update

When we returned from our honeymoon we had a couple of weeks left in August. In that couple of weeks we needed to pack our Apartment and move down the road to Vancouver. My wife is finishing up her teaching degree this year at UBC. We found a really great place in the Kitsilano area. A couple blocks from the beach and two dinghy yacht clubs near by plus it's close to UBC. We have a shared rooftop patio that overlooks English bay. Beautiful! The downside is that our Navigator is still in Squamish, now on a trailer in my other parents driveway. It's a nice driveway and she looks good there. I am missing being able to just head out the back door and put in some time working on her. She is almost done. The bowsprit just needs to be glued and bolted in place. The Center board needs to be lightly sanded to get rid of a few run offs from the last coating of epoxy, then it can be installed allowing me to finish painting the center case. Also the rubrails will get fastened and painted. The mast needs to be extended around 19 inches or so to get the boom high enough. Then the rigging and thats it. It sounds like a lot of work, but I don't think it should take that long. The biggest snag is we (my wife and I) have agreed that i need to start working again before buying the rigging and other odds and ends. The good news is I had a great interview yesterday and would actually be excited to work for this company. I will find out next week. So in reply to the many questions of when is the launch date, I'm not sure yet but will keep all ya'll posted.

p.s. it's been great to be in a neighborhood where any where you go along the waters edge you can see a marina or boats sailing by. It helps to keep the motivation going to get out there on the water.

Pictures as promised!

Back again!

Well a lot has happened in the last month. We spent a week at the cabin, Oyster Bay, Sunshine coast, BC. where Naomi and I got Married! It was an amazing time the weather was amazing and everything went perfectly. It was a really great party. I don't think it could have been better. From there we left for our honeymoon and flew down to Costa Rica where we spent three weeks on the beach with a few days inland in the Monteverde cloud forest. It was such a good time, very relaxing. It was hard to come back to our world of technology, internet, cell phones, cars etc. Not that all these things are bad, but I believe that is part of the allure of sailing as well is to get away from being so connected to all these things. Funny that I'm writing this while ON THE INTERNET. I guess its about finding the balance of it all.
We have been back for a week now and I have been taking advantage of not working to put in time working on the boat. We flipped her back over before we left so I was able to keep painting when we returned. Now the painting is all done! The center board got cut out and shaped. It is mostly fiberglassed, just waiting to buy some lead to put in the bottom then finish the fiberglassing. The rudder will be getting cut out soon and finished. The bowsprit is being thought about. Then its time for rigging and Final finishing details. So all that being said she is almost done, just standing at the edge of the tunnel looking out into the light!
Camera battery is dead, so I will add pictures later. Here is a couple taken with my phone of the centerboard before fiberglassing, oh and one from the wedding!

Bottom Paint

After filling all the holes with epoxy and adding extra fiberglass with lots of sanding; the bottom is now painted. All except the sheer strake, thats the top most plank for you landlubbers! Also the keel has been added. So now it is time to flip back over. There is probably another week or so of work left. I am going to be away for a few weeks, getting married and travelling! So no updates till mid August.

Upside Down

It took three of us to make the flip. I had cut the planks over wide just to make sure and now needed to trim them down. I didn't want to take forever planning these edges, so I decided to borrow a hand saw and set the depth to just cut through the 4mm ply. Kinda scary holding a power handsaw up to the almost finished hull of your boat. After taking a few breaths and squeezing the trigger I had nicely and quickly trimmed the planks down. Then I went to work doing the outer fillets where each plank overlaps. This really cleans up the look of the hull. Next I'll go over and fill all the screw holes with thickened epoxy.

Decking on

The decking was fairly straight forward, put plywood on, crawl inside the boat and trace out on the underside of the plywood then Cut and glue. I will trim and paint the decking once the boat has been flipped back over, since it would probably get scratched while flipped over. So that being said it is now time to turn her over and work on getting the outside finished.

Almost time to flip her over

The seats are in and painted! After that I worked on installing the inner stringer that supports the side deck and glued in the king plank. Now its time to cut out the decking and glue it in place. Then its time to flip her over and work on the bottom side. I am very excited with how it has all been going and coming together.

Paint!!!

All the fillets on the inside are done, and now its time to paint! I have chosen to paint the inside first for no real reason. We decided on a off white color for the inside and the bottom planks, the top plank and topsides will be a avocado green with a brown for the rub rails and other accents. The paint is a two in one primer and paint by Behr. Nay came out and helped me paint! We've got two coats on most of it now, and the first coat on the rest. Tomorrow we will decide if we need a third coat or not.

It's a Boat!

After a couple of slow months, due to being tired of working in the cold and also partly due to other interests taking over for a bit, I am very pleased to say that all the outside planking is on. For me this feels like a big hurdle has been overcome. It took way too long for a guy who likes to see steady progress. Naomi and I went to Mountain Equipment Co-op (outdoor outfitter store) the other day and did part of our wedding registry there. We picked out a few items for when the boat is ready to set sail. Very Exciting.

back in business

Things have settled. The Olympics are over and I don't feel obliged to watch Canada win gold. It was stressful wondering if work would get slammed any day but it was also exciting to be in the middle of the Olympic buzz. Now back to boat building. I went out today and picked up the planner and beveled the top edge of the plank to prepare it for the overlapping plank above. It was very satisfactory, the sound of the blade peeling the wood, the plank taking shape, the shavings falling at my feet. This is going to be a very rewarding project. Maybe by the end of the weekend the planking will be done. we'll see.

Still working

I've been away from home the past two weekends and have had a busy week with the Olympics being in town. I am working away on the planking. No pictures yet, but So far I have been measuring, marking out and cutting the rest of the planks. I'll have more pictures once there is a bit more to show!

bottom plank on!

After a few days of twisting and bending and gluing both bottom planks are on. They get quite the twist at the bow. It took a few hours of playing with the clamps to finally get the board to settle in and take the shape. This was done and left overnight. The next day the positions of the clamps were traced out and taken off. The plank held the shape somewhat and made it easier to get back into position once epoxy was applied. I'm super happy to have this step done with. The rest of the planks should be easier since they wont have to get such an extreme twist.

Planking Begins!

As with the stringers, the planking will take a few days due to how many clamps are at hand as well as needing to heat the area thats curing. Slowly, at least it feels like it, but surely the planks are getting attached. This is really exciting seeing the curves take shape. The reverse curve at the bow took some patience to get it to snug up and take the shape. I didn't want to go too fast with the clamps for fear of snapping the plank. Right now this section is gluing up on the port side and each section of the lower plank is glued and set behind it. Where the plank meets the bottom panel it is secured using the stitch and glue method. I used small zap straps and glued them in, after I will sheer off what is protruding of the straps. This joint also gets fiberglassed top and bottom. After the lower plank the rest are lapstrake. This is where you can start to imagine it all floating!

a diagram of lapstrake planking

Snap crackle pop, gunwales

Stringers are done! The last couple took a while. Originally I had the gunwales cut as per the plans, as a single 40mm by 20mm piece. These had to be bent quite a bit at the bow of the boat. There was a lot of force and I wasn't confident they would bend very easily. I decided to rip the pieces lengthwise to get two 20mm by 20mm sections that could be glued on in stages. Also two sections had to be joined end to end with a scarf to get the full length. While doing a dry fit I realized that each of these sections had been cut from the same 1"x6" board and this board was a freebie from the lumber yard due to some defects. During the dry fit each section snapped in what would have been the same spot when it was still a 1"x6" piece of lumber. I half expected it. But it was still a bit unnerving to have a piece of wood snap and fly out a foot and a half towards where your head was three seconds ago. I had only moved away to go reach for the clamp that would have held this section. It moved fast due to the amount of tension that was on it. Since this was the last piece of Douglas Fir I had to wait a day or so till I had the car and was able to head down and buy another. Then trim, scarf and dry fit again. Now everything is glued on and staying put. She looks good. Next step is the planking!

Stringers!!!