Saturday 28 March 2015

Skiff Day 2

Jess was heading out for the morning and I was stuck indoors with the kids so seeming as its hard to get time for the skiff build I figured it was fair enough to bring it inside the house :D
To be fair it was just so I could get the marking out done. That's time consuming but a nice clean job so perfect for indoors.
This afternoon I managed to get the frames glued up, cut out the floor and glue the bow section on. I also cut out the aft two thirds of the hull side and found a piece to make the transom out of. The transom piece was just a little short in height but only enough to mean the top had to be cut square instead of arched.
I cut and glued on the transom frame and left the top proud so that I can make the arch in solid timber timber to make up for the slack ply.
I glued that much with polyurethane glue as I had it and its less messing than mixing small amounts of epoxy. I will probably use the epoxy for the assembly.
The only thing I'm short now to get it all put together is the piece of 6mm ply to finish the side panels.

For the record (Kids, Unhelpful)


This is possibly as easy as boat building gets.

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Salt Bay Skiff Day 1

I made bit of a start today, I bought a 14ft length of 9x2 Red Deal and a sheet of 9mm marine ply.
I will have to get a sheet of 6mm somewhere else as they don't have it and I'm short a small bit.
I've found that there is a mixed bale of red deal which seems to be about half the price of the stuff in the bale of 9x2's, Its the same stuff I used for a lot of Teal's interior and is very heavy and resinous compared to the more expensive bale.
After fitting a new drive belt I managed to coax my table saw back into life and rip and plane all the the solid timber parts, gunnels, chine logs, frames, transom frames, keel and stem. I'm going to collect my chop-saw and find my sliding bevel tomorrow so I can assemble the frames and cut all the various bevels.
I wouldn't recommend anybody getting the timber ex 9x2 unless you have access to a decent table saw, some of it is reasonably heavy cutting.

Tuesday 17 March 2015

I've been getting bits and pieces sorted to start on the skiff. Mainly silly things so I can quantify what I need.
Firstly I printed off the plans and then went about changing everything from Imperial to metric.
I don't mind marking the offsets etc in imperial but as for calculating what timber I need my head can't work with 2x4's, 2x10's etc. There is a list of various lengths that I need so I've narrowed it down to 1no. 4.5mtr of 9x2, a sheet of 9mm ply and a sheet of 6mm, They list a half sheet of 12mm to make the transom, rudder and leeboard but as all I want for now is the transom I'm going to try and find a piece somewhere that will do,
I can get pretty good 9mm marine ply locally but irritatingly I am short s small bit of 6mm too and they don't stock it locally anymore so I need to decide what to do about that.
All the other timber is clear pine or red cedar but I'm just going to use readily available red deal and I have a broken pitch pine church pew that I can use instead of the cedar so once I go get my 9x2 and sheet of ply I can get started.

Thursday 12 March 2015

Tender issues

So I've written before about the problem with the Apple Pie dinghy being to small to carry Jess, myself and the kids, and the kids being too young to leave at either side on their own which left us having to use the dreaded decrepid inflatable ( it really is quite bad ) and tows like a ton of bricks.
For the charter boat I use a heavy, hard to row dory type punt which I can just about drag up the beach on my own with great effort and although it is good and stable, at low tide it is a pain in the arse to put away in the evening.
I bought an outboard last year and plan to buy a decent little boat which can be kept afloat to replace the dory. This could also be used for family trips on Teal but I its not ideal as I'd have to trailer it when Teal is kept away from Union Hall and regardless it still doesn't exist.
So yesterday anyone who follows woodenboat magazine on facebook might have seen their piece on the Salt Bay Skiffs. It caught my eye and I now have a set of plans for the some total of about $3.90.
I also have some of the materials left over from other things and the rest are easily got hold of.
Its a chine log 12ft skiff. It has two rowing positions same as the Apple pie and can also be sailed with the aid of leeboards so no need to build a centerboard case, It looks quick and cheap to build and the result is a 80-90lb boat that can carry two adults and two kids easily. I think it looks good too and eventually I could make the rig and use it for a little shallow water exploring.
I plan to squeeze in the build between other things so there should be something happening here shortly.


Images borrowed from woodenboat.com

Sunday 1 March 2015

Its an all time low for the blog at the moment but I haven't as much as set eye's on Teal in weeks.
I did have a dream (nightmare) last night that she was horribly dried out and they were angle-grinding next to to her and covering her in rust. Thats probably based on the fact that they have covered the Boy Scott in rust and I have some serious cleaning to do.
Its nearly time to get the charter boat ready to go so I will be making my way to the yard in the next week or two. I still have no word on the sails, I told them to go ahead with the Main and Mizzen and I'll hold off on the staysail for another season, it's probably time to chase them up on the others though.
Ken sent me a link to another project boat for sale in the UK, I have to admit if I wasn't so utterly broke, not to mind up to my eyeballs in the house project I would have already been to check her out.
There would definitely be a few years work in it but she ticks a lot of boxes. Not that I am in any rush to change from Teal but I do love messing about with boats.

Random picture