Trying again

The holidays were good. I got some work done around the house and on the car. I managed to put the cover back on the boat.

In looking at the failure of the cover, I think a big reason it failed was the amount of unsupported ridge pole at the front of the boat. I think perhaps I had the frames a little further forward last year.

In any case, I brought back my 'spare' frame that I didn't use last year and installed it about two feet in front of the original front frame. Then I repaired the frame that broke by screwing on a section of new strapping directly over the break. I repaired the bow upright 'post' by splicing in a section to replace the one that broke. I also put something under the post as it seems to have dug a hole under itself which probably was the first part to separate where the post joins the ridge pole.




The bad news is that the wind was blowing quite hard. The good news is that it was blowing in a direction that helped push the tarp over the boat. Luckily, the grommets on the upwind side were fine so I just had to pull over the same way it came off. I had to get the water and ice out of the tarp first. Dumping it into my shoes seemed like an effective technique.

To pull the tarp over on the side that had all the grommets removed I secured several lines by the method I mentioned last week. This is probably old news to everyone but since I have little to write about here goes:

First, I found a chunk of something and put it on the tarp where I wanted to secure a line.




Second, I twisted the tarp around the chunk of something.




Third, I tied a line around the twisted chunk of something.




This technique is widely used in emergency shelter construction and it actually works quite well.

So after fighting the heavy ice laden tarp in the cold northwest wind for an hour I secured it with some new grommets. This was the first time I made my own grommets. Now that I have done it myself I have even less respect for commercial tarp makers. The operation is dead simple and making a good looking grommet is pretty easy. I wonder why so many tarp makers can't do the same?

And finally, because I don't want to fix the tarp again this winter and because I don't intend to repeat this type of structure in the future (having to make repairs to the winter cover before December is just not a good way to start the storage season) I screwed sections of strapping right through the tarp to the frames. I am hoping by sandwiching the tarp between the strapping that the wind won't be tearing it off again.




I say I am not going to repeat this structure because after thinking about it, I am not sure I work on the boat enough in the winter to justify the time I am putting into the cover to make work possible. I think next year, I will either have a permanent structure to house the boat or I will cover the boat and walk away for the winter. The progress I am making over the winter months doesn't seem to justify the efforts I put into the cover.

So next week, some interior projects. Hopefully, I will be working on the boat this winter instead of perpetually fixing the cover.

...and that's it.

Rough Beginnings

Last week, I took a weekend away from Jenny and went to visit another boat project (and friend while I was in the area). Yesterday I stopped in on the boat. It took me a minute to realize something had changed...



My cover that held up to 90mph winds last year didn't last two weeks this year. My winter cover failed and it isn't even winter yet. I am a little concerned.

We did have some days of strong winds; 40+ mph winds anyway. I wasn't too worried based on past experiences. I should have. Maybe the strapping just can't be left around all summer to dry out. Maybe I should have painted the whole structure (?!)In any case, the strapping, installed just like the past successful season, failed very prematurely.

My guess is the first bow bow broke...



which left the front support holding up one side of the wide expanse of tarp...



which left too much unsupported tarp so all the grommets on the windward side let go...



A pretty dissapointing sight.

The good news is that I have a spare set of bows. I was going to take them to the dump with some other stuff Saturday. Luckily I stopped by the boatyard first.

I can only hope the spare bow will hold up better. I don't have particularly high hopes at this point. I am worried that the strapping just doesn't age well. Luckily I have pulpits installed. If things get really bad I will knock down the bows, set the ridgepole on the pulpits, tie what's left of the tarp to the ground and walk away until spring. Maybe I am being a little premature with that thought...

I bought a bunch of grommets to replace those torn out of my brand new tarp but I am also wondering about attaching the lines to the tarp with a hitch around a twist of tarp. I am not sure how to explain it. I will take a picture if I go that route. The best I can describe it is that you twist a round object (stone, golf ball, etc) in a section of tarp and then tie a hitch to the tarp behind the enclosed object. It supposedly works quite well. I have done it with emergency shelters for a single night but I haven't tried it for a whole season.

I am really done with temporary work shelters that need to be broken down every spring. I am going to double up on my real estate search. I am sick of winter covers.

Naturally, the tools I need to fix the structure are the same tools I use every day at work (and no I don't have the resources to have duplicates of everything at the moment - holiday expenses are coming, I need a new commuter car ...) So, I decided to continue clearing up my workspace at home in preparation for winter boat projects and pout about my setbacks.

Hopefully something better to say next week.

Happy Turkey Day!

All tucked in

The wind gods must not have been paying attention this weekend. With little wind, the cover took about five minutes to pull over and maybe two hours to secure, including a trip to the hardware store for more line.







I had to run to Home Despot for some spring clamps because my old ones dissapeared after the wind storm last year. Once there I got distracted by some possible future tool purchases and wound up spending a good deal of time researching tools. It was cold too. I haven't become use to that yet. Plus, with the cover on it is quite dark and my lights were... someplace else... Do I need any more excuses or does that cover me?

... and then there is the new winter work list. Thankfully, it is a bit simpler than in year's past. Somehow I think I will still be rushing to get it all done come late spring.

Things that need to happen before the next launch:

Patch the hull where I went on the rocks last time. Initially, I was thinking I would have to lay some large pieces of cloth. Now, it looks like a few small dished out patches will work fine.

I have a jib cleat next to the patch where the old fuel fill used to be. The patch was a bit rough on the underside and it is flexing. I need to do a better job before I hook the genoa up to it in a 20 kt blow.

Fix the paint on the starboard side where the fenders rubbed through it. There are also some scratches I would like to fix. One reason I chose Awlcraft 2000 over Awl-Grip was because it is supposed to be easier to fix. I will find out shortly and I have emailed the company for any repair tips. One thing I am sure about - Awlcraft scratches easier than Awl-Grip. It is quite sensitive to clumsy tool marks...

Finish that last 5% of the deck hardware installation that never seemed to happen this fall. It's the bow pulpit and a few odd fittings next to it. Easy.

I want to move the aft cleats off the blocks next to the toerail. I am not thrilled with the look and I suspect the raised cleat puts more strain on those long bronze bolts than is necessary. I plan to move the cleats inboard into the middle of the aft deck and flat on the deck; not raised on blocks. I just have to make sure they won't interfere with the wind vane rigging.

Buy and install new stanchion tubes. I have had one tube missing for two years now. Plus, I would rather have a double lifeline system anyway.

Replace the jumper strut stay hardware. I wanted to be able to adjust the jumper strut tension with the mast up so the rigger installed some sort of tensioners into the stays that tighted with some sort of thumb screw. Under load they can't be turned. I want to put real turnbuckles in there. I removed the hardware months ago and have done nothing about it. I will call my rigger soon and get moving on that.

Get the rigging on the reverse gear right. I got a surprise last season (as did the dock crew) when I ran into the dock at 3 kts because I found out too late I had no reverse gear. Well, the prop turned in reverse but wasn't accomplishing much. The atomic four has no real reverse gear. Instead it has a clamp around a planetary gear system. When the clamp tightens, the outer band stops turning and the inner rings goes the other way. You have to see a picture to see how it works... Anyway, I need to add more tension to the system for a more positive reverse.

More varnish. Always. And getting worse with every bit of wood I add. It is the cost of true beauty.

Install the rub rail brass strip. The strip was supposed to go on right after the rubrail. Somehow that kept getting pushed back. Now it needs to get done.

Finish installing the head. The head is 95% complete. I just keep cutting the final hose an inch too short. The fourth time I expect better results. I also need to add a vent fitting and hose. I should be able to manage that.

Stop the cabin leak. The last rains confirmed that I still have a leak working its way through the cabin. I still suspect the area around the port battery shelf. One corner is tight against the partial bulkhead and I think water is pooling up and getting into the cabin there. I drilled a drain hole when the shelf was intalled. Perhaps my 'drain' hole went into the bulkhead a bit and created the leak?


That's the high priority items. A much shorter and easier list than in year's past.

Hoisting sail

Not an exciting weekend. Putting the winter cover up has become a rather dull exercise really.





Saturday I finished the frame putting the end poles up. It was too windy to consider pulling the tarp over so I worked on securing the galley paneling - bits and pieces here and there- not worth a photo.

Sunday morning seemed like a good day for pulling the tarp over with the wind somewhat diminished from the day before. First, I hung my small older tarp across the stern area where it is too wide to pull the big tarp together. Then I unrolled the main tarp and positioned it alongside the boat, securing one side to the bottom of the frame and attaching several long pieces of rope to pull the tarp over.

As a side note; the new tarp from Hamilton Marine looks much better than last year's tarp from TarpsOnline.com.

When I started, the wind was working in my favor to help push the tarp across the boat and over the top.

Unfortunately...

The wind shifted and started to pick up. I was working the tarp over about six feet at a time and had the tarp over the ridgepole when the wind shifted. Now, instead of the wind helping to push the tarp over, it filled the tarp and was pulling it away from the boat. I suddenly found myself running on a broad reach with a 1200 square foot spinnaker. My simple slip knots on the lines I was using to pull the tarp became welded iron and I was forced to cut them away before any serious damage occured. I was surprised, really, that the structure didn't seem to mind at all. The tarp was flying 10-20 feet above the boat and really pulling well. While frantically scrambling for my knife (luckily in my pocket at the time) I was fully expecting the structure to flex and crack and blow apart. The structure really didn't seem to show any signs of stress though; even with the tarp picking me up when I grabbed a loose end.

So for the moment, the tarp is staged alongside of the boat waiting for more favorable conditions. After that little bit of excitement I didn't feel like tackling any other projects so I used my time to clean up the area and my shop area at home.

There is always next week...

Bahamas Bound

Not me of course. A friend of mine who charters on his Hinckley 49 was desperate to get a bunch of work done before heading south. So I spent last weekend working on other-peoples-boats.

I did manage to break away last Sunday afternoon and visit Jenny. While there I installed two pieces of sound insulation around the engine. I had heard good things about this insulation and when I ordered it I expected it to be quite heavy and dense. Instead, it looks like... well like the 3200 square feet of insulation that I already own for general hull insulation. Not exactly of course. The sound insulation has slightly smaller 'cells' in the foam than what I already own, it is lined with an aluminum foil and it has an adhesive on one side already.



It looks like nice stuff and I have heard good things about it so we will see. The Atomic Four doesn't really need sound proofing. It is pretty quiet already but this should make it a bit nicer. I would be reluctant to put my general foam insulation that close to the engine too. The temperature rating is quite high but the aluminum foil lined insulation has to be a better choice.

Anyway, the sound insulation installs super easy. Cut to fit. Peel the backing. Stick in place. No complaints so far.

So this latest weekend I had to cram in all the household stuff I put off last weekend and get started on my winter cover. With October quickly wrapping up I was getting more than a little anxious about getting the boat covered.

Last year's winter cover worked pretty well; even during that storm with the 90 mph winds. The one fault was the green garden stakes which were totally inadequate for keeping the base of the structure where it belonged. The structure simply pushed over the garden stakes, flattened them and settled into a variety of 'S' curves which I had to straighten out several times.

So this Saturday I bought 14 - 4 foot sections of concrete re-bar and drove 3 feet of the bar into the ground. We will see if this solves the wandering problem.




After that I managed to match up the frame halves, bolt them together and stage them for erection. Why does it sound so porno to say 'erection'?...

Sunday was the first windless day in two weeks which was a blessing. It was an easy day raising the frames into position. By starting in the middle, I was able to place the ladder at the ends of the boat and hold the ridge joint in one hand, walk up the ladder. There was enough friction where the bows slot into the base frame for the bows to stay in position while I walked down and screwed temporary braces to hold the frames vertical.




Once I had them all up I installed diagonal cross bracing below the sheerline. Then I dropped the 3 section ridge pole into the slots and secured it with the same metal hardware I used last year. After that I installed another row of diagonal cross members above the sheerline. The whole operation took about 5 hours.

So that is the good news.

The bad news is that the structure is not going to last many more seasons. There are a variety of reasons for this.

For one, the untreated bows all warped to varying degrees. It is cheap strapping material so I really shouldn't be surprised. There is definitely some stress due to shrinkage which has weakened the construction adhesive bond around the filler blocks placed between the inner and outer strapping that make up the bow.

Secondly, the 1/2 inch plywood gussets (3/8 on two where I ran out of 1/2 inch scrap plywood) that connect the two opposing bows together take a lot of stress during 'erection' and the plywood is weakening. There was some groaning and cracking noises this time. Everything held together but I was a little concerned. Once in place I am not too worried about the joint but grabbing one bow and walking up focuses a lot of strain on the gusset joint when the bows are more horizontal than vertical. If I use the frames again I will have some repair work to do first.

Third, I am an amateur construction hack and the structure is not a model of precesion and quality. That is just the way it is.

Overall, I am still very impressed with the design of the structure (not my design) but I don't think it lends itself that well to breaking down every spring. There is too much wear and tear during the assembly. I am sure I could have left it up (and coverd from the sun and rain) for ten years with no major problems. It is the up and down and leaving them untreated and outside under the boat has taken its toll on the cheap strapping. The only real solution is a permanent structure, a boat barn, which keeps moving up on my priorities list.






Rain fell in the afternoon and I wasn't really excited about attaching the end poles or pulling the tarp over anyway so that's all I got done. Next week I need to finish up the cover and take a good look at what needs to be done before next spring's launching.

and that's it.

Resisting the urge

The urge to continue with the interior construction is a strong temptation but it really isn't a priority so I focused instead on the wind vane project that is starting to feel like a never ending journey. Even the pictures look the same week to week.

In any case, last week I filled the old holes with the plan to more or less start over installing the deck mounts. I also installed the mounting pads very permanently in a bed of thickened epoxy. This week I wanted to get the deck mounts in place for good.

Since I have learned that even a little misalignment at the deck can cause serious problems where the tubing connects to the wind vane I wound up putting together a system that allowed the whole wind vane to sit in position so that I could see exactly where the mounts wanted to be. The end result looks simple but it took a few hours. On a positive note, everything is looking much better. The modifications I did earlier seem to be exactly what the vane needed. Now it is sitting pretty close to it's ideal location on the transom.





With the location of the mounts accurately located I drilled new bolt holes. First I drilled in a quarter inch with the 5/16 drill to get the exact center of the hole. Then I grabbed my 48/64's drill and went all the way through the deck. Doesn't everyone have a 48/64's drill? I bought it a few years ago for drilling and tapping a pipe thread. I needed something bigger than 1/2 inch and the only other option was my forstner bits which would have been harder to center exactly. Not too important. The job got done. Then I dug out some coring and filled my new holes back up with thickened epoxy.



Sunday, I positioned the mounts again and drilled through the center of the plugs I made Saturday. Again, I took a fair amount of time to make sure the mounts were positioned as accurately as possible. When the holes were all drilled through I mixed up some thickened epoxy and bedded the whole mount and bolted them in place. Now those mounts have become part of a rather permanent installation.



I also did some shopping around for concrete re-bar. It is time to start thinking about the winter cover and while I was pretty happy with last year's cover, the one area in need of improvement was how the structure was fixed to the ground. I used some garden stakes last year and during a few high wind storms the structure bent over the stakes and started moving around. I am thinking the re-bar should resist that tendency a bit better.

Other than that, I am going to finish this blog and order a tarp, some engine box sound insulation and some interior hardware so I can figure out how to make the storage locker doors - Some good advice I received was to figure out the hardware first and then build the doors to match. Otherwise, when it comes time to install the hardware you might be in for a surprise.

So that's it. Not terribly exciting.... oh wait... one more thing.

We had lots of rain this week with one particularly rainy day so after work I went out to the boat to look for leaks. It took awhile but I think I found my mystery leak. Well, two really but one leak is just a slight seepage from the aft starboard dead light. I have some bronze frames waiting to replace the aluminum ones anyway so I am not too worried about that one. The really tricky leak was coming out around the bulkhead between the saloon and head areas along the bottom of the settee front. A few weeks ago I did some destructive investigation and ruled out a deck leak and traced the leak back to the galley area. My search the other night confirmed that the underside of the deck was bone dry so I moved my search back into the cockpit where I think I found the problem.




Apparently, the cheap ($100 Bomar) plastic hatches are leaking. No surprise really. I knew they would. I had assumed that any leakage would travel harmlessly into the bilge. On the port side however, the leak was dropping onto the house battery shelf and running forward to the panel that I had installed which divides the cockpit area from the cabin area. The original structure was a 'mini bulkhead' about six inches wide that gave shape to the hull but wasn't a complete panel. The old icebox used to fit through this part. When I closed off the area, I screwed a full panel to the old partial bulkhead. And because there are no square bulkheads in the boat, there is a little gap between the panel I installed and the mini bulkhead. The leak was running along the battery shelf and dropping into this crevice and from there it was following the front edge of the settee until it found a place escape. At least I am pretty sure this is what is happening. I made a fix and now I need to test it.

I made the fix during the rainstorm at night so it wasn't pretty. I will have to do some cleanup later. Because of the tight confines I couldn't get a tool into the area effectively so my solution was to hold out my bare hand ... and unload several pumps of polysulfide sealant into my waiting palms. Then smear the sealant into the gap. Crude but effective. Once the sealant started to set up I was able to clean my hand. I would have taken a picture but I couldn't touch anything . Imagine a human hand and forearm completely encased in white sealant. Pretty yucky. On the other hand, I came back the next day to find the cabin sole completely dry for a change and all the damp areas dried out. I think I fixed the problem but the next rainstorm will confirm it.



And that's it. Now it is time to get the winter cover up. I will probably also be taking a weekend off soon to help out a friend getting a new-to-him boat home. By November I should be able to fully immerse myself in interior construction. My design juices are flowing these days and I can't wait to get moving on that.

Someone please remind me that the boat needs to be ready to sail next spring...