Thread: Building a Navigator yawl

I really wanted to make setting up at the ramp as easy as possible, and while this is a short mast and won't be a trouble to lift, the possibility of keeping more of the lines and fittings attached during transport encouraged me to think further on it. To begin with it seemed logical to make a lightweight one out of stainless steel, but I wanted to avoid too much of a metal look on this boat; I want it to be softer, more tactile.
Once committed to the tabernacle idea it was only a short jump to commit myself to designing one high enough to fix the gooseneck from it, enabling the boom to stay put for transport. But as I alluded in the previous post, the appearance of this was going to trouble me, because I had committed to a bulky material and possibly, to a very ugly appendage.
The process for arrival at this as a design solution can be followed in the sequence of pics on the Flickr page. I began in a very chunky fashion, then modified it to remove as much 'beef' as possible from the design, transferring loads in a more architectural way. Hardly worth the bother in a sense, because most of the curves will be hidden under the foredeck, but I hope they will echo the shapes within the boat elsewhere, and become a background thing- only noticeable if you are looking for them.
The two prongs above deck will always be strong visually, but I hope they just look like they are doing what they are supposed to do. There are still details missing from this dry assembly, and joints that will be faired to become invisible. The little gap between the 'legs' might be a good spot to stash a map, or maybe a novel...

Rob,
I have a mate who has just (re)launched a couta boat he has been restoring in Geelong. In the midst of discussing boat building etc, I mentioned your project. One thing led to another, he told me that a couta boat builder once worked out of the south end of Pakington Street. Have you heard such a tale? The builders name has slipped my faulty memory.

D.

Never heard that one. Lots of interesting industry has blessed these parts, though. And some smelly ones when wool needed to be scoured for the mills that supplied the clothing industry in England. Jeff Sykes until quite recently built world class racing (rowing) craft near there, and is still not far away in grander premises, and the boats are no longer wooden marvels but carbon fibre things that go very fast, but without any poetry at all.



Started planking with some of Denman Marine's fine Joubert ply. All going according to plan with the bottom panels. If I get some time this week, I'll have a go at the forefoot panels.

Originally Posted by rob540

Started planking with some of Denman Marine's fine Joubert ply. All going according to plan with the bottom panels. If I get some time this week, I'll have a go at the forefoot panels.

How do you mark out the planks Rob. Is it as simple as holding the ply against the stringers and a pencil line.
OK for the outer edge but what about against the bottom plank.

This is the precise cue for Daddles to pop up with some useful remarks about spiling . Isn't it, Daddles?

Originally Posted by m2c1Iw

How do you mark out the planks Rob. Is it as simple as holding the ply against the stringers and a pencil line.
OK for the outer edge but what about against the bottom plank.

There are lots of reputable ways of doing this, but I'm not sure mine is one of them! The curve could be replicated with a couple of battens held in position with spacers, or a spiling rod could be made big enough etc.

I just took a long bit of waste MDF (2-3mm thick) with a straight edge and clamped it so that it touched the bottom panel at its fattest point. I then used a ruler to draw spaced lines sort of perpendicular to the edge of the bottom panel and onto the pattern sheet ( I used a spacing of roughly 300mm. If you are fussy or not confident, you could use much closer measurements). I then either measured the gap between the sheet and the panel, or used dividers to mark the distance, in either case, I was left with an indication of the extra length needed and the direction it needed to go to be the same as it was when measured.
The same bit of scrap was then used to produce a rough approximation of all that measurement towards the opposite side of the panel, but I just drew the line freehand along the marked points to get the shape 'in the ballpark'. More methodical people will use a batten and many more measurement points than I did.

My freehand line produced a shape that could be tucked in pretty close to the joint edge, and I then scribed the edge line onto the panel using a pencil and suitable spacer.

This was very close, but still no cigar, but it would have only taken a bit of block planing to get a fit.-
Then I transferred that still not perfect shape onto the edge of my ply and measured off a shape about 50mm deeper than apparently needed, cut the ply panel and then worked the curve by fitting, scribing then planing until a good fit was achieved.

At this stage the board should be longer and deeper than needed in case the fine fitting skews things in ways unimagined...

Once the bottom joint was right it was easy to draw a line along the stringer to give the upper edge, and the ends were drawn to align as needed.
The mirror pair of this panel is made from the first (as template), but trial fit the original first (reversed), to find any asymmetries that need to be allowed for.

Ah huh spiling without the compass very good.

I guess that the weather over your way is even colder than here (in Sydney). I've had to halt some resin coating on the 'Duck foils, so I can only assume that things are even worse for you...

Spring is only about 8 weeks away (or 6 weeks, according to my own seasonal calendar which puts it at mid-August .

Cheers,
Alex.

Hi Alex,
we have had some glorious winter weather, and plenty of moisture, but the last week or two found us in the clouds rather than above them. Things did get a bit soggy.
I reckon there is probably only a couple of days real work in the planking of the hull, but weather and responsibilities will see that stretch out for weeks I think. There is a funny little mind-game happening in the planking though. I find it to be the least interesting bit of the build, yet it is the main bit that anyone else notices, probably...it's the bit that keeps the water out of the sandwiches for goodness sakes, but I keep turning up and doing a bit, and eventually something will excite me again.



I've done a bit of poking about on the forward coaming shapes too.

Hi Rob,
It's interesting the way you've been able to build so much of the interior without any planks! Everyone does seem to get a little frothy about planking, when in fact all the real work and interest is in the fit out, (currently doing the interior fit out on my Stirven). Yup the warehouse temp almost dipped below 10 degrees last week.
Can you divulge the brand of your 10min quickset epoxy? I'd love to be able to tack parts in place and deal with the filleting later. Maybe send me an email if naming brands is against the forum rules.
Thanks
Mike

Nice to hear from you Mike, will be happy to name the brand, but I won't be able to remember it till I get back to the other workshop! I'd always thought it was made by FGI, but it isn't, and I can't remember the name. -'Course purists will counsel you not to use it for anything structural because it isn't as penetrating as normal stuff, but this isn't very thick either, particularly if heated after application with a fan blower. I only use it for little compound joints where overlapping surfaces or fillets combine to provide the real strength.
I've been amazed how the hot air blower has enabled my normal resin (with a fast hardener) to go off at all lately. It doesn't cure fully straight away, but it does go hard if I attend to it with some preliminary heat- on the work and then on the goo before application, and then on the joint a few times to keep the temp from dropping too far. This from a man who has no further need of a hair drier, but the wrist action is still there!

I've got a number 4 buzz cut so my hair dryer technique is shot. I got myself a couple of cheap halogen lights from Bunnings, I use one to preheat the resin and shine the other in the area where the goo is applied. Saves standing round styling with the blow wave!
I'm sure we're probably using the same brand goo and cold weather hardener, works a treat in the chill even without the added heating.

I want to paint the bilges with two pac undercoat/primer pretty soon but I'm reluctant while it so cold, I've had bad experiences with it never curing. Might have to pitch a tent over the whole show, introduce some more halogens and brush up on my blow wave technique!

Mike

We aren't on the grid at all, and we collect our own solar electricity, so I'm fairly circumspect about halogen lights and hot blowers, but I can back up with the petrol generator if I need to make things happen when the sun don't shine But we've built that house and lived there for nearly ten years without ever having a power bill, so a few occasional compromises don't worry me too much.
And I could stand around styling for hours, but I'll still be something that will crack your average mirror...

Originally Posted by rob540

Hi Alex,
we have had some glorious winter weather, and plenty of moisture, but the last week or two found us in the clouds rather than above them. Things did get a bit soggy.
I reckon there is probably only a couple of days real work in the planking of the hull, but weather and responsibilities will see that stretch out for weeks I think. There is a funny little mind-game happening in the planking though. I find it to be the least interesting bit of the build, yet it is the main bit that anyone else notices, probably...

<snip>

Hi Rob,

Sound a bit like me and painting. It's the stage that all the defects show up - especially the painting itself - and I detest it. Largely because I'm not very good at painting, try as I might. Or I'm too fussy. Or both ;).

Your boat is looking really nice, and it looks as though you've only got "a few" planks to go :).

Cheers,
Alex.