Thread: Building an Auk

Finaly started on some fiddly bits, not sure what you call them but sticking 42 of the little blocks that the inner gunwal sits on is going to take some time. Times like this I whish I had more clamps (pic 1). Pic 2 is of a huon pine box I am going to fit a new curcuit breaker board too for the big boat ( I only bought it 6 years ago).

Too late she cried but another way to do it is screw the spacers to the inwhale first when gluing then use clamps to fit the whole thing to the hull. You still need more clamps but the cheap spring clamps from Bunnings will do.

Looking great

Thanks for the advice Mike. I did think about screwing the spacer blocks to the inwhale or the side of the boat, however I am only using recycled Oregan and I did not want to weaken any thing by drilling holes. It has only taken 2 years to get to this stage so a few more days clamping blocks want hurt the EDOL (estimated day of launch).

Not much happening with the Auk as I have spent the last 2 months fitting the perkins back into Wavedancer (only taken 22 months). Hope to do sea trials on Friday. All being well should have the big boat and the Auk ready for the Newport (Pitwatter)wooden boat festival in November. I want to replace the steel deck mounted davits on WD with laminated wooden ones mounted on the transom. The admiral also wants permantley mounted "dickie seat" completed with bottle and glass holders to replace the deck chair she uses now. If we had a big boat section on this forum I could start a thread on wooden boat davits there, but in the mean time what section should I use re davits?
Ian L
Wavedancer

Boat Building/Repair look forward to your ideas.

Originally Posted by wavedancer

Hope to do sea trials on Friday. . . .

Hope the day went well. Doesn't seem that long ago since the Perkins was a box of blackened metal bits.

Colin

The big boat is going well and booked into the RMYC Newport wooden boat show in November. I hope to have the Auk there as well, so I had better get my act together.
In an early post I stated that I was not going to epoxy the Auk which no doubt drew disapproval from the old hands, well I have had a rethink. I have been epoxying (is there such a word) the out side of the Auk with bote cote and using the non yellowing stuff on the transom. To start with I was about to give up in disgust I had more runs than Boony ever made for Tassy. Then I read the manual and went and got a bottle of TRDA (first coat), still no joy the runs were unbelivable. I would spend 1 hour brushing the stuff on a small section and then another 6 hours sanding it of. I spoke to the guys at Trend Timbers and they said roll the stuff on which confirmed what many have suggested on this forum. The idea of buying $100's of rollers and throughing them away did not apeal to me, then I found the cheap stuff at B......s, I have been using the little mohair roller with great success. My last trip to the hardware joint to get some more varninsh (Bondall it works well on the big boat) I found a box of mini foam rollers and decieded to try them with the varnish, Bingo what a finish and in no time at all I had 5 coats of gloss on the transom and 6 coates ( over 3 of epoxy ) on the re built duck board of the big boat, and saved a packed on sandpaper. The Admiral is complaining about the smell of paint and varnish in the house so I might have to try and get the Auk out of the Garage with no door,( I put a wall where the roller door is supose to be ).
This computer is like me, about Buggered but I will try and attach some picks of the "epoxying"

Ian mate your centre boards got holes in it.

Nice l like how the grain looks.

Yes Mike the centre board has got holes in it, so I stuck it to the big boat last weekend and use it as a duck board. Got plenty of comments from my plastic boat owning freinds about how good it looked and could I make them one.
Re the grain on the Auk, well it is now covered in paint. The camera has died other wise I would post some pictures of a pretty rough paint job. Where does one draw a line in regards to what is acceptable?
I stopped rubbing back and re painting last night to fit the brass rubbing strip on the keel, thinking that the shinney brass may take the attention away from a few blemishes in the paint.
Launch day has been set for 5/ 11/11 ( wooden boat show RMYC Newport). I will be still missing a few things like rigging, sail, centre board and rudder, but I will be happy to throw a six pack of Boags in it and go for a row. My biggest problem may be getting the Admiral to leave enough shampers in the bottle to splash over the dingy. Still haven't worked out how I will get "Ripples" to Newport yet, Just my luck if I tow it behind "Wavedancer" I will do something stupid, like use it as a fender and sqish it .

The Auk was launched at the RMYC Newport (pictuers to Follow).
The only dramas,
1: she partialy sank on the way ( Note to my self, plug the centre case before towing at 5knts behind the big boat.)
2: $50 wasted on name stencils (rush job and the acrilic paint didn't stick
3: the Admiral nearly drowned when boarding for the first time ( it is a dingy dear not an inflatable, STEP INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE...... to late)
4: the port rowlock block parted company with boat when doing full power trials. (back to work shop for a full investigation and repair).
Colin, thanks for shareing the experence, now you know what not to do when launching the Pheonix.
Had a great time at the boat show, even met the seagull mob, and surprise surprise, they looked human .

Only an hour's drive for a free Boags - bargain.
Have to get that rowlock fixed in case Ripples has to tow WD the last few miles up the Derwent in 2013.
Don't worry, I'll still find plenty to do wrong that you can't even imagine yet. For one thing, I'd better stay far away from concrete ramps and find a nice bit of sand. My plastic boats have survived meetings with the evil cement, but wood and I had better play it safe.

Yes good advice on the concrete Colin I didn't think that one through.
Should be some pictures here includeing a serise of the "Admrial first boarding"

Hmmmm.... I think standing up in very small boats is highly NOT recommended !!
Most impressed that the 2 occupants were able to remain occupants.
My Teal would have ensured both were ejects.
That small boat looks very, very nice indeed.

Row lock block dramas!!!!!!. I cut the port aft block of and discovered I did a really bad epoxy job, so cleaned it all up and re did it and roughly scarfed in a bit of new inner gunwale, so I could take the dingy to the great dingy races with the cruising club. The auk preformed very well and won every race untill, shock horror the starboard rowlock block parted company with the boat. I have just removed the damaged bits and found that the there was nothing wrong with bonding, in fact 75% of the venier of the ply has pulled away from the ply. I am not sure what to do now other than make much larger blocks which would give me a larger suface area to hold the blocks. I can see no use in srewing the block to the side of the boat with out putting a backing plate on the out side ,which I think would be plane uggly. Would appreciate any ideas on how to permanatly fix this problem. The liltle boat will get plenty of "hard" rows.