Cap Rails dryfitted and ready for shaping

The build is nearing completion! Who would have thought that this would take 3 years and then some. Well, it has, but I am really getting excited about the end result. I have just finished a dry fit for the cap rails which are joined together on the boat with 'Birds Beak' joints. For the most part, this worked out well, although there are a few boards that I am going to redo. Next step with the dry fit is to make the outside edges flush with the outer rubrails and make a 1/4" round off on the inner adge. Then I will take off all of the pices and reinstall with epoxyglue before a final sanding and shaping, then clearcoat.

Rubrails and topcaps - the hull nears completion

 Here is the bow showing the 'breasthook'  which is thick concavely shaped brace holding the shape of the two sides of the boat as they come together at the bow. Even the largest of sailing vessels may have one. It has been sanded and shaped so that it is slightly raised at the middle, compared to the sides.

And now the cap rail is started. This shows a 5/16' thick piece  of ash wood cut to shape so that it covers the right side of the breasthook. . it is notched at the front to accommodate the stem.                        

The union of the sheer rail, upper plank edge, and outer rub rail  at the knee supporting the mid thwart. It is sanded smooth, ready for application of the cap rail.

The port side showing area prepped for ash rub rail application. To the right you  see the piece of cap rail for the port side of the breast hook. The bottom edge of this piece will be shaped to fit the aft part of the brease hook. All of the cap rail will overhang the inner edge  by 1/4" and be rounded off.

Shows front of  boat with port piece of breasthook cap rail being fitted.

The Seats Are In! Almost Done!

Looking aft, this shows centerboard trunk with center thwart and its support knees. The side seats are seen going back towards the rear bulkhead seat. The porthole cover on the rear bulkhead is shown, but not yet installed.

The rectangle of seats in the back of the boat. Mid boat oarlock chock seen at top and mid thwart support knee just to the right of it. The starboard support knee is at the bottom of pic.

Shows port rear side seat and it's underlying support strut which goes from  rear bulkhead cleat to underside of mid thwart. Edge of port rear bulkhead cleat to support side seat and strut can be seen.

Another view towards the stern. Name of boat will be painted on the part of transom you see just above rear bulkhead seat. Under the sides of mid boat thwart you can see edges of support risers, support struts(for side seats) and shape of support knees on top of sides of thwart.

Best view I can get in the garage, showing boat from front to rear.  Lawn mower is not part of boat and is NOT my favorite tool. Good view of top of stem and the breast hook behind it at front of boat.

Centerboard trunk and rear seating. Pardon the sawdust. That will be gone  soon. and all inner surfaces of boat will be coated with 5 to 6 coats of high gloss varnish.

Good view of front thwar and it'sangled support knees.

The rear seating. Sailor manning the tiller and mainsheet will sit on either side of this depending upon direction of tack(meaning how boat is sailing with respect to wind direction).

Lots of saw dust on the left,sorry. But a good pic showing seats and knees, and boat from aft to stem. You can see curve of breasthook just under stem at very front of boat, top of pic.

Port side. Rub rail will be a strip of wood that will go on top of outer edge of boat from stem to stern. This is my next project. Combination of the rub rail, edge of uppermost plank, and previously installed sheer rail will serve as surface for cap rail which will be made of 5/16" ash.

Good pic showing detail of underside of port side thwart with its rear bulkhead support cleat, support strut going along underneath of seat towards bottom of middle thwart(which you can't see) where it is attached. Can also see porthole hardware(not yet installed and lowermost stringers on port side.

I decided to go with mahogany for the seats . I was able to get  four 5' boards of  1" thick x 11" wide mahogany, nearly the same color as my okoume planking to do the thwarts and side seats. I was intimidated from the beginning with the idea of installing these seats and definitely didn't want to mess up the boat or the beautiful mahogany boards. So I used cheap 12 inch wide pine boards, some from my scrap pile, some from the original building jig and practiced making the thwarts and side seats with them. Good thing I did. This was no easy task as there were all sorts of curves, angles, and difficult leveling to do to get these right. Plus I had to install seat risers to support everything and these were tricky also, so I used old scrap wood to practice those also. When I had gotten the practice boards to fit well I started with the mahogany, making my measurements carefully, using the practice boards as templates , and making my initial cuts proud of the line so that I could gradually remove wood from the mahogany and get a perfect fit. One thing I have learned in boat building, and forgive me if I have said this before, is that more is better when it comes to leaving extra material on a board you are cutting. You can gradually remove material off a board to make it fit but, cut it too short to begin with, you are stuck because you can't put material back on. So leave your cuts proud of the line and then fidget with sandpaper, chisels,  or whatever to remove what you need to to get the right fit. So first the risers for the forward thwart were made of 2" x2" white oak. Then glued and screwed to the appropriate spot on the inner planking just resting on the stringers and placed equidistant from the fore oarlock chocks to ensure accurate placement per the plans. I made sure the faying surfaces for the thwart were level by using a rabbet plane to remove material from the tops of the risers after they were installed. Then I cut the thwart to length, a little longer then my lines from my pine template and, naturally finding it to be too snug to rest on the risers, , gradually removed material from the ends, also making sure to follow the curves that went fore and aft and up and down. This took a long time because the mahogany is a hard, tough wood to remove material from. When I had it right it was a simple matter to glue and screw the thwart to the tops of the risers. I applied glue to the sides of the thwarts, but did not put screws through the side as there was no need, and that would just serve to violate the planking unnecessarily. After the glue cured I spent hours sanding the thwart down to a thickness of about 7/8" and rounded the seat edges bullnose fashion. Very NICE! I then fashioned the required knee braces for the top of the thwart where it attaches to the sides of the hull, thus giving additional support. These were of white oak and, because they were to be angled towards the exact middle of the boat, needed templates and then much work to get them to fit around the stringers and also sit on the thwart squarely. They were then glued and screwed in, the shape of these not triangular but curved concave in. The middle thwart and risers came next, the procedure easier now that I had the hang of it, plus there was the advantage of having the back of the centerboard trunk serve as central support for the middle of this, the largest thwart. I then made the side seats which were required to be curved to fit the fore and aft curvature of the hull and up and down curvature of the planks. The most difficult task here, besides making the risers, was to get the groove and triangular cut made at the aft ends of these thwarts so that a stringer that needed to be accomodated for, could pass through the seat. I also had to install cleats on the rear bulkhead for the aft edge of the seat to rest on and struts that went from these cleats to the undersides of the central thwart to provide a resting surface for the inner bottoms of the side seats. I made the risers for the central thwarts 2 inches longer than they need to be so that the fore part of the side seats could rest on these same risers. All of this was very difficult, even with the templates . The side seats were then glued and screwed to the cleats on the rear bulkhead, the risers and the struts, all without a hitch, requiring much glue to get the job done right so that the side of these thwarts adhered well to the hull and all faying surfaces. I plugged the screw holes with small oak plugs. Two days after each thwart went in, sanding occurred and I mean a lot of it. I sanded down all thwarts so that there was nice blending of this rectangle of seating that was made by the co-joining thwarts and rear bulkhead seat. All exposed seat edges, where our legs would be going over when in the boat, received nice bullnose curves with the sander. One power sander(the one I started the initial work on the boat with) died during this heavy duty sanding job, but it had served me well for the better part of the 3 years that I have spent on this project so far. Finally, I added the knee braces to the center thwart, made of white oak, this much easier than the fore ones because these just went straight out from the hull towards the center line of the thwart and thus needed no fancy angle cutting or shaping to fit snugly against the hull. These and a simple 3/4" by 3/4" piece of white oak molding to be put on the top edge of the rear bulkhead, between the back of the 2 side thwarts were all glued and screwed in successfully and, with that, the boats inner structures were complete. Next, I have to put on the rub rails,  and molding strips along the lower edge of the top planks, then do the fine carpentry involved in installing the cap rail. Will be back to describe those ventures once done. Until then, enjoy the newly added photos showing the things described in this post. An early Spring 2011 launching seems eminent now!

The middle Thwart and side seat supports

Today we were treated to a day off together where Virginia and the skies above treated us to a sampling of the sweet early Fall weather that makes this such a wonderful place to live. Sunny. 78 degrees. A breeze with air like candy. Boat building weather.

For the past few weeks I had been laboring over  getting a good fit for the middle thwart which involved shaping the ends of the thwart so it closely matched both the fore/aft and up/down curves of the inner hull. The back of the centerboard case was prepared to act as a brace for the middle of the thwart and the side risers shaped and leveled and installed, to support the sides of the thwart. Finally, the cleats that run the length of the side seats had to be fitted to the undersides of the middle thwart and to notches in support blocks attached to the rear bulkhead. After everything was shaped just right(which took a long time and many fine adjustments) the assembly of the thwart and cleats was dry fitted to the boat with 1.5" screws. A great fit and everything level!

So today, on this beautiful September day which is September 9th,2010, the day of my father's 79th birthday, I mixed up the epoxy, a good amount of 12 ounces and applied the thick, tenacious, incredibly
strong epoxy to all of the faying surfaces, screwed and glued the cleats to the underside of the thwart and then laid the entire assembly into the boat, everything then screwed and glued together. It went well, and with that, reall the last difficult step in building this boat that has now taken nearly 3 years to build. All that is left are the rear side seats, the outer rub rail and then the rail cap, which will be of ash wood. Then multiple coats of varnish inside, paint on the outside(colors not yet decided), then the boat will fitted out with cleats, oarlocks, rudder and tiller, mast and rigging. More on all of that later.

And now for some pics of today's activities in the boatyard.

The center thwart installed, the ends on risers , the middle glued and screwed to the back of the centerboard case. Some sawdust at the edges to fill the edge gaps which have glue in them. All of theis will be sanded extensively later.

The center thwart sitting on the back of the centerboard case, looking forward towards the front thwart and front bulkhead and stem.

The starboard side of the center thwart, shwing exposed part of riser that will serve to support front of side seat.

The port side support block with support cleat instaled in notch, all of which will support port  side seat.

Seats and Risers

Getting close maties! Cut out and shaped the fore thwart and made the risers for the which are supports structures attached tot the side of the hull for the set to attach to. I glued the risers for the fore thwart in today and, once the glue is cure, will glue and screw the seat in. Then a support will be placed on top of the the thwart at the edges to give added support and better connection to the hull. More on those when I make them. Today I also glued in the support blocks for the the eft edges of the side seats. These will give the back edges of the side seats something to support them. There will also be a strut going from the notch you see in the support blocks that will attach under the midship thwart, thus giving additional support surface fro the soon to be made side seats. Once those side seats are in, I will take off the temporary supporst going across the top of the boat as they will no longer be needed. After the side seats are done, I'll install the rub rail and then trim out the gunwales with 5/16" ash, which , once varnished along with the rest of the inside of the boat should look awesome.

shows port riser for front thwart attached to inside of hull

shows back edge of mid ship thwart resting on top of back of centerboard case

this is the port support block for the side seat installed onto rear  bulkhead. Notch you see on top is for cleat of support strut to rest on.

This is the port side seat support.

The starboard riser for the fore thwart.Notice its is a wedge shape and also narrower trowards the inside...this all designed to make the thwart sit level side to side and fore and aft. Gettting these angles rigth was NOT easy!

Theport fore thwart riser, installed.

The side seat support block again.

Good view of notch side seat strut cleat will sit in.

The for thwart sitting on its newly installed risrs, but not yet permanently installed. What  a fit, and everything level!Hard to see, but I gae the fore and aft edges of the thwart a bullnose curvuture to make the seat mor comfortable and better looking.

Back of centerboard case.

Front seat, with porthole cover on bulkhead, not yet permanently installed.

Shows starboard side of front of boat and the front seat and thwart. Breasthook and stem top seen art front.

front of boat...waiting for 5 to 6 coat of varnish and trim and rubrail.

Shows most of inside of boat, front to back. Temporary support  struts till attached to mid ship and aft regions until seats are permanenly installed.

v

     I hae made a decision to Lug rig the boat for sailing as opposed to the more complex Gunter rig. The  Gunter rig is nice because you can sail faster but is more difficult to set up each time you sail. Plus, we intend to sai lor row leisurely, and with the dogs,  so the Lug rig with its single boom and sail will make all of that more feasible. If I ever want to swtch to gunter , I'll be able to anyway. Enjoy the latest pics.

Centerboard Saga

I have spent the past few weeks building the centerboard for my Penobscot 14. Sailboats must either have a centerboard, or a dagger board (like a centerboard only not permanently encased in the boat), or, as is common in large sailboats, a deep keel. These structures provide the needed counter resistance against the water as the wind hits the sail. Pressure from wind and counter pressure from water against the boat and the under water centerboard provides the forces needed to propel the boat forward. This is a simplified explanation...the physics of sailing  are more complex and interesting than that. Anyway..back to MY centerboard. First there is the board, which I made by edge glueing two 3/4" thick 40" long pieces of red oak. Oak is a good choice for centerboards and rudders....nice and strong when under pressure from water. The pattern for the board, rudder like in shape was laid out, the board then cut out and the board then shaped to a a taper on both sides so that the shape of the surfaces was convex. I then applied epoxy glue with fiberglass to the board, cut out a 3/4" hole for the handle and a 3/8" hole for the pivot bolt. This pivot bolt hole was reinforced with a section of copper tubing. The board looked good.

   Now the case for it. This was a complex structure to build that required forethought as certain things needed to be done in correct order, such as preparing the inner surfaces of the plywood forming the sides before putting the case together. Once the case is put together you can't get to these inside surfaces to apply protective and waterproofing epoxy glue. The bottom of the case has two 3/4" x 3/4" strips of wood that are attached at the base of the case to provide structure to attach the case to the keel. Before permanently ataching these, I drilled the holes that would be needed to screw the case into the keel.  Had I tried drilling these holes after putting the whole case together I would have not ben able to drill these holes straight up and down a the sides of the case would have been in the way of the drill.  The bottom of the case must also be shaped to account for the curve of the keel and the case must fit accurately over the centerboard slot in the keel. When the centerboard is functioning it comes down through the slot just adjacent to the port side of the deadwood at the bottom of the boat. After much measuring and fussing I got it all together. Fore thought in boat building is essential...if you don't anticipate potential problems in construction you will inevitably have unwanted moments and stress. I learned this early on in the construction of this boat with early mistakes that caused me much waste in time and material as I had to re-do steps.The case fit beautifully on the keel, covering the slot exactly as it should. I tried a dry fit with the centerboard bolted into the case and found that I had not made the board thin enough to allow free swinging motion through the case and slot. So out came the sander and off came most of that beautiful fiberglass and epoxy coating. I finally got the board thin enough and a 2nd dry fit test run demonstrated good movement of the board through the case and keel opening. I will have to re-coat and re-glass the board to protect it from the water. The case is now ready to be glued and screwed into place. I may start that tomorrow but I plan on being very cautious with that process as a perfect installation is need to prevent leaking. According to Arch, the secret is to use lots of epoxy glue in addition to the screws to get a water tight fit. I will! After the case is installed I'll pt the center thwart in, as it sits on top of the back of the centerboard case and two risers installed in the hull. Then on to the side seats, front thwart and the final touches tot he sheer, with application of the outer sheer clamps and then putting trim on top of the sheer clamps with ash wood. Getting closer to launch day. Haven't decided on paint colors for the outside yet but inside of boat will be kept bright, meaning varnished to show the beauty of the natural wood.

More photos showing interior build and interior epoxy clearcoat