Many people think the Richard Dreyfuss character says, "You're gonna need a bigger boat" in Jaws, but in fact it's the Roy Scheider character. Fewer people know that the line was actually ad libbed by Scheider. I remember watching it as a kid and not going near the Jersey Shore for a couple summers. It's fitting that I'm thinking of terror on the water as I'm building a boat by hand.
I couldn't take it anymore and bought a boat last week. It's s/v Islander, a 1970 Macgregor, gotten for a song. I haven't decided if I want to rename her. Islander has good sails and standing rigging, a good keel, and a 6 hp motor with a terrific trailer. Most importantly, it doesn't leak. The cushions double as terrariums, so they gotta go, and she could use an electrical overhaul. But otherwise, she will be a fine weekender and I plan to use her that way. No one will mistake her for a sleek and sexy craft (except maybe me). But I'm really happy with the addition. Islander will be moored at Lake Nokomis, a 200 acre lake in the city of Minneapolis.
She's a good old boat; the previous owner took her to the Apostles and sailed the entire length of the Mississippi over 6 weeks to the Gulf of Mexico. He said the boat was too choppy on the Gulf, so he turned around and went back to New Orleans where he then trailered it home. I'm not certain if he intended to keep going in the Gulf. Make a left out of the Mississippi and you'll hit Florida. Make a right, Mexico. Straight ahead and a little to the left you're smoking cigars with the brothers Castro. Now beyond retirement age, the salty dog said his kids and grandkids prefer pontoons to mainsheets. You could hear the disappointment in his voice and that made me a little sad, too. I am sure this boat brought him many fond memories and I hope to add some of my own.
The first question I got when I started telling people is, "What about the boat in your garage?" To which I reply, "What about it?" Of course I'm going to keep working on it. The Macgregor is there to keep my skills up and lowers my reliance on friends to take me sailing. I really enjoy being out with Chris/Chucky B. and Beth/Rudder Chaos, but it's tough when I know the wind's up and all I want to do is drop my keel and go.
Oh, about the boat in the garage. I'm still working on fitting the floorboards. They're coming along. I wound up short maybe 2-3 boards of padauk, so will need to get some more. I plan to use padauk for the rub rails, too, so I'm looking at maybe 5-6 boards for good measure. I'm not sure how I woefully underestimated the board feet on this, because I don't have a lot of waste. I can only think the boom gallows and tiller took up more boards than I planned.
After a couple hours, I got a little bit of a system down for the floorboards. Starting out, this wasn't very intuitive. In the end, the best tools for me were a piece of scrap pine to note the shape, my bandsaw to make a rough cut of the bevel (the angle of the hull transferred to the board) and then the random orbital to smooth out the cuts. No one will see the bottom of these. As long as they sit snug, that's good enough for me.
I wish there were a better system I could articulate here as the manual and other blogs aren't clear. Even the ones that acknowledge this isn't easy don't provide too helpful advice. All I can share is that you'll know when you know so keep trying to know. The way I think about is I'm actually trying to slot a board into a space, like a peg in a hole. One side, let's say, is inboard, and will be thicker than the outside if it's a port board. The outboard corner will be beveled to accept the angle of the hull. This can be quite thin. So the idea is to shave off a bit until the board lies flat.
The photo below illustrates that (I think). The scrap piece of pine was my level. If I take the scrap pine over to the right in the photo, which in this case is outboard on the port side, I'll have an area underneath. That area underneath is the profile of the next board. I wanted to be sure that the thinnest I wanted to go was 1/4". That let me know where to cut the angle if viewing the board from the from the top because if the thinnest part of the board was 1/4", I could eyeball where to place the corner of the board. Since the whole setup will be cut to the fair curve, precision isn't that important, just a good visual flow.
This method, though, takes a lot of incremental cuts. It's definitely not scientific nor efficient. But it works and the boards don't squeak when I walk on them, so I can't complain. If not for being short of wood, I would've finished them tonight in preparation for the fair curve.
I put in another accent board aft of the centerboard trunk and also added a 3/4" strip of ash 2/3 of the way out. Two reasons for that: one, I think it complements the design. I also found that using an accent board with 3" standard boards requires a small strip on the last couple outboard boards. The ash makes up the difference without adding a small strip outboard, which is at risk for splitting and damage. I don't think a small strip is needed if I put a traditional by-the-manual floorboard in (without the accent board). Not a big deal but will require some carpentry to fix. It's probably one of the reasons Solitude has a large plank outboard.
Once it's all finally dry fit, I'll sand every shiny spot in the hull, open up the limber holes, and start painting. That's going to feel really, really good.
Another set of things that make me happy are new electronics. I'll have a pretty good set of lights (prior posts allude to all the LEDs I've acquired). As for more practical things, a radio and speakers are, of course, a must. Two 10v solar panels with a controller will help trickle charge the battery. I've also got a half dozen or so 12v chargers with either USB or straight up connections to put throughout the boat, especially back to the cockpit. But one of my favorite things is my new VHF radio. I didn't want a handheld one (though I'll probably get one anyway for a backup). Since I plan to be out in coastal waters and Lake Superior, I need the range. It's got MMSI/DSC capability, built in GPS, and other fancy stuff. Yes, I splurged a bit on this, but it's awesome. I added a RAM3 to extend to the cockpit, too.
The trouble is, even though it's one of the more compact models, it adds quite a bit of space. That means the electrical panel to house these things might be tricky. I spent a little bit of time cutting out the diorama for fitting. The final board came out to be 8.5" x 23" including 1/2" on all sides for trim and another 1/4" offset. In other words, big.
Other quick work was getting the lower breasthook
installed. This took some extra clamping power, courtesy of my
neighbor's Bessey clamps. Once epoxy'd back into place, I screwed it firm, mixed up some thickened epoxy to fill in the gaps, sanded it down
again, and now consider it done. Came out pretty nice -- a test fit of
the bow confirmed it. I can't find the pictures but when I do I'll post
them. It's nice to get pieces off the shelf and onto the boat.
I couldn't take it anymore and bought a boat last week. It's s/v Islander, a 1970 Macgregor, gotten for a song. I haven't decided if I want to rename her. Islander has good sails and standing rigging, a good keel, and a 6 hp motor with a terrific trailer. Most importantly, it doesn't leak. The cushions double as terrariums, so they gotta go, and she could use an electrical overhaul. But otherwise, she will be a fine weekender and I plan to use her that way. No one will mistake her for a sleek and sexy craft (except maybe me). But I'm really happy with the addition. Islander will be moored at Lake Nokomis, a 200 acre lake in the city of Minneapolis.
She's a good old boat; the previous owner took her to the Apostles and sailed the entire length of the Mississippi over 6 weeks to the Gulf of Mexico. He said the boat was too choppy on the Gulf, so he turned around and went back to New Orleans where he then trailered it home. I'm not certain if he intended to keep going in the Gulf. Make a left out of the Mississippi and you'll hit Florida. Make a right, Mexico. Straight ahead and a little to the left you're smoking cigars with the brothers Castro. Now beyond retirement age, the salty dog said his kids and grandkids prefer pontoons to mainsheets. You could hear the disappointment in his voice and that made me a little sad, too. I am sure this boat brought him many fond memories and I hope to add some of my own.
The first question I got when I started telling people is, "What about the boat in your garage?" To which I reply, "What about it?" Of course I'm going to keep working on it. The Macgregor is there to keep my skills up and lowers my reliance on friends to take me sailing. I really enjoy being out with Chris/Chucky B. and Beth/Rudder Chaos, but it's tough when I know the wind's up and all I want to do is drop my keel and go.
Oh, about the boat in the garage. I'm still working on fitting the floorboards. They're coming along. I wound up short maybe 2-3 boards of padauk, so will need to get some more. I plan to use padauk for the rub rails, too, so I'm looking at maybe 5-6 boards for good measure. I'm not sure how I woefully underestimated the board feet on this, because I don't have a lot of waste. I can only think the boom gallows and tiller took up more boards than I planned.
After a couple hours, I got a little bit of a system down for the floorboards. Starting out, this wasn't very intuitive. In the end, the best tools for me were a piece of scrap pine to note the shape, my bandsaw to make a rough cut of the bevel (the angle of the hull transferred to the board) and then the random orbital to smooth out the cuts. No one will see the bottom of these. As long as they sit snug, that's good enough for me.
I wish there were a better system I could articulate here as the manual and other blogs aren't clear. Even the ones that acknowledge this isn't easy don't provide too helpful advice. All I can share is that you'll know when you know so keep trying to know. The way I think about is I'm actually trying to slot a board into a space, like a peg in a hole. One side, let's say, is inboard, and will be thicker than the outside if it's a port board. The outboard corner will be beveled to accept the angle of the hull. This can be quite thin. So the idea is to shave off a bit until the board lies flat.
The photo below illustrates that (I think). The scrap piece of pine was my level. If I take the scrap pine over to the right in the photo, which in this case is outboard on the port side, I'll have an area underneath. That area underneath is the profile of the next board. I wanted to be sure that the thinnest I wanted to go was 1/4". That let me know where to cut the angle if viewing the board from the from the top because if the thinnest part of the board was 1/4", I could eyeball where to place the corner of the board. Since the whole setup will be cut to the fair curve, precision isn't that important, just a good visual flow.
 |
| Oh, that's right. Floorboard fun. A test for a level bevel. Needed just a bit more. |
This method, though, takes a lot of incremental cuts. It's definitely not scientific nor efficient. But it works and the boards don't squeak when I walk on them, so I can't complain. If not for being short of wood, I would've finished them tonight in preparation for the fair curve.
I put in another accent board aft of the centerboard trunk and also added a 3/4" strip of ash 2/3 of the way out. Two reasons for that: one, I think it complements the design. I also found that using an accent board with 3" standard boards requires a small strip on the last couple outboard boards. The ash makes up the difference without adding a small strip outboard, which is at risk for splitting and damage. I don't think a small strip is needed if I put a traditional by-the-manual floorboard in (without the accent board). Not a big deal but will require some carpentry to fix. It's probably one of the reasons Solitude has a large plank outboard.
Once it's all finally dry fit, I'll sand every shiny spot in the hull, open up the limber holes, and start painting. That's going to feel really, really good.
Another set of things that make me happy are new electronics. I'll have a pretty good set of lights (prior posts allude to all the LEDs I've acquired). As for more practical things, a radio and speakers are, of course, a must. Two 10v solar panels with a controller will help trickle charge the battery. I've also got a half dozen or so 12v chargers with either USB or straight up connections to put throughout the boat, especially back to the cockpit. But one of my favorite things is my new VHF radio. I didn't want a handheld one (though I'll probably get one anyway for a backup). Since I plan to be out in coastal waters and Lake Superior, I need the range. It's got MMSI/DSC capability, built in GPS, and other fancy stuff. Yes, I splurged a bit on this, but it's awesome. I added a RAM3 to extend to the cockpit, too.
 |
| Electronica - first time the full circuit got hooked up. Testing the new radio and speakers with the battery, solar panel, and controller. To my amazement, it all worked. |
 |
| Potential layout of the electrical panel. |
 |
| The panel is about 22 inches wide. It might be the largest panel in any PocketShip. I'm not saying that's a good thing. |
Nice! I imagine, we'll have a couple boats as well someday. I'd like something small like a c420 and B wants a J22 for racing. They serve different purposes, nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteBoth are awesome! I'd go with the J22 only because I like cabins. Otherwise, c420 with a real pocket cruiser like a Catalina 22. When I'm done with my boat, I plan to slip it over in Afton. Hop on over for a spin.
DeleteCool, we go to Afton every Sunday for Selma's then walk to the docks.
DeleteI wish I could have written some sort of articulate and detailed decription of my method for fitting the sole. Unfortunately, I don't think I ever actually came up a method, let alone refine it to the point that I could describe it in an articulate and detailed manner. "Fumbling around and getting lucky" would be the closest I could come to decribing what happened.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds about right. The tools I settled on were my chop saw, band saw, and random orbital. I freehand the board with the bandsaw, shaving off a bit at a time, until I get the right bevel. It takes maybe 15 minutes per board.
DeleteIt's been a struggle to find shop time, but I just finished sanding the port side and will do starboard tomorrow. While the lamination cures, I'll open the limber holes and maybe buy some paint tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to get to the flip before winter settles here, but going to try!