Saturday, April 30, 2016

Windows sealed and it came out OK.

Instead of making the sail this weekend I decided to finish sealing the windows and get all of the nuts installed inside.  Once the sail is finished, I'm really going to be in a hurry to just start boating so I figured I should get this done first.

It came out pretty nice.  Hardest part was sizing the bead of caulk to where a crazy mess didn't come squeezing out.




Monday, April 25, 2016

And the windows are dry fitted. Registered.

Windows showed up UPS this Friday.  232 holes and 116 screws later, they're all dry fitted.  I need to back them off and get sealant behind, the tighten them back down and get the nylocks on the back.  Still, I could actually take this down to the lake and run it as a motor boat now.  I could even try sailing with my old Junk sail, though I think I'd have too much lee helm with the CE.

The bigger tarp from Dave at Polysail showed on Saturday.  I'll try to get that finished next weekend.

That just leaves the trailer, and I'll be down to all of the little details that are the ongoing process in the life of a boat.

I stopped off at Sportsmen's warehouse and turned in my registration paperwork and got my 180 temporary.

I'll be floating in May.  Grand total project duration, @ 15 months.








Sunday, April 24, 2016

Motor Mount and Windows

So the windows showed up from my brother in Idaho Friday.  1/8" lexan all cut to shape with a radius on the corners, light grey smoke.  Thanks Steen!

I made a trip to Parkrose hardware and picked up 100 stainless #8/32 x 1" Machine screws and nylock nuts.  It wasn't quite enough, and it got late so the front windows will need to go in tomorrow after another trip to the hardware store.

Also got the motor mount all done up and permanently bolted in.

Dropped off the paperwork and paid my fees for title, registration and the ISP.  Got a temporary good for 180 days as bureaucracy grinds, but that's the boating season :-)

The bigger tarp showed up today as well.  As soon as I finish the windows I clean the garage floor again for sail lofting.  I'm thinking that's done next weekend.

Biggest job I have left is making one of the trailers truly competent at hauling, launching and retrieving this boat.














Thursday, April 21, 2016

More bits and peices

Now that I have a sculling notch for the oar, I need someplace to store the oar.  It will fit inside the boat, but that's messy an inconvenient.  Got to work on some fittings to store it on the cabin top for quick easy deployment as well as keeping the mess out of the house.


The other thing I've been going around on is the motor mount for the 2hp.  I was going to put it off until I found the shaft on my trolling motor was to short to use the sculling notch fitting for a mount.  Garelick makes a hideous steel and plastic fixed mount that mounts too low on the transom for how I have it built and reinforced to use a short shaft, which is what I already own.  Part of the problem is that the hideous chunk of plastic protrudes @ 3" above the brackets.  I was in my local 2nd hand chandlery the other day and found one of these cheap.  I figured I'd just build a shorter mounting block and use the brackets and hardware.  I can even notch the one I've made if I need the motor to go a little lower.   Got to work gabbing all of this and here's what I ended up with.




Of course we need to get some finish on all of this stuff before actually mounting it.  Got a coat on last night, and another coat this morning.  I'll get a third on this evening, and then maybe a fourth depending on what kind of build I've got after the 3rd.  Everything will get screwed down and the motor mount will get bolted up over the weekend.



Wonder where those windows and that tarp are.......

Monday, April 18, 2016

Alternative Propulsion Plans

So the wind will occasionally die or I'll need to get off a beach or dock before being able to raise the sail.  This is NOT a design well suited to paddling or rowing.  That leaves motors and sculling.

I've reinforced the port side transom to take a motor mount for my little 2hp evinrude.  I'm still shopping/condsidering custom fabrication of that motor mount.  Everything "on the shelf" is way to heavy and bulky and rated for 15hp.  I'll probably end up making that myself.

More immediately I need the sculling option.  It would also help to have a separate mount for the 24lb thrust minkota I already own.  I've already got at least one newer group 24 deep cycle and I've already installed the battery boxes.  between that and a sculling oar I can take my time on the 2hp mount.

Here's what I came up with to mount on the transom.  The notch fits the shafts on the 8' oars I have in my Pelican until I can build something custom in the way of a Yuloh.  height and width match what's needed to mount the minkota.


It will mount on the Starboard side transom and allow me to scull standing in the aft end of the slot.  Hopefully  The shaft on the Trolling motor is long enough that I can hang it on here as well.







Trolling motor is too short unless they make surface piercing props for Minkota.  I'll have to see if there's a longer length shaft motor I can get.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Detail inside as I wait for the tarp and windows to show

I finally sourced my windows pre-cut to shape with radius corners and a polished edge.  My oldest brother has a glass company in Idaho, and I dropped him an email.  He's making them all for me out of light grey smoked Lexan and shipping them.  Cost couldn't be beat.  Thanks steen :-)

They're not here yet though.

I dropped Dave over at a Polysail a gentle reminder that he was going to ship me a larger tarp.  He's been so busy with his church project that he can barely keep up with the sail business.  He bashfully admitted he'd forgotten to ship it, and would take care of that immediately.

It's not here yet though.

So I tore into a bunch of the little details inside.

One of the things I knew I needed was a rail under the tiller to avoid too much load on the bolts holding it to the rudder head.  The thing is pretty long, and there's a tendency to rest the weight of your hand on the tiller.  I generally wouldn't use red oak in a boat, but I had a piece just the right size and this thing bolts on and off real quick with wing nuts to give me better access to the compartment if needed.  I also rigged the rudder up haul/downhaul as a continuous loop.  I put the jam cleat on top for the up haul.  I put a loop in the up haul back near the transom with the rudder up, then passed a bungee through the loop and hooked it to a fairlead I had screwed to the bottom of the tiller behind the rail.  I need to fine tun the tension, but it's working well.


The other thing I did was mount the Group 24 battery boxes in the cabin.  this is actually the deepest part of the boat, so they couldn't be better located.  My lead/acid group 24 deep cycle weighs 43lbs.  I'm thinking of putting that on one side then putting @ 40lbs of tools in the other box if not a second battery.  Jim specifies 200lbs of steel bolted to the main frames for and aft of the cabin.  Now I only need @ 120lbs, and I'll use that for final fore/aft trim on the boat.  Here I'm sitting with my back against the rear bulkhead with me legs stretched.  I'm only 5'8", but essentially there's a "Pilot Area" 4ft long and 45" wide  to hang out in.  A pair of 24" long coolers will fit perfectly in front of the batteries on each side.  Center aisle will be clear for walking the slot and full length stretch-out when sleeping.


A pair of flotation cushions puts me at the perfect height for seeing out the windows without bumping my head on the roof.

The tiller is right at the height of my knees if I stand in the aft end of the slot.  No hands steering standing up in the appropriate winds.

I can also stand further forward and reach back with my feet to steer.


Another angle on the cockpit area

I'll make hatches and a lid out of that greenhouse plexiglass eventually, but I bet I end up sailing this as a slot sop 95% of the time with all of those stowed.  I'll probably make some soft covers as well.  That's all down the road as I live with the boat.  Or maybe next weekend if the windows and the tarp haven't shown yet.



I also threw a few coats of Varathane on the "Temporary" mast stop I fabbed real quick the first time iI tried stepping it.  It REALLY helps to steer the butt of the mast during the process.  It's not quite straight due to the haste of the initial fabrication and placement.  Oh well :-)

I also measured up to get some high density closed cell foam matting to put on the floor.  Both to protect the wood and paint, and for a little "give" on the old knees.  It's OK if it's dense and heavy, it will act as further "useful" ballast.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Spars done and first hoist. Getting ready to make a sail.

I started coating the mast butt.  In the meantime, the tiller was cured enough to do final assembly on the rudder.  Got it entirely rigged except for a jam cleat on the tiller.  The up haul/down haul are a continuous line, the jam cleat will work for either.  I'm going to rig a loop to a bungee on the downhaul side for shallow water.  I'm in deep water most of the time, or I would have gone to the trouble of doing the lead sink weight.  As it is, I think this will work better for me where I sail.


Next step is get the sail loft set up.  Put loads of crap away, swept and even vacuumed the concrete.


Unfortunately Dave over at Polysail mixed up my order with another and sent me a tarp that's just barely too small.  He's letting me keep this one and sending the new one.  I tried laying it out and just fudging the dimensions a bit, but it's not going to work.  I'll have to wait for the larger tarp to get here.