Boat Building Again...

Well, the Mini has been turfed out of the garage and now sits at the top of the drive under a gazebo awaiting a paint job. I've readied the garden beds ready for the new season of vegetables and on Saturday I gave the garage a really good tidy up. In the week I managed to pick up some more epoxy resin and hardener, and tomorrow a work appointment takes me close to Glass Fibre Supplies so I can pick up more tape.

On Sunday I started the build of the Dart 16' two-man kayak by scarfing some pieces of softwood together that will become the hog, kind of a part-length keelson. On Tuesday I got home early and marked out the bottom pieces on a sheet of ply. On Wednesday I cut the pieces out with a jigsaw and this evening I jointed the pieces to make two full length bottom panels. The plan is I will be able to stitch and glue these together, with the hog, over the weekend.

It's great to be building again. I was a little bit cautious at first but after donning the gloves and suit again this evening while spreading the epoxy, I already feel back in the swing of things. I just need to be careful though, there are quite a few design differences between the two kayaks. I must keep checking the plans and reading those instructions.

North Shore Heritage Festival

The local council is throwing a Heritage Festival throughout October. A flyer in the free paper this evening includes details of an event to be hosted by the Devonport Yacht Club from the 4th to the 11th: Boat Designers of the North Shore. The club will be mounting a display of plans, models, photographs and half-hulls.

My only concern is that when I tried to find a link to the event, there was no mention of it in the online material on the council's web site. I'll call the number tomorrow, and if it's on, hopefully I'll be able to post a report on my blog.

UPDATE: I've just spoken to Colin Tubbs at the Devonport Yacht Club, and the exhibition is definitely on, featuring the work of Des Townsend, Bruce Farr and others. The club is located at 25 King Edward Parade in Devonport and the doors will be open daily from 10am to 4pm starting Sunday 4th October until Suntay 10th October; admission is free.

Hot News: The First Island Bay Dory is Built!

I've just logged into the blog for the first time in a little while to find a message from Rob Buchanan of
Greenport, Long Island, USA. He is the first to inform me that he and his family have built a version of my Island Bay Dory design. Hopefully he'll mail me some pictures soon, and with help from the comment he made on his build, I'll be building an Island Bay Dory with my son in the coming weeks.

Building on a small scale

While I get some other jobs out of the way (mainly restoring the Mini that is lurking in the background in all the garage shots of the kayak build) I am building on a smaller scale in the house during the dark winter evenings.

I'm trying out the Selway-Fisher Rhum plans at 1:10 scale before trying it for real. The reason for this is I want to change the internal layout, moving bulkheads and fitting permanent side seats, and I want to make sure it all fits. Even small boats are fairly complex 3D shapes an it helps to make sure the visualisation I have in my mind will actually work for real.

Last night I swapped around the bulkheads and made the forward one, the one the mast step and partner are against, full height. This will allow a small foredeck to be fitted, with storage underneath.

I think this will be a really usable little dinghy and I'm quite excited about the build. I just nee to keep the end in site and make sure I don't add so much unnecessary stuff that I can no longer walk the boat down to the ramp. Pictures will follow once I've got the deck fitted on the model.

Oh, and I've pretty much decided that the boat will be named Hope, after this amazing instrumental by Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson.

Blowing away the midwinter blues...

I went round to see a neighbour on Saturday. I took my Rhum dinghy plans and the 1:10 model that I've made of the hull. He has a Sunburst dinghy and I wanted to check dimensions of his side seats to see if a similar layout was possible in the Rhum. It turns out that the slightly stretched version I intend to build will be identical in length and beam to the Sunburst. Not only is this good news for the layout of seats, it also means that I can potentially buy of-the-shelf spars and sails for the Rhum rather than get a custom set made, possible saving a few dollars along the way.

While I was round, Daniel invited me out on his big boat for a race the next day. So Mid-winter's day I was on a 33' racing/cruising yacht reaching at 8.5 knots in a 20 knot southerly blow around Auckland's harbour. There were only 2 boats in our none-spinnaker class, but we won on the line and on handicap. We also beat 3 spinnaker boats over the line, and they had a 5 minute advantage at the start. It was a beautiful clear and crisp day, and putting up with the cold was well worth it for a great day out on the water.

The Island Bay Dory

So here it is, my one sheet dory design. I've only made a model of this boat so far, but I hope to make a life-sized version with my son in a couple of month's time. I'll probably use chine logs and glue and screw technique, rather than stitch and tape as documented here in the instructions. I'll document that technique as I build the boat.

If you want to have a go, please read the disclaimer and be realistic about this boat's ability. It's very small and has little load carrying capacity. The flare can be experimented with, more will add stability and buoyancy, but at the expense of freeboard, so its a smooth water only boat. Also, the flare adds rocker, so this boat will probably nod around. Perhaps a small amount of ballast in either end will help overcome this. If you weigh much more than 75Kg then be very careful getting in, I estimate that with that much of a load, the boat will sit around 150mm deep, leaving less than 150mm of freeboard amidships.

I had to post the instructions as JPGs because unfortunately the blogspot software does not allow such pleasant attachment types as PDF or DXF. If you build an Island Bay Dory, real or model, please let me know via the comments box.

More Projects

I've not got much further with the proa plans, the basics are laid out in a CAD drawing but I need to refine my ideas before I can publish anything there.

Meanwhile, I read a book on DIY projects for the owners of cruising boats and saw a nice little 1-sheet dory style dinghy. I like the idea of trying something like this with my son, since he is light enough to float in it. I wasn't too keen on the shape of the boat in the book, but I liked the concept. I've worked on it some more and my second attempt came out nearly right. A little more refining and I'll have the plans available for the plywood part. It's not a true one-sheet boat because it will also require some wood for the seats and gunwales. And in fact to avoid exposing my lad to epoxy, I'll probably try making it with gluing batons planed to the right angles, polyeurathane glue and stainless screws.

Finally, I've also sent off to Selway-Fisher for plans to build the Rhum 11'6" dinghy in which I hope to learn to sail.