Rethinking the rig

After a few more launches, I'd had it with the sprit rig. With the sail laced to the mast, the only way to reduce sail is to douse it by brailing, which causes lots of flapping and drag, and the brailing line gets fouled in various ways. Bringing down the sail means striking down the mast. The sprit is hard to tension properly (seems that I hung the snotter too high). But the worst problem is the difficulty of controlling the sail's shape without a boom, which makes tacking difficult, and the traveler I had to rig up for the mainsheet interferes with tiller and outboard. Adding a boom would solve some of these problems but would increase rig complexity.

So I thought about it and decided that a new rig would be a good idea, which suits my tinkerer's heart nicely (this will be the sixth rig for three boats). I had some good experiences with a standing lug rig with a sprit boom, if we discount the disaster involving the flimsy foremast of my cat ketch breaking in a stiff wind. Since the current mast is robust enough at a diameter of 75 mm (3 inches), I can concentrate on the pluses of the rig. Only three control lines (halyard, snotter, sheet), same as the sprit rig. Reefable and easier to deploy, not to mention take down. A sprit boom doesn't hit you on the head, needs no boom vang or gooseneck/jaws. And no fancy sheeting system is needed.

I took to pencil and paper and designed a new sail of roughly the same trapezoidal shape, but will need some cloth removed and some added to the existing one. There will be a small addition of square footage (up to about 112 square feet or 10.4 square meters) and the center of effort (COE) will be almost the same. My inspiration once again is John Welsford's Houdini and David Nichols' book on traditional sails for small boats. Regarding spars, I am simply shortening the existing sprit into the new boom, and making a very plain yard out of stock lumber.

I also decided to follow kind advice from the Wooden Boat Forum about the tiller. Between the sheet and the outboard, the existing tiller gets in the way. So I am replacing it with a Norwegian tiller, which runs at a right angle to the rudder, parallel withe the transom, and is controlled by a long pole with push-pull action. This will allow me to sit wherever I need to in the boat, and to use a simple 2:1 sheet tackle attached to the center of the transom top. The wood was cut to rough size and planed before I left; I will shape it and cut the mortises (one in the top of the rudder, one in the tiller's tenon for a wedge to keep it in place) when I get back to Greece.

I folded the sail into my carry-on bag and brought it back to California. I had plenty of leftover sailcloth but needed more luff tape and grommets. I also bought a sailmaker's palm for hand stitching but have not needed it yet. I was reminded that sewing a sail with a regular sewing machine is doable if a bit of a pain, and it's not worth my while to invest in anything more than heavy duty needles. The reconfigured sail is now (November 11) ready for next spring (the pandemic permitting). I will update readers with photos then.

Teething troubles

 We managed to get back to Greece in early June, on the first available flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt. It was interesting: masks all the way, a coronavirus test in Athens airport, two nights in isolation in a quarantine hotel (at public expense and with meals delivered in paper bags) until the tests came back negative, then off to our island for another five days of self-quarantine. By the end of June I had bought a trailer and a two-stroke air-cooled 2.5 hp outboard (basically a weed whacker with a propeller at the end) and registered trailer and engine. On the 4th of July the good vessel Sophia-Andreas was launched. She is very stable and tracks straight, and I love her lines.

However, the problems started immediately. The gas controller on the outboard broke (it was installed backwards, high was low and vice versa, we were lucky not to get hurt) and I ordered the part and replaced it. Also she was taking on water. I found that one of the trailer rollers exerted too much pressure on the bottom and cracked the second chine plywood. I fixed and strengthened the chine and tested for other leaks. After two rounds of waterproofing, the leak persisted with the second and third launches.

Meanwhile the rig needed adjusting. The breeze can get very stiff quickly in the Mediterranean and I found that a plain piece of line for a sheet was too hard to handle. I rigged a traveler system with blocks and it became manageable, but the boat would not tack. I asked for advice on the Wooden Boat forum, and people blamed the full-length narrow external keel and attached skeg. I ignored the advice to take a chainsaw to it but shortened the traveler and prepared for other small adjustments. Then our daughter and grandson came for three weeks and I put everything on hold to spend time with them. 

The rig is a single sprit sail with a brailing line. I found that brailing depowers the sail almost instantly, but in a stiff wind the clew flaps and creates serious wind resistance. I figured out a way to secure the clew by tying it to the mast with the end of the brailing line. The boat, having a bit less freeboard than Aerie and a generous skeg, is very efficient at rowing. 

Just as I was preparing to do another launch, there was a doozy of a thunderstorm that poured enough water on to tear the cover and fill the bottom to a sizeable depth. It took this rainwater to show me the most serious source of leakage: the pressure of the roller had also cracked the epoxy fillet at the seam between garboard and second chine.

I am having some people come over to take the boat off the trailer and flip it again. I will repair the seam, and equally importantly, will replace the rollers with cradle boards to distribute the weight. I think I know why the damage happened (the winch was attached too high on the stem and exerted too much downward pressure, something I have fixed) but I am not taking any more chances.

End of an era

Aerie, the boat I built in Ohio eight years ago, is no longer mine. A series of unfortunate events forced me to sell her for a fraction of her cost (including the trailer). After dragging her over the Rockies to California I had to put her in storage, not having a garage of my own. It was inconvenient and expensive. Eventually I moved her to the back yard, first under a tarp, then under a tent "portable garage." I built a gate in the back fence, which opens up to the grounds of a school. For a few enjoyable outings I pushed her on her trailer over a short stretch of grass to the school parking lot, hitched the trailer and took her to the water. Then the school district decided to rebuild the school and cut off access through that gate. I got Aerie out with only five days to spare before construction started, blocking the gate. 

So I advertised. Got lots of nice comments and vague interest, and a few people who were convinced they wanted to buy her. Several backed out due to advanced age and/or injuries, leaving me with $300 in forfeited deposits. I finally found a good home for her in Santa Cruz, California, just as the coronavirus lockdown was starting to take effect. The photo is from when I rigged the boat fully and tested everything. Apart from some scratches on the paint she was good as new. It broke my heart but she had to go.

At least I have built the other boat in Greece, which I have named "Sophia-Andreas" after the Greek versions of my grandchildren's names. She has her papers in order and is waiting for me when I get there. With all the travel restrictions nothing is certain, but we hope to get there in early June.

So what next on this U.S. side of the pond? I can't be water craft-less, so I am mulling over building a canoe. I was leaning towards a Hawaiian-style outrigger sailing canoe designed by Gary Dierking. But maybe I am too much of a tinkerer to fully stick to someone else's design. So I might build to a Dierking design but re-purpose one of Aerie's original lugsails (which would become a gaff sail). Or build a 15-foot American-style canoe that I have tentatively designed in two bolt-together sections (like the Dierking Wa'apa) with the option of adding an outrigger and sail(s) later. I don't know, and that keeps life interesting.

Flipped again

It took some more rework to get the centerboard to work smoothly: it was getting stuck on the way down. I had to remove the pivot bolt, to which I had foolishly added dabs of epoxy compound at the head and nut ends to seal the holes. It was a devil to remove, with the head getting badly stripped. A lot of sweat equity later, acquired while lying under the boat, I removed the CB and found that the forward end was rubbing against the CB trunk. After rasping a couple of millimeters off the right place and refinishing the  edge, I drilled out the pivot hole, filled it with epoxy, drilled through again, fitted a new bolt and problem solved finally.

The last touches involved leathering the oars and tying loops of line to fit over the thole pins (visible in the photo). Meanwhile my attempt to acquire a boat cover failed, like everything else involving people and purchases off the island in August: first the supplier was closed, then they called it was coming, then called again to say the warehouse was closed until the end of August, which will be too late. So I decided that storing a fully finished boat upside down should be safe, and I got three strong guys to help me lift the boat, remove the bricks and cradles, flip it and lay it on four bricks with styrofoam on top (photo, after touching up puttied holes with paint). This is where it will await my return in the spring. The registration paperwork I hope to complete before I leave, so I will have to get a trailer and hitch and finish the rigging, which is mercifully simple. With any luck I will launch it before next summer. Thanks for reading!

Oars and mast step

While all the rest was going on, I also made oars from 6x4 cm lumber (nominal, it is less since it's planed) cut to 2.5 m lengths. One of the pieces had served as the strongback on which the boat was built. I edge-glued 2x4.7 cm pieces on either side to make the blades. The sawing and electric and hand planing jobs were messy but nothing that a bit of epoxy filleting and lots of sanding could not fix. I rasped and sanded the oar handles and leathers (where the oar meets the thole pin) to cylindrical shapes. The oars are now epoxied and painted. I will fit strips of actual leather to reduce chafing against the thole pins, which are already in place. The end result is a hybrid between the blocky, square cross-section, narrow-bladed oars of the Mediterranean and the slimmer, round-shafted northern oars with laminated blades.

I also made and fitted the mast step. It is a square piece made out of iroko tropical hardwood, with a hole cut into it with a hole saw. I purposely made the hole slightly too small, and it took some rasping and sanding both the hole and the mast tip to assure a good fit. Then I glued and screwed the piece to a plywood base already in place on the bottom, resting on the keel and garboard cleats (I already described how I had to chisel channels for a good fit over the cleats).  Final trials of the mast need a lot of headroom and will have to wait until the boat is out of its sheltered terrace space. At that point I will fit the cross-piece that bolts onto the mast partner.

I also put two coats of epoxy on the spars (mast and sprit) and I am laying on several coats of spar varnish (photo). At some point I will lace the sail on and fit the snotter and brailing line. I also put on the gudgeons and pintles and fitted the moving part of the rudder to its top part, as well as the pivoting tiller to the rudder (last photo). It took some rasping and adjusting, so I will have t touch up the finish.

Meanwhile I inquired about an outboard motor, registering the boat and a trailer and hitch. I now know what paperwork I need, which includes certification by a naval architect, complete receipts for materials and a notarized sworn statement that I personally built the boat. I will pay a firm that specializes in all that take care of the registration. Between peak demand for trailers, trailer manufacturers closing for staff vacations and some car trouble, the trailer and hitch are proving more difficult to  procure. Since I am leaving Greece in about a month, I may have to postpone some or all of these for next spring. Until then I may use a borrowed trailer to test-launch the boat to see how she floats.

Centerboard, rudder and spars

Since the boat is right side up, I had to lift it off the ground by at least 45 cm (18") to fit the CB and put it in place when it was fully finished. I did it with the help of two people and several bricks (first photo). The CB pivots around a 6 mm (1/4 inch) bolt. The rudder needed a pivot bolt of its own so it can be lifted with a line. Gudgeons and pintles attach it to the transom. The tiller I made from pine lumber, and its jaws from two 12 mm pieces of plywood. There is a pivot bolt attaching the tiller to the rudder top, so the tiller can move up and down as needed, especially with the outboard I plan  to use.

Sandwiching lead shot inside the centerboard without mixing it with glue proved very ill-advised. The shot was small, and the gluing of the plywood layers was not tight enough, so the shot was swishing around inside.  I was force to prize the layers apart, not an easy thing given how strong epoxy is. Then I mixed the lead with latex caulk and reglued the CB. The result was an imperfect lamination that made the CB too thick to fit in the CB trunk without getting stuck. The next inevitable step was to use an electric planer to remove a couple of millimeters from one side of the CB. Not something I would recommend except in extremis. In any case, it was done with a lot of flying shavings and some gouging, but after sanding, a little puttying and more sanding the CB was ready for more work.

The work in question was fitting a block to a corner of the CB for raising and lowering it. It involved cutting a semi-circular piece off the top forward corner and chiseling channels for the two stainless steel straps that are bolted to the CB on one end and the sheave at the free end (photo). Both bolts had to be cut very short to fit inside the 24 mm-wide CB trunk. Another sheave is fitted on the corresponding corner of the CB trunk for the lifting/dropping line. Because of the extra 4.5 kg of ballast and its leverage, the fittings needed to be sturdy. The 2:1 purchase from the blocks helps. The CB was coated with epoxy but no paint or varnish, since it will be invisible and protected from UV rays. Fitting the CB into its trunk and putting in the pivot bolt were tough: imagine being on your back with a lead-weighted CB on your chest, under a boat on bricks that could come tumbling down on you, trying to thread a quarter-inch bolt through three holes that need to be precisely aligned. My wife watched over me just in case. I'm happy to say that the CB and its raising and dropping bock and tackle system were fitted well and work fine (third photo).

Before I finished assembling the CB block system, I made the spars. The mast I made from a 4 m long (13' 1") piece of fir, 75 mm (3 inches) square. As in previous times, I cut the corners off at 45 degrees (this time with a hand-operated rotary saw since I don't have a table saw) to make an octagon. I went surprisingly well. Then I used an electric planer and a palm sander to make the mast round. The sprit I made by laminating two 4 m long boards. I had to extend it to 4.3 m, which I did by gluing a lumber extension between two plywood jaws. The latter form a shallow slot for the snotter, the improbably named line that holds the sprit up and adjusts its tension. Planing and sanding turned the sprit approximately round too. Both spars are visible in the next photo.

Paint, centerboard and rudder

Once again, nail setting, puttying and sanding was followed by two epoxy coats on the decking. Three coats of white topside enamel later, the boat is gleaming and bright. I used a little paintable caulk to fill the edges of the decking purely for cosmetic reasons (the joints are solidly glued withe epoxy compound so no leaks are possible). I will need to sand the puttied holes and touch up the sheer strake paint on the outside.

For the centerboard and the rudder I calculated I needed about 6 kg (13.2 lbs) of lead weighting. I opted for lead shot which will be sandwiched between the two outer layers of each, placed in voids cut in the middle layer: a square of 30 cm a side for the CB (for 4.5 kg) and a 8.5 cm radius circle for the rudder (for 1.5 kg). The third photo shows the CB void packed with lead. In calculating the sizes I reckoned on a specific gravity of 11 for lead and a packing ratio of 78% for the little spheres (i.e. the voids between the little balls of lead will be about 22% of the space). I was a bit off and I had a little lead left over.

The fourth photo shows the top layer of the CB laid on with nails  and epoxy and weighed down with stones and a bag of cement. Nothing but the latest technology!

The last photo shows the two main parts of the rudder laminated from three layers. One of them is the pivoting bottom with its own lead ballast inside. I will need to put on the jaws and make a tiller. Both rudder and CB will be shaped hydrodynamically and finished with epoxy and varnish. More in the next post,

More topside work

I cut, fitted and laid down strips of 6 mm plywood to reinforce the bottom where we will be stepping. It proved harder than I expected. I made mistakes, and ripping long narrow pieces with a handheld jigsaw was tough. Then gluing the strips down was hard: I couldn't use nails or screws which would poke through the bottom, so I had to work with many stones to weigh the strips down. Fortunately there's no shortage of stone in our village and property. Photo number two shows the last stone on the tip on one strip which needed extra gluing.

I then set nails, puttied, sanded and gave the insides the first coat of epoxy. The wood looks beautiful, but as before I have to use paint: varnished epoxy would not do well in the harsh Mediterranean sun. Photos one and two show the result.

The next step was the carlins that frame the side decks. I had four meter boards that fit the length with only two inches (5 cm) to spare. I made shallow saw cuts to help the bending, cut one end at the appropriate compound angle, fit the carlin with clamps and the marked the end and cut it at another compound angle. After a fair bit of rasping it all fit together. Repeat for other side. I drilled recessed pilot holes, glued and screwed the carlins on, then filled the screw holes and the saw cuts (second photo).

The side decks are two pieces each, marked, cut and butt-joined underneath. Before laying them on I glued wood blocks to the sides to accept thole pins: per local practice I intend to use them with loops of line on the oars that I will make later on.

The last two photos show the side decks and foredeck in place with epoxy compound and nails. There will be more nail setting, puttying, sanding and finishing, but the carpentry on the boat is done. Centerboard and rudder are already cut and need laminating. Mast and oars remain. Hopefully all will be done before the end of summer.

Foredeck etc.

The last two weeks have been busy. I first put on the rubrails (first photo), which will support fore and side decks, and they contributed a huge amount of stiffness to the sheer strakes. It took a good number of shallow saw cuts to make them bend, and many stainless steel screws driven from the inside of the boat.

I then added an extra layer of plywood to the transom above the bench for extra stiffness for the planned small outboard. I also put in supports for the side decks, visible in the second photo. Some were added to the tops of frames, some to the transom and forward bulkhead, and some were screwed and glued to the insides of the sheer strakes. You can also see that most of he bottom has been epoxied in preparation for gluing down narrow strips of plywood (mostly cut already) to stiffen the hull where it is stepped on.

The I epoxied the inside of the forward compartment and built a king plank down the middle to support the foredeck, reinforced on the side with tropical hardwood.  I also had a blank piece for the mast step and components of the mast partner cut. The two pieces that will take the brunt of the force were glued on and  screwed from the inside with large stainless steel screws, visible on either side of the king plank in the third photo. I suspect everything is stronger than it needs to be, but I'm not taking chances with an unstayed mast.

The fourth photo shows details of the mast partner. The cross piece with be secured with bolts. I still need to fix a small board on the fore bulkhead for the mast to rest against and cut a curve off the inside of the cross piece to fit the mast. Also every corner will be rounded for looks, safety and ease of putting in the mast. The square piece that will become the mast step is visible on the bottom. and will need to be fitted and the bottom cleats leveled before an appropriate-sized hole is cut into it for the mast.   

Finally I put on the curved foredeck, which was nailed and screwed onto rubrails, king plank and reinforced bulkhead (last photo). 

What remains now is reinforcing  the bottom with strips of plywood, putting in the carlins for the side deck, and cutting and laying on the side decks. Then I will need to finish the inside with epoxy and paint to finish the boat itself, before making centerboard and rudder, mast and sprit. But the end is in sight!

Benches

After flipping the boat a first put in cleats (10 in total) to support the aft bench, rowing bench and the outer edge of the side benches. My carpenter friend had to rip some at three different angles. I had to sink a few screws into my beautifully finished transom and sheer strakes until the epoxy set, and will have to fill the holes and touch up the paint later. Then I cut all the bench tops and side bench risers and dry fit them, as you can see in the first and second photo.

In the second photo you can also see the fore bulkhead (although the wide angle lens makes it look small) with the white inspection port cover. I cut the hole with the bulkhead in place, cutting through 24 mm plywood with the jigsaw held vertically.  It would have been far easier to cut it before I built the hull but I wasn't sure where it should go, plus I hadn't yet bought the port cover. Be that as it may, I cut the hole without any disasters.

Then I cut, glued and nailed fourteen other cleats for the side bench tops and risers. In the last photo you can see all 24 of them, and if you look carefully you can spot the access ports I cut in the bench risers for reaching into the storage area under the benches.  Just simple holes, no doors or removable ports, for getting to life jackets, bilge hand pump, air horn, etc. I found from experience that hinging locker doors don't protect gear from the water and porthole covers can easily be lost.

Next steps will be to epoxy the insides and undersides of all benches and fill the rowing and aft benches with styrofoam for flotation before nailing and gluing everything in place.

I would then still have to:

• put on rubrails
• build a king plank for the foredeck
• build the mast partner
• cut and lay on the foredeck (after epoxying the insides)
• reinforce the inside bottom of the boat with extra strips of plywood
• build supports for the side decks
• put on side deck carlins
• cut and lay on the side decks 
• put down a mast step

After all that it will be time to epoxy and paint everything white, and deal with spars and rigging. I can see the end but it will be a lot of work.

Right side up

The boat is now turned right side up and I'm ready to start building the benches and decking. After giving it a second coat of paint, I got the keel and stem band pieces from my carpenter friend, glued and screwed them on, puttied the screw holes and finished them with two coats of epoxy. The stem band needed to bend and I didn't want to build a steaming apparatus for such a short piece, so I used a method that has served me well in the past: I made some small saw cuts on the inside of the piece which I filled with epoxy compound. The stem band is visible in the thid photo.

After giving  the garboards and second strakes a third coat of paint, the boat was ready to flip. It is so light that two friends lifted it so I could remove the sawhorses, which, being cheap and flimsy, had almost collapsed; only two of them are even repairable. I also removed the strongback. Then the three of us flipped it and put it on two home-made cradles (first photo).

In the second and third photo you can see the frames and bulkheads: one in the front, two in the middle which will form the rowing thwart, one aft for the rear bench, and two partials for supporting the side benches. Now it will be time for some serious carpentry, but it should go pretty fast. Wish me luck!

Back to building, bottom almost done

Back in Greece! I've been here a couple of weeks. It took me a few days to settle in before I started back on the boat. Before I jumped into the filleting, sanding, epoxy coating and painting, I tried to design the pivoting rudder. I wasted a little time trying to figure it out until I thought, I should look at this blog to see what I did last time (duh!). It was easy after that, and here are the three pieces, top, pivoting bottom and pivot cheek. There are more layers to glue together but that can wait. I also cut one layer out of three of the centerboard, fitted it and drilled the pivot bolt hole. I tried it and it works fine for now. Both CB and rudder bottom will have holes cut into them, to be filled with molten lead for ballast and to stay submerged. Later.

Now it was time to plane and start filleting the seams, including the ends of the strakes at the stem, with epoxy compound. It is smelly and messy work, and I had to mix small batches to avoid a runaway reaction. Fortunately the weather has been pretty cool. I noticed sloppy epoxy work from putting the strakes together, and I added more with the fillets.

Then I sanded the imperfect scarf joints of the strakes, which I leveled with more epoxy, sanded and smoothed with wood putty. Then I set the nails as best I could (at the laps it is hard to sink them), puttied, sanded, sanded again. Sanding hardened epoxy is tough and I used the hardest sanding pads I could find.  In the end, and because I didn't want to damage the plywood, I had to accept that there would be plenty of bumps and imperfections, since I am not fond of sanding, and I figured my boat does not have to look as if it came off a boatyard, fresh from fiberglass molding.

There are two photos of the boat after the first coat of epoxy. It brought out the beauty of the wood, but that was short lived.  After a second coat and more sanding, I started on the painting. Once again I opted for standard exterior oil-based enamel for ease and economy. I don't expect to keep the boat in the water unless I'm out sailing or fishing, so no anti-fouling paint is needed. The epoxy took the paint like a charm, and the last photo shows the boat after the first coat. I wonder if it will even need a third coat of paint.

The next step is to screw and glue on strips of tropical hardwood  called iroko along the keel. Two narrower strips will go on the bottom of the centerboard trunk. Since I don't have a table saw her, I asked a carpenter friend to cut them for me. Then I will flip the boat to work on benches and decking. I am almost done bulding a two-piece cradle for it to sit on. 

Making the new sail

I left the boat in Greece back in November. I will be getting back to it in late April, hoping to finish it this spring and summer. While in the United States, I bought some chandlery (pieces of specialized hardware) and found some more left over from previous boat building efforts. I also designed and made the new sail. Like I said before, this time the rig will be a very simple, traditional and sturdy one, a sprit. One mast, one sail with a sprit (a sort of yard holding up the peak of the trapezoidal sail, attached to the mast with a piece of line improbably named a snotter). No halyard, no boom, no reefing. The mainsheet will be attached directly to the clew. The whole sail will be ready to be doused in an emergency with a simple contraption called a brailing line. Brailing pulls the leech and the sprit up against the mast, instantly killing the sail's power. Thanks to David Nichols' book The Working Guide to Traditional Small-Boat Sails for many of the ideas.

As usual, I bought my sailmaking supplies at sailmakerssupply.com. The sail is trapezoidal, approximately 100 square feet (9.2 m2). It's the largest single sail I've made, with a 9 ft luff, 12'8" leech and 10 ft foot. As with previous ones, it has three-layer reinforcing patches and grommets in each corner (first photo). It also has a series of grommets on the taped luff (second photo). These will be used to permanently lace the luff to the mast.

I used a dart (second photo) at the tack and broadseaming (a seam of variable width) down the middle to add camber (curvature) to the sail. There is an extra couple of grommets on the leech: one for the brailing line to go through and one to secure the peak if I choose to drastically reduce sail by another improbably named technique called scandalizing: this involves removing the sprit and folding the sail into a triangle. We'll see how that works and I will try to post photos of scandalizing in action when the time comes.

I will carry the folded sail and other supplies in my luggage. Hopefully the boat will be ready for them before the end of the summer. If not, we'll see how it goes in 2020. Getting the boat registered, plus buying and registering a trailer and a small outboard are such complex bureaucratic maneuvers that I have no idea when my boat will hit the water.

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.