Forwad Cabin

DRAFT - WIP

 The forward cabin on 133 will have several key uses. 

1. Water proof crash.  I separated the crash box into two compartments, fully sealed both of them. I will fill them some thing that floats at some point but for now I'm happy with leaving them open. Air is the greatest bouncy after all (well apart from lighter than air gases)  

2. Water Tight bulk head, Frame D' is both the mast support and creates a water tight bulkhead separating the forward cabin from the main cabin.  I have a Clue Marine Hatch, CLW-CG580-700BLK 500mm x 700mm that is designed for external. 

 This is comment from Joao #248-

UPDATE: I got a definitive answer from Janusz. The diagram in page 2 is a compression gate independent from any frame; that is, something you would add if not going for frame D' as a bulkhead with the mast over it. The diagram for frame D' in page 4 is showing a compression gate attached to it, with different dimensions.

Given that the CNC kit appears to have selected a combination of the two (compression gate of page 2 attached to frame D'), presumably to allow for a bigger hatch, I asked Janusz if this was OK, and he said this can indeed be done.

 

3. Head - (porta potty) I intend to sail my boat on lakes and on the west coast of Canada, when in a marina the bucket and chuck it method doesn't cut it.  I thought about a true marine head, with a black water tank like sunbear but the cost and more holes in the boat scared me off.  With the requirement for the forward bunk to be installed as per the plans there is no great place to put the porta potty now, I will make an area big enough to hold the port potty and another panel removal to put your feet.  

 

4. Storage - This is the one large open area of the boat, from looking at other boats its used for sails, pack raft/SUP, water jugs, batteries, spare anchor, spare boat parts.  The hard part is finding a spot for it all that does not limit access and does a good job of weight distribution.  Under the bunk is obliviously a great spot for the heavy items. I'm going to put some tie in points on top of the bunk and on the walls, to give me something to lash stuff to, as well as keeping the area under the bunk fairly open for larger bulky items but have lashing points to keep them in place. 

5. Forward Hatch - this hatch is designed to be big enough to escape from, I guess the theory being if the main cabin fills with water you sit in the forward cabin till you have to have to get off.  I have thought about how i want this hatch to face, Forward/Aft for opening, I think I'm going with the hinges at the back to allow easier storage access for sails/anchor.  More chance of getting water below if hatch is open and wave comes over bow but if the sea state is that bad i will probably bringing items back to the cockpit anyway.  As there is no anchor locker as such I will put a bracket below this hatch to hold the anchor for easier deployment and retrieval with plastic bin or some thing for the chain. 

5. Air Flow - the front hatch is one of the main air flow options when at the dock, I think I'm going to be putting the hatch/door between the main cabin and forward cabin so it swings into the forward cabin. So I can leave it open to promote air flow without making access to the chart table or galley more difficult. I will probably fit a solar vent into the forward cabin hatch or maybe closer to the mast to promote air flow, when the hatch is closed and when the boat is on the hard. 

John B door hinged right opening into main cabin

Jazzy - Door into cabin swings up. Cabin full to allow 6 people to drink cheap red wine and bullshit.

Dan #20 front hatch hinges towards bow

 

 

 

Rudder construction

 Rudder

 

1820mm x 405mm x 40mm laminated Douglas fir, recovered from granary

- clean up 4000mm x 220mm, cut to 1840mm

- set up table saw and rip boards to 40mm x 40mm +\~ @ 1840

Will see how they look after thickness planner and rough out, some spilt near the original ends. I should be able to move them to off cut area up near the tiller.

time - 4hrs 

 

 

Cross Section of Rudder 

Fiberglass strength strip + trailing edge and bottom removed for addition of solid glass edges to more easily wrap glass on sharp corners and provide abrasion resistance/sealing. 

 

Prep for glassing 

Glass over whole rudder

Vacuum Bag rudder. (Did not work well again)

Test Fit for rudder and skeg

Would like to reduce this gap, will be filling the semi-circle. 

Glass reinforced bottom and trailing edge.

Mistake #xx.  Used airfoil tools to make the NACA0010 420mm Cord, which gives you the 40mm width.

I was going to do the router jig as talked about on duckworks and @FreeRangeLiving

https://youtu.be/gH_TMsfv9vc?si=5lPwrezKeqXXsEB5 who did a great video on the process.

http://airfoiltools.com/plotter/index

My issue was when i printed it the printer took matters into its own hands to fit in all on the same sheet of paper, which change the scaling, i went around and on this for hours, possible days.  The width was correct but not the length.  I was working on a project for work printing something and did the same thing, then the penny dropped.  I printed just the foil shape and used that.  I will build a router jig for the next rudder i build but as i have been shaping and working on this one for years now it was pretty close and its going to be the shape it is for this round. 

Filling stress relief point. I'm not sure on the point of this after i glass the whole thing.

I was close to the NACA0010 shape, I sanded down areas that were high, then used the airfoil guide to trowel thickened epoxy to build out the shape, not the most efficient or light weight method but is where I'm at today.   24/11/204

 

Keel Steel

 5/8 16mm for vertical part. 3/8 9.25mm for horizontal 

Had parts laser cut by Precision Laser & Fab Inc Saskatoon. 

 

Hull plating

9mm Okume 

 Order 

Sides, chines, bottom x2 

Shaping the frames and stringers

 This was a task I was really looking forward to.  Watching other builders/off center harbour/YouTube it felt like this is the point you see the shape of the boat and how well you did install stringers and frames.   

I started with the easy ones and just kept plodding along.  It took a long time as I was always fearful of taking off to much which I did on occasions.  As mentioned in stringers some of my stringers were set in to far or twisted so need to add material and or shape them based off the stingers around them and frames.  

TBC. 

Stringers

Douglas Fir Stingers came from a grain storage building I got for “free”.  Costs for actual getting it. 50ton crane for 2 hours, semi to transport it 3hrs home.   $2500. Plan was to make a boat shed and use left over Douglas Fir for boat builds.  Boat shed may not happen due to uncertainty of the land we are on but the Douglas fir is old growth from the 40s/50s compared to the sappy/plantation stuff you get today it’s almost a different wood species.  Once the building walls I need were dismantled, I went though and picked the heaviest/least knots 2x6 / 2x18 @ 10’ and 16’ to make the stingers.  Ripping and planing stingers to size was good learning experience and fun but it would have been cheaper and faster to order the correct lumber from a lumber yard and get milled professionally, although the quality of the wood is a lot better. .  

I did 1:10 scarf joints to get the required length.  Scarf joints were done on a radial arm saw with a jig.  To join stringers I used thickened epoxy and clamps.  Getting stringers not to slide against one another was a challenge at first as I was not clamping the ends of the stingers to something.  Once I started using a long table set up it was a straight forward process to joint stringers.  

I put a 1/4” round over on all the stringers with a router. 

Fitting the stringers to the frames proved more technical than I had hoped as the frames were CNC cut on a router they are only correct in the XYZ axis in one slice at the most outside final point,  aft edge going forward from mid-ships, forward edge going aft from mid-ships, everything else had to be adjusted and material removed to get the stringers to sit correctly to get a fair line.   As the stinger is one piece it takes a number of test fits and working down the slot in the frames on either side multiple times to get a good fit.

  I had three failures in stingers which could have been avoided.

1. The 2nd stringer I did was one of a smaller stingers it was very tight on D frame I was forcing it in and out the slot working down the other frames using a soft mallet.  It was being held in fore and aft by friction only but I had to pull it again and instead of starting at one end I knocked it out in the middle it came out in of the bow but not D frame, the spring back cracked it at D frame.  I had scored the wood putting it in and out the slot coupled with the potential energy from the loaded stringer was enough to crack it.  Lesson, slots don’t need to be hammer tight, only release clamps one at a time and work stingers out by hand not by hammer. 

2. There was a board that had a good knot in it, i should not have used it at all. One of my helpers was moving a stinger holding one end like a bent fishing pole and it snapped 3’ down right at the knot.   I then went and redid three other boards that had knots.  Lesson - it’s easy to scarf joints with correct jig, if you have a knot that looks suspicious remove it and scarf in a new piece. 

3. The gunwale stinger is the widest/highest of all the stingers, opted for a hybrid stringer in this area higher down cabin sides and lower over bow and cockpit, I was trying out steam to assist in bending using a wallpaper steamer.  I had soaked the stinger with rags and had the steamer positioned under the rags moving it forward as I brought clamps in.  It was working well and I thought well what could it hurt to leave it for a while, so I started the other side, it was in one place for about 15mins and then I heard a crack.  Turns out I had left the steam hose directly underneath the epoxy joint at point with the great tension. So while the rest of the board was drying out this small area was getting softer and softer.  - lesson don’t steam small sections at a time, don’t steam epoxy under tension.  Do not steam on this boat, it was not necessary, time was much easier, I’d put a board in place and over a couple of days pull it in.  Let it sit for a few days then remove to glue in.  Takes a long time but I’m in no rush. 

For finial install of the port stringers I left on the starboard and bottom plywood screwed on every frame. The ability to twist, move forward/aft the frame with the stringers was quite amazing.  Having my time again I would have installed temporary support stingers on the inside of the hull, especially on the back side of the chine and gunwale.

For the starboard side I left the bottom plywood on. 

As I was installing the stingers the ones I cut to deep I blocked out, I did miss one which meant I had to epoxy on a piece to plane down later.  At the bow my smaller stringers did not sit perfectly on the correct plane port - starboard and the twist was greater on two of them though the middle, I think this is just a function of smaller cross section of wood being under stress and well supported at two ends so it moves where it can. As Gregg Martell told me the art of boat building is getting the wood to stay where you want it for long enough to make it permanent.  Probably more rotating clamps between the frames so I could set the twist as it came in better would have helped.  Not sure if it’s visible in the photos. 

Photos with comments 

                    "free" grain storage building, Built with stand a great deal of force internally, 2x6 construction with double lathe exterior.  Plan was to use 10' of walls to make boat and re-stand remainder to make a 30' x 16' boat shed for long term storage and summer work. 

Breaking down side walls for stringers

Ripping stringers to size 

Planning stringers to size with help of Elenie and Logan.  At Aunty Sharons up the road. 

Sails

 

I ordered my sails late January 2023 and they turned up in Saskatoon March 21st 2023

I have not unpacked and inspected them as yet, I expect I will not be able to roll them out till later in the year once the snow is gone.  The corner of the main was run over by a forklift in transant from Annapolis to Saskatoon.  It all looks ok apart from a small tire mark on the sail

Main with Rutgerson Marin track slides

  Jib hank on bronze hanks

Storm jib - safety orange 

A5 - pink 

A3 - green