Third and fourth (sheer) strake

The third strake went on without much incident; it's shown in the first two pictures. However, on one side I had to fix the piece because the scarf joint broke; it was weak as well as ugly and it broke into two, forcing me to join it with a strip of plywood, more epoxy and nails. The combination butt and scarf joint is strong and will look none the worse, with the extra strip hidden inside the thwart compartment.

Then I had to do the very same thing with one of the sheer strakes. This butt joint will be more or less hidden under the side deck. Memo to self: next time (if there is one) buy or borrow a belt sander to taper the scarf joints, since a power plane is too imprecise and a hand plane and palm sander too slow.

Finally the sheer strakes went on (third and fourth photo). I also reinforced the sides of the CB trunk below the hull, making sure they are tapered at the leading and trailing edge to reduce drag. The hull of the boat is complete (although not fully filleted at the seams, sanded, epoxied, primed or painted). It's been a few intense weeks and my wife has been patient but not happy about my obsession. Talk to y'all again next year!

Garboard and second strake

The next step was to lay on the garboards (bottom pieces). After cutting off 6mm from the inner edge in the middle to accommodate the extra thickness of the centerboard trunk, and a little trimming, I test fitted them. Considering that my cuts were not particularly precise, the fit was decent. Since I am planning to fillet the seam between garboard and keel, the small gaps will be filled with epoxy compound anyway and the final product will be stronger for it. It's already starting to look like a boat, sort of.

Next came the test fitting of the second strake, and the beveling of the outer edge of the garboard. I ended up using a borrowed power planer. On this beveled edge I nailed and glued the second strake (third photo). The fit at the stem was not great, due to the problems with the height of the stem I mentioned earlier: it seems that the top of the stem moved back up about a centimeter as I was building the skeleton. I think that there is  enough strake overlap to correct the problem as I put the other two strakes on. I will need to plane the upper edges of each strake (they are not perfect) and fill the lap angle with epoxy compound for strength.

Cutting the hull pieces, building the skeleton

One set of four long pieces (garboard, two middle strakes and sheer strake) marked and cut, with an extra 17 mm added to the width for the laspstrake overlap. The scarf joints definitely need smoothing, and some need strengthening too. The second set was easier because the pieces can just be copied, avoiding the arduous process of measuring, marking the reference points given by the software, hammering nails into the points, bending a piece of wood to the nails and marking the cut line, for each of the eight long edges. I helps that the curves are long and smooth, because gross errors in measurement show up easily by spoiling the curve. It only happened twice out of dozens of points I marked.

Then I built the skeleton of the boat. I cut a piece of 4x6 cm board to the right length, which comprises a strongback stretching between the transom and the fore bulkhead. This was secured on top of three sawhorses, flanked by boards on either side. The mid bulkhead and the rowing thwart bulkhead were nailed and glued on either side of the CB trunk. The transom is nailed and glued to the back of the keel/skeg. The aft and mid bulkhead and the frame at the middle of the side benches are supported by the sawhorses. One frame that will support the benches has two halves that are joined with boards. The transom and fore bulkhead are temporarily screwed to the ends of the strongback. One temporary frame attached to the strongback completed the skeleton. All frames are notched for the keel and the garboard cleats. The seat and sheer cleat notches will be cut as the side pieces are put on.

The next step will be to nail and glue the garboard to the skeleton. I tried it on for fit and it seems all right, but I will need to cut 6 mm off the edge where it abuts the CB trunk, which is 12 mm thicker than the keel. I am hoping to have the hull completed but not epoxied, primed or painted before I go away. The rest, including flipping the boat right side up and putting in benches and decking, will have to wait until next year.

Backbone and frames

Well, the backbone is ready and it evokes the boat that will be. A small problem arose while I was joining the CB trunk to the the fore keel/stem: a measuring error meant that the tip of the stem is 20 mm lower than it should be. Given the strength of epoxy, taking the joint apart would destroy a lot of wood, so I could either do  a bodge and adjust things as I put on the sides, or rerun the design. I chose the latter, running the software with a small adjustment and coming up with new measurements for the long side pieces.  Fortunately I hadn't marked the pieces on the plywood, let alone cut them. By now I have transferred the dimensions and drawn the cut lines for two of the four pieces. Once all are cut it will be time to build the skeleton of the boat on a strongback, using the backbone and the frames. 

Speaking of frames, I have finished cutting them out of 12 mm and 8 mm plywood, as seen in the second photo. Only the fore and rear bulkheads and the transom are single pieces. The rest are attached to the CB trunk, or are parts of the seat framing, or in the case of the flimsiest pair, will be a temporary frame.

Nails and glue

Here you can see the forward part of the keel with integral stem and garboard cleats. I cut off part of the forward end of the cleats because the bevel angles get complicated; I will bevel and add this part later. You can see the great outdoors just beyond: the construction is taking place on our terrace under a roof overhang. The remnants of the Mediterranean hurricane have just blown by, with no ill effects on our island or the boat construction, despite several days of strong winds and rain.

The second photo shows the centerboard trunk walls. On the left is the outside, with garboard cleat and cleats for two bulkheads. The bulkheads will be topped with the rowing thwart, and the space filled with expanded polystyrene for buoyancy. On the right is the inside, with spacers. If you look closely you will see a space carved out for the sheave of the centerboard lifting mechanism. Once the two parts have two coats of epoxy on the inside they will be glued and nailed together and then attached the same way to the forward and aft keel pieces.

The last photo has the aft keel/skeg pieces (with garboard cleats) glued and nailed together. Note the part above the cleats in the rear: it will anchor the transom vertically and the aft bench horizontally, but will not be visible inside the buoyancy compartment.
 
If all goes well the entire centerline backbone of the boat will be nailed together tomorrow.

Problems and progress

Getting the materials was a real pain, since we live in a small mountain village on an island, far from regular supply routes. Plus we don’t even have a street address, full time post office or home mail delivery (thanks, Hellenic Post, I remember when you were a service that made us proud; now, not so much). Plus, as far as I can tell, nobody ever builds boats on their own, so sourcing materials as a DIY consumer (as opposed to a boat yard) is tough. I had to contact a manufacturer/exporter of marine plywood to get the right stuff, and they sold me the sheets wholesale as a favor. The epoxy and related materials ended up in a similarly named island 400 miles away literally at the other end of the Aegean Sea due to someone mishearing my call. Anyway, I managed to get what I needed after dozens of phone calls and lots of waiting.

Another problem is that I have no enclosed workspace, workbench or many tools. I am building the boat in a sheltered part of our terrace under a large roof overhang. We are now being affected by a medicane (that’s a Mediterranean hurricane, who knew such things existed?) named Zorbas, with lots of wind and bands of rain, and so far the work area has stayed dry and safe. I am using four rather flimsy sawhorses for the cutting and backbone building phase, and I will secure the backbone and frames to a strongback secured on top of the sawhorses. It helps a lot that the tops of the CB trunk and four of the frames are exactly 16 inches (403mm) above the bottom line of the boat, because of the tops of seating benches and rowing thwart.

Completed so far:

1. Scarfed two sets of 6mm (1/4 inch) sheets of plywood together. Without proper tools (only a hand plane and palm sander) I ended up with scarfs that look terrible but are strong and will look better after a thorough sanding.
2. Marked and cut all the keel and stem pieces and centerboard sides. A lot harder than it sounds, starting from measurements on a piece of paper. Also cut a mockup of the centerboard from hardboard to make sure it fits and pivots correctly.
3. Since I don’t have a table saw, I had to ask a carpenter friend to cut a few boards into straight and beveled cleats.
4. Glued and nailed garboard cleats onto stem, skeg and CB trunk sides.
5. Cut and fit spacers for the insides of the CB trunk. Making space for a sheave for the lifting of the centerboard proved particularly picky.
6. Cut transom, fore bulkhead and mid bulkhead from 12mm plywood. Four more frames (one temporary) will be cut from 8mm plywood.

I only have just over five weeks before we leave (helping with another grandchild on the way, in Spain this time, then winter in Sacramento), so I hope to have to hull put together but not epoxied or painted. That, plus flipping the boat over and completing benches, decking etc. will have to wait until I come back. I will sew the sail in the US and bring it over.

The new design

The design of the new, unnamed boat is very similar to Aerie’s: marine plywood, v-bottom, four strakes per side, 176 inches long. It has some important changes in the structure and sailing equipment, all born of experience:

1. It is built around a three piece backbone consisting of keel/skeg, keel/stem and centerboard trunk all joined together, with the keel made of two layers of 12mm (half inch) plywood. Instead of a keel batten, garboard cleats are glued and nailed to the keel and CB trunk. 
2. Another important modification is the design of the centerboard, whose pivot bolt is positioned on the keel under the hull, to prevent leaks through the pivot hole. The centerboard is wider and the CB trunk is almost completely enclosed, with a small corner opening for the line and blocks for raising and dropping the centerboard. This will prevent water from splashing into the boat. The centerboard will be weighted with lead, both so it can drop easily and for ballast below the waterline when lowered. The CB was designed in tandem with the sail for a balanced helm, using techniques learned from David Nichols' The Working Guide to Traditional Small-Boat Sails.
3. For simplicity, the boat will be a cat with a single sprit sail. This way there will be no halyards (the sail will be permanently laced to the mast), no boom and only three lines: a sheet clipped to the clew, a snotter for the sprit and a brailing line for dousing the sail in rough weather. Again, thanks to David Nichols for many ideas. This being a sea-going vessel (albeit in the Mediterranean and very close to land for beach hopping only), a small outboard and oars will be on hand for when the wind is too weak or too strong.
4. The fact that I am building a cat means that there is only one forward bulkhead, at 28 inches (711mm) aft of the stem of the boat. The mast partner will be secured to this bulkhead and the foredeck.
5. The new boat has a bit less freeboard. I found that Aerie had too much, especially for the purpose of fitting an outboard. An added bonus is that the long hull pieces (garboard & strakes) will fit on two pieces of plywood (scarfed together) per side.
6. There will be a bit less in the way of seating and no lockers (again for simplicity). Instead there will be four storage compartments with open access ports cut into the bench risers. In addition, there will be three buoyancy compartments (fore of the transom and under the foredeck and rowing thwart) filled with expanded polystyrene. I got tired of relying on watertight compartments for buoyancy: they never are fully watertight and are a pain to drain and dry after water gets into them. I will make sure that the compartments have drainage holes. 
7. There will be no floorboards, which proved to be an annoyance on Aerie. Instead I will reinforce the bottom with extra plywood strips and finish it with anti-slip grit.

At it again

It’s been years since I posted on this blog, and lots of things have happened. I considered shipping Aerie to Greece, but it was way too expensive, enough to pay for the materials for two or three new boats. Plus the paperwork for getting it through customs and registering according to European Union regulations would have been a nightmare. So I decided to build another one in Greece instead, which is not surprising since I love to build things.

Meanwhile, I retired in April 2016. The plan to stay in Greece full time was put aside, on account of our children and their hoped-for offspring. We planned to move to California to be near our younger daughter, and spend up to half the year in Greece. I considered selling or giving Aerie away, but was talked out of it by members of the Wooden Boat forum that live in the Sacramento area. So we dragged the boat and its trailer over the Rockies, with a nasty incident in Albuquerque where the rear window of the SUV was smashed and random stuff taken. I could blame Aerie for it, since the length of the car plus trailer forced us to park in the one area not covered by security cameras and right next to the fence to boot. But I don’t blame the boat really; thieves are mean idiots who will steal anything they can, causing $500 worth of damage (not to mention the replacement cost of what they stole) for a duffel bag of clothes and such, with a street value of maybe $30. Breaking Bad was right, Albuquerque must be full of meth-heads drugged out of their minds!

Anyway, Aerie made to Sacramento, where she spent a while in storage and now sits in the back yard, without much opportunity for outings since we spend summers in Greece. But she is still beautiful and works just as well. But now, one grandbaby later, it was time to build one in Greece. It’s cutting into my bagpipes practice (that's another story), but you can’t have everything.