July 2020

July 13,

This is not my first post this month but the first one actually about working on the S.V. Wren's Reward.  Yep, in case you missed it, she finally has a name.  My wife says that the Wren is my spirit animal.  Always busy and needing to get something done.  Maybe the Wren will find his reward one day.

The shoulder is still healing and I'm not suppose to do very much with it but this weekend I was able to make some good progress on the boat.  I've worked out the side floorboards with ventilation and I'm finishing off where the transom meets the deck.  I'm putting in some serious structure there.  Pictures coming soon.  

I've figured out how I'm going to manage flooring the interior.  I'm going to install 1/4" strips of wood perpendicular to the longitudinals and screw in light wood slats with a gap or vents at the top.  This should allow plenty of ventilation.  Here I'm basically bending in dead wood in order to attach the 1/4" batons.  In order to bend the wood to the hull contour I've used a bar clamp and hammered in a wooden wedge between the bar clamp and the dead wood.

July 19,

Time to finish framing the transom.  I'm using 5/4" oak sawn to shape.  Once this piece is properly fitted, I'll fill in behind and install this piece last.

                                    

Cutting this rather complex joint.  My first one in awhile,. I actually screwed it up and had to redo.  Luckily, the piece already had the curve on top and I used it as one of the pieces to fill in behind.

Checking the bevel for the deck with a stiff baton.  I was able to use a skill saw on these with good results.

Another view of checking the bevel with the baton.

The first piece is screwed in with #10 1 3/4" silicon bronze screws.

The second piece is screwed in with #10 1 3/4" silicon bronze screws.  The part of the frame sticking up above where the deck will be will be cut out and removed later.  The nice curve on the transom will be better established and finished.

Finally the last piece is embedded with thickened epoxy and bolted in with hot dipped galvanized bolts to the transom frames and #14 silicon bronze screws and #12 stainless steel pan head screws.  Obviously, I ran out of silicon bronze screws.  I think the stainless steel pan heads are not as good but I've really gone overkill on this one so I think I can get away with them.  Once the epoxy is cured, this will be as strong as a solid piece of wood.  Next task is to chisel out the transom frames that stick out above the deck.

July 26,

I spent the weekend epoxying in some of the framing members that I had temporarily installed.  I'm out of screws but I have more on order.  I also worked out a bit of the cockpit framing and started to make up a new athwart laminated beam for the rear of the cockpit.

I've removed the frames above the deck.  Chisel, drill, sawzall, electric sander and almost used my teeth.  It was quite a chore to remove that section of the frame.  I had screws, stainless staples and epoxy holding it all together.  It's a bit rough in those corners but I'll fill the imperfections with thickened epoxy. 

This nice laminated beam will transverse the cockpit where the pilot seat will be and mark the edge of the deck-cockpit transition.

June 2020

June, 1

I've been continuing with the interior framing starting at the bow and moving aft.  The last project was roughing out the vee berth and attached settee below.  The bulkhead under the berth supports the stem attachment to the keel so I took the opportunity to add strength to that section by tying it to the bulkhead aft via the settee.  That is 3/4 plywood on the sides.  The back is the actual bulkhead as well as the foot of the seat.  If you look in the seat you will see the last floor timber on the aft side of the bulkhead.  This timber is bolted into a notch in the stem with the bulkhead in between.  The stem is also bolted to the keel via a long taper.  Nothing is glued yet.  It is all put together with temporary drywall screws.  When I'm happy with it I'll take it all apart, apply glue and put it all back together with silicon bronze screws.  The drywall screws are nice because they are thin and have a high pitch on the thread.  These will not weaken the holding strength of the fatter, finer pitched bronze screws.  All joints are backed by white oak strips.  You can't see them in this picture due to the lip of the vee berth being 2" (5 cm) higher than the bed (not installed yet) of the berth.

In the center is the seat between the 'V' of the vee berth.  I've use 1" oak for the supports and to back the plywood joints.  For the horizontal supports that cross the seam in the bulkheads, I've used 2"x1" lumber to support the butt joint.  All the butt joints in the bulkheads will eventually be backed by plywood or white oak.  It's a good idea to wait to put the permanent backing wood in after all the cut-outs are made.  The seat will have 1/2" (12 mm) plywood with a hand hold so that it is removable.  The seat will have tow positions: one as a seat and one up even with the berth to fill in that hole.  Below the seat there will be a large drawer.  There will be a locker to the left and an entrance to the head on the right.  I've used the 3/4" plywood for the seat sides to structurally connect these two bulkheads.  It is the only place I am planning on using 3/4" plywood in the interior.

June 7,

Well. I went in for minor shoulder surgery that turned into repairing two tears in the rotator cuff.
No boat building for the next 4-6 weeks.

July 2,

Healing slowly.  I still need to give my shoulder another week before I can do any work.

July 9,

I'm going to try to restart the work this weekend.  I'm moving slow.  

May 2020

May 3,

Working on the bow framing that will support the deck and general structure of the bow.  The strongback down the center is a 2 inch (5 cm) by 6 inch (15 cm) member made up of two layers of 1 inch (2.5 cm) by 6 inch white oak.  The bowsprit (6 in x 6 in) will match the strongback width and extend over the bow a good ways.  

The strongback notched into the forward bulkhead with a pocket notch in the near horizontal deck beam.

A close up of the horizontal deck beam showing the detail on the exposed bottom of the beam.  This detail will continue for all the horizontal deck beams and deck house roof beams.

A close up of the pocket where the strongback connects to the deck beam.  The strongback will have to have the slight curvature of the deck.  I'll use the belt sander for that later.

This is how the strongback mortises into the stem in the bow.  The bulwark at the tip of the bow will be cut out to accommodate the 6 x 6 inch bowsprit.  It's a little messy up there right now but all that will be cut out and cleaned up later.  

May 10,

Happy mother's day to all the mothers out there.  This son worked on his child over the weekend.

These pockets can be made with a router.  There is enough room for the guide.  I've made two of these guides, one for 3 and one for 6 inch pockets.  I make three passes with the router to get the 1 inch (2..5 cm) depth I need.

The router leaves a bit of a curved corner...  

...which can be cleaned up quickly with a chisel,

This pocket must be cut by hand.  There is no room for a router.  Unfortunately, this is  the situation with most of the pockets on this boat.  I start with marking the outlines of the pocket and then making the diagonal cuts about a centimeter apart.  I can even hand cut the tapper which is not done here but I did do that on the second one I made.  Luckily, my technique and skills improve with every task.

Now I just rough cut out those triangle with a chisel.  It looks ugly right now.

I carefully chisel along my lines taking out a little at a time.

Finally, the pocket is complete.

The entire set of pockets and notches for the framing member.  The notch is started with cutting the sides partly with a hand saw.  Finishing to almost full depth with the SawZall (reciprocating inline saw).  I then use a skill saw to rough cut the middle.  Then it's all chisel work.  I leave it a bit shallow until I check the fit to get the bevel correct on the bottom.

I've dry laid them in for now.  I'll glue and screw them all in at once.  Time for the left side.

May 17,

And now the other side:

It looks fairly nice.  Next, I'll need to drill the holes for the screw.  

All epoxied in.  This proved to be very messy.  I had to stand in between those members in order to be able to drive the big screws.  I got epoxy everywhere but mostly on myself.  I've since sanded all that nasty epoxy away (not on me but the boards) and taken off the 'squareness' of those board so they don't interfere with the fairness of the deck. 

April 2020

April 17,

Still working on laminating beams for the deck house roof.  I've made 5 so far which is about half of what I need for the aft section.  A little more for the forward section, but those will be shorter but using the same form so the curve is identical.  I'm out of 10 ft lumber so I'll have to start on the shorter ones.  Definitely will need some more white oak very soon.

Here are the five deck house beams stacked on top of each other.  They are identical and match the pattern exactly even though I put a little more bend in them than necessary.  There is always a little spring back that you have to take into consideration.

This is the pattern for a laminated knee to hold up the carlings for the deck adjacent to the deck house.  I decided to steam bend and laminate white oak instead of a plain plywood knuckle.  You can see the outline of the piece I wish to make in pencil.  

This is the first attempt at bending the knee.  I had to add some modifications to suit the task.   They were suitable but the second attempt went much smoother.  Notice that I added two more blocks for clamps at the end.  I also drove a few drywall screws through the plywood and into the table so I could better man-handle the strips.  I've broken one piece each time I try to bend a group.  From what I gather this is fairly normal.  Expect some broken pieces unless you want to go very thin on the strips.  You can see one of the broken pieces in the image just to the left of the red squeeze clamp.  It is still clamped to the work with the "C" clamp in the upper left of the figure.

April 28,

This is the partially made piece.  I still need to make it a hair thicker and add some material on the outside of the bend .  It did not turn out too bad.  

This laminated beam supports the deck where the deck house terminates in the bow.  There is a strongback that will be notched into the center of the beam and the bulkhead near the bottom of the image. The strongback will continue until it attaches to the tip of the stem.  The laminated beam will be notched so the top of the beam will be flush with the bottom of the deck.  Once the deck is installed, the bowsprit will lay on top of the deck and strongback held in place by two vertical members forward of the last bulkhead (bottom of the image).  This will make a strong triangle: Stem, bowsprit and strongback, and vertical members mounted forward the bulkhead.  

Just cut the joinery for that forward laminated deck beam. The next one is behind it upside down.

A close up of the fit for this deck beam.  It is a little high in the rear to account for the slope of the deck.  I'll sand it smooth with the deck structure when I install it.  I still have to notch out for the strongback going down the center.

Here is that laminated beam that was upside down in the previous photo.  This is the type of joinery that is needed on the ends.  It required a little adjustment before it fit snug.

The laminated beam that is not adjacent to a bulkhead took a little extra work.  I've been measuring along the curved top for reference lines to cut the ends of the beams.  What I did here was install a fake bulkhead (well just the top part) with the correct curvature and used that to work out the reference lines.   When I install the deck house beams I'll have to do something similar.  I'll make my fake bulkhead for the longest one and trim it as I move toward the shorter ones.

Here they both are.  They are just clamped in place right now.  Actually that one in front just fits tight enough that it wont move.  A mallet blow to each end sets it pretty good.  Again, I'll have to notch out for the strongback and a few other members that support the deck later.

I hope all of you out there are staying safe.  We're screwing this thing up in the old USA.

March 2020

March 2,

We did a lot of work over the weekend.  A lot of the rough cabinetry has been marked on the bulkheads including the deck and cabin outlines.  All the passageways have been cut.  I left a a good bit over some of them so I can retain reference lines and mark the deck house outline.  I'll cut them out later.

On the left starting in the foreground of the picture and moving toward the bow:  Hanging locker with shelf on top. Shower with head besides, V-berth stateroom with lavatory to the left.  V-berth forward. 

The passage on the right will be the companion way leading to the V-berth door.  On the left will be doors into the shower and on to the head.  The picture is being taken in the area which will contain the port and starboard cabins. 

What a convenient place for the plans.   This is the doorway leading from the salon to the main cabins.

Your not going to wipe the smile off our faces anytime soon. 

And time for something a little different.  I've got a great but difficult plan for the cabinetry which will require a bit of steam bending.  Actually, there will also be a lot of interior trim that I may use the laminated steam bending technique.  I have steam bent oak before.  I hooked up a 4" PVC schedule 40 pipe to a kettle and did it in my kitchen.  I'm married now so that is out.   Besides PVC kinda droops and melts over time so I wanted something a bit more durable.  My solution is to use 4" metal down spout that I have laying around.  I drilled holes in the side and placed short pieces of threaded rod below the centerline to keep the steamed wood in the center of the tube.  I make two wooden end caps, one tapered to be removed on the right the other with a hole in which I threaded some galvanized pipe I had laying around.  The pipe was attached to a chrome shower head pipe which was roughly threaded into the lid of a durable cooking pot.  Made a stand out of wood and bought a one eye burner from Walmart for $12.   That was the only item I purchased.  Put water in the kettle, oak strips in the tube and turned the burner on.  About 45 minutes later I had beautifully steamed oak strips.  There was just one issue.  Water was able to leak out the end but as the end cap soaked the steam up and swelled, the water became trapped and the wooden end cap was very difficult to remove.  So I'll drill a small weep hole in the bottom of the tube right before the end cap and I'll put the end cap in much looser than before.   

Completed steamer. 

This is one of the cabin roof beams dry laid before glueing.   I cut up some steel angle iron for clamping.  I took the pattern and transferred it to the table.  Added some 2x4 stock under the table top so the lag bolts would have something substantial to grab onto.  I then lag bolted the cut angle iron along the pattern.  I used 1", 11/4" and 3/4" width boards.  The 3/4" board is actually quarter sawn so it is on the inside where that gorgeous flecking will show.  These boards are cold molded so no steam is required.  

Same piece but this time I used epoxy.  I laid some plastic down to keep the piece from sticking to the table.  A lot of clamps were required to close the gaps.  

This is the bulkhead that will have the beam attached to along the top.   I've placed it above so it is ready to measure and fit  into place.  I'll have to be very careful fitting the beam, nothing is square on a boat and the ends will have to be notched around the triple shear clamp.  There is actually a bit more curvature than what it looked like when the bean was on the table.

March 32

So, I learned something that I'd like to carry on to my readers.  I've made two of these laminated beams that are 2"x4" actual width.  They are made up of 4 1"x2" pieces of wood.  After glueing up in a form and letting them cure overnight, I get 3/8" of spring back.  The one that bolts up against the bulkhead was easy to fix.  I made it slightly longer and used a clamp to reintroduce a little more bend.    Then I trimmed one of the joints at the end until  I had a near perfect fit.  You can see me fitting one of the ends in the figure below.  The second one I made, I got the same spring back but this one is going to be free standing between the deck carlings.  I'm going to have to rig up something to get that little bit of bend back.

I'm fitting the end of the laminated beam into the shear clamp (that ruler is sitting on the shear clamp).  There is about 1 1/4" that fits under the shear clamp.  If you look close there is still a small gap between the laminated beam and the shear clamp on the right.  This is because that 1 1/4" that fits under the shear clamp is about 1/32" too long.  I took it out and trimmed it up.

A real sweet fit.  The only issue was that the bend relaxed a bit and I had to use a clamp in the middle to pull it back up.  Once the beam is fit, the sides of the boat hold the beam to shape and there is no need for the clamp in the center.

The is the second laminated beam that will fit 18 inches in front of the one just made.  It will not span the entire width of the boat but fit between the deck carling that supports the deck inboard where the deck house rises.  

I've also started on building the laminated roof beams of the deck cabin.  These are slightly smaller, 2"x3" and not as long.  I'm going to try to take that 3/8" into consideration when I build the form.  Maybe a little less than 3/8" since the individual pieces are 3/4" instead of 1" so I expect less spring back because it should take less pressure to form the curve if the curve is similar.  Something else to take into consideration.

That 3/8" really did the trick.  So I made the jig deeper by 3/8" and used a stiff board to make a smooth curve to the original marks on the ends.  Laminated the four boards up and let cure overnight.   I released the beam from the jig and it sprung back right on the original contour line.  I've made two thus far and they both came out very nice.

February 2020

February 5

I've been slowly rigging the hull so the roll-over will go as smooth as possible.  I've finally scheduled it for Sunday February 16.  Come on by if your in the Huntsville Alabama area and help or spectate.

You can see the chain hoist attached to the wall in the center far left of the image.  This is one of two  chain hoists that will slowly roll the boat over.  There will be two more on the opposite side preventing uncontrolled roll and two more at the pivot point to prevent the pivot point from moving or scooting along the floor.  The two at the pivot point will also be used to slide the entire rig to over mid roll so that we keep the hull to the side of the building.  There will be sheet metal skip plates and grease to ease the sliding.  

The attachment point to the post is a compromise.  I want it as low as possible to reduce the stress on the post but high enough so that most of the force on the hull goes into a rolling moment.  I figure just short of horizontal at the start will work fine.  Once the boat starts rolling, the rig will pass through the horizontal (or maximum efficiency) point about when gravity will start lending a hand.

I've already cranked the chain hoist so that the entire weight of the boat is almost on the pivot point.  It took about all that two ton chain hoist and that 6"x6" post could take.  Luckily when we actually roll the hull over there will be two rigs rolling the boat.  This gives me about a 100% safety margin by my estimation.

BOAT HULL FLIP WAS SUCCESSFUL.  Pictures coming soon... actually I did not have time to take a single one myself.  Ive got friends though and boy did they turn out for the day.

Here is a taste:

I learned a lot during this maneuver.  It took a minimum of 6 chain hoists with a minimum capacity of 2200 pounds (1000 Kilograms).  We also had three more come-alongs that proved convenient.  Sheet metal was laid down as tracks for the wooden rollers and the wooden rollers were liberally greased to allow easy sliding.  This turned out to be critical.  We always had control using chain hoists on one side to pull while using chain hoists on the other side to release.  We also always had chain hoists controlling the pivot point on the ground.

After the half way point, the pivot point control had to be switched to the other side while we used the come-alongs to slide the hull over opposite the pivot control.  I used 1/2 inch (12.7mm) eye bolts for all attachment points and most importantly, I welded the eyebolts closed so they would not open under stress.  This is critical.  Either use eye bolts that are factory welded or weld them yourself.  If not they will pull open.  We always had two chains for redundancy and to make things easier.  You will need a spare come-along or chain hoist to relieve tension on the chain when re-rigging.  At no point did we have a single chain taking weight.  Although it was not the chain that concerned me but the point of attachment.  There is a lot of stress on those points especially when the chains are at steep angles to the eye bolt.

It is also a good idea to have spare 5/16" quick links for adjusting the rigging.   Make sure all your chain and hardware exceeds your chain hoist capacity by a good margin.  There were times where we were actually pulling against each other putting huge stress on the hardware (and hull).  We learned quickly to recognize these situations and avoid them.  Avoid shock loading.  I used rubber bungees on the chains as a snuffer for the side that was releasing so that when they took the load, the bungees would absorb the shock.  I discarded them on the re-rig (when switching sides) after I determined that going slow was good enough and the bungees caused some difficulty when trying to re-rig.  This maneuver took 4 hours and required 6 people to complete.

Feb 26.

I've started marking lines on the bulkheads.  Lines to cut (actually cut one) and lines where attachments will be made for the interior.  Mostly, I'm looking forward to having a passageway along the interior so I don't have to climb over the bulkheads to get from one end of the boat to the other.  I've also cleaned up the shear but have not removed the temporary shear clamp yet.

December 2019

December 3

Well, I finally finished up the hull and all that sanding.  I went over it pretty well and filled all the little pin holes and dimples.  I'm sure I missed one but I'll find those before the paint goes on.  Right now it's time to prepare to flip hull over and start working on the inside.  To that end, I've removed all the scaffolding that will be in the way leaving just 30 feet on the wall side to attach pulleys and have people stationed for the flip.

Flipping the hull is a bit of a misnomer.  I'm actually building a jig so that I can roll the hull over until it is right.  I will use six 2 ton chain hoist.  Two to roll the hull over and they will initially be attached to the keel and two of the 6x6 posts.  Two also attached to the keel but pulling the opposite way to prevent the hull from rolling back (I might get away with using one ton hoists here).  Two attached to the pivot point on the ground to ensure the boat rolls instead of scoots.

A nice view from a ladder near the shop corner.  That's Fig in the door way.  He likes to help.

The hull looks even larger when not wrapped in scaffolding.

The first thing was to get a roundish outline to build the rollers.

Adding 2x10s to follow the outline.  This probably would have been easier to use an octagon but the round roller has fewer stress points and easier balancing points to take a break.

I took the aft one down and made an identical one for the front.  I had to customize it a little  to fit properly.   The trick was to make them identical.  Now it's time to layer on the wood for strength.

Making progress.

Essentially we have two layers of 2" lumber with 3/4" plywood sandwiched in between.  I've maintained contact with the hull as much as possible in at least the plywood and one layer of 2" lumber.  All of the joints will be through bolted together.  It will be bolted to the gunwale, building jig frame and into the keel.     

I almost forgot I needed to install the skeg keel stump.  This is the first of 5 or so pieces that make up the skeg keel.  The rudder will attach here as well as the prop shaft.  I need to install this before flipping the hull to ensure that I get the bolt holes drilled correctly.  I shaped the face that attaches to the hull a bit so that there was only a small gap.  I used two layers of woven glass between to make up the small gaps.  One thing I did a little different is that I used thickened epoxy (pea-nut butter consistency) just inside the edge of where the keel stump mates with the hull.  This held the glass in place and acted like a dam for the un-thickened epoxy.  I used temporary bolts to create pressure to squeeze out all the air and used aluminum tape around the seam so that the epoxy would not seep out.

It was very important to make sure that the skeg keel is perfectly in line with the hull.  I also used a sensitive bubble level to ensure that the skeg was not tilted to one side.  I tightened the bolts a little one after the other ensuring that I brought the skeg back to level each time.

 After the epoxy became tacky, I removed the tape and used thickened epoxy to make a fillet around the seam.

The fillet looks a little rough but it won't take much to clean up.  Having the seam a little tacky really made filleting the joint difficult but now I'll have a chemical bond between the epoxy and fillet joint.  I also had a little glass sticking out of the joint which ended up in the fillet.  That just means more strength.