Thread: Building a Navigator yawl

Alex you are absolutely spot on about that reference to Life of Brian. A very important anthropological study that film. And to think some people thought it was a comedy!

I'd love to hear that audio book Richard. His was a fabulous but very troubled mind, and I loved his work to bits.

As to the stringers, it was really hard to get a shot that showed it (because of the previously mentioned hay bales) but the bottom plank is now curved to its final shape, about 211mm high aft, and 116mm high forward and the 'middle' 70mm [I think] (measured from the building platform top). The stringers will have the inward facing seat supports rise up from them, and small bulkheads outboard of them, which will support the seats, sides etc. Other full width bulkheads will slot into them too.

I should have annotated the pics. The ladder frame has horizontals spaced mostly 500 apart, and each of those has a 'riser' board, which I have made roughly the width of the bottom panel at each station. The risers are all different to create the rocker on the bottom of the boat. It looks quite strange, really, because the stern is so much higher than the stem, but it is quite a lovely curve. There are still some discrepancies within the measurements and drawings, and I can understand these causing some confusion. Managing OK so far though.

Originally Posted by rob540

Alex you are absolutely spot on about that reference to Life of Brian. A very important anthropological study that film:). And to think some people thought it was a comedy!

Ah ha, yes indeed :). I went to see it when it first came out, and went to a fairly trendy cinema to see it (Piccadilly in Nth Adelaide). It struck me very forcibly that everybody was splitting themselves laughing at any section of socety one might care to choose, until one skit struck rather too close to home for some. Apart form a few people who found it funny there was a general hissing and booing. Those who laughed stopped rather quickly when it appeared that they might be lynched by the rest. Which rather proved the underlying message of the film, at least as I perceived (i.e., hypocrisy and intolerance). I have continued to ponder that little incident every since, and have come to the conclusion that it is very easy to be a hypocrite. I was one of those persons who laughed "in the right wrong spot" - but I wouldn't dare describe myself as not being a hypocrite...

I seem to be veering in the other direction now - everyone thoroughly distracted yet? Nice thread about novel writing, this one :).

rudder box mock-up !!!????? etc...

maaaate, if I'd built that, it would be mounted & displayed at the front door as a bragging-piece.

Life of Brian... the last good Monty Python. Possibly their best.
What did the Romans ever do for us then, eh ?

AJ

maybe we'll manage a thread hijack on the next page.
Rob is such an over-achiever it'll take a pretty concerted Goon Show effort.

Originally Posted by b.o.a.t.

maybe we'll manage a thread hijack on the next page.
Rob is such an over-achiever it'll take a pretty concerted Goon Show effort.

Ah, you can't get get the wood, though...

Originally Posted by b.o.a.t.

rudder box mock-up !!!????? etc...

maaaate, if I'd built that, it would be mounted & displayed at the front door as a bragging-piece.

Life of Brian... the last good Monty Python. Possibly their best.
What did the Romans ever do for us then, eh ?

AJ

maybe we'll manage a thread hijack on the next page.
Rob is such an over-achiever it'll take a pretty concerted Goon Show effort.

Maybe Rob uses "mock-up" in the sense of "trial fit". I've occasionally used the same term with that meaning myself...

I reckon Life of Brian is their best too - although people keep telling me that I must watch The Meaning of Life, which I still haven't done yet...

Cheers,
Alex.

It's not my place as an amateur to criticize the work of a pro designer, but if this thread is to be of any value to first time builders who are thinking of a Navigator, then I should point out the occasional anomaly in the plans when they are worth noting. When faced with conflicting information about a part or a joint, it is normal (certainly for me) to assume that I have misread, overlooked or misunderstood some aspect. It can take time to convince yourself that it isn't you, there really is an anomaly, and then you need to choose which data to believe and act upon.

A small example is in the two diagrams that show the stem and Bulkhead 1. Making the stem you are instructed to apply 9mm doublers back to a certain position, bringing the total width of the stem to a max. of 27mm. Making Bulkhead 1 you are instructed to make a 10mm slot for the stem, and to pply 20mm square doublers either side. Because of the layout of the diagrams it is difficult to tell exactly where along the stem this bulkhead will fit if you haven't carefully marked its postion before cutting. This because the reference dimensions given for making the stem are all external to the stem itself...it's complicated. When it is time to fit the bulkhead to the stem at the correct position, of course the slot is too thin and many would assume that they had made a mistake. Easily fixed if it comes to that (unless you've already glued on the 20 x 20), but I can only imagine the self-doubt and worry that a beginner might feel.


Here the 10mm slot is drawn and noted on the bulkhead plan (bottom left) The stem at that point is 27mm thick, and establishing the height of the new slot needs reference to a datum- in these plans it is the water line, and it should be drawn on the bulkheads etc AND KEPT THERE.



And here, in the cockpit seat front diagram, John uses an x-y co-ordinate system that does create a really good fair line, on the same grid that will later line this piece up with the bulkhead lines on the bottom plank, but if you were to draw from the straight long edge of a lovely new sheet of ply, measuring up to the bottom line of the panel you would create a huge amount of waste in the sheet. I don't understand why John doesn't use 0mm as the starting point for the axes. This panel starts with a figure of 157mm, and gets higher from there. I mention this because you can save a good deal of expensive timber if you take the smallest number, subtract it from all the other numbers so that the beginning (origin) point is 0mm. But be careful with your arithmetic doing this so as to avoid creating errors.

Hope this is useful, because it is a pain in the butt to try to explain.
Rob



dry fitting the stem

She looks a bit like a Viking ship in that last photo, Rob :).

And look at all those lovely clamps! You can never have too many - or enough - clamps <sigh> (although you can possibly have too many pipe clamps when glueing up a foil blank ;).

I'm genuinely disappointed to hear of your problems Rob. Thanks for being honest and sharing them.

As for the boat, she's a weird looking brute at the moment isn't she. Funny how that will slowly morph into that lovely curved hull that's the Navigator The boat building process is often a wondrous thing.

Richard

You're making great progress Rob, and of course, your standard of work is 2nd to none.
I've just spent the whole day trying to fit my centre board. I haven't bee able to get it in. The Trailer has cross-members that make it impossible to fit it from underneath, and there isn't enough room to get it in from the top.

Next weekend I'm going to cut-off the top forward section of the CB case, and lower the CB in from the top(after I repair the damage I caused today) . So learn from my grief, make sure that plan a head how you are going to get the CB fitted. I'm off now to have a beer or three.

Cheers

Mickj

Mick, that must have been a miserable day.
I expect you've tried this (or something like it) but, just in case....With a couple of jacks, axle stands, drums or big blocks of wood you might be able to jack the boat up so that it is above the trailer, maybe on a couple of wooden cross beams. I did this with my last effort; that's how I got it on the trailer by myself...by supporting it, taking the wheels of the trailer and putting the trailer under the boat, then putting the wheels back and lowering, block by block, onto the trailer. If you can take the weight off, and the wheels off you might be able to fudge enough room.

Richard, thanks for your thoughts, fortunately those issues didn't worry my build, I saw them coming before I cut any wood, but I bet there will be some that I don't see in time! While I was doing that stuff, I remembered to avoid the problems, but wondered whether to draw attention to them or not. We both knew that there would be 'issues' with the plans, and that doesn't worry me, but the fact that they still exist after 500 builds is quite alarming for people unused to working with wood, or working from plans. I struggled to find a way of dealing with them in this thread- wanting to be helpful, but not be subversive; it's easy to take cheap shots at someone else's work, and that isn't my intention.
I'm going to do my own drawing of the CB case, even though I've cut out the bits. I know several people have had problems with it and I'm not surprised, it is not a very helpful drawing, containing more anomalies...

And Alex, those clamps- mostly the blue ones are Chinese (of course) and less than $10 at my little local hardware shop (that still sells chook food in brown paper bags)- a heavenly little place of old fashioned sanity.



Dry fitting the transom

Originally Posted by rob540

.
I struggled to find a way of dealing with them in this thread- wanting to be helpful, but not be subversive; it's easy to take cheap shots at someone else's work, and that isn't my intention.
I'm going to do my own drawing of the CB case, even though I've cut out the bits. I know several people have had problems with it and I'm not surprised, it is not a very helpful drawing, containing more anomalies...

Rob,
Exactly why I hoped you would do the thread. Pointing out the traps for young players in a tactful way will be of great benefit.

I imagine it has helped enormously building the Waller as the exercise in how to read into what the plans are saying and pick up any problems before jumping in to the cutting stage just as mentally going through the tasks helps avoid mistakes.

Great stuff
Mike

Hi Rob,

On my 2nd attempt to install the centreboard, I tried winching the boat off the trailer, but the ceiling got in the way

Next weekend(before I get out the circular saw) I'll try lifting the boat off the trailer using some form of prop. I've got a few days to think about this, so I'm sure I'll think of something.

The original plans for the Navigator had a square CB case. The top of the case was removable for the whole length. You should have a copy of the current plans which does not have an opening for the entire length of the case. With the newly designed CB case, I have utilised a Bow Roller to lift the CB. This should help keep lines within the cockpit nice a neat(see link)

Picasa Web Albums - Mick


If push comes to shove, I'll just cut off the head of the CB case, which will take it back to the original design. I'll just have to be a bit more creative with the bow roller.


Cheers

Mickj

Thanks Mike, and good luck Mick. Thanks also for going to the trouble of the link and pic. I'm sure others appreciate your input too.

The issue I have with the CB case drawing involves the seat support heights on the side of the case. The seats are on a slope upwards as they go forward, and the measurements given equate to the heights of the relevant bulkheads, but there is a measurement given which makes a straight line projected from the other two heights impossible. So I'll just leave the side supports off until I have the bulkheads installed and find my own way through. This will mean that the supports can't be screwed from inside of the case as instructed, but there are several ways around that with a bit of care. This probably wouldn't be an issue except that I want to run a strip right along the side of the CB to the forward bulkhead (at seat height) to mount the CB tackle on. Minor problem really.

I've put glass cloth on the inside of the case and will dry fit the top spacer piece in such a way as to make the top of the case removable for access and maintenance. I'm not fitting the front curved cap over the CB 'lever' shown on the plans...don't like it and will deal with 'water slap' issues either with sailcloth lips on the keelson or the old 'stuff-a-rag-down-the-gap-when-you-are-sailing' trick.



Gluing the stem. The design makes accurate alignment easy with careful spirit level checking.