Back to work

The last couple of months have included an extend period of no boat work for me.  We took a couple of weeks to travel through Holland and Belgium via a river cruise. Seeing the tulips fields and gardens in bloom were on my wife's bucket list, and now she can check that one off.  Our own garden, which pales by comparison to Keukenhof (and a lot of other places not nearly so grand) begged for springtime attention when we returned, so there was not much time for me to build.  I keep reminding myself that I am not doing this project to have a boat, but rather to build a boat, so I don't feel too bad about my lapse.

Nevertheless, I have gotten a bunch of fussy little jobs out of the way in the 2 months since I last posted.  The biggest single job was constructing the galley.  I have opted for a hand pump in the sink, so the plumbing was straightforward, and there is no electric hookup.  I got an 11 gallon water tank that fits under the galley (although it does use about 1/3 of the available storage space.  Once I had that mounted, I constructed the cabinet around it, being careful to leave a way to access, and even remove the tank should I have a leakage problem.  Basically, while the framework and cabinet sides are glued to the hull, the bulkhead, and to each other, the top is screwed on.  If I had to, I could unscrew it, lift it up, and access the tank.

My galley awaits varnish.

I made the drawer fronts and fiddle with African mahogany, milled to 1/2 inch, and used good old 1/2 inch okoume plywood for the rest.  It's a great use for the leftover pieces from planking and bulkhead construction.  The framework is Douglas fir.

The drawer is notched to allow for plumbing and still provide maximum use of space.

In addition to the galley, I made 4 knees to brace the cabin roof beams adjacent to the mast and compression post.  The plan calls for big, bent braces, that arc from the roof beams to the frames around stations 4 and 4 1/2, but when I laid these out, they intruded very badly into the available cabin space.  I had seen some photos showing conventional solid wood knees instead of the bent braces, and with the blessing of my resident professional boatbuilder buddies at the Workshop on the Water, I went with the alternative approach.  It saves a lot of space and looks a lot more shipy as well.  I just hope it holds together under sail!

My alternative knees look pretty good.  I hope they work.

Port and Starboard. 

I still need to address the knees at station 3.  I plan to use an adaptation of the plan's bent laminated knees, running from the deck beam down to the frame on each side.  

I also finished up the cabin sole.  I scribed and cut pine strips around the edges of the bunks, galley, and head to surround the removable units I made earlier.  Now they are all in place, and I don't need to worry about twisting an ankle on a floor.  At least not in the cabin.

The cabin sole is all done and in place.

My goal is to get as much done inside the cabin as possible before it gets really hot, and even with my time off, that goal is in sight.  I still want to do the aforementioned station 3 knees, and install some mahogany trim to face the deck beam at that location.  I think a small shelf along that trim would be very useful, and not too intrusive, so I may do that as well.

I tied up a few loose ends in the cockpit as well.  The lazarette cabinet door is now in place, held there by a brass latch I fashioned.  Also, the mahogany trim piece along the curve of the aft deck has been cut out and fastened with glue and screws.

Lazarette access door and deck trim, ready for varnish.

I had been putting off making the curved returns at the aft end of the cockpit coaming for many months, not having a good idea of how to make them look good.  Finally, I bit the bullet and gave them a try, first drawing out a pattern on plywood before making it in mahogany and gluing it in place.  I am fairly well pleased with the results.

Cockpit coaming return.  After sanding, it and the rest of the coaming trim will be varnished.

I have gone as far as I can with the centerboard, epoxying a bronze bushing into place in the pivot hole, and refining the hoist hole to take the 1/4 inch stainless shackle I bought.  I have the bushing fully encircled with epoxy, so there is no direct contact between it and the steel centerboard.  This should minimize electrolysis, or so I fervently hope.  I am done with the centerboard until I move the boat outside and can have the headroom to build a gantry high enough to lift the board onto the boat and slip it in place.

The bronze bushing epoxied in place.

Shackle to connect to lifting winch.

I finally got around to my engine stringers.  I fabricated them from Douglas fir.  The plan calls for a lower stringer half, which is a wedge tapering as you go aft from frame 6 to 7.  I cut those out, and fastened them in place with bedding compound and #14 silicon bronze screws.  I decided not to epoxy them in place to facilitate relocation or replacement if needed.  The engine mounts are 16.14 inches wide at their outside edges, and I have set the stringers 17 inches apart at their outsides, but better safe than sorry.

Lower part of engine stringers screwed in place.

In the next week or two, I hope to get the boat back onto its rolling carriage, tear down my garage extension shed, and pull her outside.  Then I will have the space to finish the cabin roof, install the centerboard, and test fit the engine.