December 2015

A friend of mine from Chicago, Tom Kuhn, came into town and spent a whole day with me working on the boat.  The port side almost has an entire third layer.  I have about a half day of work to get it finished and I'll post some pictures when I do.

Dec. 12

Okay, so maybe it was a bit longer than half a day.  I'm still not quite finished with that third layer but only have a few small pieces to install.  I have; however, finished much of the trim work and the tedious stuff.  I'm actually taking a little longer on the short bow pieces trying to use up shorter pieces of plywood in my waste pile.  I actually counted the number of sheets I have and have figured I will probably be short a couple of sheets.  Its even worse since I came across a sheet that had a glue gap on one layer that covered a third of the sheet.  I'll probably just chunk that sheet.   I haven't had too many glue gaps but this was ridiculous.  Small glue gaps can be reglued and clamped.   I ordered the plywood from Canada and I think the shipping on only a few sheets will be prohibitive.  Hopefully, I can find the plywood a little closer to home if I need only a few sheets.

The third layer is in need of some trimming at the bow.

Still need to do some trimming at the bow gunwale.   The seams have not been sanded in this area as well.

Almost finished.  A little trimming and sanding.

A view from the top (bottom) looking forward.

A view from the top (bottom) looking aft.

This is the completed bow.  All sanding and trimming is done.

All sanding and trimming is done.

Just another view.

December 20,
Just had a great visit from Jake who purchased a sister ship, the Edien, to this one over in St Augustine.   It's extremely useful to talk to someone who is sailing, or about to sail, a similar boat to the one your building.  We spent quite some time pouring over the plans and discussing what works, what doesn't and what might not work.  The boat currently has two main issues:  one is that the keel, made up of 4 layers of 3/4" plywood has rotted in a few places, the other is that there is some rot in bow.  The first issue is from incursion of fresh water around the main mast.  The damage was exasperated by the lack of limber holes between floor boards trapping water and that the inside of the boat was encapsulated with epoxy resin which prevented the wood from drying out (breathing).  The bow issues seem to stem (pardon the pun) from the design changes that the original builder performed.  The bowsprit was replaced by a thick wooden platform that was encapsulated in epoxy resin.  It is rotting and subsequently allowed additional incursion of water in the bow section.  Jake has done his research and is almost finished with the repairs.  He has replaced the keel boards with solid white oak scarfed together as best as the space allows filling up the space between the hull and floor boards where the ballast keel is bolted.  Two important lessons here.  Fresh water is a boats enemy and it will eventually get in your boat.  When in does, make sure it has a place to go (like toward a bilge pump) and do not encapsulate interior wood.  All epoxy resin allows some moisture to penetrate.  It is better for wood to get wet and dry than for it to get damp and stay that way for a year or more.  Also, maintenance is much easier.  Cleaning the bilge and repainting is much easier than grinding out half pealing epoxy and re-encapsulating.

Dec. 28,

I've made a great start on the fourth and final layer on the starboard side.  The weather in northern Alabama is unbelievable.  The temperatures have been in the 70's F and the lows only in the 60's F.  I've had to switch back to the slow hardner.  That will change soon.  More normal weather later this week.   Pictures coming soon.  I'm having some issues with the camera.

A good start on the final layer.  All my usual tools in view.  The clamps holding the strip in place.  The orange leaf blower which is invaluable for keeping the hull dust free.  The belt sander, drill and the pneumatic nailer.  

Another view of the same as above.