More wheel house

I should probably start by saying Im going to stop crying about the winter that wont end. I know its close to giving up the beast, but after the 6" storm we had two days ago, and lows in the single digit this week, its fighting to the bitter end. The high today was around 26 degree F, but with the sun gathering strength, the cold air temperature can no longer sustain the snow, and its quickly receding. Given the air temperature is still below freezing cold, having the boat facing south, along with the strengthening sun, heats the inside of the boat up quickly, and I really dont have to run the heater at all.

I finished trimming the windows, and also got some color on the wood. The window trim is basically a house style detail being a 1/2" x 2 3/4" casing, a 3/4" x 2 1/4" stool, and a 1/2" x 2 3/4" bonnet under the stool. All the reveals are a 1/4".  Its a simple look, but I think its legitimate.  

Some more progress has been made in the wheel house, and Im inching up on getting the wood work completed. The layout was finalized, and more compromises were made. We were pretty dead set on having a 240 volt clothes drying machine and a 120 volt clothes washer, but in the end, having two units just took up too much space. In the space where the clothes dryer was going to go, I built a base cabinet with two large  drawers, and two doors underneath. Because the drawers are so wide, I used 3/8 plywood for the bottoms vs the usual 1/4". Im planning on the drawers being used for paper charts and other things navigation.  The drawer fronts are not installed yet as I just  fitted the boxes in place.
 
Just aft of the new base cabinet is the opening for the compact LG washer/dryer combo unit. Out of all the units I looked at on line, the LG units have the best, most consistent reviews. Im a little leery of its ability to dry clothes with only 120 volts, so I have it in the back of my head that a decent working clothes line might be in order... probably something on the roof running off of the mast.

The large opening starboard of the instrument dash area is where the electrical distribution panel  is going to go. I had some sort of cut twice/measure once thing going on and screwed up the door that houses the electric panel. I found out this mistake today as I was fitting all the shiny parts Ive made in the last week.

I have the wheel house counter top fabricated and dry fitted in place, but not not yet installed. Before the top gets installed,  I need to land all the wires on the bulkhead behind the distribution panel door. I used THHN for the primary wiring behind the walls, and will land all that on terminal strips. From the terminal strips, to the distribution panel, Im using a flexible, tinned, marine wire. I have about 90% of the boat wire pulled to the area under the dash, and landing it with the top off is going to be  huge vs lying on my back. I realize Ill still be doing some wiring while laying down, but I want to get as much done while its relatively accessible.

While I was fabricating in the barn last week, I decided to make the panel that finishes covering the dry exhaust/intake stack. Because the stack is such a large fixture, I decided to make this panel a raised panel. A large, flat piece of plywood just didnt feel right. The cherry veneer plywood is for sure nice material, but in my opinion, is a little too perfect. The air dried cherry I am using oozes character, and really puts the plywood to shame in regard to interest.  Being in the center of the room and such a visual element, this large raised panel looks spot on.

Heres to the coming Spring.

Cheers

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More on Stability with Water Ballast

John Gilbert asked a question in response to my recent post, Stability with Water Ballast.

I do not get why the red and blue curves do not meet up at 180 degrees. Inverted the boat has no windward side as you point out, so you have water ballast on one side and none on the other side. As you have drawn the curves you have powerful stability in the  inverted position with the water on one side (red), but actually a righting moment if you have water on the other side(blue). What is the difference?

To help with understanding this I thought it better to write a new post that expands on the dynamics of stability than to try to answer it in the comments section after that post.

This will be more easily understood by seeing a diagram showing the stability graph expanded through a full 360 degrees rather than all conditions overlaid on top of each other in a 0-180 degree range. This is exactly the same stability info for the Didi 950 as shown in the graph of my earlier post but shown in a different manner.

Diagram of Stability through 360 Degrees

I will start with the green curve. This shows the stability without water ballast. The centre of gravity (CG) is on centreline. The stability curve intersects with the horizontal grid line at 0 degrees heel and increases identically both to left and right of the 0 degree line, so the boat will float without any heel to either side when right way up. The boat will stay that way in the absence of any wind, wave action or crew movement on the boat.

Follow the green curve until it comes down past 130 degrees to again intersect with the horizontal line at the Angle of Vanishing Stability (AVS). Then it enters a range of negative stability where it will proceed toward upside-down. At 170 degrees it crosses to above the horizontal line again. This indicates that the superstructure volume is trying to turn it back upright and doesnt want the boat to lie totally inverted. It will easily flop back and forth between the 170 and 190 degree points. The boat can return to upright along either green curve.

This all depends on a totally waterproof superstructure, of course. In practice water is likely to enter the boat at a rate that depends on what is open at the time, which will affect the inverted stability. 

Moving on to the stability with water ballast, in my earlier post I said that the boat will capsize along the red curve and recover along the blue curve. I explained the relationship between the two curves but that relationship is not easy to visualise if only seen across the 180 degree range.

In the diagram above you can see that the red and blue curves only meet in two places and both are on the horizontal line. These are the two points at which the boat will rest when there are no outside influences from wind, waves or crew movement.

The boat cannot rest totally upright nor totally upside-down because the weight of the water to one side is heeling it toward that side. It will rest at approximately -5 degrees heel instead of upright and at 200 degrees instead of upside-down when inverted.

Bearing in mind that the areas of the curves below the horizontal line indicate how much energy it needs for the boat to get past the AVS points so that it can right itself when in that 200 degree situation, it is now easy to see that it will take a large amount of wave energy to get past the AVS of the red curve but a very small amount of wave action to get past the AVS of the blue curve.

This graphic shows that if a water ballasted boat capsizes it will do so along the red curve but it is very unlikely to return along that same path, nor is it likely to stay capsized for long. Once past the AVS of the red curve the negative stability will push it to 20 degrees past upside-down. After that the blue curve will take over and almost guarantee that the boat returns to right-way-up pronto.

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More About Bonne Amie Design 1068

One thing about social media is that if you post something that is wrong, people will straighten you out pretty quickly. A few days ago I posted an article about the Nevins Yawl Bonne Amie which is undergoing restoration. We received the following from her owner:

"Bonne Amie is actually being restored in Seattle, WA by Jensen Motor Boat Co. (Est. 1923), I noticed you had mentioned Port Townsend. She was the first in the series and launched in 1955 despite having hull #2 (Golliwog was launched in 1956 but Colin Ratsey got the distinction of owning #1 according to Olin). The masts are replicas of the originals made by Nevins down to the hand made hardware. All her original deck hardware has been located and restored to original including her chrome primary bases and all the interior hardware (see attached images of the cabin lights). Restoration has actually taken 6 years, I am enclosing another couple pictures if youd like to add them to the post."

I did look up that issue about what hull number she is. Heres an early article which bears this out. Its interesting to note that the magazine misspelled her name.


Our index card file also shows Bonne Amie launched in 1955 and Golliwogg in 1956.

Here are some images of her spar under construction and the fitting and hardware he mentions.



Thanks for sending these and we look forward to further updates.

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A little more work on the transom

Tonight I cut two more holes in the transom. A 1" drain hole, and a square hole for the boomkin.
That makes a grand total of 17 perforations through my transom. Six for the Duckworks motor mount, eight holes for the gudgeons, and three more for the tiller, boomkin and drain!  I hope the boat will still float despite all these holes!

Another challenge was how to trim all the planks flush with the transom. I thought about using a saw but was afraid of scratching the surface of the transom and chipping the planks. Then I thought Id carefully whittle away at them with a sharp chisel. That would have taken forever.  I ended up using the Gain Machine


I set the Gain Machine so that the router bit was flush with the bottom of the base, like this:

Then, holding the base firmly against the transom, I used the Gain Machine to route the protruding planks flush with the transom.

The planks were perfectly flush a few minutes later.

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More on Design 1557 Spirit Class

As a follow up to my posting of earlier today regarding design 1557-C3, here is Orpheus, hull number five of the series.  She was built of wood by American Marine of Hong Kong.  Her cabin trunk is specific to this hull. I think the house is very nicely proportioned.  There is 6-1" headroom under the deckhouse. Image courtesy of Jeff Sanders and Wooden Boat magazine.

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More About Design 955 24 LOA Catboat

We posted an article way back in 2010 about this boat. I thought I would circle back to it as I think she is a lovely design. The boat would be a breeze to sail and her extremely shallow draft would be great for gunkholing just about anywhere. Her general arrangement looks generous and even more so with the mast forward of the main cabin itself. That sure is one way to handle access to the head, by simply having a door from the cockpit directly into it.

I spoke to the owner last week and he promised to send us some images. Well get them posted when we receive them. The boat is awaiting restoration.

Here is an article from Yachting magazine from 1951. Please double click to enlarge.


I disagree with the author. I wouldnt even hesitate slipping her dock lines here in Greenwich and sailing her up to Penobscot Bay. All you would need is a little cockpit tent for the evenings. Like this.



And here is the deck and deck construction plan, which is beautifully drawn.

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More islands rain forests Hogfish life

 We have been doing more hikes and climbs on different islands lately. Every island has its own distinct flaura and feel. They are all so different it being impossible to decide on a favorite climb. Lots has changed since we last sailed this way. More boats but the big thing is the islanders have been very friendly this time. In years past lots of places were avoided because of the rudeness of the locals to us boaters. Seemed like they had a chip on their shoulders. Now its like being in Bermuda. After a few days there years ago I asked our waitress why everyone was so nice. She explained that many years  ago they changed their work description from being a "service " industry to a "hospitality" one. Taking the service= servatuide out of the equation changed it all in their minds. Now they are hosting us as guests.  

Seems like that its been adopted down here so far. Everyone looks happy. Looks like and feels like they understand we are here to enjoy their country and will be spending a bit of our hard earned cash too.

Climbing up a dubious iron ladder to get to the source of the fresh water on Neivis after a two hour hike.

Jungle. 

Sailing by Redonda island on our way to Montserrat

I want to be King of Redonda so I have found my Throne here in a 1930s Fife schooner.

Rachel posing in front of our yacht.... Its anchored out in the bay behind these little ones in Antigua

Peeping in port holes at night in Antigua.

Our dinghy looks huge . It is ! We needed a big one raising kids and to use exploring. Iam rowing for a few days exercise.

Tim next to a nice big root.

No dinosaurs seen on this hike up a river in Guadaloupe

Wild Bird passing us in a bit of wind.

Gayle and Rachel trying to find the airport in Guadaloupe. We have just climbed out from a water drainage canal that on the chart showed it was in walking distance of the airport. Trying to save $25 dollars in taxi fare one way. Close but not as close as theyd hoped.

  French road side menu. Rachel can speak French . I know a little spanish. We always try to learn something. We both can understand the locals when talking their version of English as we have been in the islands sailing and working for years. But when they all start talking at once I just say , please speak the Queens  English, this works most of the time .

Tim and I going back down the canal.

Nice skiffs seen on this expedition 

Two hour hike up in muddy trails to get to this waterfall. I had not swam in fresh water in years so felt like I was drowning at first.

Gayle , rocks , and jungle

Another one

Fish market in Guadaloupe selling shark and Ray. 

Salted fish is a traditional leftover from when salt was the refrigeration of the day. I love eating this kind of fish. Its very cheap if you go eat where the locals do. Salted Cod in a pita bread is about $1.50

I hike mostly barefoot as I have spent most of my life avoiding shoes. 

Rocks I collected on our last sail around the Atlantic from all the beaches where all the great navigators went ashore from the Azores, Maderias, Canarys, Cape Verdes and through out the Caribbean Sea.

This trip I have a bunch so far from each island to bring back to our home In the Bahamas to build into our place. That way I can say that I own a piece of land from most of the islands in the Atlantic.

Madera rocks getting the salt washed off before stowing away. They can drive you nuts if not put away right as when you get sailing wing and wing downwind  just one of these suckers rolling back and forth is a nightmare to find.

Ile Saints, going up to the top on a hike.

Higher

Skiffs in the morning

Roots in Dominica

River skiffs

Well its more jungle, water and damp soil. 

Thanks everyone for your comments . 

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More mast

All my fabrication on the mast is complete and it is ready to haul to the boat yard. That being said, this simple dinghy lifting mast turned out to be quite a bit more work than I  had figured, and I for those who know what Im going to say next means, I used a large bottle of Argon for the welding. I would have never guessed a large Argon bottle would have been consumed, but it was.

Of course, having never done this type of project before didnt help with me getting finished in a reasonable amount of time, nor did my lack of putting a pencil to paper for some design work help much either. The mast step is already welded to the boat, and is comprised of two heavily gusseted pieces of 1/2" stainless plate welded into the heavily reinforced roof framing. The two plates have bores through them that the mast will pin in to allowing it to be easily laid down. The upper pin in the mast will bear the load, and the lower pin will be for locking it in place. In order for the mast to be able to pivot, I laid it out so that there is 1.5" of free space between the bottom of the mast and the step base. Once the mast is stepped and stayed, solid blocking will be wedged between the bottom of the mast and the step base. Because the bushings are going to be TIG welded in to the mast, I had to do a bit of compensating to allow for weld distortion. I decided to bore the bushings .006 over the pin diameter, and as luck would have it, that turned out to be the right amount. The fit is good with no tight spots and every so slight end play. When the pin engages both bushings, there is no side to side play. The lower pin used for locking the mast in place has no bushings welded in place.

The blocking should be 1.5" if I measured once and cut twice correctly.... or is it measure twice and cut once? Because the upper pin is going to bear the load, I decided to weld in heavy bushings to spread carry the load in the masts along with a more tolerant fit. Each bushing is two inches long, with 3/8" wall thickness ( the mast pin is 1.25" SS ).

In order to get the install alignment on the mast step perfect, I decided Id have to weld bushings in the step when  we install the mast. To build those bushings I used some  two inch aquamet prop shaft from the scrap pile at Washington Marine. Gregg at Washington let me pick some scrap pieces for my pins and bushings, and it was much appreciated.  Stainless steel is really nice material to work with on the lathe, and machines great.

Instead of butt welding the shroud and stay plates to the mast, I thought it better to use solid plates that ran through the mast. Eventually a steadying sail will be fit on the mast, along with a paravane rig, so I wanted the plate connection as stout as possible. The plates are 1/2" material, and because I dont really know the final configuration, I drilled what I thought was enough holes in each plate for possible future use. Drilling these holes 1.30" on center allows for shackles to fit next to each other.

A pad was framed at the top of the mast for the radar array along with a spreader bar that will hold work lights, a masthead/navigation light, weather center, and blocks for flags. The spreader bar is large enough antennas if we need.  I bored a two inch hole above the spreader bar for wires to exit the mast and fasten to the spreader bar.

The 4" boom will have an electric winch on it for hoisting a load, and the mast will have another electric winch on it for lifting the boom. The plan is to hoist the load with the boom winch, then raise the boom with the mast winch to get the load over the rail and on to the roof. Well control the side to sided with tag lines. The winches have remote controls, so that should make things a little easier to operate. I"m not 100% sure, but to power the winches, Im going to have a battery on the roof with a small dedicated charger in the wheel house, or possibly a small solar panel to keep the winch battery fresh. Either way, the battery will be in a weather tight box along with the winch fuses and solenoids.  All the winch brackets are in place along with test fitting the winches.
 
The cables used for the mast are 1/4" galvanized. All the shackles and turnbuckles are also galvanized. Because Im always on a budget, I used hour glass type swage fittings to make up my cables. These types of fittings are not as nice as the single pass stainless swage fittings used on sailboat rigging, but theyre for sure in my budget and look much better than cable clamps. I did use stainless steel on the thimbles since this point will see some abrasion. Years down the road when I start doing maintenance and repairs, I hope to upgrade to all stainless.

The next step will be to fit the mast to the step by welding in the step bushings with the mast in place. Once thats complete, well stand her up and be on the right side of having this job close to complete. Im pretty pumped about having a way to hoist loads to the roof. This is going to be big time handy for getting bikes, kayaks, and of course our tender to the roof. I know Ill also be  using this to hoist the welder for the handrail job along with hoisting the handrails. I hear of cruisers loosing tenders to theft because they have too much difficulty getting the gear out of the water and leave it out overnight. I"m hoping our rig is going to make our lives easier.

Cheers

       

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