Cut Down Day - Building Lift Outs

I knew this day would come and I'd been dreading it. After carefully picking, sculpting, and varnishing the padauk boards that would serve as the sole, I knew that I'd be building lift outs from them. That meant my 8' long boards would in some cases be split into four smaller pieces. This needed finesse, precision, carpentry, and a big set of .. guts to actually yank the miter saw and split the wood that took so long to carefully create.

The first task was to move the bilge pump aft one bay. I put it where the lead ballast goes, and that's just no good. That meant re-routing the wires back through the conduit and screwing a couple more holes into the centerboard trunk. An upside is the white / positive wire was a little short the first time through, so this gave me a chance to make it the same length as the brown (hot wire) and black (negative). Not that that really means anything, but it's nice to know things are even.

Bilge pump gets a new home.

I then hopped into the boat and stared at it for awhile. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, but I was torn whether or not to add a lift out between bulkheads 3 and 4 and one more bay aft than the manual suggested, spanning 3 bays instead of 2. I was always going to put one near the back of the boat for access to the conduit so that wasn't much of a decision. The sole provides some structural support - imagine a twisting soda can - but I wasn't cutting the really long ones right up against the trunk nor the outboard ones, nor the ones at the very front, so between all that, I felt OK about removing these.

Honestly, the number one thing I was worried about was how this would look when done. I didn't want a bunch of different looking boards, all uneven and stuff, scattered throughout the sole. I plan to spend a lot of time in the cabin, curled up at anchor somewhere sparkling beautiful, and having uneven cuts would spoil it for years to come. This was one of those things that if I messed up, I would redo. No amount of epoxy can fix an error here.

In the end, I decided on a set of 4 lift outs: the area between bulkheads 3 and 4, right in front of the centerboard trunk; a 3-bay span port and starboard, which would include the areas shown in the manual plus one more bay aft; and the last one up between bulkheads 7 and 8 where the electrical conduit and bilge return run under the boards. This last one isn't technically a lift out because it will be screwed down, but the boards will be cut as such to allow easy access if I have to get back there to fix something.

The best thing about this schedule is that it would look symmetrical, maintain stability, and provide much-needed storage. For what seems like the tenth time, I pulled the sole back out and trucked the pieces to be cut downstairs to the basement shop. Carefully measured, then precisely cut, I'm happy with the way they turned out. 

First cuts done.

Accent board and a couple more sets done. I had a tough time cutting the accent board but once committed, I'm committed!

Each board got a brand new bit of frogtape and will get a dollop of epoxy tomorrow. But I've got my lift outs. Now that there were many more of them, I had to come up with a naming scheme. Nothing brilliant, I know, as PocketShips all over the world have soles and therefore had a naming scheme. But mine went something like this: P2-B for "Port side, 2nd plank from centerboard, 2nd plank from the front." (ignore the non-nautical terminology).

Close up of bulkhead 7's lift out section. The accent board will not be cut nor screwed down. A new cleat will be installed here to support the cut boards.

Good view of the lift outs forward and on the sides.

Close up of the space now able to be used. This is between 3 and 4. The contraption is / was 100' of wire. There is surprisingly a lot of room in this compartment. The conduit carries forward the RAM3 and the bilge wires. All the wires in the transom run through the larger one up a little higher.

View from above. I haven't cut the finger holes yet.

Now, one thing this exercise does is that it forces new cleats in certain areas. The sole needs three 9" cleats and four 7" cleats to ensure things don't fall into the storage areas. Getting the cleat schedule worked out was an important part in the build, both functionally and aesthetically. As I write this, the cleats sit cut, ready for installation over the next couple days. They will be epoxy'd and screwed into the existing cleats and/or bulkheads, then painted. Did I mention how much I love my heater?

Time on My Side - Floorboard Fitting

I thought I'd be shut down ostensibly until May with a rush to get done by my self-administered June 30 deadline. There's quite a bit of benchwork that has to be done, but even some of that needs to wait until more progress is made to ensure a proper fitting. Now that the heater's installed, I have more time than I know what to do with

The day began with my wife and I taking a knot class from the Captain I took my ASA 105 with. I'm OK with knots and so is my wife, but we figured we weren't doing much (I was supposed to be on a trip that got cancelled), the class was cheap, and maybe we'd even learn something. She also wanted to meet the Captain in case she wanted to further her sailing classes. There were a lot of people there, more than would be conducive for this kind of class, so it was difficult to follow along. The real reason I bring it up at all is to show off my much improved woodworking skills.

The class required a knot jig. Anyone who's taken a sailing class has seen one of these. They would be available during the class, but for "only a few dollars more" one could buy a "deluxe kit" for about $30 which included a knot jig. They wanted $15 for the knot jig alone and another $15 for the DVD. I'm all for supporting local businesses, but $15 for something that I knew I could build from scrap in about 2 minutes? No thanks.Total cost: about $1 in scrap supplies and 10 minutes of time. We didn't buy the DVD, either.

Knot practicing jigs.

As they day rolled into night, we finished up a movie and got ready for bed. I wasn't tired so got up and turned the garage heater on. In about 30 minutes, it was warm enough to start working, and in about an hour, it was downright hot. I finished up the electrical wiring fore and aft by hooking up the bilge pump. I only had a couple more crimps to do but I remember it being around 4 in the morning when I stopped back in November and I was too cold and tired to continue. The next day the temperature plummeted to the teens and that was about the end of the season until Fleet Farm came to the rescue.

With the electrical done, I went to the basement shop and sanded down the cockpit decking with a quick rub with 60 grit to knock off the hard stuff then hit it with 120 to prime for painting. Four hours later, they had the dull matte grey that all boatbuilders yearn for. Fiberglass here is well worth the extra effort and materials for the added strength and stability. I put everything away as it was about 4 in the morning once again.

With the cockpit deck ready for installation and the electrical done for now, at least the electrical that needs to run under the sole, I pulled the finished boards out of hibernation and attempted to redo the puzzle. The padauk darkened somewhat in storage and my pencil marks were difficult to see. I knew, roughly, where things went, but it was still a bit of a chore to line everything back up. I couldn't do this in the garage so my living room served as a staging area while I figured it out. I then labeled with green painter's tape and began fitting them in the boat.

Laid out in living room. Took far too long to do this.

The goal here isn't to put these down permanently right now. I need to figure out where I want the liftouts. Anywhere there's a liftout will also require a little additional cleat for the liftout to sit on. These new cleats will need to be epoxy'd and painted, so that's just more work. Whatever. I also like the idea I saw which had a little hook accessed through the fingerhole. In case of a knockdown, the liftouts won't become flying objects.

In total, I need access to two bays on each side for the ballast, another for the bilge pump, and one towards the back for the electrical access. I also want access between bulkheads 3 and 4, the space right in front of the centerboard trunk. This is a fairly deep bay right under my nose. I'm sure I'll find a use for it. In the back, I can keep these screwed down, but I do need to be able to get them out easily.

While inspecting, I realized that I installed the cabin bilge pump in the wrong bay, one too far forward. This is because I remembered from the manual that the ballast should go "in the compartment closest to the front of the trunk" which to me means between between bulkheads 4 and 5. However, when I went to the manual for something else, I saw that the ballast is actually between 5 and 6, where my bilge pump is on the starboard side. For a few seconds, I thought I'd leave it there and put the ballast around it (the ballast is poured or bagged lead). But I want the bilge pump to work; having 75# of lead on top of it wouldn't be good. I know how I'd feel about having 75# of lead on my head, so I'll have to move it back one more bay.

Starting to lay out the boards. The bilge pump return and electrical conduit is visible back there.

Boards "dry fit." I would've liked to go a little wider but those last outboard boards were really hard to shape.

View of bulkheads 7 and 8. Tickled how well the lines run under this. The middle accent board will be a lift out, as will the two left and right of it. They'll be screwed down as I don't expect to need to get back here often, but when I do, I should be able to get to it pretty quickly.

View forward. One of the reasons I chose padauk is that when it ages, it takes on a darker brown, not grey like teak or mahogany. Should still keep a pretty good brightness for awhile, though.

If one were in the boat facing forward, this would be the view.

Later in the evening, I dropped the cockpit decking on top to see what would be the last bits and pieces I'll need to do before permanently installing it. With the top on, it will be far harder to work back there. The result is I'll need to run a couple more wires now before screwing it down for good. I'm not going to install an inspection port in bulkhead 8 as previously debated because as warned, it was really hard to crawl back there and not worth the effort. I am happy the speakers are back there, though.

PS: I received a note the other day that while the blog is "great" it's hard to find stuff, that they have to sift through my ramblings. That's true; there's a lot of rambling. So a little mini project is to be sure people can find things easier by using the post titles, not just the search function or keywords. If the post isn't something specific to PocketShip, then it's surely not something about PocketShip. The title here is the first post in an attempt to fix the offense.

Half a Sole and a Bow

It was a glorious summer day and I spent nearly all of it in the garage, on purpose, and wouldn't have it any other way. With my wife away taking care of srs bsns, I got to cut and epoxy and, at times, admire with abandon.

First, I tackled the bow area. This was something I've dreaded since first reading the manual in December and my avoidance of it came to fruition over the last two months. Every other bay's been complete for a month. Most of the avoidance was because of my poor excuse for tack welds and subsequent fillet disaster which made a bad situation worse. In the end, I probably spent more time in this compartment than all the others combined.

Once I got the fillets sanded down to something I could work with, it actually went surprisingly fast. I first measured out a pattern with a cut up paper bag, then transferred that pattern to a "scrap" row of fiberglass. I say "scrap" because it was the other half of the long, narrow row I used for the topside panels awhile back. I worked quickly here so didn't take any pictures, but in the end, the joint is super strong with several overlapping areas of 6 oz and 9 oz 'glass. Where I used to feel nervous about banging into things, now I say bring 'em on.

Bow compartment finally 'glassed. Just needs sanding.

Strips of 9 oz 'glass line the seams over a couple layers of 6 oz 'glass.

I'm glad I spent so much time getting these fillets right. There's no way they would've been flat and of course flat equals structural integrity. This is one area (not there are many of them) where cutting corners just can't do. Though this area will be filled with flotation and sealed forever, I plan to sand and paint this for the added protection against moisture and whatever else can get in there. I'll also note that there's no way I could've done as good a job 'glassing at the bow if I didn't have all the practice to date as I prepped the hull.

I'll install the lower breasthook tomorrow. A test fit of it today required the help of a 600 pound Irwin. I'm surprised how much the bow still needs to flare out and I'm concerned that epoxy and screws won't help much. I'll just have to keep the faith and hope it doesn't fly out and hit me in the groin.

While thinking about flying breasthooks, I cut a few more planks for the sole. I noticed that some of the external-facing planks of padauk darkened from the sun. I pulled a couple from the interior of the stack and will need to be careful to prevent these from darkening, too. A little bit of sanding to get bright again is all that's really required, but I didn't want to bother with sanding.

Anti-UV varnish will extend the color for a long time, and once installed in the cabin, sun exposure will be minimal. So once I get these screwed down I'll move them to the basement out of the sun until finished. Oh, did I mention how awesome it looks? It's hard to describe how it feels to look at it in the boat, and I haven't even painted yet. I am sure I am building to one of those highlight moments, which partly explains the incredible sense urgency to get this part done. That, and I have maybe 2 more months of cooperative weather.

Planks test fitted. The grain will dictate the final placement.

Close up of the accent board against the regular boards. You can see how the bright orange color of the sanded wood contrasts with the more mature color. The mature color is stable with some anti-UV varnish. These are just placed here for now - not screwed or spaced yet.

View from aft-forward.

Need to build an accent board for behind BH 7 and below the footrest.

Some planning becomes necessary as this project continues. First, it's not exactly clear to me what the fair curve of the sole should follow. I assume it's along the outside edge of the cleats. But the cleats stop pretty far short of the floor and I'd like to have more sole. That means lots of fitting, beveling, and incremental cutting to get this right. I'll probably get to the correct bevel with some scraps of pine then transfer the angles over as necessary (which is the method used on other blogs.) I'm also tempted to put another accent board in as I move outboard. However, I may need to send Jon a few bucks every time I take my boat out as a royalty payment for nothing short of stealing his idea.

Second, I have a gap aft of the centerboard trunk where I plan to put a second accent board. That part's easy. The question is how functional do I want it to be, and how much do I care about seeing the wires. I'm adding a dual busbar on or near BH8 to catch the wires coming from the transom, thereby minimizing the wires that run forward. There are a lot of potential wires: stern light, laz lights, locker lights, 12v outlets, rear cabin LEDs, and the speaker wires, too. Having a liftout section will let me run wires without drilling too many holes. Building a small panel box attached to BH8 would be a good place to collect these wires and funnel them out of sight. It's the same principal as building a box behind BH2 except this one is at the back of the boat.

Part of me feels like I'm overthinking/overengineering, but I know with certainty that if I'm cozying up for the night, anchored off Bear Island, and I'm staring at my feet, and I can see wires back there, I'm gonna be pissed. That just won't do.

Padook, Padawk, Whatever

When I was sourcing wood for the cabin sole, I went through a very involved process involving spreadsheets, calipers, forecasting tools, and leprechauns. In the end, I wound up with padauk. But when I called Hardware Supply for the wood, I pronounced it "pad-owk". The guy on the other end said what? I said, pad-owk, it's a reddish hardwood? He goes, you mean padook? I said, yeah, sure padook. Now, maybe that doesn't matter, and they've made songs about different pronunciations of the same thing, though I find it highly pretentious and silly to say "to-mah-to" vs. "to-may-to". The padauk was one the best choices I made but is a bit of a fussy, messy wood.

Elephants add to the aura.

It's oil-based for one. Before glue up, it has to have a very light rub with acetone to remove the excretions after milling. The rags come out looking like they were dipped in spaghetti sauce. Much like teak, the color fades over time, especially with exposure to sunlight. But whereas teak turns grey, padauk becomes a chocolate brown. Milling itself is not a problem but it's definitely a hardwood. There's an obvious difference in running a length of padauk through the table saw vs. ash, for example. And then there's the dust. It's a fine, red dust that coats about everything. Collect enough and I'm sure it can work as a dye. It smells good to me but wearing a respirator is essential, and is good practice, anyway. I've worked with ash, maple, and walnut and they are all easier to work with than padauk, but the results are worth the effort.

At one time, padauk was the wood choice of kings. Now, it's the wood choice of wanna-be boatbuilders but still serves the same purpose. It looks crazy beautiful when varnished, with a reddish glow that is sexy and smooth all at the same time. I don't need to hang velvet in the cabin because I have my padauk. I don't recommend it for anything more than trim or floors as the strong color can detract from other highlights. The same principle applies to bathrooms done entirely in pink. Pink is not a command color but a highlight. Same with padauk.

Don't do this.

Structurally, the glue ups seem strong, but there are small voids here and there, especially on the ends. I don't think that's the wood but the way I'm milling in that the last inch or so through the table saw is tricky and I'm losing contact with the fence. While strong, I wouldn't recommend it for anything structural, though that's true of most any hardwood. The masts cannot be hardwood because it needs to be a little pliant as the wind takes the sails and bends it to and fro. A hardwood would simply snap and that's no good. I thought about doing a lamination for the boom and bowsprit, but for the structural reasons and for overkill, decided against it.

I took a break from epoxy over the last couple days, which were mostly spent back on the bagpipes as I had a concert to play last night. For many reasons, I hadn't picked up the pipes since St. Paddy's Day and to say I was rusty would be just plain understated. I was surprised, though, that the practice chanter flowed as usual. Muscle memory is an amazing thing, that after not thinking about something for awhile, it all came back without much of a hitch at all. Some of these tunes are so internalized I'll be on my deathbed running fingerwork on my IV tubes. The concert was fun and the band headed over to O'Gara's afterwards. The sight of 20 kilted folks walking into the bar turned heads, but we're pretty used to the attention by now.

The band at the concert hall.

In the green room watching.

On the boat front, I found the culprit for the crooked keel. There was a separation of about 1/8" of an inch between the aft and bow keel panels caused by too much blocking. It's not serious, but it's there. After writing my trusty comrade in arms about the best way to go about fixing this, I lathered up some thickened epoxy into the joint and waited for it to dry. I'll sand this down later today. I also applied some epoxy to the voids on the underside of the keel.

Joint separation.

Joint preparation.

Joint saturation.

I then turned my attention to the tiller. As mentioned earlier, I've always wanted a laminated tiller. After the fun (not sarcastic) of the boom gallows, I was looking forward to this even more. After milling the padauk and ash, I made a pattern block out of a leftover floor board from renovating the house next door. (I don't really throw a lot away.)

Milled padauk and ash to spec. 3/8" by 1" strips.

This pattern wasn't nearly as strong as the 8/4 lumber I used for the boom gallows but I couldn't justify getting timber just for a pattern and I had nothing thicker. It later proved a little tricky to secure the strips to the 3/4" bottom of the pattern, especially at the point, but it worked out OK in the end. The severe bend at one end of the tiller was fussy but eventually succumbed to the strength of the Irwin. Still, I was surprised I was able to pull it down enough to keep a fair curve.

Glue up with manageable squeeze out.

The pattern, lamination, and pattern block. Pretty good fit.

I also made a real effort to scrape off the squeeze out before it fully cured. When it was still in putty form, I took a straight edge from scrap wood and ran it along the side. Then I took a screwdriver along each of the strips on both sides and chiseled out more epoxy. This created bits that reminded me of popcorn. They wouldn't taste very good, even with butter. Who am I kidding? They're delicious! Avatar, anyone?

Epoxy popcorn. Yum!

I need to do better at figuring the amounts needed for this as I feel like I'm wasting perfectly good epoxy. In the scheme of things, it's probably a pump at most, maybe two, but the sign of a good builder is not only what materials are used, but how well they are used. It went better than the gallows, which had enormous amounts of squeeze out. Still, the learning curve continues.

It's my wife's 29th :) birthday today so not much boatbuilding. As before, the tiller will be sanded aggressively to remove the epoxy, then planed and cut to spec. I'm hopeful I can salvage enough to make a tiller extension from this. The area under the curve may prove just long enough to do that. I'd also like to get the keel out of the shop so I can work on the rudder next. At this point, it's just waiting for good weather for the pour, which means somewhere around August.

Nice Ash!

For followers of this blog, you know I've had issues with my keel blocking. Turns out it's a never ending issue. Yesterday, I realized that the pattern provided by CLC is about 1.5" short, but it's not really their fault, exactly. The pattern is actually the view from below, as if you were a dolphin looking up at the keel, wondering what that crazy music is blaring from below decks.

Missed it by that much. Just a dry fit - haven't cleared the squeeze out from the centerboard trunk yet. Note a mistake: the butt joint blocking should be 1/2" from the top of the keel to fit the cap, not flush as shown here.

The issue is that the profile view (port or starboard for those nautical types) shows an angle back to follow the cut of the aft keel part. This isn't clear anywhere but to those who cut the keel themselves, since the pattern isn't marked in the manual. The bottom line is I'll need to do some jiggering to make the keel blocking whole. It's not that big a deal. In fact, the manual calls for a small bit of timber between the centerboard trunk and the keel nose to fill the gap between those two important parts. I'll have another bit of timber between the centerboard trunk and the keel blocking with maybe a small tenon or something to encourage a better mating, cuz I'm not cutting that piece again. Per advice from Chris, I'll also pour a bit of epoxy into this area to be sure it's watertight. 92 pounds of lead goes in there so it can be a little more messy than I'd normally allow. The annoying part is it's taken me 3 days to figure out what went wrong.

With that issue solved (in my head, anyway) I did what most people do who get tired of any one thing: I turned the page. A lot of pages. All the way to the boom gallows and tiller. A boom gallows is a structure usually at the stern of the boat used as a resting place for the boom while trailering, and as protection to the crew while underway. It's at a height that will prevent the boom from falling into the cockpit, crushing the helmsman like an angry apple. Some boats have a solid piece of lumber as a gallows, while many others put some real flair into this part of the boat, including leather trim. I'll probably be somewhere in the middle.

I've always wanted to do a laminated BG and tiller in the same motif as the highlights of the boat. My highlight wood is padauk, a truly amazing wood that's shockingly beautiful (to me) but difficult to wrangle like that girl in high school everyone wants to get to know except she spends all her time at the rodeo roping calves. For the contrast wood, I grabbed a nice piece of ash. Firm, yet supple, with character lines and just the right width. I think I'll stop there before I get into trouble.

Driving home with lumber in the convertible. It was a nice, sunny 40 degrees on the way home. Shorts weather for us in Minnesota.

Over my lunch break, I fired up the convertible and headed over to the very originally-named Hardwood Supply in NE Minneapolis. They generally do a wholesale lumber business but will also sell retail for a slight markup. I really liked working with them: I got milled, 10', surfaced-2-sided lumber cut to 3" widths, with a straight edge, alleviating myself and my table saw the effort to get the wood to spec. 40 board feet of milled padauk plus 10 bf of ash for half of what I found online is what I would call a bargain. The owner/manager has a 52' sailboat that his dad built from scratch. I'm told they need to take it out of the water every year to plug the holes, but it's a labor of love. When I visited the warehouse, there were two huge planks of Douglas fir, which was unusual for a "hardwood" supplier. These are for the boat's masts in case they need changing.

When I finally got home, I dumped the lumber in the garage and pulled out the boards I wanted to mill for the boom gallows. I figured I'd start with that as the tiller takes a little more finesse and I was in the mood for brute strength. The actual milling is pretty straightforward. The gallows measures 60" from curve-to-curve, plus 2-3 inches to allot for the bend. I cut 63" lengths for all boards then built a pattern block to bend the boards against.

Cutting 63" lengths. While not exactly rough lumber, you can see the rough edge on the ash plank.

It isn't lost on me that the pattern block I made for the gallows took me about 75% of the way to having a finished gallows, albeit without the lamination. Lamination is one of those things that delays time-to-water, but increases oohs-and-ahhs. Regardless, with the weather the way it is, I'm content knocking out these winter projects. I traced the CNC pattern onto a piece of lumber leftover from a fence I fixed last summer, used the bandsaw to cut to the line, then planed and sanded down to where I needed the curve to be. I could've drilled 1" holes on either end and called it a day but there wouldn't be much need for this blog today if I did that, would there? 

Built a pattern block for clamping.

Originally I was going to alternate padauk-ash but in the end put two ash's in the middle.

Unfortunately, all my padauk is 3" width and the plans call for 1.5" widths for the gallows. As a result, I have a decent amount of ~1 3/8" that I plan to use for the rub and toe rails. I could've cut it straight down the middle, finishing with slightly less than 1.5" but the plans call for 1" steel tubing to support the gallows, plus I wanted to be sure I had the full thickness for the boom to rest upon. These strips had to be cut again to get 1.5" x 3/8" thin planks. This is the size used in the lamination. After a light sanding with 120, all the padauk got a quick, light rub with acetone, which reminds me that I need to schedule a massage pretty soon, though I'll forgo the acetone. Padauk is a slightly oily wood and this oil can interfere with a good glue up; acetone removes the residue. They were finally ready to be fitted.

I mixed up some epoxy and added a little bit of thickener to finish the job. After this cures (about 24 hours) I'll have to sand it down, plane both sides, and round off the edges. It'll be nice to be finished with this.

Close up of lamination pattern. Shiny stuff is epoxy squeeze out. This will be sanded, planed, epoxied, and varnished when done.

A couple things to note about laminating the gallows. First, it's a pretty big piece of lumber. It's 5 feet long comprised of 10 individual stripes of just-under 3/8" pieces (why just under 3/8"? because the lumber is 3/4" which cut in half is 3/8" but allowing for the table saw blade kerf of 1/8" reduces the size another 1/16" for each half). Getting epoxy mixed up in reasonable batches and spreading it out while avoiding disaster took quite a bit of concentration. Second, I tried to use c-clamps but they didn't work very well, so I had to resort to the Irwin fast clamps. I don't like to use these for epoxy because the clamps are expensive and can stick to the work piece, which explains the plastic in the bottom photo. Third, epoxy is messy. There needs to be a good balance between lathering on enough for a good, secure bond but not so much that most of it oozes out of the sides and onto the floor. My nitrile gloves were coated fingernail to wrist with epoxy by the time I was done.

Clamping pressure. Must use plastic between tools and epoxy, and some paper on the floor to catch the drips.

We'll see how this turns out. If nicely, I'll do the tiller tomorrow and finish up the keel blocking (finally) as well. I need to still source some lead smelting equipment so that may have to wait until Monday night. In the meantime, I've got a pretty sweet gallows just about finished.