to fit the case in the centre of the boat, forward enough and level.

This little jackstand will hold the case far enough up. This is where I am deviating from the plans. Phil fairs the case to the hull (meaning it does not project below the hull) and states: “Filler blocking to fair frame into the upsweep of the keel aft.” I am having the case extend below the hull for two reasons:

1). When I pull my rudder up for rowing the bottom plate will seal the rudder case slot lessening turbulence. What I have to do is to fair the rudder slot into the hull. In the orginal plans, the rudder case is faired. When the rudder is brought up into the rudder case, there is no fairing and (I believe) a lot of turbulence.

2). If, in practice, this does not work, I can always to back to the plans reletively easily. Much harder to do the other way around.

Making the case. The rudder case has epoxy and cloth on every surface on the inside…for water tightness and for wear.

Waiting for the epoxy to cure sucks up the time. After the epoxy has set, I remove all of the screws, fill the holes with bamboo dowels and strip/sand all of the cloth edges.

Here is the first go. I have epoxied in the case. Next is to do filets around the case and epoxy on the reinforcing strips at the top of the case.

Almost the same photo, but with the reinforcing strips and the filets in place.

Test fit of the rudder frame inside to the rudder case. The rudder case is in place. It is secured to the hull and to the bulkhead. Should be good.

Forward hatch. Making the forward hatch. Those are left-over maple strips.

Second round on the hatch. There were four. First, glue the strips together using the coamings as a guide. Second, epoxy and cloth on the top ot the hatch. Third, epoxy on the inside of the hatch. fourth, epoxy to fill the cloth on the top of the hatch. After the first round of epoxy is set and a lot of sanding, I took off the straps and laid down (Second round) a layer of epoxy and cloth on the hatch.

I did not sand the inside of the hatch…just a layer of epoxy to lock the strips up.

Turn-over onto side. Centreboard case and centreboard test fitting. My turn-over crew arrived and we turned the boat onto its side so the centreboard case could be fitted. With the boat on its side, The epoxy I use to glue the case to the front of the seat will not run out of the joint.

Rudder case. The rudder case protrudes through the hull. I will fair this out.

Centreboard case glue-up. The centreboard case gets the epoxy treatment with a slight change. Only the head of the case, where I expect any wear to be, gets the cloth layer.

Test fit of the centreboard case and centreboard. This is to make sure that the case (and board) fit into the side with enough room to function and that the piviot point is at the centre of lateral resistance marked on the plans.

Cutting the slot for the centreboard case. I am using my new oscillating tool to cut out the centreboard case slot. I went through two blades doing it. Worked really well.

Punching through. It is a little nerve-racking to cut another big hole in your boat.

Cutting guide block. Because the centreboard case is a little floopy, I am using a block to get the correct height for the case to fit.

Slot cut-out and test fitting. With the cuts made, I check out the case and find that it fits fine. With the piece of the hull I cut out, I do not find any voids in the glue-up. I am happy that it seems as if the hull strip glue-up worked very well and the hull is solid. It is ⁹⁄₁₆” thick with the epoxy and cloth coating. This does mean, however, that the hull will weigh more than two hundred pounds specified in the plans!

Epoxying the case in. To do this, I thickened my epoxy with wood dust and used a notched trowel to apply the epoxy mixture. The case is clamped to the seat front and I used blocks the same thickness as the inside of the case to apply camping pressure in the middle of the case.

Wedges and blocks. To insure that the case was tight to the slot, I used blocks and wedges to clamp the sides of the case to the slot in the hull. I will later trim the case flush with the hull. A layer of epoxy and tape will seal the case to the hull.

More epoxying. The centreboard gets a few more coats of resin so I can sand it smooth. I discovered that I had made the rudder shaft hole too far forward in the frame so I filled the shaft holes and made new ones. (under the margarine tubs)

Forward compartment drain hole. I am using any left-over epoxy resin to reinforce the forward compartment drain holes. Two more layers of cloth and a little sanding. I will touch-up the paint later.

New shaft holes. Here I am reinforcing the new shaft holes. (on the left)

Making the rudder. Here I am marking the rudder for the rudder shaft in the correct spot. (bad spot to the right)

Rudder lay-up. The rudder is made up of five layers of 6mm marine plywood. The three middle layers are cut-out for the rudder shaft and the arm-bar. The arm-bar strengthens the connection between the shaft and the rudder layers.

Layer one…no Cut-out.

Layer two, Cut-out for shaft only.

Layer three…Cut-out for shaft and arm.

Layer four…Cut-out for shaft only.

Layer five…No cut-out.

Glue-up. Here is the glue-up. Each layer has epoxy in it. The dowels go through the holes in the arms and the shaft had threaded holes for reinforcing threaded rods.

Rudder test fit. Well, the rudder looks good. It has the same angles as the frame and is slightly smaller to insure a good fit in the rudder case. Fairing the rudder is next.

Centreboard test fit. The centreboard fits and works well.

Shaping the rudder. The rudder has an air-foil shape that I do my best to duplicate. You can see the three brass pins and the two dowels in the rudder.

Epoxy coating the rudder and glueing on the bottom plate. Another slight deviation from the plans…I am using 6mm marine plywood for the bottom plate and not metal. My plate also fills the rudder case more than what is called for in the plans. Turbulence reduction!

Test fit. I am pretty happy with the way the rudder frame and rudder turned out. The old rudder shaft holes have been filled in with epoxied wine corks.

Centreboard pivot pin. I am making up a centreboard pivot pin. The centreboard will be easily removable.

The two pieces. The piece with the nut will be epoxied onto the inside of the seat and the piece with the bolt will go through the case, the board and the seat. It will have a cork seal. A little sanding and the fittings will be ready to go in.

Thats all for now,

Mike

Storage Seats, Breasthook/Mast Collar, Decking, Main Hatch and Oarlocks.

I have decided to put seats into my Prince William Sound Yawl. I am a little too old and creaky to sit on the floor to sail her. I debated back and forth about using the seats for storage or only for floatation. I decided to try to do a little of both. The seats will have somewhat of an air seal but I will be able to open the top to access the storage area. Later, If I decide that I do not need the storage space, I can epoxy the seats shut resulting in buoyancy tanks.

I have run a coaming around the seat frame. There will be a matching coaming in the seat top that will fit on top of the frame. This will give me a 6mm (1/4″) lip to keep the water out.

If I get water in the storage areas, I could glue a rubber seal onto the coamings.

Here is a close-up of how I am holding the back of the seats down onto the frame. The seat peg fits under the clip, holding the back of the seat down. I will use webbing with either snap buttons or clips to hold the front of the seat down.

The end result will be that the tops of the seats will be 1/2″ higher than the seat frame. The seats are inset from the edges by 1/2″ or so for drainage. I had this problem of rain water sitting on the seats with Gwragedd Annwn, because I did not put in any way for the water to drain. I am hopeful that this arrangement will allow the water to run off of the seats, down the sides and into the bilge. If that is not effective, I may put scuppers along the top of the sea frame to drain water to the outside of the hull.

Here I am deviating from the plans again. In the plans, Phil has a breasthook with a hole in it for the mast. With Gwragedd Annwn, I found stepping her mast to be difficult, almost at the limits of my strength. I had to lift and balance the 15′ birds-mouth mast up about two feet and put it into the mast partner in the thwart and then into the mast step on the keel. For this build, I have decided to make a folding mast collar.

My Millwright friend, Matt, made this up for me out of stainless steel. He did not have any Bronze. He also made the two side pins 1/2″ instead of 1/4″.

Relative to the plans, the mast will be in the same spot. I have made the breasthook smaller and doubled its thickness to compensate. There will be more surface area for gluing than in the original plans. The breasthook will also get covered by epoxy and cloth.

The mast collar is stainless steel, 3″ inside diameter. 1/2″ bolts on either side to hold the collar together. One is the hinge side the other is the locking pin side. The distance between the top and bottom plates is the thickness of two 6mm marine plywood pieces with a coat of epoxy and cloth. The collar will swing open for the mast and then closed with a pin to hold the mast in place.

I am also going to fit the breasthook.

Here I am prepping for the glue-down. I will use a combination of clamps and clamping screws to hold the deck down to the framing. I mixed up epoxy and sawdust, spread the mixture onto the frame tops and the gunnel tops. Put the heater into the storage area and covered the boat with a tarp to keep the heat in.

I had an “oops”. One of the clamping screws let go overnight. The deck popped up in the centre. I had to cut out the epoxy mix between the frame and the deck piece, mix up some more and re-clamp the deck down to the frame. In the photo, you can see how I am holding the deck down for the fix. You can also see that I have filled every clamping screw hold with a bamboo skewer piece epoxied in. This “pins” the deck in place and reinforces the joint. I do this wherever I use screws to temporarily hold something, pinning and epoxying afterward.

After the epoxy has set, I cut off any protruding skewers and give the deck a good sanding.

I lay out the cloth. The heater has been in the storage area, heating up the deck. I also have a heater warming the breasthook. I will leave the heater on overnight.

The epoxy and cloth has covered the deck and sealed in the bamboo skewer pegs.

I sand off all ot the sharp edges and test fit the collar. I drill the securing bolt holes and put the bolts in. Looking good.

I am making a simple hatch for the storage area. In the plans, Phil says about the Slide: “Slide lifts out and stows; try how access to forward stowage works without this bulkhead opening, as it would obviously be better not to have it.” So, I will try it without the slide opening. If it is unworkable, I can always add it later.

I am not really a fan of leeboards, so, I am going to have a centreboard. It will be offset to Starboard, against the Starboard seat. This will keep the centre of the boat open (about 25″ wide). My centreboard is not as wide as the leeboard in the plans, but, it will go deeper into the water. The area in the water for both is almost the same, with the centreboard being slightly larger in area. The centre of balance will be at the same point. My centreboard is made up of laminated Red Cedar, using biscuit jointing. After shaping, I will coat with epoxy and cloth. To get the shape, I made longitudinal cuts, taking the blade depth from the plans. This gave me a guide for the shaping. Plane down to the cuts and then you know that you have removed enough wood. The centreboard is a complex shape.

I hope the weather warms up a little.

Mike

Epoxy and cloth, bulheads for the inside.

I have put the centre mold station back into the hull to help hold the shape while I fit the bulkheads. I am going to put them in belfore I epoxy and cloth the inside of the hull. I cut a 4″ wide strip of cloth and put it under the bulkheads. This way I will have epoxy and cloth on the inside of the hull, uninterrupted by the bulkheads.

I use the station molds at stations #5 and #8 as templates for the bulkheads. They are both slightly bigger than the bulkheads, so I trim them to fit.

I epoxy in the bulkheads. I then put in an epoxy and sawdust fillet which I later cover with epoxy and cloth.

With her on the strongback, I cannot reach the inside of the hull. So, with the bulkheads in place, I feel confident enough to place her on the dolly. Her shape will not change now.

Because she is so deep and wide, I am going to do the epoxy and cloth in two sections, one side at a time. I will overlap the cloth along the centre line.

A photo of the bow section.

Note the overlap of the 9.7oz cloth. Very tight weave.

I am finding this tight weave heavy cloth hard to work with and I am getting a lot more bubbles than I would like.

I do not like the bubbles. I grind out and patch each one. Takes a long time to do.

I epoxy in the forward bulkhead, which is not in the plans. I am going to have a more “conventional” looking forward storage compartment.

I have scarfed some douglas fir strips for the gunnel and the lower wale strip. The wood actually came from a recycled ballance beam from a high school in West Vancouver.

I am going to glue bird’s eye maple veneer onto the wale, using the gunnel strip and the lower wale strip to hold the veneer in place while the epoxy cures.

Here is the veneer and gunnel and lower wale strips epoxied up. Across the top of the boat are the stips for the starboard side.

The weather turned so I brought the hull into the shop for the starboard side.

I am fitting the forward mast step. I am not following the plans, which have the forward floor sloping towards the bow with two drainage holes. My drainage holes will be on the aft end, beside the bulkhead. This is because I could not figure out how to have the mast step drain forward.

I am epoxying the mast step and floor. The floor is supported by a beam that runs from the inside keel to the bulkhead. The forward floor also has a cloth coating. This makes the area under the floor a watertight compartment. There is no access to this area.

The mast step has a slot that allows any water in the mast step to drain out aft.

With Gwragedd Annwn, I have plugged all of the screw holes with bamboo pins. The pins fill the holes and act to hold the pieces together, not allowing the pieces to move reletive to each other.

I am laminating the deck beams in place. The forward storage area deck will be supported by two beams running across the deck and beams on each of the bulkheads. The will be two beams going from one bulkhead to the other as well.

In running my 1″ belt sander, I woke up a queen wasp that was hibernating in the on/off switch for the winter. I took the cover off so she could fly away.

Well, I am a little to old to sit on the floor. I am making seat/buoyancy tanks to sit on. To make a flat sleeping platform, I will fill in the area between the seats. Worked well on Gwragedd Annwn. I level out/square up everything and go for it.

I epoxy in the seat fronts.

My shop is not heated and it is a little cold. I put heat lamps on the job overnight. You can see the seat “coaming” strips being epoxied on. The seats also have a corresponding coaming that the seat coamings fit into. I tried this system out on Gwragedd Annwn and it did work to keep water out of the storage tanks.

The seat undersides will get a coat of epoxy sealer.

Here I am epoxying in the drains. I drilled a hole to the outside of the hull, placed tape over it and then saturated epoxy and cloth around the plastic pipe to form an epoxy and cloth drain. I will trim down the tops so the area drains well.

Well, that is it for now…The weather is cold and I have to wait for a non-rainy day. A rare event here in North Vancouver in the winter.

Mike

Episode two. Planking.

After my failure to plank the PWSY diagonally, on the advice of my boat building friends, I decide to double strip plank the boat, one strip overlapping another. The advice is that 1/4″ strips will be too light for a boat 16+’ long. I have a lot of 1/4″ cedar strips. The strips are not bead and cove. The problem was that they are old and dirty. I would have to plane them down to get a clean gluing surface. With double diagonal planking, that would not be a problem. I could plane the strips to 3/16″ and end up with a 3/8″ thick skin. Now I am going to plane the strips down to 3/16″ and then overlap them. a 3/8″ skin, with double overlapping strips should be strong enough.

The double overlapping strip construction will take a long time. I can only do one strip at a time. The issue is the glue drying time and clamping.

So this is what I am doing. Bulldog clips are used for clamping. The two mating surfaces are generously coated with Titebond II. At each station mold I use a screw with a washer to clamp the strips to the mold. Multiple bulldog clamps hold the strips together between the station molds. The glue needs about two hours to set up enough for the clamps to be removed for the next two strips. I am lucky to get in four strips a day at this rate.

At the end of the first stripping day, I have four inside strips and three outside strips done.

I am making progress. After the strip has dried, I remove the screws and plug the holes with bamboo dowels (bamboo skewer pieces).

At the transom and the bow, I use bamboo skewer pieces that go into the inner keel and that go into the transom to “peg” the strips in. All the other screw holes are just plugged with short strips that do not go into the station molds.

With a 16’+ boat, the strips need to be just over 17′ long. This is my 12 to 1 scarfing jig on my Shopsmith. With 12 to 1 scarfs, I do not have to worry about spacing out the scarfs on the boat. A strip with a 12 to 1 scarf is as strong as a whole strip. The table is set at about 10° and the scarfs are a little over 2″ long.

Getting to the point where the strips will not take the bend easily.

The transom is held on only by the strips at this point.

I have cut the strips and will now plank down from the keel (centre of the boat) down, filling the “football”.

The first three strips go on. They are glued to the inner keel and the transom.

Using a batten, I cut the planking along a smooth line to make the “Football”. This line is where there is too much twist in the strips for them to lie flat on the station molds. So the strips I now put on from the keel down will lie flat on the forms. I did some distructive testing on the planking I cut off. I was really pleased with the how well the strips glued…better than 95% adhesion. The wood failed before the glue joint. This was where there was the most shape in the hull. With the really “twisty” bits cut off, I am filling in the “football”. The middle of the boat is really flat.

To keep the planking as flat as possible, I am using cross pieces and screws to keep the planks against the station molds.

The yellow cedar strip is where the inboard rudder will come through the hull later.

As the “Football” fills in, the strips become shorter.

Only a few strips to go.

For the last few strips, the clamps will not fit anymore. It is all screws and washers. I buy thinner screws for this part. Note the two-washer set-up.

The planking is done. I will fill any gaps with fairing compound.

I decide to cover the ends of the strips with a few laminations of 1/4″ yellow cedar. In this case, I use epoxy and cloth to glue the laminations on.

With all of the wood on the hull, fairing begins. I decide to rough sand the hull first, then I will use the fairing compound.

The last strip is glued on…and it is only a 1/2 strip.

There is a lot of sanding to do. The more I do here, the smoother the final hull will be. Do not want to be able to see the stips when I am finished.

I used this Quikfair stuff from System Three. Sandable in three hours. I found it very hard to mix properly. It has a peanut butter like consistancy and I found it hard to measure accurately. This left me with some areas where it did not cure completely.

It does sand easily.

With the hull sanded smooth, it is time to coat the hull with epoxy and cloth. I used 6oz. cloth for the transom and I will use 9.6oz. cloth I got from Ian of Great Northern Craft on the rest of the hull. The cloth has a very heavy weave.

I am using some masking tape to hold the cloth on the hull.

I do not overlap the transom. I over lapped the transom cloth onto the hull earlier.

I filled in “Football” with some scrap pieces. I had a very hard time working out all of the bubbles in the cloth because the cloth had such a tight weave.

I have marked where the water line should be. I will put another layer of cloth on, doubling the cloth below the waterline. I have glued on yellow cedar strips to make the 1/8″ thick wale specified in the plans.

Fitting the double layer of cloth…Time for the epoxy.

I wanted to get the grounding skids fitted before taking the hull off of the station molds to keep the shape from shifting.

With the grounding skids on, the hull is sanded smooth again and given another coat of epoxy. There are three coats done.

I have brought the hull into the shop for priming and the first coat. This will keep the paint from attracting bugs.

Interlux grey primer.

And of course, most of the primer gets sanded off.

The first coat of Interlux Seattle Grey. Now I can leave the hull outside, even in the rain while I work on other pieces in my shop.

My flip crew of Ian, Matt and Dan help me take her off of the strongback.

The hull goes back into the shop. she is too high on the strongback…I will make a lower cradle for her.

In the next instalment, I will install the bulkheads and epoxy and cloth the interior.

Mike

A design by Phil Bolger

I have sold both Myst and Gwragedd Annwn. Time for a new boat. From Phil’s book “Different Boats”, The Prince William Sound Yawl (PWSY) is a purpose designed cruising row-sailor. The design (#356) is 16′ 3″ by 4′ 6″ and has a draft of 5″.

I had not considered the design before as she is on the large size, you sit on the floor, the fore and aft decks slope down, the inboard rudder and lee boards.

With a few alterations, such as an offset centreboard, making the forward and aft deck not slope down and having side seats that can be seats, boyancy tanks and storage areas. I had great success with the inboard rudder in Myst as well. She also has a provision for an outboard motor.

I googled the design and found two references. One to a boat for sale by Duck Flat Wooden Boats in Austrailia named “Elf” and a 14′ build by Tom on the Wooden Boat Forum. I like how Tom made the forward “cabin” storage area into a more useful space. I was not sure about his outboard rudder that replaced the inboard one and eliminated the outboard motor well.

I ordered the plans from Susanne Altenburger of Phil Bolger & Friends: (philbolger@comcast.net). I believe in paying for the design and the right to build one, even though I owned the book and already had the plans.

I told Susanne that I would post photos of the build on the Phil Bolger and Friends facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1629186337408650

Now that I have the plans, I begin the build.

Rod Tait, of Orca Boats lent me his strongback for the build. We are both members of the Vancouver Wooden Boat Society. Thanks Rod! The really nice thing about this is that Rod has built the strong back “square” and I do not have to make any adjustments. The strongback breaks into two 8′ pieces for transport. To move the boat around, I mounted the strongback onto casters.

I used 5/8″ plywood for the station molds. Six sheets of plywood.

I used a thin strip of wood to mark the curves for the hull. I then cut out the station molds with a jigsaw. I used my Shopsmith 10″ sanding disk to true up the molds to the line.

Having cut out and trued up all of the station molds, the next step is to put them onto the strongback.

At the intervals specified on the plans, I screw in blocks to attach the station molds to. I take my time as this will determine the final shape of the hull.

To align the station molds, I have drilled a reference hold in each mold at the same spot. I used a 1/4″ fiberglass rod to help align the molds. If I could slide the rod easily between the molds, that meant that the alignment was good. I am using station mold #6 as my baseline. All measurements will be made from #6. I made up right-angle blocks to hold the station molds. They are screwed into the strongback and the station molds.

I cut spacers to go along the keel line between the molds. Each spacer had blocks on the ends. I made sure that each spacer was “square”, to help keep the molds in place. Note that the forward molds and spacers are offset down the depth of the forward keel. The Prince William Sound Yawl has an inner keel similar to a canoe inner keel. The inner keel goes to Station Mold #5. The central station mold # 6 was braced to insure that it was perpendicular to the strongback.

I am going to laminate the inner keel on the station molds. Here I am gluing block so I can clamp the laminations together. The 1/4″ alignment holes can be seen at the top of the station molds, just below the spacing blocks.

With the station molds and the bow mold set up, I am going to cut out the Transom.

Here I am marking out the transom. I am going to make it out of three layers of 6mm marine plywood for the frame and one piece of 6mm marine plywood for the actual transom. Phil askes for 3/4″ for the frame and 1/4″ for the transom. I am doing 18mm for the frame and 6mm for the transom.

I mark and cut out three transom frame pieces.

After I cut the pieces out, I mark where the outboard motor space will be. Time to lay on the glue. I am using Titebond II.

After the frame pieces are dry, I cut the frame piece out.

I have to be careful to allow for the shape of the transom frame where the strips will be attached.

This is my transom template. It has the outboard motor mount area marked and the frame. I am using it to cut the bevels in the transom for the planking.

The transom is mounted using clamps. I have to be able to take it off of the strongback after planking, so, no screws.

I am using yellow cedar strips for the inner keel. Here I am steaming the strips where the bend will be using our roasting pan, steam box and towels. Worked great. Under the wet towels is a brick holding the strips in the heat. I steamed for half an hour.

You can see my soaking tank to the right of the picture. It is a section of gutter, plugged at each end. I did soak the strips overnight before steaming.

Here I am laminating the strips. I am again using Titebond II. I used Titebond II where ever I could. Much less expensive than epoxy and glues up just as well. Maybe even a little easier to get a good bond. Dries faster.

Here is the inner keel clamped up.

The station molds have all been taped up so the glue and strips will not stick to them. I am placing temporary inner gunnel strips onto the station molds. they will help me get the first few strips on and help keep the station molds in place.

Before I start planking, I give the transom a coat of epoxy to help keep it from getting banged up during construction.

The plans call for double diagional to finish 1/4″ scant, cedar and epoxy West System, planks laid at a 20 drgree angle to the centre line. I give it a try and cannot make it work. I go to Plan “B”.

Plan “B” will be in the next installment of Building the Prince William Sound Yawl.

Mike