Sea trial video, towing at 20 kts, tracking straight.
Polliwog under tow…20 kts!
July 26th, 2010The Polliwog project finally comes to completion
July 26th, 2010
My first boat floats level and on her lines!
July 26th, 2010
Cutting 3/8″ strips for laminated stem
April 7th, 2010Pretty soon I’m going to start cutting [18] 3/8″ layers to laminate the stem for a Gerr Marine 28′ Offshore Skiff so I posted on the WB forum to get some input on the best way to go about doing this. Here’s what others had to say:
User ‘erster’: Its really easy to saw your laminates on your table saw in lieu of your bandsaw unless you have a really good resaw blade and know how to set your guide to keep the stock cutting uniform and true. I also do this with a good kerf grade and then drum sand the large stock or pass the cut facek through a planer to clean the face if you are forced to flip the stock over because of the shallow cut in wide stock material. Sometimes you will get some offset in the face of the wider stock if the blade on your table saw does not cut in one pass. This is quicker unless you have some experience in resawing with a bandsaw.
You can actually do a solid stem cut to shape with steps in the curved sections and bolted together.
Rip your pieces a bit oversized than what you intend on using in the finish stage. I like to use a sampling of my large stock and figure out the best use. For that length of stem, its really easy to bend and glueup. Make your jig using small 2/4 blocking spaced at even measurements and use clamps to glue up. Outside turns create a better layout if you are working by yourself. But remember to figure in the shape and measurement to make up for the thickness of the laminates, reducing the blocking setup to take this into consideration.
User ‘Mrleft8,’ and chief site admin: I’d avoid rollers. They tend to steer your lumber in directions other than straight. Just rig up an outfeed table. Set your fence 3/8″ from the blade and have at it. If you have a decent, sharp blade the cut straight off the saw should be fine for glueing up a laminated stem out of DF. Use a push stick!
He also had an interesting quote in his footer: Never trust a man with a clean workshop….there’s something to ponder.
User ‘James Ledger’: I’d find someone with a planer to even it up nicely afterwards…if I was you.
User ‘Paladin’: also pay attention to the grain and alternate the grain patterns.
User ‘gibetheridge’: You will find that when you remove the stem from the bending form that it straightens out some. I would give it an extra 1/4 inch to compensate for this, although there’s no real way of knowing how much it will straighten. The thinner the laminations the less it will rebound, and I haven’t tried it, but I expect that if you use 6 oz. glass cloth between the 2 or 3 laminations on the inside of the bend they will, since the glass will be in tension, reduce the rebound considerably. That’s a fairly substantial stem, you may have to glue it up in 2 operations. My last stem was for a 21 foot double ended pulling boat, net 1 3/4 by 3 1/4 or so and I had to do it in 2 operations. I sawed the form out of 2 inch and srewed it down, over plastic so it would not be glued to the bench, onto a piece of 3/4 inch plywood, which was the bench top. Be sure to fasten your form solidly. And do saw out your laminations a bit thick and run them through the planer, especially if you’re not using epoxy. I gave it 1/4 inch extra bend and it sprung back to very close to what I wanted when released from the form. I always saw out laminations on the table saw, using a thin kerf blade to save material, often a very thin kerf skilsaw blade, cutting 1/2 way through from each side. If you make a couple of diagonal lines on the end of the work before resawing you will be able to stack them back in order later, which will make it easier to switch every other piece end for end before gluing.
I have contacted Maine Coast Lumber to get a quote for them to do the sawing and Dave Woodman (user CundysHarbor) sent me a PM recommending Dennis Day or Day Hardwoods, S. Portland ME, as being a being good / honest source from boat building lumber; someone who knows what type of wood a boat needs.
My current plan is to see what Maine Coast Lumber comes back and to call Dennis Day. I already have the lumber and the saw, so likely I’ll just try resawing myself, but if someone else can do it better, faster, for reasonable money I’ll let them do it.
Designer gives green light to transom motor bracket
April 5th, 2010I just heard back from Dave Gerr and got the green light on the transom bracket..
The plans specify 2 layers of 5/8″ ply on the transom, he recommends adding a third around the fastening bolts and an extra knee or two. To compensate for the engine being farther back he suggests moving other weights as far as reasonable forward and then adding trim ballast in the bow to compensate.
This article captures the essence of why I am building a new boat, while I am upside down in my existing boat!
March 28th, 2010A few quotes from the article that you might relate to or get you thinking:
“You know I’m just tired of always having
to pay someone to keep all this stuff working.
We’re not having fun anymore. I need to take a
break from boating.”
“You know I’m just tired of always having to pay someone to keep all this stuff working. We’re not having fun anymore. I need to take a break from boating.”
“…instead of taking a break from boating, maybe some of us need to rethink boating.”
“…even the most diehard mariners are re-evaluating the amount of time and money they invest in boating.”
“Consequently, the market became flooded with used boats being sold by desperate owners at ridiculously low prices. Those who were in a position to buy a new boat couldn’t sell their older boat — at least not at a price they thought was reasonable. ”
“While the boating market seems to have bottomed out and shows signs of stabilizing, it is doubtful it will return to its glory days of prerecession prosperity and low fuel prices any time soon.”
“If we love being out on the water, I believe we need to re-examine the kind of boats we own and how we use them. ”
“A good way to start is to apply zero-based thinking to boat ownership. Begin with a clean sheet of paper and think of what you and your family like most about boating. Then list the features and characteristics of a boat that are absolutely necessary. Forget the “wouldn’t it be nice” stuff. Keep telling yourself, This is a boat, not a house.”
Read, enjoy, and consider the possibilities if you are a current ‘yacht’ owner…
Cheers!
Finally finished cutting frame parts!
March 25th, 2010Ok! Finished cutting frame parts.
I’ll wait to start assembling them for a few weeks, until I get back out to to the island workshop. My wife is getting tired of having our basement turned into a makeshift boat shop.
I guess it’s time to finish up the Sam Devlin Polliwog dinghy I’ve been building, also in the basement.
I’ll post more pictures as I restart the building process in the workshop.
Building a workshop on an island…lots of hard work!
March 24th, 2010A little bit about the workshop for this project:
A good friend of mine is a builder and was the mastermind of the project; we brought out 5000+ bf of rough cut lumber by hand, in a 24′ pontoon boat. The Roof trusses were raised by hand. The only part that was not manual labor were the 15 pre-cast footings, which were put in with an excavator while our septic system was being installed.
Last summer I had an electrician come out to the island to wire the building, hang overhead lights, and move the electrical service to better support the main house and the workshop.
This year I’ll be adding the windows and probably wrapping and doing a final siding layer of rough cut pine; but boat building will be the priority though, it’s just that time!
This is our island pick-up truck; she has been used by at least 4 other islanders to build or renovate camps. I’ve had close to 3000 lbs on her!
We build a 26 x 40 deck first; then started putting up the framing. We used a lot of rough green lumber for this project; most of it came off my bandsaw mill, a Woodmizer LT40H.
Making good progress on the framing and roof trusses
More framing, not in any particular order
Some interior pix, don’t mind the mess it’s a construction project at this point:
And some exterior pix, work in progress, no windows yet but they are framed in:
Thoughts on flat bottom boats in choppy water
March 23rd, 2010I posted a thread about this building project on the Festool Owners Group (FOG) forum and one of the posters asked about how the flat bottom of the Offshore Skiff will handle chop and offshore use:
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Your boat reminds a bit of the C-Dory 25. Nice looking boat. Any idea how much it will pound in a chop. Appears to have a relatively flat bottom for an offshore boat.
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and I thought it would be good to capture my input here because my response helped me coalesce my thoughts on the matter:
My response:
Thanks for the links, I’ve seen the Blue Jacket but not the Outer Banks; both look like nice boats.
I had the same question about the flat hull and have learned that you do need to slow it down in chop to prevent launching off the waves but one builder who uses the boat for commercial fishing commented that the boat runs smoothly in steep 5′ – 6′ chop at just below planing speeds or around 10 kts.
The sharp entry and narrow beam will tend to part the waves rather than the boat riding up on top of the waves, so the trick is to go slow enough where the flat bottom doesn’t launch you.
I have a 32′ Sea Ray Sundancer, 21 degree deadrise and 15000#, and I can’t go into a 5′ head sea without slowing down below 10 kts!
Reading the designer’s notes he comments that the flat hull will require you to drop down to 15 – 16 kts going into 2′ – 3′ chop to prevent pounding and launching; I’m doing similar in the Sea Ray, especially if it’s a short chop.
So, all in all, the flat hull will definitely require slowing in a choppy sea but generous flare gives her plenty of reserve bouyancy and stability for rough going. Of the 600 or so boats made to this plan many are used for commercial fishing and the designers states she’d be good for a small long liner or lobstering; so if it’s good enough for a commercial fisherman it’s good enough for me.
I’ve spent years pouring over dozens of designs, purchasing plans for my short list of boats, and even studying yacht design through the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology program so that I’d know enough about hull design and characteristics to make an informed choice on the boat that best met my mission statement, which was:
- Design suitable for a first time boat builder who is already a reasonably skilled wood worker
- Trailerable and owner-maintainable
- Suitable for safe 3 season coastal New England cruising
- Economical and requiring minimum dealer / yard servicing
- Traditional design, not a floating condo
- Rugged enough to handle breaking through thin ice in the late fall and early spring
- Something you?d feel perfectly safe taking out late on a stormy night to pick up your wife and cats at the landing
To your point, making a commitment to a project this large and complex requires a lot of soul searching.
Outboard motor bracket or transom well?
March 23rd, 2010I am interested in using an external outboard motor mounting bracket rather than the conventional transom motor well. Using a bracket frees up a lot cockpit space, reduces engine noise levels, and can improve handling and efficiency.
To get input on this decision I posted to the WB forum and here’s what I got back
Input from user Breakaway (Kevin):
Since Gerr is approving the bracket, I guess its a personal decision: you are covered. I have a lot of experiece with this type of install, though not on a dory hull. Here goes:
1. Eliminating the motor well should pick you up some bouyancy aft, somewhat compensating for the weight further aft.
2. By all means get a floatation bracket (an Armstrong Marine Model is pictured–I have no ties–there are other makers). This will further compensate for weight aft.
3. A bracket allows a bit higher engine mounting, becuase the waterflow aft of the transom rises a bit: this means less drag and more efficiency
4. Further away from you, and partially blocked by the transom–sound levels at the helm will be reduced.
5. There are clever, nicely engineered boarding ladders that work with these brackets, providing safety, convenience, as well as compliance with ABYC’s “solo reboarding means” recommendation.
6. More space in the cockpit
Downsides:
1. Expense–although you wont have to build the well.
2. Depending upon your marina, you may be charged a couple extra feet for dockage.
3. The unknown. Converting a cut transom outboard boat, or for that matter, repowering a stern drive boat with a bracketed outboard is pretty common. There are a load of similiar boats with very similiar hullforms. So every time we did it, we more or less knew what to expect. There was a history and a track record, perhaps not of the same boats, but of “kissing cousins” with respect to size and shape and characteristic. Does Mr. Gerr have any builders of the boat who have done a bracket? If so, I would see them out and have a chat.
Input from user Wizbang_13:
I think the bracket helps performane/saftey/fuel .Mostly for higher speeds. “Floating on its lines” is only for sitting still. Once the boat is planing, aft,aft,aft,is where weight goes best. My ’sperience is not with this type of skiff though.But I have put brackets on my (40-50 mph) boats.”Panther “brand
90 hp is not big for a 28′er. If you do a lot of inshore work, the bracket can be a pita, but off shore, it will make the boat handle like a bigger boat. Why are they so popular with anyone who has used them? Ask around on “scream and fly” forum. Gearheads know their stuff there.
yea, what rgbar said. Access to the engine from onboard is about the only problem, and of course the engine sticking out. As the engine goes aft, (and it’s only 8-12 “,pending on the bracket) ,the engine can come up. Thats good. Freeing up room in the cockpit is nice, but saftey/handling is the real bonus! These brackets use the same bolting pattern as the OB. Assuming the Etec has power trim, “check out” a jack plate on the bracket. The boat will plane easier,not harder. Oh I just saw the A rmstrong bracket! That is a little different from what I have been typing about, just a little.
Input from user rbgarr:
For coastal cruising, the freed up room in the cockpit will be nice, but if you have to get at the lower unit to clear the prop or lower unit it will be more difficult to reach unless the bracket has a platform on it.
Input from user Cuyahuga_Chuck:
For coastal cruising, the freed up room in the cockpit will be nice, but if you have to get at the lower unit to clear the prop or lower unit it will be more difficult to reach unless the bracket has a platform on it.
The Internet is really amazing for things like this; imagine how difficult it would be to gather that much information, from different sources, in any amount of time, without the Internet. Likely you’d be at the mercy of your local dealer and who ever you happened to know; pretty hit or miss.
