Frozen

Saturday morning I woke up and checked the thermometer. It was stuck at zero. I went back to bed.

My boatwork for the weekend consisted of sorting out my hardware and putting it all into bins.



Over the past few years I have been accumulating a lot of boxes of hardware. It is so much more productive buying by the box because invariably I need one or two more or the project I start the following week needs the same sized fasteners. So I buy by the box which worked fine for awhile but then I started having trouble finding the box I needed and double ordering or taking my container of boxed hardware out to the boat and finding that the only size I didn't have was the one I needed.

I bought one of these bins at Sears for $12 which was pretty cheap. I filled that up and was nowhere close to having all my hardware sorted. So I went back and bought another. Still not enough. Then I couldn't find the bins at the sale price anymore even after hitting every hardware store and mall (Sears) around. I finally broke down and paid $35 for the last box which isn't such a great deal in my opinion. Now I have 'nearly' enough storage. Enough for now and most of my hardware is organized and easy to find.

In retrospect I should have bought some real parts bins from an industrial supplier. They seemed expensive at the time but now that I have three of these cheesy little bins I think I could have had real storage for not that much more. Oh well.

Other than that, I stayed indoors and watched my heating oil tank get lighter by the minute, and a few other things that are just part of normal life.

Maybe next week.

Winter Doldrums

Snow, sub-zero temperatures, and flu virus.

Nothing to report.

I will leave this little trick I just learned and tried out from The Family Handyman magazine.

When drilling large holes for seacocks and such:

Start the hole to outline the cut. Then drill a few small holes along the perimeter. Then go back and cut the primarly hole.



The smaller holes give a place for the chips to exit which frees up the cutting teeth and reduces the heat buildup. Doing a hole this way takes less than half the time for simply boring the large hole. One could say 'but drilling the extra holes takes even longer' -which is true- but it drastically reduces the heat and keeps your hole saw teeth sharp for much longer. You don't have to buy a new hole saw every three or four cuts which seems to be my practice when drilling into thick fiberglass hulls.

Note: I only tried this on wood, not fiberglass but I am assuming it works the same.

In any case, its a free advice and you get what you paid for it.

Plus, nothing you read on the Internet is actually true...

The cherry paneling is still in my basement. I have been ordering a few small bits of tools and supplies as my budget allows. I shovel, sniffle and wait for an opportunity to spend some quality time on the boat.

And that's it for now.

Life is cherry

Sorry, I couldn't think of a good title this week.

I continue to nurse a bad back and the temps remain in the mid 20's (f) so I kept my boat projects close to home this weekend.

I sanded the face surfaces of the cherry paneling rounding and 'softening' the hard edges of the profile...



... and then oiled them.



Here is a preview of what the paneling might look like.



I might actually get some of the paneling installed next weekend. There are a few other non-boat projects in the pipeline that I might have to deal with and the weather is always an issue but I am looking forward to the possibility of installing the cherry paneling next weekend. It might even be time to order the sheets of cherry veneered plywood that will cover the largest portion of the interior. And there is the galley benchtop to frame up too. And a million other small projects I could do to for that matter.

As an old boss used to tell me. "Somedays all you can do is push the ball forward a little bit. Any progress is good progress and progress means you will eventually finish."

Shoveling out.

Monday through Friday is for working to make a living.

Saturday and Sunday are for... shoveling. Once again we had nearly a foot of snow over the weekend so my time was spent shoveling around the house and popping Ibuprofen to keep my back reasonably supple.

No boat work this weekend other than to swing by and make sure everything was okay. (which it was)



I will try again next weekend...

Happy Holidays!

The winter holiday season is a great time with lots of family and friends. Not so much boatwork I am afraid.

I managed to get away for a few minutes to oil the backsides of the cherry paneling.



I also managed a quick trip out to check on the boat. (She is just fine.) Last week I mentioned the difficulty in getting the 3/4 inch plywood sole to fit. Here is a picture looking into the forward starboard end of the main saloon cabin sole.



... and the approximate shaving necessary to get it all to fit.



A further complication is that I tabbed the plywood undersole with 14 oz. biaxial cloth which is strong and... rather thick. The plyboo cabin sole sits on this tabbing putting it about 1/8 of an inch above the plywood undersole. I had cut the access holes in the undersole deliberately undersized to support the hatch covers. In the original sole, the hatches were supported by nailed and glued fiddles which were coming loose. My idea of the plywood undersole with the undersized holes was an effort to improve the design. There is no question that the new design is much stronger. I just never factored in the thickness of the tabbing. I think I am going to simply rely on the wonderful gap filling properties of epoxy rather than figure out a way to have the entire plyboo sole sit flush on the undersole. I am not up for cutting a step that large in the plyboo. Next time I will come up with something better.

More relatives are arriving and I have to cut the posting short. Here's to hoping for a free weekend of boatwork soon!

Big planks into small planks

... and not much else I am afraid. Big snowstorm left me shoveling for most of the day Sunday.

Pictures from last week:

I started with some cherry that I took to a friend's shop.



The boards were cut into thinner strips - 2.5 inches - a dimension chosen for roughly the visual effect I was looking for but more importantly, maximizing the stock we had to work with.



The shiplaps and beading were cut with a combination of routers and tablesaws. It took some trial and error to figure out the best way. We spent more time on the project than we expected. A nice router table and $150 router bit would have made the the cut on the first pass. We didn't have that. It wasn't too bad though.



Yesterday, with the storm forecasted I spent some time tightening down the tarp which had settled in and loosened a slight amount in the past few weeks. We have had several days of 50+ mph gusts so I wasn't surprised. The staking system is working well and the structure isn't moving anywhere and looks good.

After that I went to work on the cabin sole bamboo plywood. It is taking a lot LOT longer than I expected to get the right shape for the sole. The problem is that the angle between the hull and sole varies widely from near vertical to over 60 degrees. Making it that much more tricky, the curves are not anywhere near fair and are instead 'lumpy and bumpy and wavy'- both the outer curves of the sole and the angle between the hull and sole are highly irregular. With the bamboo plywood sole 3/4 inch thick I am removing a lot of material through trial and error. I have about eight hours of hand planing into the project. I am real close now but I still have a bit more fussing to do. I would have a few pictures to show what I am talking about but I left my camera in the car and in the 20 degree temperatures the camera battery quickly went dead. Inside the boat with a small electric heater going its about 60 degrees - a benefit of an insulated hull. I will try and get some pictures next weekend.

In other news, I made a bid on Ebay as a lark for a bronze cowl vent.



These things usually command a lot of money but this time I got lucky and won the bidding for $66. Its a bit smaller than I thought but a very well made and hefty chunk of bronze. I quite like it. I am not sure where to put it though. I know I need something to draw in/out air from the anchor locker which has clear air flow to the bilge and aft cockpit area. I am not sure this particular cowl is the ticket. It seems too small but then again it is really a small boat so maybe it will work. I know that no ventilation makes the insides pretty moldy and stale and it could be a long expensive wait for something bigger.



and that's it.

The next posting will undoubtedly be after the holiday so Merry Christmas everyone!